Group6:

Justine Bernard
Lisa Taurines
Frederique Ramananarivo
Victoriano osa sanz
Maxime Vifian

GROUP 6

LAFARGE
I N T E R N A L A N A LY S I S

TOP MANAGEMENT GOALS

Financial & economical performance:
Total sales in 2008 : 19 billions
Growth from 2007 to 2008 : +8,1%

Power inside the firm:

The Lafarge Group is the world leader
The CEO is former HEC Bruno LAFONT
The Headquarters are in Paris & the eldest R&D center in
Lyon
Present in 79 countries

Long term vision:

Expending to the emerging markets
Growing concerns about environment, cost reduction,
employee safety & innovation

 Firms activities: ABELL matrix

Customer needs

Accessibility

Architects

Awareness

Builders

Know-how

Private owners

Environmental concerns

Governmental Organizations

SBU IDENTIFICATION & ASSESSMENT

Customer groups

Technology
4

SALES PERFORMANCE & EVOLUTIONS

Competitive position: World leader in cement,
aggregates and concrete, gypsum
Global Turnover in 2008: 19 billions

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT

MARKETING STRATEGY AND MIX
STP strategy:
Segmentation criteria: private and professional users
Target: B2B & B2C, choice and strategy: be
everywhere and taking care of people, planet & profit
Positioning: innovative, awareness of the brand,
accessible
4 Ps analysis:
Product: Cement, Aggregates & concrete, Gypsum
Price: ?
Place: respectively, in 50, 40 and 29 countries
Promotion: essentially on the corporate website

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT

MARKETING STRATEGY AND MIX

Critical analysis:
A corporate website all-in-one, reaching stakeholders
through identified topics but there is not enough
transparency and reactivity.
Few efforts of mass advertising poorly broadcasted that
remained unknown: it was in 1996, the advertising
campaign materials to build the world

LAFARGE
E X T E R N A L A N A LY S I S

MACRO-ENVIRONMENT: PESTEL
Political: Even if Lafarge is present all over the world, the

company works mostly in developed countries, then it does not face

important political conflict. However their business is really dependent
on political context especially for building permit

Economic: The economic crisis has a really important impact

on the business of construction, particularly in developed countries
since the amounts of money they are spending are way lower

Sociocultural: World population keep growing

Technological: Nowadays extracting process of materials

needed to make cement are at the state of the art. Most of houses &
building has needed cement for their construction

MACRO-ENVIRONMENT: PESTEL
Environmental: Our current society try be very careful

concerning the environment and especially the impacts on the

climate change and the scarce of resources

Legal: Developed countries have to respect the Kyoto Protocol

concerning the CO2 emissions. They have to respect the laws of the
different countries where they are working. Laws about construction
can often prevent the construction of a building

Opinion leaders & trends: Nowadays, the main trend

concern the sustainability development especially in terms of

renewable energies, recycling of industrial waste and a lower energy
consumption. Building manufacturers try to be as eco-friendly as
possible

International: Emerging countries are the main actors of the

growth in building materials thanks to their urban and demographic

development and their economic growth

MACRO-ENVIRONMENT:
INDUSTRIAL & SECTOR ANALYSIS
Competitors rivalry:
Even if Lafarge is the market leader for building materials, the
competition is really strong in this business. Lafarge has 5 main
competitors (CRH, HOLCIM, CEMEX, Heidelberg cement &
Italcementi).
Except for Italcementi their turnover 2008 is higher than 14 billions
Their strategy concerning social networks is different, indeed some
of them use them and not the others

Buyer Power:
Lafarge has a worldwide presence and then has a large number
of customers
However their contracts represent huge amount of money, then
they have a big bargaining power especially for big projects like
roads or railways

MACRO-ENVIRONMENT:
INDUSTRIAL & SECTOR ANALYSIS
Substitutes: To replace the use of its products, we can for

example use wood, steel, iron or glass depending of the case. Some
of these products are more eco-friendly and others cheaper than
cement

Supplier power: Since Lafarge extract directly the raw

materials that they use to produce their goods, the only suppliers are
the ones producing engines they are using, then it seems that their
bargaining power is not that important

New entrants: An important threat could come from the

emerging countries, for instance in Asia. Their own market is growing

and that allows the companies to develop themselves, become
stronger and get a comparative advantage. Then the main barrier
for new entrants is the required capital (for infrastructures, raw
material )

MACRO-ENVIRONMENT:
INDUSTRIAL & SECTOR ANALYSIS
Companies from emerging
countries could become
really powerful in the next
few years
Bargaining power of
suppliers is not really
high since Lafarge
extract its own raw
materials. They are
only dependent of
engines providers

