Sealed Air Corporation was one of the leading protective packaging companies with a good market reputation in countries like France, Germany, US and England. The company differentiated itself in the market with technological innovative leadership and hence the company was the first who made a new protective packaging product using coated air-bubble, AirCap. For ten years, the company remained successful with its unique AirCap protection packaging product however, unfortunately the market trends were rapidly changed and the technologically advanced coated bubble was replaced by the inexpensive and regular uncoated bubble products. The increasing demand of inexpensive uncoated bubble packaging was a direct threat for …show more content…
The end users or buyers of packaging products were confused because of a number of options and poor marketing strategies of the companies. As a result, US customer viewed these products as a cost saving opportunity and so they neglected product quality for a lower price. European markets were also driven by an inexpensive uncoated bubble protective packaging products because European customers were highly price conscious and less technology oriented in these products.
For Sealed Air Corporation, the competition was high in both US and Europe. In the US, Astro Packaging and a new entrant GAFCEL were two potential competitors serving the low end of the market by producing uncoated bubble products. Astro was the only other manufacturer for coated products. In Europe Sansetsu was a strong and potential manufacturer of quality uncoated bubble products. Sealed Air Corporation had an advantage of its experience and market value with which it could easily increase its viability and strengthen its customer base. Though, the company had to face an indirect competition from paper based protective packaging and foam companies however, it was not a threat to the company.
Strategic Alternatives
Alternative 1:
Introduce Uncoated Bubbles in the US and