Van Heerden Foods: Van Heerden Foods is one of the largest food producers in South Africa whose greatest business strengths were powerful brands and loyal customers. The company has a strong track record as an innovator and a well-funded R&D budget. However, the food manufacturer has some weaknesses like the recent loss of top management talent to its rivals and a cultural resistance to change that reduced response to market forces. In addition some key threats have been developing for several years including the success and increased market share of less costly, private-label brands. Secondly, the South African market has been a key target for various overseas manufacturers who are using aggressive marketing strategies. Moreover, local rivals have been quick to respond to the increasing consumer demands for less fattening and healthier food choices. The firm’s new Chief Executive Officer has been evaluating the business by looking at these dynamics in order to make the most appropriate, though unpopular decision that would get the company back on track. Decision-making Process Taken by Don Stransky and Van Heerden: After analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Van Heerden Foods, the CEO had to examine whether to exploit an opportunity to acquire a smaller rival, JF Foods. This competitor is renowned for its ability to produce quality ready-to-eat, comfort foods and snack foods. JF Foods not only has a considerable portion in the private label market but produces foods that target the growing sector of the market. Through acquisition of JF Foods, Van Heerden could obtain their core competencies for innovation. Stransky is renowned for successfully spotting new market opportunities by actin... ... middle of paper ... ...Financial Officer against the acquisition initiative. The inappropriateness of the acquisition attempt is shown in the fact that many competitors were adopting such strategies and customers contentment with current products. Therefore, I recommend that Van Heerden Foods adopt an effective pricing strategy since customers are buying on price in the current economic climate. Conclusion: The Chief Executive Officer of Van Heerden Foods, Dan Stransky, needed to make a decision that would help bring the company back on track to overcome the difficult times it was experiencing. As evident in the case, Stransky used a different decision-making style or approach that made him consider the acquisition of JF Foods. However, the company’s decision-making process was incomplete and ineffective since the CEO and senior managers did not complete all the steps in the process.
In order to right the ship that is America’s food industry, we need to recognize the monopolies in the U.S food industry. These massive food conglomerates must be broken up in order to create competition in the market. This will allow the completion to dictate the market. More companies means more competition, and when companies compete, the consumer wins.
My organization, Trader Joe’s, is not an international business. Their stores are all located in the United States; therefore, I chose Whole Foods, who is a main competitor of Trader Joe’s for this assignment.
TCBY has been a frozen treats product innovator from the day its first shop opened in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1981. The great-tasting, low-fat frozen yogurt concept received an enthusiastic response from an increasingly health-conscious public. Its trendy new product propelled the company to the forefront of franchising, and was the ‘first in a long line of ground-breaking menu items that anticipated consumer preferences and continually refreshed the TCBY concept’ (Conlin 2001, p. 133). But TCBY products are just one of the reasons that thousands of operators have concluded that a TCBY franchise is the preferred opportunity in branded frozen treats, and a dynamic partner in any co-branded concept. However, TCBY is facing a lot of problems, both internal and external, during the difficult period from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, especially the problem with its franchising system. The purpose of this report is to provide a comprehensive situation analysis of TCBY, with special reference to its franchising system, and identify several concerned issues of TCBY and its franchisees, and how these issues have negatively affected the relationship between them. Furthermore, this report also provides three recommendations in the attempt to diminish these concerned issues and better maintain the relationship between TCBY and its franchisees, and most importantly, help TCBY to increase the company’s performance and achieve their strategic goals in the next few years.
Founded in 1986, Pret A Manger is a fast food chain, which produces freshly prepared, natural food with over 250 stores throughout the United Kingdom, France, Hong-Kong and the United States. Unlike most fast-food chains, Pret is a private company; they do not face the same pressure to grow as a public company does. However there are many factors that affect Pret A Manger’s marketplace such as economy, competition, technology, political environment, and the standard of living. This report evaluates major internal and external factors affecting Pret A Manger using various analytical techniques.
In 1996, Jim Wagner was hired as chief financial officer and was able to successfully achieve steady profitability for the company. One year later, in 1997, in an attempt to source its strategic investments, Natureview organized an equity infusion from a venture capital firm; however, the venture capital now needs to cash out of its investment in Natureview and management will therefore need to find another investor or position itself for acquisition. In order to attain the maximum potential valuation, the company must make strategic marketing choices in an attempt to increase revenues to $20 million before the end of year 2001. And to meet this lofty goal, Natureview can potentially enter a new market and transition from the natural food channel into the supermarket channel, a move that would signify a dramatic departure from the company’s present cha...
The analysis of the Kellogg’s case is presented in this chapter and will contribute to answer the research question. The case are evaluated and compared to the literature presented in the previous chapters and will support the conclusion of this paper.