Compe>tors
all over the
world but they
are the market
leader

Some products that are

cheaper or more eco-
friendly could replace
cement in some cases like
for exemple wood or glass

Many buyers but

they s>ll have a
high bargaining
power since they
represent huge
contracts

MICRO-ENVIRONMENT: MARKET
DEFINITION
Generic Market: Cements + special cements with added
characteristics / Woods, iron, steel, glass

Quantitative: 100 million tons of cement each year

Qualitative:
Nowadays the trend is to be eco-friendly and thanks to the
innovation they succeed to use twice as less amount of raw
materials to produce the same good
The second important aspect concerns the safety of the labour
force

MICRO-ENVIRONMENT: MARKET
OFFERING
The distribution channels: Lafarge communicates only
through its internet website
For now the direct competitors of Lafarge are in
developed countries but since Lafarge try to increase its
presence in emerging countries, it faces new
competitors
Lafarge has a strong innovative strategy and is actually
the market leader

QUESTION 1:
Using only information provided in the case,
you will evaluate and select 2 social
networks that allow an efficient corporate
communication, taking into account the
sectors structure, Lafarge possibilities &
competition moves.

Helpful

Armful

Internal Origin

Strengths
Market leader with a
worldwide presence
Huge innovations &
know-how
Market knowledge
Significant acquisitions
such as Orascom Cement
in Egypt
A strong R&D business unit
Taking care of their
employees

Weaknesses
Low visibility
Just one promotion channel:
the corporate website
Most of its customers in
Western Europe & North
America

External Origin

Opportunities
Emergent countries
development
Population keep growing
then an increasing need
of MGB industries
Trend of environmental
concern

Threats
Economical Crisis background
New competitors

SWOT ANALYSIS

Criteria to choose the two social networks:

Adapted to B to B
Increasing the visibility of Lafarge
Highlight their competitive advantages compared
to their competitors
Targeting new customers and above all in emerging
countries

FACEBOOK
It has several business advantages:

Advertising targeting and surveys

Future employee recruitment
New partners and clients
Buzz and videos
SEO and link to the website

Facebook can have a big impact on stakeholders

because it is mainly used and well-known worldwide but
it is not adapted as a corporate communication tool.
We think the Lafarge Group does not need to start with
a Facebook page because it is more adapted to
communicate directly with its customers (B2C) but not to
do B2B.

TWITTER
It has several business advantages:

Status & micro-sharing

Increasing business purpose and professional followers
Relationships between users
Polls & surveys
Link to the website

Twitter has less users than Facebook but he has a

increasing business purpose and a bigger impact on
stakeholders trough the web influencers.
We think the Lafarge Group should start with a Twitter
account, as a corporate communication tool and as an
interaction platform with all its stakeholders.

LINKEDIN
It has several business advantages:

Building its digital identity (professional & personal presentation)

3rd degree connections
Find people, jobs & opportunities
Community & groups to talk about brands & products

LinkedIn is a very dynamic platform that allows third

degree connections and has a worldwide influence.
We think that the Lafarge Group should integrate
LinkedIn as its second social network, because its users
are increasing, its main purpose is professional and
combined with Twitter, all the expectances for the
Group corporate communication are fulfilled.

VIADEO
It has several business advantages:

Famous in France and Asia

Groups with a belonging feeling
Spaces with specific subjects
Geographic clubs
Need to be alive

Viadeo doesnt have a worldwide platform, so it has too

much boundaries in order to be the second social
network of a multinational company.
We think that the Lafarge Group should not use Viadeo
as a social network because, even if its business
advantages are very interesting for the company, the
geographic impact would be too small.

CONCLUSION QUESTION 2
Finally, we choose Twitter and LinkedIn because these
are the social networks which will be the most efficient
for a company like Lafarge.

interactive platform
Professional purpose
Increasing number of users
Better for a B to B business
Geographic impact

QUESTION 2:
According to the social networks selected in the
first question, you will propose a coherent
positioning and communication strategy. It is
mandatory to details the themes and messages you
plan to communicate through these networks. A
particular care will be given to the definition of
operational objectives, means and costs used and
expected returns.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY
On the one hand, on Twitter, Lafarge will provide
immediate news about them and their projects. It allows
to a dynamic communication.
On the other hand, on LinkedIn, Lafarge will create its
profile and its digital identity. At the same time, it will
gather a community with its employees, its suppliers, its
clients and its potential stakeholders.
Lafarge doesnt follow the same objectives with these
two social networks.

POSITIONING ON TWITTER
Segmenting

Targeting

Geographical

Developed and emerging

countries
People concerned by a particular
building (neighborhood)

Demographical-Occupation

Professional: suppliers and clients

Behavioral

To be comfortable with new

technology

Behavioral-Users status

Followers on Twitter

Behavioral-Needs and benefits

Look after immediate information

New positioning on Twitter: Bringing immediate

information to its stakeholders worldwide.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY ON
TWITTER
Themes and messages:

Every news concerning the group and the different projects.

