!STRATEGY FORMULATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

PROF. VEERESH SHARMA

Submitted by:

1. Vikas Saraswat (NMP-34) 3. Animesh Kumar (NMP-03) 5. Arvind Joni (NMP-08)

2. Mukesh Sahu (NMP-22) 4. Devendra Kumar (EM-03) 6. Kanchan Arya (NMP-13)

Group- 3 ACNielson

Index

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1 Index 22 Introduction

i Mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances and divestitures 3ii Key Programs 53 Business Operations

i Media 6ii Consumer Research 7iii Nielson Online 7iv Nielson Business Media 74 Mission, Vision and Values 9i Mission 9ii Vision 9iii Values 9iv The Nielsen Code 105 Core Competencies 10

i Measuring associate (employee) satisfaction 11

ii Measuring client satisfaction 11

iii Time tracking for client service organisations 12

iv Quality measures on how client uses ACNielson’s dat 12

v Metrics for internal productivity 12

6 Competitive Advantage 12

i Global Scale and Brand 12

ii Strong, Diversified Client Relationships 13

iii Enhanced Data Assets and Measurement Science 13

iv Innovation 13

v Scalable Operating Model 14

7 Industry Trends 14

8 The Company's Growth Strategy 15

i Continue to grow in developing markets 15

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ii Continue to develop innovative services 16

iii Continue to attract new clients and expand existing relationships 16

iv Continue to pursue strategic acquisitions to complement the leadership positions 16

v Technology Infrastructure 16

vi Intellectual Property 16

vii Employees 17

9 Competitive Landscape 17

i What Consumers Buy 17

ii What Consumers Watch 17

iii Rivals 18

iv Regulation 18

10 Competitive Environment 19

i Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) for ACNielson 19

ii External Factor Evaluation (EFE) Matrix 19

iii Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) Matrix 20

iv SWOT Matrix 20

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Introduction

The Nielsen Corporation, also known as ACNielsen or AC Nielsen is a global marketing research firm, with worldwide headquarters in New York City, United States of America. Regional headquarters for North America are located in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois. As of May 2010, it is part of Nielsen Holdings. Arthur C. Nielsen Sr. founded the company in 1923, 90 years ago. The Nielsen company is a publicly held global market research and service provider company and is also one of the world’s leading supplier of marketing information, audience measurement, and business media products, online intelligence and mobile measurement. With 34,000 employees and presence in more than 104 countries Nielsen’s mission is to provide clients with the most complete understanding of what consumers watch and buy. Market research information provided by Nielsen helps their clients to make strategic business decisions every day. Nielsen analyze and advice about complex marketing issues for winning business decisions.

Mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances and divestitures

The company was acquired by the Dun & Bradstreet Company in 1984.D&B, as it is known today, broke Nielsen into two separate companies in 1996. These The core Nielsen Media Research, which was responsible for TV ratings, and AC Nielsen, which was responsible for consumer shopping trends and box-office data. The Dutch publishing company VNU (Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen) acquired Nielsen Media Research in 1999. It later recombined the two halves of the business when it acquired AC Nielsen in 2001. In between, it sold its newspaper properties to Wegener and its consumer magazines to Sanoma. In 2004, Nielsen began a joint venture called AGB Nielsen Media Research with WPP Group's AGB Group, a European competitor which provides similar services.

VNU combined the Nielsen properties with other research and data collection units including BASES, Claritas, HCI and Spectra. The company's publishing arm also owned several publications including The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard magazine. VNU began acquiring companies that added to its measurement capabilities. In 2006, it acquired a majority stake in Buzzmetrics, a company which measures consumer-generated media online. Under the new ownership, Nielsen bought the remaining shares of the company in 2007. In the same year, Nielsen acquired Telephia, which measures mobile media, and Bilesim Medya, a Turkish advertising intelligence firm.

In 2006, VNU was acquired by a group of six private equity firms: the American Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Thomas H. Lee Partners, Blackstone Group, Carlyle Group and Hellman & Friedman, and Dutch equity firm AlpInvest Partners for £5 bn. In the same year, the group hired David L. Calhoun, formerly of General Electric, as CEO. He renamed VNU as The Nielsen Company in 2007. VNU sold its business publications division in 2006 for €320m (£210m) to venture capital group 3i, which then sold the UK division (VNU Business Publications Ltd) to Incisive Media.

