Sara Case Analysis

After emerging from bankruptcy in 2005, Eddie Bauer had to take several strategic steps to establish an effective direction of the company and operate more successfully. Management’s plan of reorganization identified six key strategic initiatives that can be classified into two main groups. The first component of their strategy is to improve profitability by both increasing demand through effective marketing campaigns (brand revitalization, resizing of stores, and improving customer experience) and cutting costs (store rationalization, increasing direct sales, and optimizing productivity). The second component of their strategy is

Trader Joe's faces several threats to its business, as competitors try to invade the company’s niche and attempt to imitate the company’s core strategies. The supermarket industry itself faces a major threat, as larger chains such as grocery retailers Wal-Mart and Tesco have begun to open small-format stores that mimic the Trader Joe's approach. This invasion results in additional cost pressure for incumbents like Trader Joe’s, which had to let go employees in order to become more cost competitive.

To evaluate the direction that Kudler Fine food wants to take the company has prepared a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Treats (SWOT) analysis to assist the business leaders in making an intelligent decision regarding expansion. The company strengths, weaknesses opportunities and threats are listed below. The company strengths are the organization is small, no direct competition, lots of choices for the consumer, very customer oriented, good store locations, high level of repeat customers, and the owner has good personal relationships with staff.

As listed in Kudler's 2003 Strategic Plan, SWOT identifies Kudler's strengths are small organization, minimal competition, variety, Kathy's relations with staff, and repeat business. Weaknesses are that primary dealing is in perishables and high pay-roll. Opportunities are in areas for catering, increase in product line, and opportunity to be acquired. Threats are from gourmet shops and economical affects, (Strategic Objective, n.d., page 8).

Kudler Fine Foods is the brain child of Kathy Kudler. She envisioned a one stop gourmet food store and has grown to three locations to date. She continues to maintain direct control over large bulk purchase order items, stringent customer service policies, and hiring. This paper discusses how the organization competes in the marketplace and the strengths and weaknesses of the company according to the marketing surveys their customers completed. The following also discusses which market structure best applies to the organization and how that structure positively and negatively affects the firm, how the effectiveness of the competitive strategies in the market structure affect the

3. What are the main threats to Trader Joe’s competitive advantage? Is their advantage sustainable?

The authors stated that, “Kraft Foods was the second largest food company in the world and the largest food company in the United States,” (Kerin & Peterson, 2010). A.1. Steak Sauce is a condiment “power house” in the Kraft portfolio that made incomparable profits for the company. Lawry’s, one of Kraft’s long-lasting competitors, endeavors to get a jump on the Holiday weekend (Memorial Day) at Publix to attain the ad and market their new product. Once notified, Kraft must lucidly make calculated decisions (SWOT analysis) as to how they will counteract Lawry’s new launch so they don’t

With giants such as Walmart, and Kroger running the grocery store industry it’s difficult for companies such as Smuckers to bargain for shelf-space and prices. Brand name items drawn to the center of the store are what leverages these companies to succeed in the industry. After numerous acquisitions and strategic alliances, Smuckers developed a solid core of product lines which experienced success rapidly. Product lines that experienced the most success as a result of strong positioning in the industry included their Coffee labels, flour and baking products, Oils and food spreads. A 9-Cell Industry Attractiveness/Business Strength Matrix shows that the Industry attractiveness is relatively moderate. With many competitors and strong buyer power from large grocery chains such as Kroger, companies such as Smuckers have explored different strategies that have proved successful in what can be described as a saturated industry. The case insinuates that there may be opportunities in the industry in regards to special markets and perhaps Oils and Baking with sugar free products, but otherwise the recession, although it drove families to buy store bought as opposed to eating out, has had its effects on the food service industry as well.

To better understand their declining performance, the company then launched an internal review of their operations and determined that the main reasons for their recent struggles were: a decline in department store sales, the rise of fast fashion retailers, the company’s own out-of-date supply chain model, and that the company’s focus was diluted over too many brands and too many initiatives. (“The

The Pillsbury Cookie Challenge is a case study written by Natalie Mauro under the supervision of Professor Allison Johnson. The case study creates an open discussion about what the marketing manager of the refrigerated baked goods category for Canada General Mills should do to revive his products. Ivan Guillen, the marketing manager, was faced with tough challenges. He was initially “…faced with the challenge of developing a strategy that would lead to improved business performance on his category” (Johnson and Mauro, p.1, 2011). To clarify, Guillen’s category is refrigerated baked goods (RBG), which means, this category is his marketing responsibility. The issue here is that “RBG was GMCC’s fourth largest category, and its performance over the past two years had been less than stellar” (Johnson and Mauro, p.1, 2011). It is important to note that GMCC stands for General Mills Canada Corporation. Pillsbury has enjoyed majority market share in the RBG category in Canada, however, recently, the market was experiencing only moderate growth. Guillen was disappointed that their goal of 5%-7% market growth was not being achieved mainly in the refrigerated cookie dough segment. To be exact, their volume growth for two years was flat and they were having difficulty reaching new households. There was a shift among consumer’s purchases, which Guillen was challenged to figure out why.

3. What is your assessment of the competitive strength of Kraft Foods’ different business units?

Discussion question 1: What are the benefits and costs of Cardinal Health’s product-related diversification strategy?

The decisions that she she made to restructure and diversify the company have definitely positively impacted how the company is being perceived. Those decisions also provided various opportunities within the food industry be creating healthier food lines and adding competitive advantage.

The case study is Macy’s Department Store Repositioning. The key problem is that the traditional department stores sales and profits are declining. There are specialty stores, discount stores, and online stores that offer similar products at a fraction of the cost for the most part. However, in the declining market for the department store industry, Macy’s consolidated stores, established a national department store and continues to make a steady profit. It is usually the time to divest, sale,

This strategic plan has been developed by the Sixers Consultant Agency group in order to provide a road map for supports, services and organization development to the management of Grace Kennedy Foods over the next Five (5) years (Hansen, 2008). The Board of Directors, Managers and staff will meet quarterly as it relates to the progress of the relevant divisions and provide reviews and update the plan annually (Ecdus.org, n.d.).