CASE ANALYSIS: LOCTITE CORPORATION: INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS GROUP [Harvard Business School, 581 066, 1980]
With an annual sales growth rate of 25 percent, the Industrial Products Group accounts for 25 percent of total company sales at Loctite Corporation. This sales performance by the group is a major strength to consider in the decision to market the Bond A Matic adhesive dispensing system. A second major company strength in the context of the decision to be made is that the Loctite Corporation as a whole holds an 85 percent market share in the anaerobic segment of the industrial adhesives market. The Loctite Corporation is also one of the three market leaders in the cyanoacrylates segment of the adhesives market, and this market position constitutes a third major strength. The company's highly competent and well accepted sales force is also a major strength.
Although the company's sales force is highly competent and well accepted by customers in the industrial adhesives market, the sales force emphasis has been on the selling of adhesives, rather than the selling of equipment. Relying on the existing sales force to sell the Bond A Matic 2000 adhesive dispensing system, thus, is a minor weakness because of both the lack of experience in the selling of equipment, and because the dual responsibility might cause sales people to provide insufficient emphasis to either the company's basic products lines or to the new Bond A Matic 2000 adhesives dispensing system. A more important weakness is the opposition within the company to the marketing of the Bond A Matic 2000 system. The company's Systems Division contends that the simple and relatively low cost Bond A Matic 2000 system as a threat to the company' reputation as a manufacturer of high quality adhesive dispensing equipment.
A principal company objective is to become the premiere world wide ma
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