Tuesday 10 December 2013

Porter’s five forces analysis of the Metal Can Industry - A deeper understanding of the case of Crown Cork and Seal!

Threat of New Entrants

·         Initial investment required to be at least $20 million dollars, thus capital cost small relative to the size of the metal industry
·         There was a low product design cost
·         Efficient low cost plant was able to capture the industry
·         More than 100 local firms entered the industry

Threat of Substitutes
·         Many substitutes available for the metal containers (especially glass, plastic, fibre foils)
·         Limited prices and long term demand as new innovations (tetra packs, paper juice cartons) emerged.
·         The threat of substitutes grew from 9% to nearly 15% in late 1980s.

Bargaining power of Suppliers
·         Majorly dominated by three largest Aluminum Suppliers
·         Reynolds did a forward integration
·         Large breweries, soft drink giants, general food companies all buy in large volumes, setting the price and demanding quality and delivery.
·         Minor switching cost involved, thus can be backward integrated into manufacturing their own cans.

Bargaining power of Buyers
·         Many of the buyers are large, powerful companies – Coke, Pepsi etc.
·         Cans are bought in large volumes –almost a commodity
·         Buyers admonished poor quality by cutting order size
·         Some buyers show credible threat of backwards integration into container making, knowledge diffusion (both technical and commercial)
·         No brand identity
·         Can equalled about 45% of cost of soda, all savings in can costs go straight to profit – Buyer industries tend to be competitive

Intensity of Rivalry
·         Limited players
·         Market shares: American National 25%, Continental 18%, Reynolds 7%, Crown & Seal 7% and Ball Corp 4%
·         This is basically a lowgrowth, moderately capital intensive, somewhat cyclical, commodity product industry.
·         Capital costs relative to variable costs mean you have to get high volume / market share which puts pressure on prices.

In conclusion:
This is not an attractive industry (as evidenced by the diversification of some of the major players).

Contributed By:
Bitan Banerjee
Section A
Strategic Management
Class of 2013-15

 

 

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