Strategy Assignment
Kathy Kudler is the creator of Kudler Fine Foods. Kathy’s primary goal in establishing KFF was to create a retail store that provides a selection of gourmet foods in order to meet the needs of the typical person all within one store. A wide variety of foods are offered at Kudler Fine Foods. The many different departments include gourmet baked goods, dairy, cheese, wine, organic and non organic produce sections, fresh meats, and seafood. Furthermore, the three different retail locations will offer cooking classes in addition to monthly cheese and wine customer appreciation classes. Some of these services will be expanded into the private residence sector. Adding to their list of offered services, KFF has just added a new catering service in an attempt to attract new customers as well as increasing revenue from their existing customer base. There have been some recent operational changes at Kudler that will be advantageous to the success of their stores. Kudler is able to increase their profitability by using operational strategies such as establishing contracts with local producers of organic produce, creating a purchasing department, and through the use of marketing tools. The purpose of this paper is to identify the business opportunities created due to the changes in the use of technology. Additionally this paper will show the generic strategy of Kudler Fine Foods, how to implement it, and the role the management team will have in keeping Kudler Fine Foods competitive in the fine foods industry.
Changes in technology
In today’s world technology never seems to stop changing. This technology can be beneficial to Kudler Fine Foods and it can help elevate their company to the next level. Studies show that due to new technology there has been a significant improvement in profitability and an increase in the viability of companies (Turban, Rainer, & Potter, 2003). Kudler currently has a standard website that gives detailed directions to their store locations, the store hours, and provides descriptions of the various departments within the stores. Kudler also makes use of an Intranet. The company’s Intranet provides information about Kudler’s supply chain, the Kudler employee hand book, sales and marketing strategies, and past financial data. Each of Kudler’s individual stores will contain POS systems networked together and linked to one main computer system. Kudler is able to use the more technologically advanced systems to develop operations of the company as a whole, and at each individual store location.
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.
Lowe’s is a home improvement warehouse that was founded in 1946 as a single store and since has grown to become the second largest in the world. As technology has evolved, Lowe’s has made many advances incorporating new systems and devices to stay competitive. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the information technology management systems used at Lowe’s. It will look at Porter’s Five Force Model, supply chain management; data base management system, five agent-based technologies, e-commerce and system development lifecycle. Furthermore, it will look at business continuity planning, emerging trends and security vulnerabilities relates to the organization to remain competitive.
Kudler Fine Foods is a store unlike any in the grocery industry. Kudler Fine Foods represents a store that could possibly spark a new era within the grocery world. The owner of Kudler Fine Foods, Kathy Kudler, has watched her dream of owning and operating a grocery store that specializes in fine quality food grow within a short period of time. The success of Kudler Fine Foods can be attributed to the innovative ideas, effective leadership, and organizational structure. The overall mission of Kudler Fine Food's "is to provide our customers the finest in selected foodstuffs, wines, and related needs in an unparallel consumer environment. Our selections coupled with our experienced, helpful and knowledgeable staff, merge to offer each customer a delightful and pleasing shopping outing" (Apollo Group, 2003). Kudler has managed to maintain its mission statement by providing its customers with the best and as a result the company has flourished. "Kathy considers one of her key responsibilities to be that of identification of new gourmet items that can be offered in her stores (Apollo Group, 2003)." Therefore, Kathy is considering plans to contract with local growers of organic produce to yet obtain the best in quality products for her consumers and take her business to the next step. If Kathy makes the decision to contract with local growers then changes could be introduced into the company's overall structural organization. Each aspect of Kudler Fine Food's organizational structure from basic business process to the supply chain and quality control process will be affected by the formation of a contractual relationship with local organic growers.
Our mission is to provide our customers with the best products and services that we have created a new market space for. We strive for 100% customer satisfaction and taking what used to be multiple purchases of software into one operation system. That can increase many aspects of the important sectors within the restaurant industry. I.e. decrease employee-training time, increase outputs, real-time record keeping ‘including inventory’, and more.
Kudler Fine Foods was started by a women, owner Kathy Kudler, who had a passion for cooking and a love for shopping for unique and creative culinary options. Kudler’s entire business plan focuses on the consumer, their needs and their wants, as well as what will provide them with the best customer service available in the San Diego, Metropolitan area. Kudler is constantly receiving new products, offers catering services and online options for shopping, as well as a staff that is educated about the products sold at Kudler Fine Foods locations. The trends at Kudler revolve around healthier living, and healthier eating. Since food trends come and go, Kudler must employ a knowledgeable staff that remains on top of the latest, emerging
...alented young managers in this area need to be aggressively obtained for long term growth. For a quick fix, this service should be outsourced to handle current needs. Distribution channels need to improve as well. Currently, competitor’s products are easily found at major retail channels. Nestle is in the position to gain a strong hold on the home dessert market for ice cream. Ice-fili needs to compete more aggressively in this portion of the market. In addition franchises and fast food chains should be targeted for partnerships or joint ventures so Ice-Fili’s ice cream can grow in association with a post meal dessert opposed to simply impulsive snack purchases. A key avenue to explore is an Initial Public Offering. This would generate enough funds to continue capital investment in technology desperately needed as well as promoting international market growth.