In 2008, the company acquired IAG Research which measures viewer engagement with TV commercials. The same year Nielsen made a strategic investment in NeuroFocus, a California firm applying neuroscience brainwave techniques for consumer research. The firm was later fully acquired by Nielsen in 2011. In 2009 and 2010, Nielsen sold its business magazines; its well-known entertainment properties went to the new company e5 Global Media. In 2009, the company acquired The Cambridge Group, which is a management consulting firm headquartered in Chicago. The Cambridge Group works with CEOs and top management teams to drive growth. The firm has a distinctive expertise in tapping into latent and emerging consumer demand, and using these insights to drive product, service and marketing innovation across consumer-driven businesses.

In June 2010 Nielsen paired with McKinsey & Company to create the social media consulting company NM Incite. NM Incite has operations in 13 global markets, including: US, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia,

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New Zealand, China, Japan, India, Brazil, Canada and Korea. In August 2011 Nielsen acquired Marketing Analytics, Inc. The acquisition strengthens Nielsen's marketing ROI and marketing mix capabilities. In February 2012, Nielsen launched The Demand Institute in collaboration with The Conference Board. The Demand Institute is a non-profit, non-advocacy organisation focused on helping business and government leaders understand how consumer demand is evolving and shifting around the world. In July 2012, Nielsen acquired the advertising tech company VIZU. The acquisition was made so that Nielsen can better analyze the effectiveness of online advertisement. On December 18, 2012, Nielsen announced that it would acquire Arbitron, a company primarily involved in radio audience measurement, for $1.26 billion. On June 17, 2013 Nielsen announced that ONEX Corp (TSX: OCX) had completed the acquisition of Nielsen Expositions for $950 million in cash consideration. Nielsen Expositions operated trade shows in the United States. The company was renamed Emerald Expositions Inc. after the transaction. On February 3, 2014 Nielsen announced the acquisition of Harris Interactive, Inc. (NASDAQ:HPOL). Harris is known widely for The Harris Poll

!Nielsen was a private company from 2006 through 2011. On January 25, 2011 the company listed itself on the New York Stock Exchange and issued an Initial Public Offering (IPO) that raised $1.8 billion in the largest private equity-backed U.S. IPO since 2006.

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Key Programs

In 2005, ACNielsen initiated their MVP (Media Voice Panel) program. Panel members carry an electronic monitor that detects the digital station and program identification codes hidden within the TV and radio broadcasts they are exposed to. At night, members place the monitor in a cradle that sends the collected data through the home's electrical wiring to a relay device that transmits it by phone, making it one of the first practical uses of electrical wiring as a home network. With an approximately one week notice to members, the MVP program ended on March 17, 2008. In 2007, the owner VNU changed its name to "The Nielsen Company”.

One of ACNielsen's best known creations is the Nielsen ratings, an Audience measurement system that measures television, radio and newspaper audiences in their respective media markets. In 1950 they acquired the C. E. Hooper company and began attaching recording devices to a statistical sample of about 1,200 consumer television sets in the U.S. These devices used photographic film in mail-in cartridges to record the channels viewed by the consumer and thus determine audience size. Later they developed electronic methods of data collection and transmission. In 1996, ACNielsen split off this part of its operations into a separate company called Nielsen Media Research (NMR), which operated as an independent company until it was acquired by Dutch conglomerate VNU in 1999.

Another market research tool is the Homescan program where sample members track and report all grocery and retail purchases, allowing purchasing patterns to be related to household demographics. Home-scan covers several countries including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 2004, ACNielsen chose the CipherLab CPT-8001 as its data collection terminal for the Home-scan program throughout Asia.

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Business Operations

The Nielsen Co. is mainly involved in the following:

Media Research

• Television and Radio Audience Measurement

• Print Readership

• Advertising Information Services

Consumer Research

• Analyzing consumer purchase behaviour

• Analytics and forecasting of new consumer products

• Qualitative and Quantitative measure’s of consumers attitudes

• Tracking of product sales

Nielsen Online

• Internet measurement and analysis

• Measures and analyses online consumer generated media

Nielsen Business Media

• Business to business products and services in print, online and in person

!Media

• Television audience measurement information for broadcast and cable networks, cable system and satellite service providers, program producers and distributors, and advertisers and their agencies

• National, Local, and Hispanic audience data

- People Meters, Set Meters, Diaries, A/P Meter, Time-shifting

• Nielsen Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement (A2/M2) – Recognising the transformation of consumers viewing habits of television, A2/M2 provides integrated, all-electronic ratings for television programming regardless of the platform on which it is viewed – online, mobile, out-of-home, etc

• Nielsen Monitor-Plus – U.S. advertising intelligence data

• Globally, Nielsen offers television and radio audience measurement, print readership, advertising information services and customised research services

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Consumer Research

• Consumer packaged goods manufacturing and retail sales measurement worldwide

• Nielsen Analytic Consulting – analyses consumer purchasing behaviour in terms of pricing, promotion, marketing mix, category placement, and in-market auditing and testing

• Nielsen BASES – analytics and forecasting into new consumer products before they are brought to market.

