Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Consumer goods companies'

Date:                             June 8th, 2012 Course:                          EFO 705 Master Thesis Course Program:                       International Marketing Authors:                        Jolita Kilinskaite (jke11003), Simone Kolar (skr11003) Title: Companies´ Reactions to Rival´ s Actions in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) Industry-  Examples of companies in the cosmetics goods industry   Research Question: How do companies in the FMCG industry react to rivals actions?   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to describe and analyze how companies react to rival´s actions   Method: The thesis is based on secondary research and primary research. The primary research is based on semi-structured interview processes and critical incidents   Target audience: Companies in the FMCG industry, Academics and Teachers in the field of Strategy and Marketing who are interested in competitive    marketing strategies in the FMCG industry   Keywords: Differentiation strategy, Imitation Strategy, Co-opetition, Rival´s actions, FMCG industry, Competition, Critical incidents   Conclusion: This master thesis concentrates in theory on three common reaction strategies in marketing, which are defined as differentiation, limitation, and co-opetition and describes possible rival´s actions, the roots that cause certain reaction strategies. Based on the literature, interviews were conducted with the marketing managers from four different companies in the cosmetics goods industry, in order to prove whether the interviewed managers support the defined reaction strategies. The result was a support for the differentiation and imitation strategy. However, co-opetition was only used by one of the companies and is therefore seen as a less important strategy, at least in the marketing departments of the         interviewed companies.

The disparity in remuneration between company CEOs and other employees is a topical and highly controversial issue globally. Theoretically, there are two explanations for this pay disparity - tournament theory and behavioural theory. Tournament theory says that employees are more motivated to compete with a larger pay gap, while the behavioural theories say that employees feel inadequate and thus demotivated in the presence of a larger pay gap, resulting in poorer performance. In response to growing concerns about the pay gap, new legislation in the USA has required companies to disclose their pay ratios1 in their financial statements, which is also likely to come to South Africa. As a means to explore CEO pay ratios in a South African context, a study of the determinants and performance effects of companies' CEO pay ratios was conducted in the Consumer Goods and Consumer Services subsectors on the JSE. Data was collected on companies for the period 2006 to 2014 and pay ratios were estimated for each company where the data allowed. Due to the complexity of CEO remuneration, three different pay ratios were calculated, which differed in how long-term incentive payments were treated in each case. Using the same method as Shin, Kang, Hyun, & Kim (2015) used in their South Korean study, three different analyses were conducted. Firstly, the factors determining pay ratios were analysed in a regression analysis, which found CEO tenure, companies' future investment opportunities and company size to be key determinants of pay ratios. Secondly, the deviations from companies' expected pay ratios were regressed against subsequent company performance to see whether CEOs being paid the, "wrong," amount relative to employees affects company performance. It was found that deviations from the expected pay ratio negatively affected company performance, and there was no difference in performance between under- and over-paying CEOs relative to employees. Finally, as a means to test whether tournament theory or behavioural theories better explain the CEO pay ratio in South Africa, subsequent company performance was regressed against the three different pay ratios calculated. It was found that there is little evidence of a relationship between subsequent company performance and the pay ratio, except in the case where performance is measured by return on assets, and the pay ratio is measured such that it excludes long-term incentives completely. The relationship in this case was found to be positive, indicating that tournament theory better explained the relationship between pay ratios and company performance. One of the limitations of this study was the limited availability of data, which gives rise to self-selection bias.