We at Temple Consulting have completed an analysis of Ice-Fili’s current corporate standing using data collected over the past several years. Using tools such as Porter’s Approach and SWOT we have analyzed the internal and external environments and have recommended several strategic plans of action. Current areas for improvement such as marketing initiatives and re-evaluation of distribution channels will increase sales and profitability almost instantly. Long term plans such as lobbying against luxury tax on ice cream, partnerships with franchise vendors, and bringing new products to the market, performing an IPO, and planning more global efforts will help keep Ice-Fili rooted as the industry leader in Russian ice cream production for years to come.
Unfortunately, Tyson Food is not a huge competitor in the global marketplace. Olper, Pacca, and Curzi (2014) describes the import competition in the food industry as a budding enterprise and that companies should be taking advantage of the newest innovations in food import technology. Tyson Food will take advantage of this budding enterprise by expanding it competitive spirit in to European markets. By conducting testing sales in countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy Tyson Food will be able to understand where their brands grab attention and gain demand. Competition is a characteristic present in the company, but that competitive spirit can be utilize to advance the company beyond where it has been before. Through the implementation of competition, Tyson Food will become a globally known
• Considering the two forces of competition and predict what McDonald’s Corporation might do to improve its ability to address these forces in the near future.
This paper will explore how the company is fairing under the leadership of its current CEO, Andrea Jung. There are two opposing views regarding the company's current and future success. One group feels that the firm has a promising future with Jung at the helm while the other group does not. This paper will analyze the pros and cons uncovered by each team member and discuss which view prevailed in the debate and why.
Under this case, while undertaking its business, Whole Food Market is always affected by these internal and external factors and thus before coming up with the strategic plan for the next five years, then it is essential to assess and analyze them so that the plan can provide ways on how to evade some of the challenges that will hinder them during its implementation. Strategy formulation is another factor where the high-level strategy is usually developed, while at the same time, the basic organization level strategic plan is normally documented. Therefore, it will be necessary for the organization to formulate the strategy so that the end product will be the best for the next five years. While developing the strategy, the organization will have to consider on how the strategy will be executed. This will involve the high-level plan being translated into a more operational and executable planning together with the action items (Kiptoo & Mwirigi, 2014). Therefore, it means that the organization will be ready to implement the strategy fully once it is in place. The other factor would be evaluation of the sustainment phase; under this refinement and the evaluation of the performance of the employees, the culture, data
BR was sold to Delta Foods in 1996 for US $2 billion. At this time, it was one of the largest fast-food chains in the world generating sales of US $6.8 billion. DF purchase of BR brought in a new cultural paradigm. DF is an individualistic, aggressive growth company with brands they believe are strong enough to support entry into new overseas markets without the need for local partnership. The DF strategy is one of direct acquisition and JV’s were not part of their strong suit. DF strategic implementation is based on hiring local managers directly or transferring seasoned managers from their soft drink and snack food divisions. The DF disdain for JVs is clearly reflected by their participation in only those JVs where local partnering was mandatory (e.g. China) to overcome regulatory barriers to entry. JVs had been the predominant strategy for BR which was unlike the DF outlook. Terralumen’s strategy was misaligned and out of sync with the DF strategy. This was unlike the complementarity that existed with BR’s strategy. This misalignment began to affect the JV relationship that had worked well with BR in the initial years. The failure of Terralumen and DF to recognize this fundamental cultural difference between their operational strategy styles i.e. Individualistic and Collectivism leads to their inability to proactively create steps for better alignment in the early period after acquisition, creating uncertainties and difficulties for both corporations. There is a lack of communication and virtually absence of trust between two new partners. DF appeared to be flexing its muscles in the relationship and using a more masculine approach compared to Terralumen’s more feminine approach. Both the corporations are strategically involved in a complex situation where they appear reluctant to address the issues at stake and move ahead together. The DF strategy of
This case examines issues of asset control for Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., in light of the outstanding takeover offers by Chartwell Investments, Dreyer‘s Grand, Unilever, and Meadowbrook Lane Capital in January 2000.
“Going forward, the company is well positioned for future growth, and Nigel and his team remain focused on driving franchisee profitability and delivering shareholder value” shares Lead Director Raul Alvar...
The aim of this report is to present and critically estimate the market strategies of an international and a local chocolate manufacturer in Austria. The analysis is carried out in three stages – macro-environment (PEST analysis), micro-environment (Porter’s Five Forces Model) and company comparison (SWOT analysis). In the end, recommendations are given for the local brand Wiener Chocolate König. Zotter Chocolate Manufaktur GmbH was founded in 1987 as a family business by Joseph and Ulrike Zotter.