• Nielsen Home-scan & Spectra – consumer and shopper insights through panel research, segmentation and targeting

• Nielsen Customised Research – qualitative and quantitative measures of consumers’ attitudes and purchasing behaviour, customer satisfaction, brand awareness and advertising effectiveness

• Nielsen Spectra – tracking of product sales to consumers, based on information gathered at the retail point-of-sale

Nielsen Online

• The merger of NetRatings and BuzzMetrics to create a fully integrated suite of services

- Nielsen NetRatings – the industry’s global standard for Internet measurement and analysis

- Nielsen BuzzMetrics – measures and analyzes online consumer generated media to help clients understand its impact on products, issues, reputation and image

Nielsen Business Media

• Nielsen Business Media provides business-to-business products and services in print, online and in person

- Serves seven major market groups and 30 industries spanning entertainment, media and marketing, retail, travel and performance, design, and life sciences

- 42 publications, more than 135 trade shows and conferences, and 185 digital products and services

- Publications include Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Radio & Records, Progressive Grocer and Meeting News

• Nielsen Business Media also has a strong global presence through extensions of its brands, licensing agreements, partnerships and joint ventures

The key clients of the company include the Coca- Cola Company, NBC Universal, Nestle S.A., News Corp., Procter & Gamble Company and the Unilever Group.

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Mission, Vision and Values

Mission

Nielsen is committed to facilitate firms globally to make educated business decisions by utilising its state of the art proprietary products and services its employees. Nielsen aspires to achieve this goal by being simple in its operations, open in terms of communication and integrated internally, so that regional expertise can be utilised for the growth of its clients as well as the company itself.

Vision

“ To become the worlds leading insights provider”

Values

Nielsen’s culture is driven by its core values: simple, open, integrated and innovative. The company believes in diversity, and incorporating ideas from all perspectives with an open mind so that the best insights and solutions can be provided to its customers. Nielsen implements these values by creating an environment conducive to productivity and learning. The company takes pride in being called an academy company. Nielsen grooms and develops future leaders through constant learning engagements such as training and development sessions and mentoring modules. The importance of diversity is understood at the global, regional and local levels as it build greater understanding of markets and consumers. Enriching the company

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with employees of diverse backgrounds and following the principle of diversity in building partnership with clients and suppliers ensures that horizons remain open and inclusive.

The Nielsen Code

• Impartiality: Be influenced by nothing but your client’s interest. Tell him the truth.

• Thoroughness: Accept business only at a price permitting thoroughness. Then do a thorough job, regardless of cost to us.

• Accuracy: Watch every detail that affects the accuracy of yThe company's work.

• Integrity: Keep the problems of clients and prospects confidential. Divulge information only with their consent.

• Economy: Employ every economy consistent with thoroughness, accuracy and reliability.

• Price: Quote prices that will yield a fair profit. Never change yThe company's price unless warranted by a change in specifications.

• Delivery: Give yThe company's client the earliest delivery consistent with quality–whatever the inconvenience to us.

• Service: Leave no stone unturned to help your client realize maximum profits from his investment.

!Core Competencies

ACNielsen’s return to a robust competitive position was led by Steve Schmidt, in his role as president of the U.S. business, along with the U.S. senior management team. Once an ACNielsen client, Schmidt, who joined ACNielsen in late 1995, collaborated with the corporate senior management team members throughout ACNielsen, including Nick Trivisonno, Chairman and CEO; Bob Lievense, President and COO of ACNielsen; Mauricio Pagés, President - Americas region; John Lewis, Executive Vice President, Marketing; and Michael Brooks, Senior Vice President – Finance, to help move the firm towards a deeply integral position with its clients. Schmidt and his senior management team wanted to move the firm from being perceived as merely a “data company” to being globally respected as an insights and knowledge company that helps clients take action to be more profitable. “The company's business must be imbedded in The company's client’s business – their internal objectives and their strategies. The company have to develop solutions to help The company's clients make smarter business decisions,” said Schmidt. “I don’t want to be a variable expense in [The company's clients’] marketing research budget. I want to be a strategic asset in the marketing budget. ACNielsen’s capabilities must be viewed as integral to the marketing story of these companies.”