O design tem sido cada vez mais reconhecido como uma fonte de vantagem competitiva para as empresas, sendo considerado uma atividade estratégica no desenvolvimento e no sucesso comercial de produtos baseados em diferenciação. Percebendo a relevância do design na competitividade da indústria, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo principal a realização de uma análise do uso do design no processo de desenvolvimento de produtos (PDP) em empresas desenvolvedoras de bens de consumo. Através dessa análise, buscou-se caracterizar a atuação e a função do design, identificando também os fatores facilitadores e inibidores das práticas de design nas empresas estudadas. Visando o alcance dos objetivos propostos, optou-se como procedimento metodológico uma abordagem qualitativa de estudos de casos múltiplos, selecionando-se quatro empresas como objetos de pesquisa. A coleta de dados do trabalho consistiu em entrevistas com o setor de desenvolvimento de produtos de cada uma das empresas, sendo dividida em seis etapas: a primeira foi destinada à coleta de informações institucionais; a segunda consistiu na modelagem do processo de desenvolvimento de produtos; a terceira investigou o processo de design; a quarta caracterizou o perfil dos entrevistados; a quinta identificou as atividades desempenhadas pelos entrevistados e, por último, a sexta etapa correspondeu à realização de um workshop de design. Os resultados obtidos por meio da coleta de dados permitiram identificar um padrão de práticas existentes nas empresas. Constatou-se que as empresas estudadas demonstram uma predisposição em relação à utilização e a investimentos na área do design para o desenvolvimento de seus produtos. Porém, por outro lado, verificou-se que o design não tem sido explorado de maneira eficiente pelas empresas. Um dos principais fatores identificados como inibidores das práticas do design corresponde a uma lacuna de conhecimento das potencialidades de atuação do designer dentro das empresas. Vale ressaltar que a amostra da pesquisa não é representativa de toda indústria brasileira, portanto, as evidências não podem ser generalizadas. Entretanto, pelos padrões identificados entre os objetos de estudo, acredita-se que parte das práticas identificadas possam ser encontradas em outras empresas desenvolvedoras de bens de consumo.<br>Design has been increasingly recognized as a source of competitive advantage for companies and seen as a strategic activity in the development and commercial success of differentiation based products. Considering the design importance in the industries competitiveness, the present study aimed to do an analysis of the design use in the product development process (PDP) in companies that develop consumer goods. Through this analysis, we sought to characterize the performance and function of design, as well as identify the facilitating and inhibiting factors of design practices in the companies studied. Aiming to achieve the proposed objectives, we chose as methodological procedure a qualitative approach of multiple case studies, selecting four companies as research objects. The work’s data collection consisted on interviews with the product development sector of each company, which were divided into six stages: the first was designed to collect institutional information, the second consisted in modeling the product development process; the third investigated the design process, the fourth characterized the profile of respondents, the fifth identified the activities performed by respondents and, finally, the sixth stage corresponded to a design workshop. The results obtained through data collection identified a pattern of practices in companies. It was found that the companies studied show a predisposition towards the use and investment in design for the development of their products. However, it was found that design has not been effectively exploited by companies. One of the main factors identified as an inhibitor of design practices corresponds to a lack of knowledge on the potential role of the designer within companies. It is noteworthy that the research sample is not representative of the entire brazilian industry and therefore, the evidence cannot be generalized. However, with the patterns identified among the objects of study, it is believed that most of the practices identified can be found in other of consumer goods developing companies.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014.<br>The government of South Africa aspires to achieve a six percent economic growth per annum. The scarcity of qualified and experienced people that are crucial in contributing to economic growth and creating job opportunities, poses a problem for the country. The current demand for skills that are out of reach for many workers and the prevailing unemployment that is caused by the mismatch between what an organisation seeks and what a potential candidate can provide, have been highlighted as a critical cause for the scarcity of skills. The aim of this research assignment was to examine the current crisis of the skills shortage in the South African economy, with the focus on the manufacturing sector within the FMCG industry. Semi-structured and open-ended interviews with human resource, training and development, as well as technical managers in manufacturing organisations in Cape Town, South Africa were conducted. Data was obtained from a sample of six managers. According to all respondents interviewed, it takes approximately two to six months to replace an employee who has the appropriate technical skills. All the respondents are concerned with the situation of the technical skills shortage in the country. Consequently, these respondents’ companies engage in a talent war in order to recruit the best talent. It is therefore obvious that the market dynamics of supply and demand are out of equilibrium with regard to technically skilled employees in the manufacturing segment of the South African FMCG industry. The interviews that were conducted identified some companies that train new employees in technical skills. However, the majority of the companies are not doing much to improve the situation. In addition, the companies in this sector also compete with the other industries in the South African and the global economy regarding technical skills.

