Marketing Strategy Analysis: Capilano Honey Limited

Honey is used in all of the Unifine’s products and its taste matters a lot to its consumers. Looking at the cost; honey costs 3-5% of its total expenditure, honey is like a commodity which is available from different sources but taste and price is the main criteria for buyer. So it falls under Leverage supplies and is important for Pincombe.

Another event more recently was reported in Pennsylvania where Keepers reported a 53% loss of their hives. But what made this event most serious was the loss of 1/3rd of bee hives within the United States as a whole. This event appeared to have no particular rhyme or reason for this cause and no singular circumstance could be pointed to as an exact cause of such mass destruction of one species that is crucial to food production within the United States ("Honey Bees and Colony Collapse Disorder").

Concern in relation to global bee populations has become increasingly prevalent in recent years. The primary cause of this has been a large scale population decline of both wild and domestic varieties, this can be seen within the US (Fig.1) as honey bee population experienced a 59% reduction in colonies between 1945 and 2008 (van Englesdorp et al. 2008). These findings have been supported elsewhere with experts observing similar changes in the UK with 3 of 25 bumblebee species native to the UK having become extinct since 1950 (Goulson et al. 2008). The significance of these findings are great; partly due to the importance of bees in areas such as pollination and honey production, as well as other implications of the data such as ethical issues.

The core issue Unifine Richardson (UR) faces is their sole honey supplier, Harrington Honey (HH), will run out of Chinese honey in a little over a month because the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) recently found traces of chloramphenicol (a banned antibiotic associated with causing a sometimes-fatal blood disorder) and rejected the contaminated honey. Until China finds a way to detect contaminated honey, Unifine Richardson cannot sell any of its current Chinese-Canadian blend. Because of the CFIA’s findings, the global supply of honey will decrease by 20%, thus causing an increase in price. Harrington Honey will not be able to maintain the honey stream.

Since the late 1990s, beekeepers around the world have observed the mysterious and sudden disappearance of bees, and report unusually high rates of decline in honeybee colonies. Bees do more than just make honey! Bee transfer pollen and seeds from one flower to another, fertilizing the plant so it can grow and produce food. Cross-pollination helps at least 30 percent of the world's crops and 90% affects our food. The sweet fruits humans eat such as, strawberries, mangoes, grapes, apples, and bananas would not be the same taste wise as they are now. We simply couldn’t live in the same world if it weren’t for the bees.

The colony collapse disorder has been threatening the United States for many years. Reports show excessive numbers of honeybees dying off. According to the Bee Informed Partnership and USDA’s annual survey, during the winter of 2013-2014, the mortality of managed honeybee colonies was 23.2. The previous winter’s report showed a loss of 30.5 percent of the colonies and thus, the winter 2013-2014 results might show some improvement. However, beekeepers persist that the still declining honeybee colonies are becoming too low for colony collapse disorder to be considered a solved issue. Approximately two-thirds of the beekeepers reported losses greater than the acceptable 18.9 percent mortality rate, thus deeming the losses greater than what is economically sustainable. The issue

Bee decline is an increasing issue in the United states of America. An article written by the University of Vermont reveals a map of over 139 troubled zones for the population of bees and why they might be endangered. The University of Vermont is a well-respected establishment when it comes to research and Agriculture.

Of particular interest is the fact that, despite the risk to native fauna and flora, honey produced by the European honey bee is a major industry

(2014) showed pollination by bees could have an even greater economical value than previously thought due to the study not only considering value to the yield but the quality of the final fruits with regards to trade classes and shelf life the latter being the major factor determining the commercial value of pollination. It is estimated that between one third and a half of all fruits and vegetables are lost due to damage and deterioration during the packing, transporting and storage after harvesting, or wasted at retailer and consumer level.

The food business is a broad range of businesses. Food is a basic need of consumers like clothing, and shelter. For a company to enter into the food business it has to assess the various segments of this business. These ranges from production of food, processing, and marketing. The company prior to entering a market in this line of business should assess its capabilities and compare these to the kind of needs of the consumers – would the customer be a processor, or a consumer?Is the product that the company can offer a raw material, processed food, or to serve a group of consumers who would like to eat and yet also need some little pleasure and not merely to satisfy their hunger?

Brit Amos begins talks about the loss of foods stating that “Commercial beehives pollinate over a third of {North} America’s crops and that web of nourishment encompasses everything from fruits like peaches, apples, cherries, strawberries and more, to nuts like California almonds, 90 percent of which are helped along by the honeybees” (Amos). Honey bees are much more famous for producing honey. However, most people do not know that “the benefits of honey go beyond its great taste” (“Health Benefits of Honey”). For example, “The 3 key health benefits of honey are related to the fact that: 1. Honey is nature's energy booster 2. Honey is a great immunity system builder 3. Honey is a natural remedy for many ailments” (“Health Benefits of Honey”). It is interesting to think that something as small and insignificant as the honey bee can provide us with so many basic needs.

There are a few weaknesses within an otherwise delightful read. First, though well-researched, the author neglects to acknowledge the impact that multinational corporations have on the beekeeping and agricultural industries, especially where monocultures are concerned. If individual farmers did not compete with the corporations, they would lose their heritage, farms and livelihoods. They observe multinationals using monocultures and perhaps believe monocropping is the only plausible way to contend. Next, Jacobsen theorizes that honeybees are trying to collapse, evolutionarily, in order to become stronger and that human economics and addiction to honey will not allow this to take place. This is a weak argument as evolution takes its own course - this detracts from his argument for a complex reasoning for CCD. Finally, instead of including the controversial feral-type hive within the pages of the main book, he relegates it to the appendices, where the reader might have no exposure to it. I found this to be the most interesting topic in the book - it offers a natural solution to mite infestation, explains how honeybees act in the wild, and provides twice as much honey if this simple non-technique is

The United Nations reports that approximately 70% of the world’s crops, valued at close to $US200 billion, are dependent on bee

Social factors of both countries includes health consciousness, population growth rate, age distribution and cultural aspects. Health consciousness is a key factor for Whey Hey product due its nature. Germany is located in the 12th place on the top 30 markets with rising health concerns, being the second European country to appear on the ranking, just after United Kingdom in the 9th place (EuromonitorInternational, 2012).

Honey bees, feared by the misinformed and admired by the intelligent, are dying. The interest in bees from many environmentalists is not for a sudden cause, as this issue is not new to the world. Honey bees as a population have been in decline for years but have yet to reach the endangered species list anywhere in the United States except for Hawaii. Many people kill bees that buzz around joyfully, simply because they are afraid of being stung by them; however, a vast majority of bees do not sting and the others do not care. This unfortunate commonality is not even one of the top causes of the worldwide epidemic of honey bees. Although bees are jokingly idolized on the internet in pictures and videos as a result of a popular children’s movie, their population decline is in fact quite serious. Honey bees and other pollinators like birds and insects ensure the pollination of flowering plants and crops all around the globe. Not only do honey bees pollinate plants that produce the foods that humans eat, but they also pollinate trees that produce clean oxygen for Earth. Without honey bees, the world as we know it could soon end, due to carbon dioxide pollution and lack of farmable foods. The population of honeybees and other important pollinator-bee species is dwindling due to a dilemma known to scientists as colony collapse disorder (CCD) because of the use of bee-killing pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, the decrease of flower meadows in the world, and the general increase