Driving the firm’s shift toward a more robust integration with clients, though, required ACNielsen to drive its own shift internally. Schmidt described how he and his team realized a key principle: “Once you say, ‘okay I want to be an insights and knowledge company,’ that required [us to commit to capture] more insights [The ourselves].” Beginning in 1995, for the first time in its history, and continuing through to today, ACNielsen began a series of initiatives to use measurement techniques to help the firm increase its strategic focus and competitive advantage.

ACNielsen used five critical measurement processes to drive its competitive advances:

• Measuring associate (employee) satisfaction to drive towards increased shareholder value.

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• Measuring client satisfaction as part of a world-class client management program.

• Adopting a time-tracking approach for the firm’s client service organisations in order to better understand client’s profit and losses.

• Developing a set of quality measures in order to better guide client use of ACNielsen’s data.

• Creating and using a set of 25 internal productivity metrics to help ACNielsen improve the way it manages itself for the benefit of the firm’s clients.

Measuring associate (employee) satisfaction

This initiative is the foundation for ACNielsen’s overall approach to measurement. It is based on ACNielsen’s wholehearted embrace of the concept of the Service Profit Chain as a basis for regaining competitive advantage. Said Schmidt: “As a professional service organisation, nothing is more important to ACNielsen than the service profit chain: improved employee satisfaction leading to satisfied customers, resulting in superior corporate performance and superior long-term shareholder value.”

Beginning in 1996, the company started administering a global study, the Business Effectiveness Survey (BES), to determine associate satisfaction. Where it finds gaps or shortfalls in the “Index” established for each unit (and there always are gaps or shortfalls), the company initiates a series of review meetings firm wide to allow for Associate feedback. From these meetings, Associates and managers create functional Action Plans to work on throughout the coming year. ACNielsen’s senior management team is then held accountable for the results those plans generate. During the year, Associates receive quarterly progress reports about how the action plans are performing in helping ACNielsen achieve its business objectives.

Measuring client satisfaction

In 1999, ACNielsen added another aspect to its repertoire of measurement initiatives: the Client Management Process (CMP). Key components of CMP include client briefing, needs assessment survey, objective setting and demonstrated client ROI. Developed in the U.S. and eventually rolled out globally, the process is based on the notion that the firm has five (5) customers in each of its clients: a) The CEO, b) the CMO, c) the Chief Strategy Officer, d) the CIO, and e) the Head of Market Research. Besides the obvious general objective (measuring and managing overall ACNielsen U.S. client satisfaction in order to increase patronage of its products and services), there are multiple specific objectives to determine:

• Customer perceptions of ACNielsen’s performance vs. its main competitors

• The importance of factors which influence customer perceptions of ACNielsen

• ACNielsen’s strength and The weaknesses vs. its main competitors

• Priority areas for improvements to enhance the customer relationship

• A strategic tool for developing action plans to effectively grow and strengthen ACNielsen’s market position !By identifying and documenting these clients’ key business issues, needs and objectives, and then evaluating ACNielsen’s performance against these parameters, Schmidt believes ACNielsen can significantly improve its viability to clients. From interviews with these key stakeholders, ACNielsen develops specific objectives and benchmarks for achieving improved client satisfaction. The diagnostic data is then used to develop specific action plans that address all identified areas of The weaknesses as well as to drive overall levels of satisfaction. From there, it publicizes these objectives, benchmarks and plans to other key stakeholders. As

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each quarter progresses, it measures its ROI on the outcome of its efforts. These ROI measures include revenue growth, shareholder value and profitability. Annually, it goes through the process again.

Time tracking for client service organisations Time tracking was implemented broadly across the organisation to help ACNielsen quantify the specific variable costs associated with each client’s P&L. Sixty-percent of ACNielsen costs are people and each client has a unique service model. These insights allowed ACNielsen to target 10 of their least profitable accounts. Subsequently, they launched a successful contract optimisation initiative with these clients to improve profitability. Today, all major ACNielsen clients are profitable.

Quality measures on how client uses ACNielson’s data

ACNielsen began measuring two key elements that contribute most to client satisfaction: on- time delivery and initial database quality (i.e., how many data requests needed to be re-done). Bonuses The were then tied to these measures across the company’s operations and senior management groups. These measures and the company’s performance against them The were also prominently featured in all New Business presentations to allow ACNielsen to differentiate itself on the critical data quality platform.

Metrics for internal productivity

Beginning in 2000, the ACNielsen senior management team instituted a formal measurement program to improve its performance for clients and to improve its own bottom-line profitability. This comprehensive initiative encompasses twenty-five areas, from measuring cost- and resource-saving opportunities to measuring the success rate of the company’s new service development efforts. In a key area, ACNielsen has measured the ways to achieve greater leverage on its technology software and systems. By measuring its costs and service delivery approaches, it decided to convert much of its decision support tools to the Internet rather than maintaining a proprietary capability in-house. Similar decisions were made to help the company improve its management of data processing, data collection and coding work. From these assessments, the firm decided to concentrate all its data capabilities into one web portal (called “ACNielsen Answers”), which also helps it conduct data mining. Schmidt said, “Every aspect of ‘the factory’ has been evaluated. The company have productivity goals every year. These goals are continuously tracked.”

