Merger, Acquisition, and International Strategies Write: Sarah A. Morton Instructor: Harry Mamaux Course: Business Administration Capstone – BUS 499 Date: December 1, 2013 * For the corporation that has acquired another company, merged with another company, or been acquired by another company, evaluate the strategy that led to the merger or acquisition to determine whether or not this merger or acquisition was a wise choice. Justify your opinion. Coca-Cola Company history originated in 1886 when the “curiosity of an Atlanta pharmacist, Dr. John S. Pemberton, led him to create a distinctive tasting soft drink that could be sold at soda fountains” (Coca Cola History, 2013, para. 1). He generated flavored syrup, took it to his …show more content…
Specialty grocery stores have grown in attractiveness to customers, but the main issue is that often specialty stores have restricted locations which in turn limits their reach to customers. Whole Food’s Market and Trader Joe’s are two specialty grocery stores who have increased locations to the hundreds while adhering to an unforeseen market standing for formerly untargeted market segment. 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
Every retail location carries a variety of products that distinguishes it from other stores in the same chain. Not surprisingly, it is difficult to achieve economies of scale. Supply Chain Mackey describes his consumers as being “part of a cult”. Whole Foods believes that the company’s emphasis on perishables and locally-sourced produce differentiates their stores from run-of-the-mill supermarkets and attracts loyal and devoted customers. However, “fresh produce” is one of the most challenging product categories to operate due to limited product shelf life and high cost of spoilage. Whole Foods has tried to circumvent most of the problems inherent in supplying fresh produce to its stores by sourcing locally and having short and flexible supply chains. In the case of fruits and vegetables, Whole Foods has buying relationships with local farmers who supply the store with seasonal produce. Thus, if one farmer is unable to produce a sufficient amount of yellow corn or heirloom tomatoes, the shortfall can be made up by another farmer. Although challenging to perfect, these short supply chains are agile and difficult for other big retailers to duplicate.
For the corporation that has acquired another company, merged with another company, or been acquired by another company, evaluate the strategy that led to the merger or acquisition to determine whether or not this merger or acquisition was a wise choice. Justify your opinion.
The cult following for Trader Joe’s distinguishes it from its competition. This cult is projected to grow as upcoming generations become more and more price sensitive. Loyal shoppers will camp out overnight for a grand opening or, in one example, write 50 letters to the headquarters pleading for a store opening in their state. This is surprising because their target shopper, Millennials, “show little retailer loyalty” when it comes to where they get their groceries. Trader Joe’s has obtained this loyalty through their Every Day Low Pricing Strategy, constantly changing inventories, and superb store environments.
Trader Joe's prides itself on its thriftiness and cost-saving measures, proclaiming if they save a penny, you the customer saves a penny. Trader Joe’s demonstrates the importance of each responsibility in the management process by taking a simple approach to a complex process. Trader Joes’ buyers search out tasty, unusual foods from all around the world, they contract directly with manufacturers, they label each product under one of several catchy house brands; and, maintain a small stock, making each product fight for its place on the shelf. Trader Joe’s maintains the connection to the customer by bringing in 10 to 15 new products each week and the company maintains a strict "one in, one out" policy. Items
The existing rivals of Whole Foods Market are primarily Trader Joe’s, Kroger, Wegman’s, Walmart, and Safeway. However, Whole Foods Market has a specific niche and caters to a particular clientele attempting to increase customer loyalty, as it focuses on carrying natural and organic foods and is considered a premium brand upscale grocery store. The principal competitor of Whole Foods Market is Trader Joe’s, which has over 400 stores in North America and sells a substantial amount of organic food and products (they are not, however, exclusively organic and natural). Trader Joe’s stores are much smaller with less product selection
From a modern marketing point of view, grocery business and its stores are in “maturity and saturated stage” of the market-product life cycle. The aging of the baby boomer generation and the rising trend of healthy organic foods made way for Trader Joe’s, a less traditional grocery store with many more “hip” brands and innovations. Trader Joe’s is a fascinating company. It is privately owned and a sassy young company. It started off modestly with few small convenience stores in Pasadena, California. Trader Joe’s were differentiated from the local grocery stores with its tropical theme and its “exclusive” business style (naming the store
The history of Trader Joe’s beings in 1958 when it was initially known as Pronto Markets. Pronto Markets started as a few national chain of convenience stores created by Joe Coulombe. After a few years of running the convenience stores, Coulombe came to the realization that Pronto Markets had too much competition from other big established convenience stores, like 7-11, to compete successfully. Coulombe decided to shift his concept and came up with Trader Joe’s in 1967.
