Rayovac Corporation: International Growth and Diversification Through Acquisitions

The Rayovac case discusses the company's bold and risky acquisitions strategy as it diversifies into personal care and grooming, lawn and garden care, insecticides and pet foods. The company assumes it can successfully manage diverse product categories across diverse geographic markets in which it has limited experience. Success will depend on how well the acquired companies are integrated and managed under Rayovac's supervision. Increasingly, it will also depend on external conditions beyond Rayovac's control, such as macroeconomic conditions and foreign exchange fluctuations. Students should be able to analyze the case from the point of view of international business and strategy and perform a financial analysis of potential future returns using different assumptions for sales growth and margins of the various businesses acquired.