!Competitive Advantage

The company is faced with a number of competitors in the markets in which they operate. Some of it's competitors in each market may have substantially greater financial marketing and other resources than they do and may benefit from other competitive advantages. They face competition, which could adversely affect its business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.”

The company has several competitive advantages including the following:

Global Scale and Brand

The company provides a breadth of information and insights about the consumer in approximately 100 countries. In its Buy segment, they track billions of sales transactions per month in retail outlets in approximately 100 countries around the world. The company also has approximately 240,000 household panelists across 26 countries. In its Watch segment, the ratings are the primary metrics used to determine the

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value of programming and advertising in the U.S. total television advertising marketplace, which was approximately $73 billion in 2010 according to Veronis Suhler Stevenson. The company believes its footprint, neutrality, credibility and leading market positions will continue to contribute to their long-term growth and strong operating margins as the number and role of multinational companies expands. The company's scale is supported by their global brand, which is defined by the original Nielsen code created by the founder, Arthur C. Nielsen, Sr.: impartiality, thoroughness, accuracy, integrity, economy, price, delivery and service.

Strong, Diversified Client Relationships

Many of the world’s largest brands rely on Nielson as their information and analytics provider to create value for their business. The company maintains long-standing relationships and multi-year contracts with high renewal rates due to the value of the services and solutions they provide. In its Buy segment, clients include the largest consumer packaged goods and merchandising companies in the world such as The Coca-Cola Company, Kraft Foods and The Procter & Gamble Company, as well as leading retail chains such as Carrefour, Kroger, Safeway, Tesco and Walgreens, and leading automotive companies such as Chrysler, Ford and Toyota. In its Watch segment, client base includes leading broadcast, cable and internet companies such as CBS, Disney/ABC, Google, Microsoft, NBC Universal/Comcast, News Corp., Time Warner, Univision and Yahoo!; leading advertising agencies such as IPG, Omnicom and WPP; and leading telecom companies such as AT&T, Nokia and Verizon. The average length of relationship with The company's top 10 clients across both its Buy and Watch segments is more than 30 years. In addition, due to their growing presence in developing markets, they have cultivated strong relationships with local market leaders that can benefit from their services as they expand globally. The company's strong client relationships provide both a foundation for recurring revenues as well as a platform for growth.

Enhanced Data Assets and Measurement Science

The company's extensive portfolio of transactional and consumer behavioural data across their Buy and Watch segments enables them to provide critical information to their clients. For decades, they have employed advanced measurement methodologies that yield statistically accurate information about consumer behaviour while having due regard for their privacy. They have a particular expertise in panel measurement, which is a proven methodology to create statistically accurate research insights that are fully representative of designated audiences. This expertise is a distinct advantage as they extrapolate more precise insights from emerging large-scale census databases to provide greater granularity and segmentation for the clients. The company continues to enhance their core competency in measurement science by improving research approaches and investing in new methodologies. They have also invested significantly in their data architecture to enable the integration of distinct data sets including those owned by third parties. They believe that their expertise, established standards and increasingly granular and comprehensive data assets provide them with a distinct advantage as they deliver more precise insights to the clients.

Innovation

The company has focused on innovation to deepen their capabilities, expand in new and emerging forms of measurement, enhance their analytical offerings and capitalise on industry trends. For example, they are continuously developing advanced delivery technologies that allow them to maximize the full suite of their data assets for the clients. The most significant example of this is their new delivery platform, Nielsen Answers on Demand, which enables access to their broad portfolio of data and information from a single client desktop. Another example of this is their Online Campaign Ratings measurement, built in conjunction with Facebook, that is providing advertisers and publishers with further audience measurement capabilities.

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Scalable Operating Model

The company's global presence and operating model allow them to scale their services and solutions rapidly and efficiently. They have a long track record of establishing leading services that can be quickly expanded across clients, markets and geographies. The company's global operations and technology organization enables them to achieve faster, higher quality outcomes for clients in a cost-efficient manner. The company's flexible architecture allows them to incorporate leading third-party technologies as well as data from external services, and enables the clients to use their technology and solutions on their own technology platforms. In addition, their work with leading technology partners such as Cognos, IBM, Tata Consultancy Services and TIBCO, which allows for greater quality in client offerings and efficiency in their global operations.

