After examining Trader Joe’s, and comparing it to Michael Porter’s generic strategies it was not

For Trader Joe’s, they are able to demonstrate the importance of each responsibility in the management process by establishing a plan to serve quality products with natural ingredients, inspiring flavors, and buying direct from the producer whenever possible,. They also organize their stores to limit its stock, carrying about 1,500 to 2,000 products compared to retail mega-markets with 25,000 to 45,000 products. Through leading, Trader Joe’s support their future leaders by hiring managers only from within the company. Future leaders enroll in training programs called, Trader Joe’s University that foster in them the loyalty necessary to run stores according to both company and customer expectations. Lastly, Trader Joe demonstrated the responsibility in controlling by placing standards to sell natural based ingredient products, as well as striving to offer the highest quality type foods.

Trader Joe’s is a major food retailer who has developed quite the name for themselves. It has well over 350 stores in over 32 states and is expected to continually grow over the next few years (Bond, 2012). For over 50 years, Trader Joe’s has been providing quality customer services, products and a unique shopping experience for its customers. They have come a very long way from when they first officially opened their doors. Trader Joe’s started when its founder Joe Coulombe wanted to find a way to differentiate his 7-Eleven stores (Schermerhorn, Osborn, Uhl-Bien & Hunt, 2012). In the food retailer industry, Trader Joe’s has developed a process that works well and

In the United States, the food retail industry is absolutely massive. According to Statista, this industry brings in nearly 5.27 trillion dollars annually and 594.4 billion of that is from grocery store sales. In this market, the 20-ton gorilla in the room is Walmart, racking in nearly 20% of the entire market at around 118 billion dollars in 2013 according to the Harvard Business School case study. Following Walmart, Kroger and Costco own the biggest next largest slices bringing in 76 billion and 71 billion respectively. In this highly competitive market that has some of the smallest margins of any industry it can be tough to get ahead and even tougher to grow. However, Trader Joe’s has managed to pierce what was once a very small world

Trader Joe’s chief executives have been careful in their expanding of the brand to more geographic locations, and they must continue to seek out their target market of “intelligent, educated, inquisitive individuals” and settle around them.

Trader Joe's faces several threats to its business, as competitors try to invade the company’s niche and attempt to imitate the company’s core strategies. The supermarket industry itself faces a major threat, as larger chains such as grocery retailers Wal-Mart and Tesco have begun to open small-format stores that mimic the Trader Joe's approach. This invasion results in additional cost pressure for incumbents like Trader Joe’s, which had to let go employees in order to become more cost competitive.

Trader Joe’s has successfully separated itself from its competitors and will continue to remain successful as their organizational culture values their employees and customers. Trader Joe’s has continually kept prices down, and offer one-of-a kind products while simultaneously keeping their customers and employees happy. Overall, customers want to build relationships where they shop and feel important, something Trader Joe’s has nailed the head

As our short-term objectives evolve with Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe’s, it is important to identify and clearly state our objectives the long run.

“At Trader Joe's, our mission is to bring our customers the best food and beverage values and the information to make informed buying decisions. There are more than 2000 unique grocery items in our label, all at honest everyday low prices. We work hard at buying things right: Our buyers travel the world searching for new items and we work with a variety of suppliers who make

Market Force has ranked Trader Joe’s as #3 for America’s favorite grocery stores (Vasel, 2016). Trader Joe’s is all about customer service, happy employees and offering high quality products at low prices. Their strategy is to compete differently than their rivals, and by offering products that the others can’t. This is reflected in their mission statement below:

3. What are the main threats to Trader Joe’s competitive advantage? Is their advantage sustainable?

Research Question: What do the blogs and current news reports say? Is Trader Joe’s management benchmark for others to follow? In what areas relevant to Organizational Behavior does the firm have an edge on the competition?

In what ways does Trader Joe’s demonstrate the importance of each responsibility in the management process- planning, organizing, leading and controlling? They have created their own University for future leaders. By controlling who they promote, only within the company, and planning room for advancement from the day you become an employee shows the value they take in their staff. For example, imagine you start as a cashier and it’s your first day on the job. It can bring great comfort knowing that your manager started in exactly the same role. Not only provides management with the ability to relate to their employees but also the employees to look to the manager’s leadership and mentoring for success.

This is because they constantly keep their shelf stock moving. This is shown by the SKU (stock keeping units) of 3500 compared to the traditional supermarket, which has an SKU of 55,000 (Kowitt, 2010). Trader Joe’s keeps their SKU much lower which enables them to constantly offer high numbers of new products. Therefore brand loyalty will not be as high for Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s keeps their costs per unit down achieving exceptional economies of scale. All of these barriers to enter the market make it difficult for new entrants trying to enter the market.

Trader Joe’s operates over 340 stores in 9 states were they “buy direct from suppliers whenever possible, bargain hard to get the best prices and then pass the savings on to the customer” (Trader Joe’s, 2013, para. 4). Whole Food’s Market is the “world’s leader in natural and organic foods, with more than 360 stores in North America and the United Kingdom” (Whole Food, 2013, para 2). Trader Joe’s and Whole Food’s Market have managed to take original ideas and spread them throughout the nation to many different customers. Although they differ not only in the technique in which they decide to bring products to their customers but also in term of inventory management and supply chain organization. These two companies have become so successful in my opinion, not by what they differ in but what they have most in common, which is their commitment to their loyal customers, employees and undeniable quality in their products they sell. Through their loyalty to their customers and employees in addition to their irreplaceable value

Ager and Roberto’s case study on the sphinx-like strategic initiative pursued by the grocery retailer Trader Joe’s, both expounds and upends the strategic tool-kit crafted by Jared Harris and Michael Lenox. For this very reason, Trader Joe’s story encapsulates what –to this writer–could well be called the credo or capstone of strategy: if competitors can nimbly replicate a firm’s course of action; that precept did not hold a formidable competitive advantage. In the year 2013, when the case finalizes its analysis of the grocery industry, Trader Joe’s has set the precedent for unparalleled CAGR (for the grocery industry) and consumers’ demand for continued store expansions. The axiomatic challenge faced by Trader Joes is quite the opposite than that of its competitors, struggling for margins and shutting down stores across the United States. Trader Joe’s must devise a way to appease the overwhelming demand that exists for the retailer, while maintaining its fundamental values that gave rise to its success.