Магістреська робота присвячена дослідженню впливу Цілей сталого розвитку на стратегічне планування транснаціональних компаній та на їх конкурентноспроможність. Основною метою цього дослідження є ефективність впровадження Цілей сталого розвитку у стратегічному плануванні транснаціональних компаній та прогнозуванні рекомендацій щодо подальшого покращення існуючої ситуації.<br>The master's thesis is devoted to the study of the impact of the Sustainable Development Goals on the strategic planning of transnational corporations and their competitiveness. The main purpose of this study is to effectively implement the Sustainable Development Goals in the strategic planning of transnational corporations and to forecast recommendations for further improvement of the current situation.

Abstract  Bachelor´s thesis, Enterprising and Business Development, Linnaeus University School of Business and Economics, 2EB01E, VT 2017  Authors: Malin Borg and Emma Hattenhauer Tutor: Dan Halvarsson  Title: ”Is doing good ever good enough?” - a study of Swedish consumers’ perception and attitude towards companies using green marketing. Background: More now than ever are people interested in how they themselves affect the environment and how the companies work green. By implementing a “green marketing” strategy, companies use their environmental work as a marketing tool with different agendas. Some authors claim that this strategy is used in order to find new markets and new consumers while some say that it is a way for companies to encourage further green work to their market shares. Not all green work is however shown to the public, in some cases it is done in the dark in order to lower the external pressure of possible scrutiny, a strategy also called lean or muted greening. Theory explains that in contrast to this muted strategy consumers perceive transparency within a company and its green work highly important, as well as how a green marketing campaign is presented with words and terminology. It is of great important to consider what the consumers demand from a company in order for them to fully succeed with their green marketing campaign and build trust between the company and the consumer.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create understanding of Swedish consumers’ perception and attitude towards companies that are using a green marketing strategy. Method: This study uses a deductive approach with a qualitative nature, where words and explanations are of interest and is carried out through eight individual semi-structured interviews with respondents all living in Sweden found through a convenience sampling method. With a used hermeneutic approach the respondents subjective opinions has lead the research in the direction it has taken and further pre-understandings has been created. Conclusion: Through this study it has been found that the main-key to a successful green marketing campaign among Swedish consumers is trust. Without trust towards a company Swedish consumers explain themselves as not believing in green marketing done by a company. Social media is a communication channel that, among Swedish consumers is not perceived credible and should therefore not be used when doing a green marketing campaign. The concept of lean or muted greening is something that 6/8 respondents considered positive while 2/8 felt the opposite, however all considered transparency as a highly important factor in order to not miss trust a company and believing that, if something is hard to find maybe it is not done as presented. Language and terminology are two closely related and much important aspects that need to be clear and easily understood, however not excluding important aspects but rather give further explanations about concepts that might be considered complicated.

Based around a case study of the traditional toy industry, the research examines how companies create trust with parents, the main toy purchasers, and the importance of ethical behaviour in trust development when a vulnerable community is involved. Previous literature has revealed that trust leads to mutually beneficial company-consumer relationships but scholars have failed to agree on its definition, dimensions or measurement due to its complexity, diversity and intangibility. Few have distinguished between 'trustworthiness' as a moral quality of organisations and 'trust', which is a consumer judgement about companies and brands, made as part of their purchase deliberations. A review of the literature led to the development of a framework of trustworthy behaviour identifying five sets of antecedents (organisational, individual, control, relational and branding factors) and four key dimensions with related variables - 'Integrity' and 'Benevolence', relating to ethical constructs and 'Commitment' and 'Satisfaction', relating to organisational constructs. The model was then substantiated through qualitative research with a sample of senior managers in 12 leading toy companies and other stakeholders including industry body representatives, retailers and parents. The findings revealed that in a challenging economic climate, trust in toy companies is being driven principally by the marketing offer and by external influencers such as legislators, retailers, licensors, and the media. Examples of good ethical practices were identified, although often unnoticed by consumers, and the worthier companies, for whom trustworthiness was important, appeared to be faring less well economically than companies selling third party brands. Consumers' trust was significant in the preschool market but diminished in importance as children matured when their influence overrode parents' more rational purchase considerations. The research revealed a paradox that parents as well as children are vulnerable consumers who are often bypassed in the marketing process. Whatever children's consumer rights, there will always be a lack of trust in the industry whilst young children rather than parents are so blatantly targeted.