!Industry Trends

The company believe companies, including their clients, require an increasing amount of data and analytics to set strategy and direct operations. This has resulted in a large market for business information and insight which they believe will continue to grow. The company's clients are media, advertising and consumer packaged goods companies in the large and growing markets. The company believes that significant economic, technological, demographic and competitive trends facing consumers and the clients will provide a competitive advantage to their business and enable us to capture a greater share of their significant market opportunity. The company may not be able to realize these opportunities if these trends do not continue or if they are otherwise unable to execute the strategies. The company may be unable to adapt to significant technological change which could adversely affect their business. Developing markets present significant expansion opportunities. Brand marketers are focused on attracting new consumers in developing countries as a result of the fast-paced population growth of the middle class in these regions. In addition, the retail trade in these markets is quickly evolving from small, local formats toward larger, more modern formats with electronic points of sale, a similar evolution to what occurred in developed markets over the last several decades. The company provides established measurement methodologies to help give consumer packaged goods companies, retailers and media companies an accurate understanding of local consumers to allow them to harness growing consumer buying power in fast growing markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China.

Demographic shifts and changes in spending behaviour are altering the consumer landscape. Consumer demographics and related trends are constantly evolving globally, leading to changes in consumer preferences and the relative size and buying power of the major consumer groups. Shifts in population size, age, racial composition, family size and relative wealth are causing marketers continuously to re-evaluate and reprioritize their consumer marketing strategies. The company track and interpret consumer demographics that help enable the clients to engage more effectively with their existing consumers as well as forge new relationships with emerging segments of the population.

The media landscape is dynamic and changing. Consumers are rapidly changing their media consumption patterns. The growing availability of the Internet, and the proliferation of new formats and channels such as mobile devices, social networks and other forms of user-generated media have led to an increasingly fragmented consumer base that is more difficult to measure and analyze. In addition, simultaneous usage of more than one screen is becoming a regular aspect of daily consumer media consumption. The company has effectively measured and tracked media consumption through numerous cycles in the industry’s evolution – from broadcast to cable, from analog to digital, from offline to online and from live to time-shifted. The company believes its distinct ability to provide metrics across television, online and mobile platforms helps clients better understand, adapt to and profit from the continued transformation of the global media landscape.

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Consumers are more connected, informed and in control. Today, more than three-quarters of the world’s homes have access to television, there are more than 1.8 billion internet users around the globe, and there are two-thirds as many mobile phones in the world as people. Advances in technology have given consumers a greater level of control of when, where and how they consume information and interact with media and brands. They can compare products and prices instantaneously and have new avenues to learn about, engage with and purchase products and services. These shifts in behaviour create significant complexities for the clients. The company's broad portfolio of information and insights enables its clients to engage consumers with more impact and efficiency, influence consumer purchasing decisions and actively participate in and shape conversations about their brands.

Increasing amounts of consumer information are leading to new marketing approaches. The advent of the internet and other digital platforms has created rapid growth in consumer data that is expected to intensify as more entertainment and commerce are delivered across these platforms. As a result, companies are looking for real-time access to more granular levels of data to understand growth opportunities more quickly and more precisely. This presents a significant opportunity for us to work with companies to effectively manage, integrate and analyze large amounts of information and extract meaningful insights that allow marketers to generate profitable growth.

Consumers are looking for greater value. Economic and social trends have spurred consumers to seek greater value in what they buy as exemplified by the rising demand for “private label” (store branded) products. For instance, in the United States, the absolute dollar share for private label consumer packaged goods increased more than $10 billion during 2009 and 2010. This increased focus on value is causing manufacturers, retailers and media companies to re-evaluate brand positioning, pricing and loyalty. The company believes companies will increasingly look to its broad range of consumer purchasing insights and analytics to more precisely and effectively measure consumer behaviour and target their products and marketing offers at the right place and at the right price.

