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Gillette India: Innovation Dilemma and Challenges in 21

st
Century
Dr V N Bajpai, Professor ITS Ghaziabad
August 26, 2011 Mr S Khosala, The Managing Director of all three P&G companies in India
including Gillette was happy to present the Annual Report of the company for the year 2010-11.
He was applauding the efforts of the company to be able to seize the potential of not only urban
markets but also in rural India which was growing faster in some of the FMCG categories like
personal grooming. Reduction in overheads by exiting non- performing product categories,
streamlining product lines, optimizing manufacturing efficiencies, building on innovations
and going aggressive in the mass blades segment were companys some of the
recent key strategic moves. As a result net profit of the company was increasing
steadily till 2010 and till recent was leader in the personal grooming care segment by
capitalizing on its legendary incremental innovations, particularly in single edged blade
segment. However, in the year 2014, April 21, looking outside the window, Mr Khosala looked
back longer at how Gillettes Indian operations had come along in its years long journey in the
country, creating space for itself. He was worried about the performance of the company in
recent past. He wondered how long the company could go on with this. In this fast changing
environment and augmented competition level , unless the t eam came up with the
disruptive product ideas, testing the limits of traditional creativity, cutting edge
marketing and effective positioning, the existing methodology of product innovation would
die very soon and so might the entire business.

Personal Grooming Care Industry in India:
According to market research data, Blades and Razors market alone is estimated at over `1400
crores, and about 5.5 billion units in size for the year 2011-12. The sector represented a sizable
business opportunity for Gillette India, where most of the 400 million -plus men of shaving age
used double-edge razors.

Innovations @ Gillette:
In 2003 Gillette India had rearranged its complete range of shaving products and had identified
the double edged blade segment as its growth driver. In 2004, Gillette endorsed Beckham (a
famous football player) to promote its products, and at the same time Gillette India announced
the launch of new generation triple blade shaving system Mach3Turbo, which presented a whole
host of advancements to the Mach3 design, primarily, improved blade technology. In 2004, the
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male shaving category was expanded into a whole new segment - power wet shaving - with the
launch of the M3Power razor. Four key innovations and improvements were made to the Mach3
design to produce the Mach3Turbo. The most notable development was the introduction of anti-
friction, comfort coated blades, which was specifically designed to reduce the force required to
cut through hair, therefore reducing irritation and allowing men to shave against the grain.
In 2006, The Gillette Fusion, a five-bladed razor was released. There were two different versions
of the Fusion available: the Gillette Fusion, and the Gillette Fusion Power. All shared the
characteristic of having five blades on the front, and a single sixth blade on the rear that could act
as a "precision trimmer". Gillette Series also combined shave gel and foam to enhance razor
performance, along with after-shave cooling gel, after-shave balm and splash, anti-perspirants,
deodorants and shower gels. In the year 2008 the company took on two shaving products
currently pitched on the airwaves: the Infinity Razor, a single plastic shaver that boldly claims to
be "the last razor you'll ever buy"; and the Save A Blade, which claims to keep razor blades
sharp for 200 shaves.
Inspite of all these efforts of Gillette, 80 per cent of men in India who shaved were using a
traditional double-edged razor, a technology so ingrained that cuts and razor burn were
considered a part of everyday life. Also, the stubble look of Bollywood and Hollywood
celebrities, sports men, businessmen, the so called role model for most of us was spreading fast.
It seemed consumers were unaware of Gillettes promise of a clean, smooth shave, did not
believe it, or simply did not care. However in some of the western countries, head shaving had
become a new fashion symbol that Gillette could leverage.

Innovation Dilemma for Gillette:
It took a long time for someone to come up with the idea that twin blades might beor, at least
sellbetter. Since then, there was no looking back and the pace of change had accelerated, as
blade after blade had been added to razors in an attempt to multiply the shaving experience.
For most of the users, this evolution was mere a marketing gimmick, representing old wine in a
new bottle. Twin blades seemed plausible. Three were a bit unlikely. Four, ridiculous. And five
oh no! not again!. Few people, though, seem willing to bet that Gillette's five-bladed Fusion is
the end of the journey for razor-blade escalation. More blades may seem impossible for the
momentthough strictly speaking the Fusion had six, because it had a single blade on its flip-
side for tricky areas. This inculcated curiosity among users with a gambling persuasion to
examine the relationship between how many blades a razor had, and the date each new design
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was introduced. This relationship suggested shavers are going to get more blades whether they
need them or not. So what did the future hold? If Gillette technology was on the path of
following Moores law, then the 14-bladed razor should arrive in 2100. It is simply not possible
to add a new blade whenever the marketing department wants one. Every additional blade,
explains Michele Szynal, a spokeswoman at Gillette, adds weight and size to a razor. Firms must
therefore find ways of making both razor and blades lighter, which means thinner blades, more
closely spaced, made of special materials, with new coatings.
On the surface, Gillette looked like a model of innovation success. Still, a question emerged from
among series of typical Gillette style improvements. Can this type of innovation at Gillette go
too far? Can innovation just for the sake of innovation or to encourage more consumer
purchases under the expectation that somethings new and improved be simply too much?
Where do meaningful innovations end and the hype begin?

Road Ahead
Mr Khosala took a deep breath and was astonished to see the SAGA of innovation that led
company to win various accolades in the industry over the period of time. He was worried about
the pressure of handling the aspirations of future generation which had a strong belief on
Gillettes strong innovation philosophy. Todays decision whether to built on existing innovation
platform or to look for certain breakthrough would ripple through the very real world of business
of tomorrow with the future of a leading business unit at stake.

References:
1. Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications, Thursday, Apr 03, 2003
2. www.ideas4all.com, Gillette and Innovation - Which side are you on ? July 3, 2007
3. ALL INDIA STATUS REPORT ON SAFETY RAZOR BLADES INDUSTRY by Shri.
K. Sampathkumar, Deputy Director (Met), Small Industries Service Institute, Govt. of
India, Ministry of SSI 9prepared under action plan 2003-04)
4. Bajpai. V N, Ankur, Kumar Satish, Case on Gillette India: Sharpening the Innovation
Edge in 21
st
Century Synergy, Journal, 2008
5. Superbrands case studies: Gillette, Brand Republic 29-Nov-04
6. "Gillette Unveils Newest Members of Its Gillette Young Guns Lineup".
http://www.pginvestor.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=104574&p=irolnewsArticle&ID=1106705
&highlight=. Retrieved on April 15, 2009.
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7. www.pg.com/en_IN/downloads/investor_relations/gillete/corporate-
governance/corporate-governance-report/CORPORATE-GOVERNANCE-REPORT-
2014.pdf+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in
Exhibit: 1.
Moore's law for razor blades

March 16
th
, 2006 | From the print edition Economist
Exhibit-2.
Technology SCurve representing Technology Density, Technology Potential & Technology Limit

Exhibit 3
Low convenience
High convenience
High value Low value
Presto
Mach3
M3 Turbo
M3 Power
7 O Clock P II
Fusion
Phantom
Perceptual Map for
Gillette Shaving Razors
Vector Plus
???