Masters in the Field of Environmental Sciences (MSc CW/RR) - GEOL7007 Research Report School of Animal Plants and Environmental Science. Johannesburg 2017.<br>In recent times increasing emphasis has been placed on the important role that corporations must play in the creation of greener economies. This has given rise to greater corporate environmental disclosure and reporting, and a wealth of research into the link between sustainability reporting and financial and environmental business performance. Notwithstanding this, it has been noted that corporate responses to environmental sustainability issues are highly variable, and very little research has been conducted to determine where businesses focus their environmental sustainability efforts and to what extent they have made measureable progress in this regard. The purpose of this study was to assess and compare the implementation of sustainability initiatives across a variety of fast moving consumer goods companies, including large multinational organisations, privately owned South African and publically traded JSE listed companies. This was achieved through the evaluation and scoring of an environmental self-assessment questionnaire distributed annually over a three year period between 2012 and 2014. In total, the survey, which covered a cross section of business relevant environmental issues, allowed for the profiling of 851 company responses. Scoring of these responses was based on a defined matrix with a grading system of 0 – 6. Results showed that overall, larger companies appear to be making significantly better progress when it comes to tackling environmental issues than their smaller privately owned competitors. Of the product categories investigated, the sustainability performance of liquor suppliers was the best while transport suppliers scored significantly lower than their peers. Publically listed JSE-listed companies and large multinational companies had similar sustainability performance to one another but both these groups performed significantly better than their privately owned South African competitors. Of those supplier Groups surveyed, JSE listed companies were the only business Group who showed significant year-on-year improvement in performance. An evaluation of scores achieved across the different environmental issues covered revealed that suppliers indicated they performed best in the areas of waste minimisation, operational energy mitigation and sustainable product design, while they made least progress when it came to climate change mitigation, sustainability reporting and biodiversity conservation. Results suggest that overall: companies made most progress on environmental issues that offered the greatest potential for increasing revenues or reducing operating costs; large public corporations performed significantly better than privately owned companies when it came to tackling environmental sustainability issues; and despite increasing emphasis being placed on transitioning to more sustainable business models, only one group of suppliers showed a measurable improvement in sustainability performance over the course of the study.<br>LG2017

Handel detaliczny w branży produktów szybkorotujących jest tym działem gospodarki, z którą konsumenci mają bezpośredni niemal codzienny kontakt. Wpływ na rozwój przedsiębiorstw handlowych ma wiele czynników zewnętrznych. Zaliczają się do nich dochody konsumentów, które stanowią podstawę ich siły nabywczej. Problemem badawczym podjętym w niniejszej pracy jest złożoność zależności między różnym poziomem dochodów a zmianami dokonującymi się w sektorze handlu detalicznego branży FMCG w Polsce. W konsekwencji, zdefiniowany został cel główny rozprawy, jaki jest wieloaspektowa diagnoza współzależności między zróżnicowaniem dochodów konsumentów a rozwojem przedsiębiorstw handlowych i strukturą rynku detalicznego. W pracy podjęta została próba weryfikacji hipotezy głównej, która mówi, iż zróżnicowanie dochodów polskich konsumentów wywiera wpływ na rozwój przedsiębiorstw handlowych branży FMCG i na przekształcenia w strukturze tej części handlu detalicznego. Przeprowadzone w ramach niniejszej pracy analizy, badania i wnioskowanie prowadzi do pozytywnej weryfikacji hipotezy głównej. Całościowy rozwój sektora jest wypadkową rozwoju przedsiębiorstw handlowych w ramach poszczególnych formatów detalicznych. Rozwój polskiego rynku detalicznego w branży FMCG połączony jest ze zjawiskami stopniowo rosnącej koncentracji przy jednocześnie utrzymującej się dywersyfikacji w ramach poszczególnych formatów. U podłoża tych zjawisk leży poziom dochodów rozporządzalnych i ich zróżnicowanie, zarówno w układzie historycznym, przestrzennym, jak i w podziale na grupy dochodowe i społeczno-ekonomiczne.<br>Retail trade of fast-moving consumer products composes the part of an economy, which entails direct nearly everyday involvement of the consumers. The development of trading companies is impacted by a number of external factors. An important role is played by consumer incomes, which compose the base of their purchasing power. The research problem undertaken in this dissertation is a complex relationship between a different level of incomes and ongoing sector of retail trade of FMCG in Poland. As a consequence, there was defined the main goal of the paper, which is the multi-aspect diagnosis of liaisons between the diversification of consumer incomes and development of trading entities and the entire structure of the retail market. The dissertation composes attempt of verification of the main hypothesis, which tells that diversification of consumer incomes influences development of retail companies in FMCG sector and transition of the market structure. The analysis, research and presuming made in this paper lead to the positive verification of the main hypothesis. The complex transition of the sector is resultant of development of retail entities belonging to retail formats. The development of the domestic retail market in FMCG sector is bound with gradually rising concentration attached with persistent divergence within particular formats. The foundation of these events is level and diversification of personal incomes, both in historical and special terms as well as in consideration of split among income groups and social-economic segments<br>Wydział Ekonomii i Zarządzania