Whole Foods Market was founded 1980 in Austin, Texas by three businessmen who felt that the natural food industry was ready for a supermarket setup. Two separate individual companies, Safer Way Natural Foods and Clarksville Natural Grocery, formed Whole Foods Market. After 27 years of operation, the company has come a long way. Today Whole Foods Market is the leading retailer of natural and organic foods, with 194 stores/locations in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada (wholefoodsmarket.com). The company has been in the Fortune Magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work for" every year since the list was made up in 1998 (2007 ranked 5th). The cofounder and CEO, John
Analysts who study specialty grocer TRADER JOE'S attribute the company's financial success to the canny use of private labels, direct deals with producers and very compact stores (Speizer, 2004). Trader Joe’s is known for their critical standards of hiring their employees. Trader Joe’s customer service holds some superiority over other small grocery stores as they focus on that one important standard of their
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
The Drugstore retail industry is a $31.4 Billion industry across Canada and continues to grow steadily (Industry Canada, 2015). There are many competitors in the drugstore retail market in Canada both small and large. With the entrance of large American companies such as Walmart and even their very own parent company Loblaw’s, Shoppers has been forced to be at the top of their game to stay ahead in the drug retail market. The implementation of a produce section in select locations across Canada is one of the many ways that shoppers has been adapting to this competitive industry. Due to this adaptation, the company has opened itself to a whole new group of competitors from convenience store to grocery stores. Shoppers Drug Mart tackles this competition by differentiating itself in the market by offering “prestige products” (Kwon, N. 2013) and convenience that competitors do not offer. (Our Company, 2015)
First, Trader Joe has invested in leadership that is continuous, based on the tested-proven mechanisms of managing the market. Starting as small merchandise, it has expanded rapidly right from being a small supermarket to become a large enterprise that covers a wide market in the United States of America. It has expanded to cover most parts of the Midwest by opening stores in Chicago and Manhattan among others. Its strategy is simply to expand
Whole Food’s competitive advantage was no longer good enough sustain profitability and to fend off the “newbies” who flooded the market with cheaper substitutes. Inevitably, the increase in supply of organic food eroded at Whole Food’s profits and customer base. Whole Foods struggled to keep their customers who migrated to competitors that offered lower prices. When Whole Food realized that their biggest issue was high product prices, they attempted to remedy the problem by attempting various cost-cutting approaches which includes laying-off employees and closing down low performing stores. Unfortunately, their effort to remain relevant and to compensate for their market-share loses didn’t avail much. What Whole Foods needed was a new strategy and new advantage that will once again set this grocery giant apart and bring back profitability. These two were somewhat realized in the sale to Amazon. First, the sale the largest online retailer was a way for Whole Foods to expand its customer base and to further its mission of supplying healthy products at a much cheaper
The history of Coca Cola dates all the way back to 1886 when John Pemberton, a pharmacist that studied medicine and pharmaceuticals at the Reform Medical College of Georgia in Macon, stumbled upon a taste bud enchanting drink that is well known today as Coca Cola. Pemberton’s preference was medical chemistry rather than regular medicine which explained his many attempts on trying to create a successful medicinal beverage. He created the syrup and took it to his neighborhood pharmacy where he got it carbonated. Then he took it to his partner/book keeper, Frank M. Robinson, where they came up with the name Coca Cola and got the drink established.
The history of Coca Cola began in 1886 when Dr. John S Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist created a tasty soft drink which could sell at soda fountains. Since then, Coca Cola grew to be a global brand and touched great heights. Today, it sells across 200 countries and is just as popular across all the markets and nations. The company today, owns or licenses and markets more than 500 non alcoholic beverage brands. The brand has only few major competitors in the global market. The daily servings of coca cola are estimated to be at 1.9 billion globally. (Coca-Colahellenic, n.d.) This is just another proof of the popularity of the brand which has a very large and diversified