Competitive Landscape

There is no single competitor that offers all of the services The company offer in all of the markets in which The company offer them. The company have many competitors worldwide that offer some of the services The company provide in selected markets. While The company maintain leading positions in many markets in which the company operate, The company's future success will depend on The company's ability to enhance and expand The company's suite of services, provide reliable and accurate measurement solutions and related information, drive innovation that anticipates and responds to emerging client needs, strengthen and expand The company's geographic footprint, and protect consumer privacy. See “Risk Factors – The company face competition, which could adversely affect The company's business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flow.” The company believe The company's global presence and integrated portfolio of services are key assets in The company's ability to effectively compete in the marketplace. A summary of the competitive landscape for each of The company's segments is included below:

What Consumers Buy

While the company does not have one global competitor in The company's Buy segment, The company face numerous competitors in various areas of The company's service in different markets throughout the world. Competition includes companies specializing in marketing research, in-house research departments of manufacturers and advertising agencies, retailers that sell information directly or through brokers, information management and software companies, and consulting and accounting firms. In retail measurement, The company's principal competitor in the United States is Information Resources, Inc., which is also present in some European markets. The company's retail measurement service also faces competition in individual markets from local companies. The company's consumer panel services and analytics services have many

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direct and/or indirect competitors in all markets around the world including in selected cases GfK, Ipsos, Kantar and local companies in individual countries.

What Consumers Watch

While the company does not have one global competitor in The company's Watch segment, The company face numerous competitors in various areas of The company's operations in different markets throughout the world. The company are the clear market leader in U.S. television audience measurement; however, there are many emerging players and technologies that will increase competitive pressure. Numerous companies such as Canoe Ventures, Dish Networks, Kantar (a unit of WPP), Rentrak and TiVo are attempting to provide measurement solutions using set-top box data to provide an alternative form of television audience measurement. The company's principal competitor in television audience measurement outside the United States is Kantar, with additional companies such as Ipsos, GfK and Médiamétrie representing competitors in individual countries. The company's online service faces competition in the United States and globally from companies that provide panel-based internet measurement services such as comScore, providers of site-centric web analytics solutions, including Coremetrics, Google, Omniture and webTrends and companies that measure consumer generated media on the internet such as BuzzLogic, Cymfony, and Umbria. Although the mobile measurement service is still nascent, there are a variety of companies and technologies that could represent competitors to us in this area.

Rivals

The trade show industry is highly fragmented with numerous competitors serving individual business sectors or geographies. The company's primary competitors in this segment are Reed Expositions, Advanstar and Hanley Wood.

Regulation

The company's operations are subject to and affected by data protection laws in many countries. These laws constrain whether and how The company collect personal data (i.e., information relating to an identifiable individual), how that data may be used and stored, and whether, to whom and where that data may be transferred. Data collection methods that may not always be obvious to the data subject, like the use of cookies online, or that present a higher risk of abuse, such as collecting data directly from children, tend to be more highly regulated; and data transfer constraints can impact multinational access to a central database and cross-border data transfers.

Some of the personal data The company collect may be considered “sensitive” by the laws of many jurisdictions because they may include certain demographic information and consumption preferences. “Sensitive” personal data typically are more highly regulated than non-sensitive data. Generally, this means that for sensitive data the data subject’s consent should be more explicit and fully informed and security measures surrounding the storage of the data should be more rigorous. The greater constraints that apply to the collection and use of sensitive data increase the administrative and operational burdens and costs of panel recruitment and management.

The attention privacy and data protection issues attract can offer us a competitive advantage. Because The company recognize the importance of privacy to The company's panelists, The company's customers, consumers in general, and regulators, The company devote dedicated resources to enhancing The company's privacy and security practices in The company's product development plans and other areas of operation, and participate in privacy policy organizations and “think tanks.” The company do this to improve both The company's practices and the perception of Nielsen as a leader in this area.

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Competitive Environment

!Competitive Profile Matrix (CPM) for ACNielson

External Factor Evaluation (EFE) Matrix

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If we see opportunities and threats factor in above EFE matrix, it is three key factor in decreasing order of weightage for both opportunities and threats are:

a) technological advancement for which weighted score is .44

b) new markets for which weighted score is .24

c) new services for which weighted score is .24

these are the key three areas of opportunity for Nielsen to optimize to be ahead of competitor.

Similarly is three key factor in decreasing order of weightage for threats are:

a) Security situation for which weighted score is .56

b) Electricity for which weighted score is .24

c) Devalued currency/Inflation for which weighted score is .21

These are the key three areas of threat on which Neilsen needs to work in order to get competitive advantage. Out of these three security situation is most important to work on as neilsen gathers various personal and sensitive data which needs to be protected and company through its policy and work reflect to customer and government of the country in which it is operating that data collected is in safe and secure hand and utmost privacy is maintained.

Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE) Matrix

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If we see strengths and weaknesses factor in above IFE matrix, it is three key factor in decreasing order of weight-age for strengths are:

a) retail tracking monopoly for which weighted score is .48

b) R&D for which weighted score is .36

c) client satisfaction for which weighted score is .32

Nielsen needs to maintain its strengths over it competitor as it has got biggest advantage in case of retail tracking and retail industry in many fastest growing countries like India is growing at CAGR30% which is advantageous for nielson.

