Hershey’s, is the one of the oldest and largest chocolate manufacturers in Pennsylvania, North America. It was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 and its products are sold in about sixty countries and employ approximately 13 000 employees worldwide. Hershey priced its products low so in order to achieve a high sales volume huge quantities needed to be sold. Highly efficient information technology was required. In the early 1990’s the legacy systems was used for various functions. In 1996 Hershey gave its approval to a project named Enterprise 21.
The main reason for Enterprise 21 was:
• To enhance their competitiveness
• To co-ordinate deliveries
• Help retailers to reduce inventory costs
• Provide a better customer experience
• Re-organise
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Manugistics provided software for transport and production.
• The software from Siebel assisted the company manage customer relations and track marketing
• IBM Global Services was chosen to integrate and put all systems on a single platform.
• The initial plan was to shift to the new system by April 1999, when the annual sales were usually lower. This meant that the project which would normally take four years had to be finished in just over thirty months.
• By January 1999, some of the modules from SAP had been implemented. However, other modules from SAP, Manugistics and Siebel were behind schedule.
• Hershey planned to switch over to the new systems during April 1999, which was a “quieter” season for confectionery sales but modules were added three months behind schedule.
• Hershey was not able to postpone the implementation, as the Y2K problem was looming, and orders for Halloween started pouring in.
• Hershey then decided on a Big Bang. All the software was implemented at one go, instead of a phased approach of one module at a
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Three weeks after the Big Bang approach was implemented, it was obvious that Hershey would not be able to meet its deadlines and the company was 15 days behind schedule in orders. Hershey’s implementation team made the mistake of using shortcuts in systems testing, data migration and training without the appropriate testing. As a result critical data process and systems integration issues went unnoticed until it was too late. I don’t think that the company should have rolled out all three systems at the same time. Testing should never be sacrificed even if it sets back the launch date. If the testing was done using real operating conditions, critical issues would have been discovered before the launch. So when the business went live, there were many unforeseen issues preventing orders from flowing through the system, resulting in drop in profits and decline in stock price. The phased approached would allow them to find and correct bugs before moving onto the next phase. Another huge mistake made was to squeeze a complex ERP implementation project into an unreasonably short deadline. The timing cutover was also scheduled over the company’s busy season. It was unreasonable for Hershey’s to expect that it would be able to meet peak demand when employees were not yet fully trained on the new systems and business processes. So in other words, Hershey’s lacked experience
“His decision to focus on the production of the Hershey milk chocolate bar is now hailed as one of the most important decisions in the history of American business” (Milton Hershey 1). Certain aspects of Milton Hershey’s life are impossible to not take notice of. A simple chocolate bar completely changed the world of business, Milton S. Hershey impacted the world in a huge way.
Market research and information about the industry is very important to the organization because it will allow the organization to position itself well in terms of sourcing chocolate raw materials and in identifying the market for its products. For example, understanding that some chocolate product purchases are seasonal, e.g., at Christmas; around Mother’s Day; and, on Valentine’s Day, allows the organization to have more product on hand and to create displays, in store, that will increase purchases and attract more customers when existing customers tell their friends about the availability of high end products, at reasonable prices, in their store.
Hershey’s takes advantage of many different types of advertising. Television commercials and ads are very common. Sponsorships is also another very common way Hershey advertises. Hershey sponsors everything from ice skating shows, to racecars. The Hershey Food Corporation is very competitive so they need this type of advertising. However, the only other major corporation to compete with is Mars. The chocolate industry is diffidently not pure competition. Mars and Hershey’s form an oligopoly. Hershey’s has so many different kind of products that they have a lot of competition. The company has branched out to where they’re not only competing against other chocolates but also for fruit candies, and baking chocolate and chocolate drinks as well. The fact that so many products are offered, extends the corporation to different divisions. Mexico and Canada have manufacturing plants. Seventeen manufacturing plants include Hershey, Pa (Hershey plant, Reese plant, West Hershey plant0, Hazleton, PA, Lancaster, PA, Memphis, Tenn., Naugatuck, Conn., New Brunswick, NJ, Oakedale, CA, Palmyra, PA, Reading, PA, Robinson, Ill., Stuarts Draft, VA, Wheatridge, CO, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Montreal, Quebec, Smiths Falls, Ontario, and Guadalajara, Mexico.
