REVIEW CASE Establishing the Strategic Intent at Dabur India Limited*
Cholera, malaria and plague have been killer diseases in
India. In 1884, Dr. S.K. Burman embarked on a mission to
provide nature-based, effective and affordable treatment
for these killer diseases for ordinary people in far-flung
villages of Bengal. He adopted Ayurveda, the traditional
Indian system of medicine. Dr. Burman established a
pharmacy that set up a manutacturing plant in 1896 and
research laboratories in 1919 becoming a full-fledged pri-
vate company in 1936 that 50 years later, in 1986, became
a public limited company. He came to be known as Daktar
(Indian pronunciation of "doctor) Burman. The organisa-
tion he founded came to be known as Dabur.
Dabur is a leading consumer goods company in India.
It offers nearly 250 products and operates in nearly 100
countries making it an Indian multinational company. With-
in the company, there are three strategic business units
(SBUs): Consumer Care Business (CCB), Foods Business (FB)
and International Business (1B). CCB deals with healthcare,
Dr. Azhar Kazmi and Dr. Adela Kazmi, 2020
personal care and horne care businesses and 1B deals with
personal and health care products in international markets.
Food business deals with fruit-based beverages and culi-
nary pastes businesses. It markets its products through an
extensive wholesale and retail network of agents, distribu-
tors and retail outlets and through digital portals. It claims
to have access to 6.7 million retail outlets.
The vision of Dabur is stated as: 'Dedicated to the
health and well-being of every household'. There is no spe-
cifically-stated mission statement but a statement of stra
tegic intent of 'driving consumer engagement by leveraging
our brands and offering high-quality products across all
Our markets'. It has enunciated principles to operate upon
Ownership; Passion for Winning; People Development;
Consumer Focus; Teamwork; Innovation and Integrity.
In 2012, the company had crossed USS1 billion revenue.
Consolidated total income from operations stands at 8,829
Crore (US$1.26 billion), net profit is 7 1445.29 Crore and
 market capitalisation at 790765.24 Crore. All figures are for Dabur has tried to alter the product concene
financialyear 2019-2020. For the first half of 2020-2021, the Ayurveda medicines as consumer products sold overth
Concept
income is R 4,640.32 Crore (US$ 663.95 million) counter. For instance, it changed the product cone te
of chyavanprash frorm being a traditional compound
nep
The brand name 'Dabur' is claimed to mean different
things to different people. It operates at three distinct lev- herbs and plant extracts having anti-oxidarnt properti.
els: as the company's corporate brand identity, the mother to a branded consuner product sold over the counter.
brand for a whole range of products and also percolates general health upkeep for the whole family. Honey issi
down to individual product names as food rather than a medicinal ingredient.
The family-Owned organisation started to change to a Generally, Dabur has performed well except in case
professionally managed one in the mid-1990s. It adopted where it had to deal With tough competition in the in.
professional management and strategic planning by with- tensely competitive consumer goods in India. Analyst
drawing family members from operational management and been eyeing too man
say that the company has perhaps
putting place a succession plan. It engaged McKinsey & divergent new product categories over the years. Risin,
Company to help it devise its strategic plan and later worked Commodity costs for its product manufacturing are als0
with Accenture for helping it in formal strategic planning. The big challenge.
parties involved are board of directors, executive committee Dabur's strategy for the next few years seems to be
and the consultant. The family council meets every quarter to growth through acquisitions
domestic and international
discuss long-term vision and broader strategic issues. launching new products and penetrating deeper into rura
Dabur followed a 4-year time horizon strategic plan- Indian markets. At the business level, it generally adopts
ning. The 2010-2014 strategic plan ended with Dabur focused differentiation. In the near future, Dabur will have
becoming a T7000-Crore company. The business model to decide whether it wishes to be a pure herbal brand or
of Dabur is based on pushing through high growth param- a leading FMCG player neither of which it can claim to te
eters. The strategies adopted are a combination of inter- with conviction today. Some analysts are of the opinion
nal growth and external growth through acquisition that that one of Dabur's key challenges will be making brands
it terms as organic and inorganic growth, respectively more contemporary through renovations, and innovations
Ayurveda is the bedrock of Dabur's strategy. With its for a diversified line of product offerings.5
claimed over 135 years of heritage and experience in Ayur
veda, Dabur considers itself as the custodian of science- Questions
based Ayurveda. The health care portfolio is deemed to be a 1. Examine the strategy of Dabur and evaluate whether
great repository of knowledge and strong driver of growth. it is using Ayurveda as the basis of its
strategies
Dabur believes that the penetration of over-the-counter effectively. (LO 2
(OTC) products is currently very low in India. Looking to the 2. Extract information from the case and outline the
environmental factors of rising disease burdern, particularly strategic planning process Dabur adopts. (LO 3)
for alterna-
lifestyle ailments, and the growing preference 3 Identify the different elements of the strategic
forward to continuing
tive systems of medicines Dabur looks intent of Dabur and analyse the
for Ayurveda and Ayurvedic medicines quality of each one
growth opportunities of them. (LO 4, LO 5, LO 6, LO 7)
in future.