Operations Management of the Kroger Company
Operations management is essential for the survival and success of any organization. According to Heizer & Render (2011), operations management (OM) is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs. Operations managers today contend with competition, globalization, inflation, consumer demand, and consistent change in technology. Managers must focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes such as cost, dependability, distribution, flexibility, and speed. The intent of this paper is to discuss the processes and operations management of the Kroger Company.
History and Background
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Kroger Company is one of the largest supermarket retailers across the United States. Founded in 1883, Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open his first grocery store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. (Kroger, 2011). Barney was quite proud. He was the first grocer ever to have a bakery, to sell meat, and to sell other groceries all in one store. From the start, Barney operated his business with a simple motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself.” (Kroger, 2011). Today, one hundred and twenty-eight years later, the Kroger Company is still following Barney’s motto.
With consistent growth to accommodate more variety, more merchandise, and the convenience of one-stop shopping, Mr. Kroger may not
Kroger Supermarkets were started in 1883 by Barney Kroger in downtown Cincinnati. Mr. Kroger started his business with the motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself.” Through the years Kroger has strived to uphold this motto to its customers and to provide great service, the freshest products and expansion to meet the needs of their customer base making it one of the world’s largest retailers. Kroger now has over 2,600 stores in 34 states with $108.5 billion in annual sales. Kroger operates 37 food processing facilities and Kroger was the first grocery retailer to use the electronic scanner.
Kroger’s corporate strategy consists of continuously innovating and creating new ways of bring value to the customer. They were pioneers for many of the things that we now consider norms in grocery stores. In the past, Kroger had rapidly expanded to many store locations to gain market share. This expansion strategy caused them to lose profits in
Kroger is the largest grocery chain in the world. Kroger is known for their friendly associates, their fast checkout and their fresh product. In order to keep their great image, new process and improved process have to be implemented. As a member of management for the Kroger Company, there a few performance gaps that needs to be bridged. “It has been recognised that the competitive advantage of a company is important, and so is the way of managing it. Related to this are the issues of company performance (the ultimate measure), organizational effectiveness (an internal interim measure), and the processes/enablers for delivering these - a key consideration for the latter is how teams are managed (such as team strategy), which is a core focus of the present journal - Team Performance Management.” (Chau Sum, 2008) As a competitive company, we are currently experiencing
According to the Kroger business web page, in 1883 Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open a grocery store at 66 Pearl in downtown Cincinnati. The son of a merchant, he ran his business with a simple motto: Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself. It is a motto that has served him well for the next 120 years. Today, Kroger has grown to 2500 stores with $70 billion revenues, 40 food processing plants ranging from bread, milk, soda pop, ice cream and peanut butter. Kroger operates under two dozen banners, has acquired warehouses, trucking companies, and has over 14,400 private-label items (The Kroger Co., 2012).
Wal-Mart and Kroger are the two largest chains in the industry and they both were located across the street from one another, 10 miles from Bob’s Hanover location. Chain locations like Wal-Mart Supercenter offered far more than just groceries, they also offered clothing and apparel, pharmacy and merchandise (Parnell, 2014). Also while Bob’s was only open from 7:00am to 10:00pm, Wal-Mart is open 24 hours a day, thus capable of servicing consumers with more options and extended hours. Kroger is also 24 hours and has a customer loyalty program that offers customers discounts on items. Because these locations are so close to Bob’s many consumers are able to constantly shop with these household names and purchase everything they will need at one location, anytime of the day (Parnell,
You may have gone to a Wal-Mart before, maybe even Publix with their ridiculously exorbitant prices, but have you ever went to a K-mart before? K-mart has been around since 1962, and nobody really knows what the “K” stands for in “K-mart”. Well, the “K” stands for Kresge, named after S.S. Kresge, the person who originally founded K-mart way
In 1883 Bernard (Barney) Kroger invested 372 dollars that consisted of his life savings to open the first ‘Kroger’ grocery. That first store, located at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati, would soon turn into the giant retail chain that consists of nearly 2,500 stores all over the country and most recently produced sales of over 76 billion dollars. Barney Kroger was revolutionary in the formation of the modern grocery, in that he was the first grocer to have his own bakery, as well as selling meat and other groceries all under one roof. Kroger was also the first to manufacture the products that he in turn sold in his own store. This was the beginning of what is today one of the largest food manufacturing companies in America.
Operations management is defined as the design, execution, and control of operations that convert resources into desired goods and services, while implementing an organizations business strategy (Business Dictionary, 2015). Office Depot Inc. is one such organization that truly understands that solid operations is the foundation to the success they have had in recent years. In this paper, I will give the history and background of Office Depot Inc. and explain why they have been able to keep such a competitive advantage in the consumer and small business supply industry. Additionally, I will
Kroger Grocery chain is a company worth researching. The chain has grown into one of the largest grocery chains in the United States. There have been committed to outstanding customer services with being innovated throughout its history. Kroger’s continue to push the limits in innovated ways such as business structure, human resources, business marketing, and financially.
Would you like to be a part of a rewards program that allows you to save on groceries and insures the protection of your personal information with a $5,000 promise? The Kroger Company’s president, Don W. McGeorge, has just announced that the company’s “Plus Card” program will now offer even more.
The Kroger brand was born in 1883, Bernard 'Barney ' Kroger took his life savings of $372 to open his first store in downtown Cincinnati. This location is by I-71 that passes the Great American Ballpark. Barney Kroger, the son of a merchant, had a simple "Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself." This was the credo that would serve The Kroger Co. well over the next 130 years as the supermarket business evolved into a variety of formats aimed towards satisfying the needs of their shoppers in as many aspects as possible. With nearly 3,619 stores in 34 states under 24 different names, such as Kroger, Dillons, Turkey Hill Minit Markets, Ralphs, Tom Thumb Food Stores, QuikStop, Fred Meyer Jewelers, and Littman Jewelers with an annual revenue of more than $70 billion. Kroger today ranks as one of the nation’s largest retailers.
Operations Management in an organisation is repsonsible for managing and in making decisions concerning the activities that convert inputs into outputs , that is goods and services. This covers both short term actvities as well as longer term activities to meet strategic goals. Inputs can be the raw materaials need to manufacture goods such as furniture or the computers needed to create a service like online shopping site. Operation management’s role is to make decisions to improve how operation activities function, for example, to improve the final quality of the output or to change production methods to be more efficient in terms of cost and in time.
Operations management (OM) is that phase of an organization where inputs are put into operations to acquire required output (services) without compromising on quality. In other words operations management is also described as combining and transforming various resources in the operations sub-system into value added services in line with formulated policies of the organization. (Kumar and Suresh, 2009)
At present time, I believe the two most pertinent factors for the Kroger company are sociocultural forces and environmental factors. According to Orlando,2017, Kroger has formed a partnership with Lucky’s supermarket located throughout central Florida and will open eight more stores in the state adding to their numerous banners. Kroger will have to conduct research on the forces that include lifestyles. cultural differences and attitude that could have an impact on their stores.
has successfully incorporated all ten areas of focus and developed them into a legacy of quality