Closing Case: Barrett Farm Foods Case Questions: 1. Philip Austin’s plan for European expansion is very simplified and will rely mostly on the foreign intermediary to complete export and complete sales transactions. I believe that this is the main problem of this expansion plan; there is too much liability in someone outside of the company that possibly doesn’t share the same goals and objectives of the company and sometimes is not completed committed with the process. There are some important issues to consider when dealing with intermediaries on an exporting process: First of all the company would need to identify the appropriate commission structure for compensating intermediaries, which sometimes might lead …show more content…
3. The challenges involved in exporting are the same of any other international operation; there are commercial risks, political risks, cultural risks and currency risks. In order to be prepared to face these risks the company would indeed need to invest and create an export team, hiring and training employees in international operations. The team will require skills in areas such as product development, logistics, finance, currency management, foreign languages and cross-cultural skills. 4. First of all Barrett needs to think on how much they are willing to invest in this European expansion; how much risk do they want to take?; and maybe most important, how much control of their products do they want to have? After answering these questions Barrett would be able to decide between direct or indirect exporting. In my opinion, Barrett should start its European operations by indirect exporting, so they can first measure the degree of receptivity that their products have there. Then, according to performance, they could invest even more or give up. There are important characteristics that Barrett should consider while deciding which intermediaries to choose. First of all it
The first recommendation for this firm is to adopt a global policy and try and explore new markets so that market growth and market share can be expanded. In case of a firm entering an international market, it requires to analyze the nature of the market and suitably form its marketing strategies in alignment with its business strategy and decide whether it is more beneficial to adopt a global approach or use a strategy that is customized to suit the needs of the local customers.
In this case, an analysis of the outputs for Whole Foods Market was performed. As with the previous case in regards to inputs, the purpose of this analysis is to determine the company’s outputs, how they interact, and how they help Whole Foods achieve their company goals. As such, determining the outputs, understanding how they are measured, and analyzing the congruency between the functions are imperative to determining how they fit into the organization.
There are a large number of activities (for example, doing research on the network, finding potential customers, selecting appropriate emerging markets, summarizing advantages of the product in the domestic market and so on) need to be involved in, and all of them are very important for the company at the pre-export stage. In other words, the pre-export behavior of the company should include the following points. Jansson and Soderman (2012) suggest that firms should focus on their domestic markets and accumulate enough experience, which are the cornerstone and quite useful for the firms to expand the international markets. Then, the firms need to select suitable markets by talking to local people or face-to-face communication. Furthermore,
There are several problems with his expansion to Europe. The first is that they lack international experience. They need to figure out international shipping prices, documentation licensing, and payment. Market research will play a large role here. Direct exports pay a higher price in time investment, personnel, and resources. I believe BFF needs to assess the global market first, organize their exporting tactics, acquire the skills needed like a team devoted to foreign sales, then implement their strategy. I do support his approach if he takes these actions described.
In addition, developing in the current market fits to the family constraints. Indeed, no more mobility is implied relatively to the current situation. Therefore, the company can focus on improving its managerial competencies and notably strengthen its overseas relationships.
Whole Foods Market first opened on September 20, 1980 in Austin, Texas which is the company headquarters. The founders were John Mackey, Renee Lawson, Craig Weller, and Mark Skiles. These four business people decided that the natural food industry was ready for a supermarket format (Whole Foods Market History, 2015). The current CEO’s are John Mackey and Walter Robb IV. Whole Foods Market stock ticker symbol is WFM and their NACIS code is 445110 (Morningstar). The industry sector the company is listed under is grocery store and retail trade. Whole Foods Market is the eight largest company in the United States with 427 stores located in North America, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The total number of employees is more than 90,000 people. Whole Foods Market has a business to business model where they merged with multiple companies such as Bread of Life, Fresh Fields, Food for Thought, Amrion, Allegro Coffee and other organizations with the concept of expanding their enterprise (Mackey, 2012). Whole Foods Markets purchase inventory from suppliers where consumer can buy fresh organic food online or in stores. Some of the products Whole Foods Market specializes in are seafood, meats, cooked goods, and bakery goods (Whole Foods Market History, 2015).
Whole Foods is fighting back against a gay Christian pastor’s claim that one of its stores sold him a cake with an anti-gay message written on it, and has released the security footage of the incident.
Essay Question: In what ways does this movie demonstrate the “Iron Triangle” and its powerful influence in the manner that our government functions?
The American food industry, just think about what you eat for a minute, where do you think it comes from, how do you think it is made, what do you think it is made out of, how many ingredients are in it. Most people would not give it a second thought, mostly because they do not want to know what they are putting in their body. The fact is not if you eat one McDonald's cheeseburger you will die it is that you should at least know what you are putting in your body, then you can make your own choice if you still want to eat it.
Food is an essential part of our lives. We consume it every day and absolutely need it to live and thrive successfully. With something so significant to us, why should we risk the source of where our food comes from? Robert Kenner created a powerhouse documentary film called Food Inc. that gives an accurate description of the horrible realities of corporate farming by providing evidence of the harm affecting both humans and animals. Robert Kenner is a film director and producer. Kenner claims that today; food can be potentially harmful to the health of any consumer and the process of creating certain foods is detrimental to the lives of the animals and humans involved in the procedure. Kenner
Whole Foods Market (WFM) was founded in 1980 as a single local grocery store by John Mackey for natural and health foods. By 1991, WFM had 10 up-and-running stores with revenues of about $92.5 million in United States Dollars (USD), and a net income of about $1.6 million in USD. In 1992 WFM became a publicly traded company with its stock trading on the NASDAQ. By 2006 Whole Foods Market had progressed into the world’s largest retail chain of natural and organic foods supermarket. As of September 2007 WFM has 276 stores up-and-running. 263 of the stores are located throughout 37 of the U.S. and the District of Columbia. 7 of the stores are in Canada and 6 in the U.K.
As discussed in Chapter 21 of our text book, any company that is looking to expand globally must make five key decisions. A firm must decide if: a) they really want to expand to the international market; b) they
However, these suppliers currently do not operate internationally thus posing a supply-chain problem for possible expansion into international areas.
Food Inc. opens in an American supermarket and draws attention to the unnatural nature of year-round tomatoes and boneless meat. It pulls aside the curtain that is concealing the truth about food from the consumer. After the brief intro, the movie shifts its focus to the topic of fast food and its impact on the meat industries. Fast food virtually started with McDonald’s. When they decided to simplify their menu and hire employees that repeated one task over and over for minimum wage, the result was the fast food phenomenon that swept the United States, and then the world. Today, McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of beef and potatoes in the United States, and is one of the largest purchasers of pork, chicken, tomatoes, and apples. Though
A final reason for the company to offshore part of their operations is access new markets. Since the company is not restricted to just the domestic market, offshoring gives the company global presence and the ability to access developing markets in Third World countries. By streamlining the company’s production processes and supply chains globally, companies can lower their prices increase demand for their products, thereby attracting new customers and entering new markets.