Case study Construction of international brand portfolios: impact on local brands Bruno Godey and Chantal Lai Marketing Department, Rouen Business School, Mont Saint Aignan, France Abstract Purpose – In the literature, the question of how the strategies of brand portfolios affect performance remains open and subject to contradictory developments. This paper aims to highlight the various steps involved in the analysis of international brand portfolios as well as issues specific to each of these phases. Design/methodology/approach – This article relies on the results of a longitudinal case study conducted in collaboration with the marketing direction of Procter & Gamble’s European Business Unit “Laundry and Fabric Care” from 2004 to 2009. Findings – The authors present the strategic and operational movements that led to the reduction of the P&G brand portfolio in the laundry category. The authors then compare them with the current results of the company in this market to assess the performance of this strategy of rationalization. Originality/value – While the best way forward to construct international brand portfolios has not yet been specifically defined and many questions remain, this article provides an illustration of a methodology tested by an international company. Keywords Brand portfolios, Brand management, International, Reduction, Global, Local, P&G, International business Paper type Case study Introduction Marketers have traditionally focused on managing their brands individually. Most recently however the emphasis has shifted and with a tendency for companies to consider these issues in the context of more generalised brand portfolio management. After several decades of exponential growth of their international brands portfolios, many multinationals firms today are leaning more towards rationalization and reduction. They usually choose a “top-down”, approach consisting of taking decisions at the level of the international portfolio that impact on the local portfolios. Thus, since the early 2000s, Unilever has embarked on the disposal of 1,200 brands from its original international portfolio of 1,600, L’Oreal has built its success on only 17 international brands and Procter & Gamble has reduced its portfolio to 300 brands of which 17 earn $1 billion or more. Whilst this practice of rationalization seems to be justified by the profound changes taking place in the economic environment, it must be conducted with care to avoid risks. In the literature, the question of how the strategies of brand portfolios affect performance remains open and subject to contradictory developments (Bordley, 2003; Kumar, 2003). This article highlights the various steps involved in the process (identification, classification, implementation and assessment) as well as issues specific to each of these phases. It relies in particular on the results of a longitudinal case study conducted in collaboration with the marketing direction of the Procter & Gamble’s European Business Unit “Laundry and Fabric Care” from 2004 to 2009. 1. The evolution of international brand portfolios The brand portfolio of a company consists of all brand names of products or services that this company offers worldwide. The concept of the international brand portfolio is therefore positioned at the intersection of, on the one hand, markets where the company operates, and on the other hand products/ brands offered by it together with the countries in which the brands are present. Reflections on international brand portfolios are therefore based on both the analysis of strategic business units within the company, the markets/ brand dimension and the international deployment thereof. A historical analysis of international brand portfolios of large multinational organisations, based on the work of Kapferer (2004), leads to the conclusion that two major periods followed one another: their growth and their reduction. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm Journal of Product & Brand Management 20/5 (2011) 402–407 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421] [DOI 10.1108/10610421111157928] The authors would like to thank Noe´mie Ganem, the Senior Brand Manager in charge of restructuring Procter & Gamble’s detergent brand portfolio in France. 402