Ben and Jerry's

It is easy to see how Bob’s Supermarket is stuck in the middle. The company is not the lowest price provider and it cannot be the lowest price provider. The company does not have the modern amenities of a larger grocery store and it cannot have all the amenities of a modern grocery store. Bob’s Supermarket is somewhere between a modern grocery store and a convenience store. Since its possibilities for being the best grocery store are limited the company should focus on being the best, convenience (plus) store in the area.

Also, unlike most Trader Joe’s stores which are smaller in space, a supermarket can carry more types of goods. It would be beneficial for competing supermarkets to expand to a new market segment of health conscious people and have a section of organic products. In addition, a traditional supermarket can also offer a wider variety of private label products. In that way the store can achieve greater store loyalty while reducing costs (they buy in bigger bulk). They are also advantageous for having the benefit of one stop shopping with a wide assortment of goods that many people like to take advantage of. Lastly, being bigger in size, it is necessary for them to allocate more money for advertising, thus getting their name in more places.

In the case study, Bob’s Supermarket was a small, family-owned grocer. Many of Bob’s potential customers relied heavily on discount retailers such as Wal-Mart for their grocery needs, and many of those that did not shop at Wal-Mart shopped at Kroger or Aldi (Parnell, 2014). These competitors are large, well-resourced companies that have purchasing and distribution economies of scale. Unable to compete on price, Bob’s struggled to find any type of competitive advantage. Bob’s did experience some level of success with its fresh-cut meat and ready-to-eat food products. However, economic conditions had the potential to make consumers more price sensitive. Political, legal, and economic forces all coalesced into a rise in the federally enforced

As marketing manager of the RBG business, Ivan Guillen must propose a solution to repair Pillsbury refrigerated baked goods (RGB)’s business performance. Since the refrigerated-cookie product line consisted of 62% of RBG’s unit sales and over 75% of the company’s profits, Guillen found it appropriate to alter this segment in the market. Proposing this idea to GMCC would require Guillen to consider all the challenges he faces. Guillen will have to discover a strategy to increase household penetration since it has fallen to 24% in the past few years. The lack in market penetration has

1. What is Ben and Jerry’s mission statement? How has Ben & Jerry’s performed on the dimensions of the mission statement? Be specific.

Research and development is essential to Ben & Jerry’s dynamic, including marketing, product development, packaging, advertising, production processes and quality management. Whether Ben & Jerry’s is meeting the constant changes in consumer demands, the competitiveness of other businesses in the Ice cream market, quality assurance testing and contributing to social and environmental causes, the multinational company creates a reputation that precedes their advertising. Even though they have been an established company since 1978 their advertising is minimal, humble and takes advantage of social media and word of mouth. The role of researching within marketing has lead to the company not having large advertising campaigns on television or on

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield began a small ice cream shop in Burlington, Vermont with a dollar and a dream. Well, actually a $5 dollar correspondence course from Pennsylvania State University and $12,000 in start-up money. Never the less, the world renowned brand of Ben and Jerry’s was born. Ben and Jerry’s, from its inception had a different outlook on the world. The marketing, customer loyalty and social interest were reflective in the company’s earliest practices. The ice cream giant has gone on to set a socially responsible trajectory that is a scoop above the rest.

1) Competition: Baskin & Robbins and Haagen-Dazs have already become incumbents in the premium ice cream space. Regional players have a big cost advantage so a price war or a move into a low cost strategy would be difficult.

Although not the most exciting product in Stewart Corporation’s portfolio, Reliance Baking Soda (RBS) was a “tried and true” item that the company created in 1915. At the time, the “miracle compound” was used strictly for baked goods. However, as time passed, the company realized its many other uses such as a cleaning/laundry aide, and its ability to disinfect and deodorize. “In 2006, over 85% of U.S. family households with income of $25k+ used the product” (Quelch & Beckham, 2009). In the case study, Reliance Baking Soda: Optimizing Promotional Spending, John Quelch and Sarah Beckham state that “RBS was a clear market leader in the baking soda category, capturing 70% share.” Due to Reliance holding the majority of the market, competitors hesitated to jump in to challenge the product. The few competitors that dared to compete against them were private label brands. As the table

Analyzing both Papa John’s and McDonalds’ new venture using Porter’s five competitive forces and SWOT analysis provides insight into the elements. Both models are used to identify the company’s strengths and weaknesses by looking at the industry as a whole, itself and its competitor (Kinicki & Williams, 2014; O’Brien, & Marakas, 2011). The elements of Porter’s competitive forces and SWOT analysis models identify vital components needed by management in the decision-making process. Management will use these tools in the selection of or modification of their strategies. Once a strategy is selected or changed it must be communicated to all levels, this would include the goals and objectives both short-term and long-term.

Ben & Jerry’s is founded on and dedicated to a sustainable corporate concept of linked prosperity. Our mission consists of 3 interrelated parts:

* Threat of new entrants from independently owned pizza restaurants is high because they have the capital to open multiple units.

For marketing to support the objectives they need to follow these three steps. The first is to start with your values. Ben & Jerry’s programs don’t start in a windowless room with strategists staring at a blank sheet of paper. Instead, they look directly to the core values of the brand as the compass for all the company’s marketing. The second is to identify partners and movements that support those values. One such example is its recent partnership with Tesla to raise awareness around climate change. As part of Ben & Jerry’s year-long Save our Swirled campaign, which sought to inspire more people around the world to support the global climate movement, the iconic ice cream company ditched the conventional ice cream truck in favor of a customized emissions-free

With such strong core values within the company, it is interesting to see that Ben & Jerry’s most recent advertising campaign in 2013 would actually be called “Cores”. These Cores are the first full line of Ben and Jerry’s innovations to be 100% Fairtrade certified and made with non-GMO sourced ingredients. They committed to transitioning all of their ingredients to be fully sourced non-GMO because of the rising growth of concern for proper food labeling of non-GMO products. To

Most notably, the increase from 2010 to 2011 was a staggering $9,774 in millions. Compared to the increase of $5,660 in millions from 2009 to 2010, there is a greater increase in merchandising costs that Costco should be concerned about (Thompson… 2014). These costs have been accrued through increasing gas costs for the transportation of goods and the increase in warehouses have increased preopening costs. Costco has so far been able to keep a net income possible with these increasing merchandising costs. Although if the net income is compared from 2009 to 2010 and 2010 to 2011, the amount of gain in the net income is decreasing; if left unchecked, this will become a problem. In 2009 to 2010, there was a gain of $217 million while in 2010 to 2011 there was only a gain of $157 million (Thompson… 2014). This is a smaller gain by $58 million. While it is still an increase in net income, the resulting costs of running their business have caused Costco to achieve a smaller profit margin.