IILM Undergraduate Business School

Student Name RIYA GUPTA

SBS Registration Number UG17-20-050

SBS Batch 2017-20

Stage 2

Academic Year 2018-19

Yakult Honsha
Company Name

15
No. of Pages

1|Page
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

SNO. PARTICULARS PAGE

NO.

1. Introduction 3

2. History 3

3. Philosophy 4

4. Mission 4

5. Board of Directors 5

6. Products 6

7. Market Analysis 7

8. Customer Information 7

9. Financial Information 8,9,10,11

10. CSR Activities 12,13

11. Employee Retention 13

12. Visual Observation 14

13. Recommendation 14

14. Conclusion 14

15. Bibliography 15

2|Page
INTRODUCTION

Industry: Probiotic Drink

Founded: 1935
Head Quarters: Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Key People: Sumiya Hori (chairman)
Khamis Agear (EVP for global operations)

Yakult is a Probiotic drink which is produced by fermentation with bacteria strain Lactobacillus
paracasei Shirota. Yakult Honsha is a multinational corporation. It sells various other products
besides the Yakult Probiotic drink and owns the Tokyo Yakult Swallows baseball team.

HISTORY
Japanese scientist Minoru Shirota first isolated a
probiotic strain Lactobacillus paracasei which reached
the intestine alive and impart benefits to the host in
1930s and after fermentation the probiotic drink was
sold by Yakult Honsha.
It was launched in 193 in Japan. Today it is a global
leader in Probiotic drinks.

3|Page
PHILOSIPHY
Dr. Shirota studied medicine at Kyoto University. He worked on the field of preventive medicines
and started on the path of microorganisms. In his research, Dr. Shirota discovered that lactobacilli
were effective in suppressing harmful bacteria within the intestines. Later he successfully
strengthened and cultured a strain of lactobacilli, which is now known as Lactobacillus casei strain
Shirota.
Shirota-ism: The idiosyncratic philosophy of Shirota-ism believes that the products should be
affordable and a healthy intestine promotes longer life is very well followed by the company.

MISSION
Yakult’s mission is to contribute to health and happiness of every person around the world through
pursuit of excellence in life sciences and study of microorganisms.

4|Page
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President Takashige Negishi

and Representative Director

Director Yoshihiro Kawabata

Hiroshi Narita

Hiroshi Wakabayashi

Fumiyasu Ishikawa

Masaki Tanaka

Masanori Ito

Akifumi Doi

Tetsuya Hayashida

Susumu Hirano

5|Page
PRODUCTS
The company is a probiotic drinks industry. Besides the drinks the company also deals in other
product lines which are as follows:

 Food and beverages

The company offer dairy products which have Lactobacillus casei

strain Shirota and Bifid bacterium breve
strain such as Yakult, foods and beverages developed for the pursuit
of health benefits.

 Pharmaceuticals

Yakult Honsha has expanded its business in the

field of therapeutic medicines. It is widely
recognized for its anti-cancer medicine.

 Cosmetics

Yakult Honsha has developed unique moisturizing ingredients by

investigating Lactic acid bacteria. The products have health benefits
for the skin.

6|Page
MARKET ANALYSIS
 SWOT Analysis

STRENGTH WEAKNESS
1. High brand awareness. 1. Limited choice of flavors.
2. Unique product. 2. Limited distribution channel.
3. Reputation in health benefits. 3. Price disadvantage

OPPORTUNITY THREAT
1. Increased production capacity. 1. Environmental concerns for bottling
2. Introduction of different flavors and plants.
other products. 2. Potential entrants risk.
3. Large market size as people are
becoming more health conscious.

CUSTOMER INFORMATION
Yakult is a healthy drink and target people who look forward for a healthy life.

STP Analysis
 Segmentation

1. Geographic segmentation: Yakult products do well in the urban areas as the lifestyle
in rural areas is healthy in comparison.

2. Demographic segmentation: Yakult is for each and every person.

 Targeting

Yakult has its target market spread all over the world. Its product is undifferentiated and
therefore no specialization is needed.

 Positioning

“Love your intestine”, is the USP for Yakult hand has become the positioning for Yakult
in the minds of customer.

7|Page
FINANCIAL INFORMATION

BALANCE SHEET

8|Page
9|Page
STATEMENT OF PROFIT AND LOSS

10 | P a g e
11 | P a g e
CSR
Yakult has its CSR action plan which is guided by basic CSR policy.
“In order for people to be healthy, everything around them must also be healthy”
Basic policy on CSR
Yakult aims to strive through activities based on its corporate philosophy. It aims at earning the
trust of the stakeholders and promote healthy relationship amongst them.
CSR management structure
 CSR promotion system
 CSR promotion committee
 Verifying CSR activities
Three key areas for CSR
“We contribute to the health and happiness of people around the world through pursuit of
excellence in life science in general and our research and experience in microorganisms in
particular.”

HEALTH

LOCAL THE
COMMUNITIES ENVIORNMENT

12 | P a g e
Some of the Yakult CSR activities are as follows:

 Healthy recipe cards

Yakult partnered with UNICEF and with the help of Yakult ladies’ healthy recipe cards
were distributed in Mexico. In addition to recipes the cards also contained information to
promote health in children.

 Healthy intestinal tract project

The project was launched to communicate the functioning of the digestive system.

 Health seminars

Free health seminars are conducted by Yakult which talks about eating habits and benefits
of Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota.

 Biodiversity conservation

Donations for children forest, participation in green wave etc.

 Community support initiatives

Yakult has customer appreciation day where the customers are invited to dine together.
Yakult ladies connect well with the customers and take the feedback on fixed days. They
also notice subtle changes of the customer and advice accordingly.

 Tree plantation

Yakult takes initiative of planting trees in all the areas it operates.

EMPLOYEE RETENTION
Yakult retains its employee by providing them benefits and taking care of their health. Working
environment is well maintained. It is a place to develop skills and employees enjoy learning them.
Health insurance is done for each and every employee. Free Yakult is provided considering the
health of people working for the organization.

13 | P a g e
VISIUAL OBSERVATION
We visited Yakult bottling plant on 1 March 2019 situated at Rai industrial area, Sonipat,
Haryana. Presentation about Yakult was presented and a person explained us how Yakult started
and about the journey until now. In between we were given Yakult and biscuits. The session
ended with questions which were answered quite well. After the presentation we went to the
manufacturing premises and saw how Yakult was being manufactured. The process was majorly
automated. While we were seeing an employee explained the process.
The premises were well maintained and as it was a FMCG plus health drink it was ensured that
human touch was minimum to avoid contamination.
RECOMMENDATION
As of now Yakult only has two flavors that too a variety for sugar ingredient, I would
recommend to add more flavors as it would attract buyers. Moreover, awareness programs
regarding the health benefits in India would help to boost sales while compromising on the price.
CONCLUSION
Yakult is a health drink and has many benefits. The company is doing well and has better
opportunity in the coming time as people are becoming more health conscious.

14 | P a g e
BIBLOGRAPHY
 https://www.yakult.co.jp/english/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakult_Honsha
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakult
 https://institute.yakult.co.jp/en/environment/
 https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Yakult/reviews?fcountry=ALL&ftopic=paybenefits

15 | P a g e