碩士<br>東海大學<br>財務金融學系碩士在職專班<br>105<br>Food Industry is essential for people`s livelihood. By doing research of food industry, we can measure the development of economic and quality of life from the research of Food Industry. When it comes to food industry, Instant noodle is the best example since it comes with the most developed supplying chain. Therefore, we would like to start discussing the FMCG industry with instant noodle, and using the five main financial factors as variables to cover the study, including Financial Structure, Liquidity Ratio, Operating Performance, Profitability, Cash Flow and a total of 23 performance indicators. We would then use DuPont analysis to discover the relationship between these indicators, to analysis the financial status and operating performance of different enterprises. The research shows that companies may consider using different financial reports due to different business model. It will result to a different Return of Equity for investors. Nestlé in Malaysian perform solid utilization with their financial assets, Masan - Vietnam and Masan-Thailand take advantages on cost saving by purchasing local raw materials, Uni-President – Taiwan exercise high Profit / High Financial Leverage Strategy so the Performance of the return of equity is better. In other hand, TING Yi (CAYMAN ISLANDS) perform poor cost control directly results to a poor performance on their return. Nissin in Japan manage a poor utilization on their financial assets, with a low financial leverage strategy, directly results to the worst performance of their return on equity. We can foresee food industry facing variable challenges in future, they should enhance their core value and their key success factor, especially to earn customer-trust on quality control on food safety. With the growing of international culture exchange, catering, logistics and other food service, therefore, the service quality and the globalization of food manufacturing is definitely an important trend for future. Key words：Fast-moving Consumer Goods(FMCG), Operating Performance, ASEAN Economic Community, DuPont Analysis

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Technology: Business Administration, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2015.<br>ABSTRACT Supply chain management, is the active management of supply chain activities to maximise customer value and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. It represents a conscious effort by the supply chain firms to develop and run supply chains in the most effective and efficient ways possible. Supply chain activities cover everything from product development, sourcing, production, and logistics, as well as the information systems needed to coordinate these activities. Currently, supply chain management has evolved into a complex system where there is a need for redesign and integration into the corporate strategy for strategic fit. The study focuses on: • establishing and analysing corporate strategies used by select FMCGs in KZN South Africa; • examining the challenges impacting on achieving competitive advantage; and • determining performance measures for ensuring consistency between customer satisfaction and the supply chain capabilities (strategic fit). The study followed an exploratory case study design and employed a descriptive, evaluative quantitative analysis method. The results showed that across supply chain companies, the ultimate goal of integration has still to be achieved. There is a lack of trust and companies operate in separate silos. A major recommendation is that supply companies should revisit their supply chain designs to synchronise with intra-intercompany integration built on achieving competitiveness and sustainable profitability through incremental continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. The study concluded that it is imperative that all the elements of McKinsey’s 7- s resource capability model stay interconnected as a web to ensure the successful implementation of integration for strategic fit and superior business performance<br>D

碩士<br>國立交通大學<br>企業管理碩士學程<br>100<br>The raising and fierce competition is the unavoidable trend of globalization. Competition is one major force that is driving our society forward and becoming more advanced. However, organizations must compete to deliver value in order to survive or remain profitable. Competition is more than just facing direct competitors, and there are many critical factors must be taken into the consideration, analysis, and strategy. In order to compete in a fierce market, the company must create a value for the market and value creation is the key to stay ahead of competition or remain profitable. A firm must find a way to keep its competitive advantages and remain its market power. One way to stay ahead of competition is to protect its intellectual properties and use patents as part of competitive strategy. In this research project, based on Fortune 500 companies, we studied whether the number of patents causes any difference between innovative and non-innovative companies. We used statistical method to find out if the number of patents has any impact on the total assets and the return on assets in consumer goods and technology industries.

