Archive for February 18th, 2010

Bayh goes bye … so do the oil companies

February 18, 2010

Bottom line: Three big companies quit an influential lobbying group that had focused on shaping climate-change legislation, in the latest sign that support for an ambitious bill is melting away.

Besides the obvious — that climate change fever has subsided — companies are starting to stand up to the President.  Many companies had been bending over to the anti-business policies and rhetoric, hoping to at least minimize their hurt with sweetheart dealing and avert the wrath of the White House’s’  vindictive Chicago thugs. The worm seems to be turning.

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Excerpted from WSJ: Defections Shake Up Climate Coalition, Feb.   17, 2010

Oil giants BP and ConocoPhillips and heavy-equipment maker Caterpillar said Tuesday they won’t renew their membership in the three-year-old U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a broad business-environmental coalition that had been instrumental in building support in Washington for capping emissions of greenhouse gases.

For companies, the shifting political winds have reduced pressure to find common ground, leading them to pursue their own, sometimes conflicting interests.

More than 20 other large companies, including oil company Royal Dutch Shell PLC and industrial heavyweights General Electric Co. and Honeywell International Inc., remain in the coalition with environmental groups such as the Environmental Defense Fund and Natural Resources Defense Council.

But experts said the companies’ decision to withdraw from USCAP is a sign the politics of climate change is shifting in Washington.

When USCAP was founded in 2007, leaders of big U.S. companies had grown concerned that Democrats in Congress were preparing to put strict limits on industrial emissions of heat-trapping gases linked to climate change. Many executives decided it was better to be part of the debate in a united front.

“The saying in Washington is that if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” 

As long as climate legislation appeared imminent, companies were willing to paper over their differences and continue to work together. But by late last year, momentum had stalled in the Senate as Washington turned its attention to health care, the economy and the midterm elections.

Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704804204575069440096420212.html

Posted in Environment - Green, Obama Administration | Leave a Comment »

Hey, where’s my favorite deodorant ?

February 18, 2010

Bottom line: As retailers adjust to tight-fisted shoppers, many stores are shrinking the number of name-brand products on their shelves.

Don’t be shocked if you can’t find your favorite salad dressing or mouthwash on your next trip to Wal-Mart.

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CNNMoney.com, Dumped! Brand names fight to stay in stores, Feb. 16, 2010 

Large retailers — including Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest — are wrestling with having too many types of brand-name products.

At the same time, shoppers are buying less and looking for bargains.

So unless a particular brand is a top seller in its category, it’s getting knocked off the shelf — and sometimes getting replaced by a cheaper store brand.

For example, Wal-Mart recently removed Glad and Hefty-branded storage bags from shelves, replacing them with its own lower-priced Great Value brand.

Those categories at greatest risk of losing brands are everyday-type purchases such as household products, toiletries and food staples.

These are also categories in which retailers have aggressively pushed their own house brands.

Moves such as this are significant given Wal-Mart’s heavyweight status in the retail industry.

“Any change that Wal-Mart makes with its product assortment has enormous implications for the entire industry.”

Wal-Mart is not the only one doing this,  leading drug store chains, including CVS and Walgreens, grocers such as Kroger, and Wal-Mart’s rival discounter, Target, are also looking to simplify their store shelves.

In good economic times, product variety is a must for retailers. But in down times, when shoppers aren’t buying much, variety can be a burden.

“I think the feeling is that as these companies keep extending their [product] lines, it’s only causing confusion for shoppers and not really driving them to buy more products.”

“If you walk into a Wal-Mart or another large retail chain, there are so many products on shelves that it does make it harder to shop.”

Besides cutting clutter, industry experts say Wal-Mart and other retailers are looking for more lucrative deals from suppliers on both prices and advertising.

“Perhaps one consideration in which product to cut is based on which company gives [Wal-Mart] the best deal.”

“In this recession, consumers have certainly become less discriminating with what they buy. Consumers have rushed to value prices, and they are buying generic brands.”

Retailers’ own brands have grown their market share by between 2% to 6% … and 77% of consumers who traded down to less expensive private label products are happy with their decision.

Full article:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/15/news/companies/walmart_dropping_brands/index.htm

Posted in Mktg - Product Line Mgnt, Retailing | 1 Comment »