"Kudler Fine Foods has experienced significant growth and is now focused on expanding the services, improving the efficiency of its operations and increasing the consumer purchase cycle as a means to increasing the loyalty and profitability of its consumers" (, ). This paper will justify the importance of marketing research in the development of Kudler Fine Foods marketing strategy and tactics. It will also identify the areas where additional market research is needed and analyze the importance of competitive intelligence and analysis in regards to the development of Kudler Fine Foods marketing strategy and tactics.
The first step will be to address the need and scalability that Kathy Kudler is looking for in the company. There is a growing need it increase and standardize their network structure in the way of wired and wireless network. The network infrastructure has become a global on demand in all business. Technological advances require a responsive network infrastructure that is designed to control costs and reduce risks to a business, while enabling new business opportunities. The first Kudler's operations will have to be centrally linked tighter one server that can be accessed at all location. This will elevate the database which is presently used and has to be updated continuously at each store. The new system will accomplish the need to the entire operations. The heads of each location will be called upon for a meeting, the CEO, Kathy Kudler will have be aware of the global changes that will take place and effect the organization. Establishing a central database management system will keep track information from each facility and there location. Being able to access this information from any location can support the supply chain management system that Kudler is also looking for. The information in a database that can be linked to all three stores, this way the information of gathering these resources can be deploy and optimize the network infrastructure with proper management. With a system that can be integrated between these facilities can be all run virtually regardless of the complex organization's size, achieving business viability and maintain a competitive edge will be a paramount concern at Kindler's.
Were I a Snap-On franchisee, I would be enthused about the use of a company intranet for the delivery of sales- and product-related information. Timely information is vital to survival in business today. Snap-On’s intranet allows for speedy updates of information. This means I would not have to wait the six to eight weeks for an updated merchandise list, nor would I have to pay exorbitant sums to get the package express-mailed to me. All my questions could be answered almost immediately via research on the different pages, or through email. (Senn, 1998)
In summary, “Internet activities are not most significant in competition, such as informing customers, processing transactions, and procuring inputs”. (Porter, 2001) significant corporate assets--skilled employees, proprietary product, and efficient logistical systems – these factors are the most important to keep competitive advantages. In fact, it is foreseeable that the Internet's evolution will come up in the future involve a shift “in thinking from e-business to business, from e-strategy to strategy”. (Porter, 2001)Only by integrating the Internet into overall strategy will this powerful new technology become an equally powerful force for competitive advantage.
Panera seems poised to continue to dominate the bakery-café market and continued sustainable growth is very likely. Works Cited The “Annual Report” (2010). Retrieved from http://www.panerabread.com/pdf/10k-2010.pdf “Company Overview.” (2011). Retrieved from http://www.panerabread.com/about/company/ “News Release.”
“If you live in a free market and a free society, shouldn’t you have the right to know what you’re buying? It’s shocking that we don’t and it’s shocking how much is kept from us” (Kenner). For years, the American public has been in the dark about the conditions under which the meat on their plate was produced. The movie, Food Inc. uncovers the harsh truths about the food industry. This shows that muckraking is still an effective means of creating change as shown by Robert Kenner’s movie, Food Inc. and the reforms to the food industry that followed its release.
In 1987, this information became even more essential for the company. Walmart created its own private satellite network. This network allowed for direct two way communication between the headquarters and individual stores so that instant information on inventory, sales and other data could be viewed by upper management. A network diagram of this setup would allow for a ...
In 1945, Sam Walton opened his first variety store and in 1962, he opened his first Wal-Mart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas. Now, Wal-Mart is expected to exceed “$200 billion a year in sales by 2002 (with current figures of) more than 100 million shoppers a week…(and as of 1999) it became the first (private-sector) company in the world to have more than one million employees.” Why? One reason is that Wal-Mart has continued “to lead the way in adopting cutting-edge technology to track how people shop, and to buy and deliver goods more efficiently and cheaply than any other rival.” Many examples exist throughout Wal-Mart’s history including its use of networks, satellite communication, UPC/barcode adoption and more. Much of the technology that was utilized helped Sam Walton more efficiently track what he originally noted on yellow legal pads. From the very beginning, he wanted to know what the customers purchased, what inventory was selling and what stock was not selling. Wal-Mart now “tracks on an almost instantaneous basis the ordering, shipment, and delivery of literally every item it sells, and that it requires its suppliers to hook into the system, enabling it to track most goods every step of the way from the time they’re made and packaged in the factories to when they’re carried out store doors by shoppers.” “Wal-Mart operates the world’s most powerful corporate computing system, with a capacity (as of late 1999) of more than 100 terabytes of data (A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes, or roughly the equivalent of 250 million pages of text.).
From the manufacturers’ warehouse to the shelves, the business must orchestrate a symphony of the right products to the right places at the right times. Walmart serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week in retail outlets, online and on mobile devices. The company is able to offer a vast range of products at the lowest costs in the shortest possible time (Chandran, 2001). The main reason for this incredible growth of Walmart is because its distribution centers are highly automated.