Decision Sheet

Problem Statement:
It was a complex decision with important implications both locally and globally. In India, Sitapati would have
to decide which, if any, of the three behavior-change projects he should include in his Indian budget; in
Singapore, Singh had to decide whether to intervene in the decision, and if so, how; and in London, Polman
would be considering whether this tension reflected the shift in strategic process he had envisioned when
he introduced his USLP goals.

Decision Taken:
I will go for Urban Schools Liquids program, which will mainly use liquid soap products. Singh and Polman
will intervene a lot in my decision as both of them wants a long term growth, but the problem with going for
other programmes is that the payback period would be very high and with such high payback period it is
very difficult for a company to sustain for long. I have thought of an alternate in which we can start Urban
Schools Liquids program fully and the other 2 programmes at a slow pace, but still we will not be able to
achieve USLP target, but will reach close to the same.

Why the decision was taken?

● In KKD rural programme we were able to increase our market share in Uttar Pradesh from 13.9%
to 15.6%, but as KKD would reach to smaller and smaller places it would be less cost effective.
Moreover, the KKD Lifebuoy demonstrations to housewives were not resulting sustainable
behavioral change that would satisfy the PWC auditors.

● In ‘The MP Partnership Initiative’, the issue is that the process is very time consuming and also the
government is not allowing the company to use it’s branding on the products distributed and selling
a product unbranded would not help that much in growth of the company in the long run because
the people will not be aware about our product.

● Though the Cost for Contact for Urban School Liquids programme is 23.3/contact, which is very
high when compared to the other 2 alternatives available but the margin in liquid soap is much
higher when compared with bar soap, so we will be able to generate more profits even by having
high Cost for Contact rate.

● The city which are been targeted in the programme had achieved just 7% to 10% of penetration in
liquid soap and also the total personal soap market in this cities is growing at up to 40%. So their
is a great potential for us to grow.

● The programme will be able to reach only 1.5 million people, but I believe that as the margin in
Liquid Soap(50%) is higher, the payback period would be 3.5 years only which is the best among
all the other available alternates. The payback period of ‘The KKD Rural Outreach Initiative is 10
years and for ‘The MP Partnership Initiative’ is around 13.5 years which is too high for us to sustain.