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Case Study

Philips and the dental care challenge (A)

By Jean-Philippe Deschamps, Mary Schweinsberg and Carina Hum

23 pages

December 2000

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Reference: IMD-3-0702

Despite having been the first on the market with an electric toothbrush in the 70s, for 20 years Philips Personal Care has run its dental care category rather opportunistically. In the early 90s, the company awakens to the spectacular growth of the dental care market through the success of Braun – Oral B’s ‘Plaque Control’ electric toothbrush, and its clinical ‘dental-tool’ positioning. The response of Philips to Braun’s product challenge – ‘Dental Logic’ – is a mediocre success, due to an unclear positioning and quality problems. The head of the Personal Care business group brings a new manager to lead Philips into the battle against Braun, and challenges him to come up with a competitive concept. The case describes the history of Philips in dental care and highlights some of the reasons for its problems. It ends with the product strategy, positioning and design options considered by the new manager and his team to meet their boss’ challenge and confront Braun successfully.

Keywords

Product Strategy, Positioning, Product-based Competition, Design Strategy, Home Appliances, Dental Care

Settings

Europe
Philips
1995

Type

Field Research

Available Languages

English

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This case study is part of a series

Philips and the dental care challenge (A)
Philips and the dental care challenge (B)

This case study is part of a series

Philips and the dental care challenge (A)
Philips and the dental care challenge (B)

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