Before Milton Hershey had a world wide known chocolate business, he had a small, not so well known caramel business. Milton Hershey began his chocolate making business in 1893, when his father and him traveled to Chicago to attend a big job fair (Tarshis 14), but it wasn’t until 1900 when Hershey succeed in making the first milk chocolate candy bar (The Hershey Company). Hershey attended an exhibit hall of new and amazing inventions around the world at the fair in Chicago. As Hershey walked into the exhibit hall, he was struck by a delectable smell (Tarshis 14). “Hershey was already a leading candy maker. He had created the largest caramel factory in the country, but he became convinced that the future of his business would be chocolate. At the fair in Chicago, Hershey Bought chocolate-making equipment. He had it shipped back to his caramel factory in Pennsylvania. Then he hired two chocolate makers. Soon the company was churning out chocolate candies in more than 100 shapes” (Tarshis 15).
Upon review, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade should approve the offer from Unilever for $36.00 (cash) per share. In reviewing the offers two questions were presented. The two questions included: the social mission of Ben & Jerry’s surviving a takeover, and maintaining the best interests of the shareholders. To follow, will be the justification for the Unilever offer, alternative offers, and the risks that are involved with a possible takeover.
The Cheesecake Factory brings authenticity to many people around the world. It began from a 1940s newspaper recipe, that later turned into a dream. Accomplished by a woman and her family with desires to succeed in their business. At The Cheesecake Factory Incorporated majority of their employees say it’s a great workplace. It is known for it’s tasty cheesecakes and it’s enticing meals. The Cheesecake Factory is not just an amazing place to dine at for their pastry, but their restaurants cuisine is highly favored.
The main problems that are affecting the company were the high level of labour turnover, below target production rates, high levels of scrap, the employees had little input in the decision making, therefore resulting in low motivation and job satisfaction, and didn't have enough feedback on there performance. Added to this was the conflict between the supervisors and employees in the production and packing areas, and the grading and payment levels wasn't satisfactory to the employees.
Customer loyalty is another competitive advantage. Trader Joe’s doesn’t provide membership card to the customer, however customer still would like to choose Trader Joe’s just because of this
This case examines issues of asset control for Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., in light of the outstanding takeover offers by Chartwell Investments, Dreyer‘s Grand, Unilever, and Meadowbrook Lane Capital in January 2000.
Success of the plan In Kraft’s Food Corporation the planning analyst and the other business departments work together in close communication. This aids in the development of a system that allows business activities to align with the corporate goals and targets. The company is also building its performance around successful people by assuring that the plan is tied with the system that involves the use of practically tested strategies. Shared decisions of all the departments including finance and production departments help adding value to the business by improving its competitive place in the market.
The purpose of this report is to evaluate Nestle Company industry based on the case study and comprehend how the company develops strategic intent for their business organizations following the strategic factors and approaches. I will analyze the strategic management process as firm used to achieve strategic competitiveness and earn above-average returns. I will critically examine the strategy formulation that includes business-level strategy and corporate-level strategy. It also aims to identify market place opportunities and threats in the external environment and to decide how to use their resources, capabilities and core competencies in the firm’s internal environment to pursue opportunities and overcome threats.
Cocoa production is predicted of getting shortage of supply in 2020 (Nelson, 2017). The famous chocolate drink that Malaysian drink daily, Milo contains cocoa. Other than Milo, Koko Krunch, Nestle Crunch Wafer, KitKat are also mainly made from cocoa. Nestle as a company which largely depends on cocoa bean for its products, will become one of the victim of this cocoa supply risk. The biggest cocoa producer in the world, Ivory Coast, is facing the problem of diseases infected in cocoa plant, frequent rain, and buyers forcing producers to sell cocoa at very low price (The Guardian, 2014). In Malaysia and Indonesia, cocoa plantations are threatened by a tiny moth named as cocoa pod borer which eat the seed (Nelson, 2017).. These pests has cost cocoa
In 2011 PepsiCo announced the launch of their Social Vending System. This system featured a full touch interactive screen. A consumer can select a beverage and enter the reciepent's name, mobile number, and personalized message and gift it with a video. PepsiCo uses technology to their advantage for global implementation.The company uses media sites in multiple was as advertisement and marketing tools.
The transnational corporation Nestle Company founded in 1886 based in Vevey, Switzerland, sells its products in 189 countries and has manufacturing plants in 89 countries around the world, boasting an unmatched geographic presence. The company started off as an alternative to breastmilk and initially looked into other countries for an increase in global opportunities. It founded its first out of country offices in London in 1868, and due to the small size and inability of Switzerland to compensate growth manufacturing plants were built in both Britain and the United states in the late nineteenth century. A large portion of Nestlé’s globalization came in the 1900s which was when it first moved into the chocolate business after
In any organizations management would have to contend with any unavoidable changes that might take place. New machines, equipment, unstable business environment etc. can bring these changes. Successful implementation of the product therefore depends on the ability of the management to deal with the changes and resolve any emerging conflicts there from.