Kraft Case Study

Michael Porter wrote about five forces affecting the profitability and viability of companies. The five forces are existing competitors, new entries into the market, substitute products, bargaining power of customers, and the bargaining power of suppliers. (quickmba)

• Kraft Foods Inc., is the largest food and beverage company in North America and the second largest in the world. Was founded in 1903 by James L. Kraft.

The Kraft Company has been around for a long time now. Personally I believe you must have a protective firm, not allowing other companies to steal your ideas and product. This will give the firm advantage over others.

This results from the fact that it is a mature segment with many well established companies vying for market share. The industry is highly consolidated and very fragmented. To grow their businesses, companies rely heavily on mergers and acquisitions to capture additional market share. Historically, the grocery industry has been characterized by slow growth which results in strong price competition and the development of aggressive marketing campaigns between existing firms. Perceived product quality and strong brand recognition by consumers are the basis of competition among firms in the industry. The source of General Mills’ competitive advantage lies in its ability to develop innovative products and highly reputable brands. As a result, they hold cost leadership positions across a number of grocery categories. Exhibit 1 shows the top US companies according to their sale of packaged foods globally. Market leaders include Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, Nestle, Mars, Kellogg, and General Mills, however, neither company possess an overwhelming share of global sales. This is in part due to the large degree of product diversity throughout the industry and the strong brand rivalry of each competitor’s labels.

Kraft Foods Group is a top fortune 100 company founded by James L Kraft in Chicago, Illinois 3 years ago. They specialize in food and beverage products categorized by beverages, frozen and refrigerated meals, dairy products, and other grocery items. Kraft products are known worldwide and can be found in almost every home in the world. Even though Kraft brand has been around for decades Kraft Foods Group is a type of business subsection that adheres separately to each demographic in the world. Since they provide for over 170 countries, they must divide and conquer to stay successful. Although the company has been very successful they face many challenges including broad competition and target markets.

As I mentioned above, Mondelez was created to fit a need that Kraft Foods Inc. had to increase their growth globally. Kraft Foods Inc. established their name in 2007 when they broke apart from Altria Group. Kraft became the second-largest processed food company in 2012 with annual revenues of more than $54 billion in 2012 (Gamble, 2016). However, significant growth in the company was not much different from that in 2007 when they became independent. It is the belief of the company’s upper management and board that the reason for their stagnation was due to the fact that their corporate strategy was not focused on the growth of the company.

Which of these forces and factors are the most important to the corporation and to the industries in which it competes at the present time? Which will be important in the future?

This force describes the intensity of competition between existing players (companies) in an industry. The results of high competitive pressure could impact prices, margins, and hence, on profitability for every company in the industry.

For the analysis the packaged food company ConAgra Foods, Inc (CAG) was chosen. According to ConAgra 2013 Annual report, ConAgra Foods, Inc. is one of the USA’s leading food companies. It has a strong brand recognition and consumer loyalty. ConAgra 's products are sold both in large supermarkets and convenience stores. Company operates in Commercial and Consumer Foods segments. The food industry is especially interesting for the research as the demand on food will stay relatively stable even during economic crises and is continuously growing.

Nestle, an international recognized multinational corporation is the world’s leading nutrition, Health and Wellness Company. Nestlé’s mission of “Good Food, Good Life” aims at providing customers with the finest quality of nutritional choices within a wide range of food and beverage classifications (NESTLÉ - Vassos Eliades. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.vassoseliades.com/consumer-goods/nestle.html, para. 1). The merger in 1905 between Nestle and the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company created the Nestle we know today. Nestle is one of the world’s largest suppliers of food and nutritional products operating with 461 factories in 83 countries, with 328,000 employees worldwide (Fries, Lorin, Goldberg, Ray, 2012. Nestle: Agricultural Material

In the five forces model by Porter, four forces will influence the fifth one (see the model on the right). The bargaining power of suppliers, the bargaining power of customers, the threat of substitute products and the threat of new entrants will influence the fifth force: the level of competition in the industry (S.Clegg, C.Carter, M.Kornberger, & J.Scheitzer, 2011).

The model is based on the research findings of Michael E. Porter, a Harvard Business School Professor. The model was recently updated in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s to depict what it is today. As you can see from the diagram, the dominating factor that the forces are based upon is the rivalry faced again existing competitors. When competition is high amongst competitors, the forces that revolve around the competition tend to intensify.

Merger proves to be beneficial for both the companies as Heinz 61% sales from outside North America and on the other hand Kraft Foods sales is covered by 98% from North America for the revenues in the fiscal year 2014. This gives a big boost for the Kraft Food to enter and tap the international emerging markets for its strong growth also. As

Answer: Based on the case study, Kellogg’s main competitors in the ready-to-eat cereals market are General Mills and Kraft Foods and PepsiCo. In the convenience foods market, the main competitors are Frito-Lay unit of PepsiCo which is the largest maker of salty snacks while the Nabisco unit of Kraft Foods which is the largest maker of cookies and crackers. Except from these competitors, Kellogg also has been facing competition with the new entrants or the improved store brand products which intent to get some shares of these two markets. Also, Kellogg’s brand

General Mills, as one of the Big Three companies that focused on diversification of consumer goods on cereal division, restaurant chains and packaged consumer foods. In 1994, the cereal industry was profitable and had been one of the most concentrated industries overall historically, and the big Three company had a dominant position in this industry. However, the problem was although the high profitability attracted fewer entry company due to the high entry barrier restrained by joint monopoly of the Big Three, they were facing the threat of private label companies which grew fast in market share by sales and volume. Therefore, what is General Mills strategy to increase revenue while dealing with the threat of private labels. This is a critical issue because General Mills need measure the trade-offs among strategies, and this determines whether General Mills would still be one of the top players in terms of market shares in the industry.