For example the date of a launching project, inaugurations, visits of
political personalities or an appointment to the nomination of a
director

Operational / communication objectives:

To provide immediate information about the group and its projects. It

means in real-time (daily or more frequently).
To give more transparency
To show the dynamism of the group. It has hundred projects worldwide
To communicate about their strengths: this is the market leader, it has
made acquisitions (as Orascom Cement), the group has a strong
know-how
To organize (and use) polls and surveys about some of their projects
and show they take care of the public opinion

POSITIONING ON LINKEDIN
Segmenting

targeting

Geographical

Developed and emerging

countries

Demographical-Occupation

Professional: suppliers, clients,

employees and potential
employees

Demographical-Life cycle

Students (potential employees)

Behavioral

To be comfortable with new

technology

Behavioral-Users status

Users of LinkedIn

Behavioral-Needs and benefits

Look after jobs and opportunities

(ex: new projects for suppliers )

New positioning on LinkedIn: Creating a community

with its stakeholders worldwide.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY ON
LINKEDIN
Themes and messages:

At first, Lafarge will create its LinkedIn profile with its history, its former
and new projects. It will provide opportunities as jobs offers for
students or new projects for suppliers. In this way, Lafarge will create
its network composed by its stakeholders and potential stakeholders.
This community will be also a platform of discussion about brands or
services.

Operational / communication objectives:

To develop its digital identity

To create a community between Lafarge and its stakeholders
To give its stakeholders the feeling to belong to Lafarge s projects
To create a platform of mutual exchanges

MEANS AND COSTS

Tangible resources
- Employees: A community manager in charged social
networking
- Physical: A laptop and an internet access

Intangible resources
- Financial: It is free to register on Twitter and Linkedln

Finally, these communication strategies havent

important costs compared to other existing strategies
( as posters for example). There is just the wage of the
manager in charge of the social networking.

QUESTION 3:
You will propose a communication plan
emphasizing on actions taken in-line with objectives
previously defined. Your must include timeline and
budget. You can support your plan by relying on
both information provided in the case and the
knowledge acquired through your study lectures,
personal business culture and own creativeness.

GOALS
A communication adapted to B to B:
For the group:

Increasing the international visibility of Lafarge

Targeting new customers and above all in emerging countries
To show the dynamism of the group
To communicate about their environmental concern
To develop its digital identity

For the clients and suppliers

To give more transparency

To create a community between Lafarge and its stakeholders
To give its stakeholders the feeling to belong to Lafarge s projects
To create a platform of mutual exchanges

SEGMENTS &TARGETS
Segmenting

Targeting

Geographical

Emerging countries
Developed countries

Demographical Occupation

Exhibitors in building shows

and stakeholders of
building shows

Behavioral-Needs and
benefits

Look after information

Psychographical- interest

Readers of specialized
medias

Phsychographical - interest

Sustainable development
concern

TOOLS
Sponsoring:
Sponsoring of professional events, Building Show Lafarge
in developing countries (as Batimat in France ). It offers an
international visibility every year in the emerging market.

Public relations:
Interviews about sustainable development issues in
specialized magazines. It gives legitimacy to Lafarge
because it is published by specialized journalists.

TOOLS
Direct marketing:
Participation of international building show as Ecobuild,
which is specialized on sustainable design, construction and
the build environment. This is a way to show their
environmental concern.
Newsletters addressed to their clients and suppliers, each
month. It will contain the news about the projects and the
group development.

Advertising:
Advertising in specialized magazines

RESOURCES & BUDGET

Resources:
Lafarge is the leader on the market, thats why it could
probably spend the benefits of projects
To expand the communication projects on many months in
order to have time to get the money.

Budget:
2 big investments: sponsoring and advertising in specialized
magazines
Very high budget

TIMELINE
Jan.

Twitter

Mar.

Apr.

May

Jun.

July

Aug.

Sep.

Nov.

Dec.

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XX

XXX XXX

Sponsorin
g
Advertisi
ng

Interview
s

Build
show

Oct.

XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX

LinkedIn
Newslette
rs

Feb.

X
X

XXX

X
X

XXX

CONCLUSION
Lafarge is the leader on the market but has a lot of
progress to do on the web if it want to stay competitive.
The most interesting social networks are Twitter and
LinkedIn.
But there are many other ways to promote our firm like
sponsoring or advertisements.
It costs money but this is important to show to its
potential customers that this is an innovative
corporation.
Furthermore it will respond to the goals we have fixed
previously concerning its visibility, transparency, identity
and so on.