Similarly three key factor in decreasing order of weightage for weaknesses are:

a) no-go areas for which weighted score is .12

b) less budget allocated to marketing over local player for which weighted score is .14

c) high operation cost for which weighted score is .08

This clearly shows that apart from global player like TNS Neilsen has to understand strategy and activity of local player in order to maintain its advantage. Also it needs to work on improving of operational cost which will help company to offer services at competitive price.

!SWOT Matrix

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The Company's Growth Strategy- Proposed

The company believes they are well-positioned for growth worldwide and have a multi-faceted strategy that builds upon their brand, strong client relationships and integral role in measuring and analyzing the global consumer. The company's growth strategy is also subject to certain risks. For example, they may be unable to adapt to significant technological changes such as changes in the technology used to collect and process data or in methods of television viewing. In addition, consolidation in their customers’ industries may reduce the aggregate demand for their services.

Continue to grow in developing markets

Developing markets (measured in their Buy segment) comprised approximately 20% of their 2011 revenues and represents a significant long-term opportunity for them given the growth of the middle class and the rapid evolution and modernization of the retail trade in these regions. Currently, the middle class is expanding significantly each year on a global basis, with Brazil, Russia, India and China currently contributing nearly half of all global consumption growth. Key elements of company's strategy would include:

• Continuing to grow their existing services in local markets while simultaneously introducing into developing markets new services drawn from their global portfolio;

• Partnering with existing clients as they expand their businesses into developing and emerging markets and providing the high-quality measurement and insights to which they are accustomed; and

• Building relationships with local companies that are expanding beyond their home markets by capitalizing on the global credibility and integrity of the Nielsen brand.

Continue to develop innovative services

The company should continue developing their service portfolio to provide the clients with comprehensive and advanced solutions. The company's strategy should include further developing their analytics offerings across all facets of the client base to provide a more comprehensive offering and help their clients think through their most important challenges.

• Continuing to grow its leadership in measurement and insight services related to each individual screen (TV, online and mobile) and expanding their cross-platform measurement services to help their media clients more effectively reach their target audiences and better understand the value of their content;

• Continuing to expand the Advertiser Solutions offering, which integrates their proprietary data and analytics from both the Buy and Watch segments, by developing powerful tools to help clients better understand the effectiveness of advertising spending on consumer purchasing behaviour.

Continue to attract new clients and expand existing relationships

The company believes that substantial opportunities exist to both attract new clients and to increase their revenue from existing clients. Building on their deep knowledge and the embedded position of its Buy and Watch segments, they should sell new and innovative solutions to the new and existing clients, increasing their importance to their decision making processes.

Continue to pursue strategic acquisitions to complement the leadership positions

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The company has increased its capabilities and expanded its geographic footprint through acquisitions in the areas of developing markets, cross-platform measurement, social networking, advanced analytics and advertising effectiveness. Going forward, they should consider select acquisitions of complementary businesses that enhance their product and geographic portfolio and can benefit from their scale, scope and status as a global leader.

Technology Infrastructure

The company operates with an extensive data and technology infrastructure utilizing eight primary data centers in seven countries around the world. The company's global database has the capacity to house approximately 33 petabytes of information, with its Buy segment processing approximately nine trillion purchasing data points each month and its Watch segment processing approximately 1.7 billion tuning and viewing records each month. The company's technology infrastructure plays an instrumental role in meeting service commitments to global clients and allows us to quickly scale its services across practice areas and geographies. The company's technology platform utilizes an open approach that facilitates integration of distinct data sets, interoperability with client data and technology, and partnerships with leading technology companies such as Cognos, IBM, Tata Consulting and TIBCO. They should keep adding more and more elements to their existing infrastructure.

Intellectual Property

The company's patents, trademarks, trade secrets, copyrights and all of their other intellectual property are important assets that afford protection to their business. The company's success depends to a degree upon its ability to protect and preserve certain proprietary aspects of its technology and its brand. To ensure that objective, they control access to their proprietary technology. Their employees and consultants enter into confidentiality, non-disclosure and invention assignment agreements with them. It protects their rights to proprietary technology and confidential information in The company's business arrangements with third parties through confidentiality and other intellectual property and business agreements.

The company holds a number of third-party patent and intellectual property license agreements that afford them rights under third party patents, technology and other intellectual property. Such license agreements most often do not preclude either party from licensing their patents and technology to others. Such licenses may involve one-time payments or ongoing royalty obligations, and they cannot ensure that future license agreements can or will be obtained or renewed on acceptable terms, or at all.

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!References

1. www.wikipedia.com

2. www.nielson.com

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