Environmental Analysis: Huggies Supreme diapers
By
David A. Jecker
Sunday, January 12, 2003
Kimberly-Clark, a multi-national corporation is one of the top manufacturers of consumer
products. Kimberly-Clark's brands, recognized globally, such as Huggies, Kotex, and Depend,
to name a few, capture a large market share in over 150 countries and services more than 1.3
billion individuals annually. Huggies, which was first introduced in 1978, is the number-one
selling brand of diapers in North America; it also has a reputation for being highly competitive in
the world market.
In June 2002, Kimberly-Clark provided us with their latest product, which is actually an
improvement to an existing product: the Huggies Supreme diaper. The need for this improved
design came after several studies of the current expectations of the consumers need to have a
better fitting diaper with less leakage and more comfort, as well as ease of use for the parents
and/or caretakers. Dudley Lehman, group president of Infant and Child Care at Kimberly-Clark
stated the following: “Inspired by consumer feedback and backed by our nonwovens and
absorbency expertise, we’ve produced a superior-performing diaper that’s like no other on the
market”(Kimberly-Clark, 2002). This led to the improvement of having an entirely flexible
outer skin in conjunction with an entirely elastic waistband. This particular product was not
changed entirely and it kept “the Ultra SkinGuard Liner [which] contains the following mild
cosmetic ingredients to help keep skin soft and healthy-looking: petrolatum, ozokerite (Melissa,
2001).
Studies in the environmental factors that make up the diaper market indicate that the improved
design has the potential to capture a larger share than that of the original. The factors of
demographics, economy, technology, natural, political/legal, and social/cultural variables will be
considered in this paper.
The demographics that pertain to Huggies customers, in general, seem to provide sup