碩士<br>國立臺灣海洋大學<br>航運管理學系<br>106<br>In recent years, with the progress of the economic liberalization and the internationalization of the market, foreign distributors have been using joint venture and technology cooperation to impact the market management in Taiwan. The department store industry in Taiwan is faced to the situation of changing the business model and innovating product marketing strategy. The souring trend of the online selling and electronic commerce results in the reluctant transformation of many traditional retail brands. While some of them changed the operating strategy. With the consumer buying habits changing, a delicate, high quality and costly consuming is not the only way of management. Consumer demand for goods is increasingly diversified. If the manager judge the situation subjectively or intuitively, like regarding reducing the cost down and improving the operating margins as the standard, he would misjudge the market and make a wrong decision. Finally, the company will be eliminated by consumers, and quit the market silently. This research used Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). DEA is based on the concept of efficiency. The measure of relative efficiency is based on the efficiency concept of Plato’s optimal boundary, which is aimed at maximizing efficiency. The main researching target is the TWSE-listed trade department store companies. The main data resources used in this research are from the financial reports and annual reports released by Market Observation Post System in 2015 and 2016. Total assets, operating costs and operating expenses were selected as input variables, while operating income and operating net profit were selected as output variables. Then, the data were inputted to the DEA (ver2.1) system through the CCR input orientation mode. The system would count a set of optimal weights. The final result was the analyzing and the evaluating of the data. The result shows that nine companies (Shin Shin, Mercuries, Ruentex, Momo, Familymart, POYA, Nan Ren Hu, Lifestyle and Bon Fame) have the overall technical efficiency value of 1 in 2015 and 2016 consecutively. It shows that these nine companies have higher efficiency than the others studied in this research. This type of company has matured in business and technology. They can be the standards and references for other companies that do not meet the efficiency. On the other hands, five companies (Test Rite, Tonlin, Taiwan Tea Corporation, Xin Chio and Dacome) have the overall technical efficiency value less than 1 in 2015 and 2016 consecutively. It shows that they do not have the optimal scales under the circumstances of the constant returns to scales, which means their resources were not fully utilized, and they still have to improve the management. I suggest that these companies should take the efficient companies mentioned above as models, and increase operating income and operating net profit to achieve the optimal scales. These are the ways to improve the current technical efficiency, and enhance the profitability of the companies. Keywords: Data envelopment Analysis, department store, Technical efficiency

碩士<br>實踐大學<br>企業創新發展研究所<br>95<br>In order to accelerate the process of building company popularity and expansion into global markets, many businesses have quickly acquired the brand name and its product users through mergers with other companies, successfully increasing its market share. Due to the fact that consumers are likely to choose companies based on their reputation to avoid risks during business dealings, building a good brand image is extremely important. Because businesses strive to cross into other regions to expand in the global market, integration of local companies has become a popular method used by companies to attain sales channels, skills, and other resources in a period of short time. This has resulted in the increase of cross-border mergers in recent years. Furthermore, aesthetics and design of products are increasing catching the attention of consumers, thus the ability to effectively apply the use of aesthetics in marketing to enhance brand image is fundamental. In this high-competitive market filled with a wide array of products, trying to retain old customers is equally as important as attracting new ones. If consumers acknowledge the fact that the merger of companies will not affect product quality and value, their willingness to purchase these products will stay unchanged. On the contrary, if the image of the acquiring company and its country is poor, consumers will lower their willingness to purchase these brands. How the acquiring company utilizes aesthetics in its marketing strategy could become an effective way to increase consumer willingness to purchase products. The focus of this research is on three internationally-renowned M&A cases— the cellular phone department of Benq, Taiwan with Siemens of Germany, Chinese Lenovo with American IBM Company and Adidas of Germany with Reebok from England. The effect of aesthetics in marketing on the image of these brands and countries is explored in this thesis, as well as its influence on the perception of consumers and their willingness to purchase these products, in order to find the most effective marketing strategy to satisfy the demand of consumers.