A. Define the Problem
Natureview Farm, Inc. (Natureview), a small yogurt company founded in 1989, produces and markets yogurt using natural ingredients and a distinct manufacturing method that yields a smooth, creamy texture without adding artificial thickeners. As a result of this emphasis on natural ingredients, the brand has established a reputation for high quality, great tasting yogurt and is the leading natural foods brand of refrigerated yogurt. Natureview’s yogurts – available in twelve flavors in 8-ounce cups, four flavors in 32-ounce cups, and multi-pack yogurt products – are distributed nationally and the company shares leadership in the natural food channels. In 1999, the company’s revenues grew from $100,000 to $13 million; however, despite Natureview’s success and well-established brand, the company has long battled to preserve a steady level of profitability.
In 1996, Jim Wagner was hired as chief financial officer and was able to successfully achieve steady profitability for the company. One year later, in 1997, in an attempt to source its strategic investments, Natureview organized an equity infusion from a venture capital firm; however, the venture capital now needs to cash out of its investment in Natureview and management will therefore need to find another investor or position itself for acquisition. In order to attain the maximum potential valuation, the company must make strategic marketing choices in an attempt to increase revenues to $20 million before the end of year 2001. And to meet this lofty goal, Natureview can potentially enter a new market and transition from the natural food channel into the supermarket channel, a move that would signify a dramatic departure from the company’s present cha...
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...order to increase revenues to $20 million before the end of 2001, Natureview should choose option three and introduce two SKUs of a children’s multi-pack into the natural foods channel. This option carries the least amount of financial risk and would allow the company to build off of its already well-established position within the natural foods channel. Since women already represent 70% of yogurt purchases, the company should market the children’s multi-packs to mothers as a fast, easy, delicious and nutritious option for children as an addition to a meal or as a snack.
Perhaps if the company had more time to meet its goal, or if they choose to re-examine their position again at a later date, it would then be a good idea to attempt to enter the supermarket channel; however, with only one year to increase revenues, it is safer to stay in the natural foods channel.
While many pass by the dairy aisle thinking nothing of the stories behind products, yogurt is such a product that has been experimented commercially in what is now a battle between the bacteria. Activia and Yoplait are two players in a grander battle of gaining consumer interest. Both the Activia and Go-Gurt commercials differ in the details of their approach, yet both stray away from
Monsanto Company are a public American multinational agricultural and agrochemical biotechnology corporation who leads in the production of genetically engineered seeds. Founded by John Queeny in 1901, the organization initially produced industrial chemicals such as sulphuric acid and plastics, including polystyrene and synthetic fibres. It was not until 1983, where the company was among the first to genetically modify a plant cell and conduct field trials of genetically modified crops. This scientific breakthrough shifted the company 's corporate focus towards the agricultural industry with the implementation of biotechnology. The company’s primary line of products consist of herbicides and genetically modified seeds.1
Perdue Farms Target Market consumers who are relatively price-in-sensitive and demand a good quality product.
The fruit juice and health drinks market has, over the past couple of years, seen a massive growth both in terms of sales and of the increasing demographic of customers that are choosing to purchase the products, especially at the expense of carbonated drinks. In 2006 the estimated value of the total market was £2.77 billion at retail selling price, having grown from 30.7% in 2002 (Key Note, 2007). Innocent Drinks are the markets biggest player with a market share of around 62% , selling in excess of 600,000 drinks every week (Barnett, 2005) The business is currently valued at £100 million. Not only content with being the largest distributor of smoothies the business has branched out to start the selling of "thickies" a yoghurt based drink which promises to be a hugely innovative idea and also water based fruit drinks aimed at children.
Oliver’s opened its second store in April of 2000 in Santa Rosa, CA fashioning it after Woodlands Market, another Organic Health food store. Unfortunately, in the early 2000’s with the increase of discount superstores, club stores, dollar stores and drugstores, there was a decline in the traditional retailers’ market share from 82.3 percent down to 69.2 percent. Increases in giant retailers will be one of Oliver’s biggest competitive pressur...
Currently, the company lacks of focus as it has a diverse product line with too many varieties of cheese products. With so many products it cannot be sure to decide as to which market segment to target in order to take the advantage of the growing market.
Morris visibly has an understanding of how he wants to progress Nature Bros. Ltd., he has solid financial projections, which have been well thought out. However, I believe he needs to create a business plan in order to find the capital for the further development he is looking for. The business has been fairly successful and Morris fully understands the market shares and what percentage he will be focusing on. By creating a through business plan, prospective investors will have a clear understanding of where the company has been, how it has reached its current status and where Morris would like to take it.
The first assigned reading was a case study of Customer and Enterprise Services (CES) Division. It is the back end customer service & support provider for majority of the insurance companies in the United States. The issue they faced was the demoralization of their work force. A lackadaisical quota based approach to work was prevalent among most levels due to the archaic & heartless management & leadership approach in place. The case study analyzes CES’s transformational process to counter this issue. The seeds of this company wide transformation were sown through the personal transformation of John Parker, Vice president of CES while it underwent the transformation. I think the story shows the importance of leadership in such an undertaking,
“I started on a 700 Case combine,” explained Rich Ochs to his granddaughter early this harvest as she road with him in their Case IH 7230 combine. “All we had was a steering wheel and a bar to hold us in place. I’ve been through it all.”
Second Harvest Heartland was created by two Second Harvest form Minnesota and St. Paul coming together to form a strong team to fight hunger. Second Harvest Heartland mainly serves counties in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, or I shall say largely serves those two places. Last Year they served more than 74 million meals to counties in Minnesota and western Wisconsin but they did not do it alone that was done through other partnerships they have in those communities. They are also a member of Feeding America which serves more than 200 food banks in the United States. According to Second Harvest Heartland they own 90,000+ feet of food storage including
Chobani first started by buying a yogurt plant from Kraft in South Edmeston, New York. Before buying it, he visualized the market needs for yogurt and he thought about the risk of buying it. This has helped to bolster his leadership skills as well. As a leader, the technical and analytical skills which he acquired were supplemental to his many strengths as a leader. Taking a more hands on approach to the ways in which he runs his company, Ulukaya often times works on the production floor. He goes as far as to test many of the batches of the yogurt that is produced himself. Ulukaya eats around 6 of his Chobani yogurt cups in one day; “On a tasting day at a plant, he typically consumes five pounds of yogurt” (Pannet, WSJ) Ulukaya puts in the effort to demonstrate to his workers and to consumers the level of consistency that must be put into creating a wholesome product such as his Chobani yogurts. He strives to make the yogurt seem as close to his mother’s recipe as he possibly can, so he regulates and oversees the process of many batches when he goes to visit. Ulukaya strong sense of analytical skills factored into his success. In the end, Chobani became a billion-dollar industry generating a billion a year, and his skills as a manager, which he continues to show is a large factor for this
The prairie is facing several problems that threaten not only the wellbeing but also the existence of plant and animal species. Habitat loss, overgrazing, and pollution are ruining the prairie ecosystem. The habitats of native prairie animals are being destroys and converted into farmland. Prairie grasses are being uprooted, which are a vital food source for prey animals. When these prey animals do not have enough resources to sustain their current population, their decreasing numbers create ripples across the food web. Loss of prairie grasses is also a problem for animals that live create nests inside them to shelter them and their young. Another side effect of habitat loss is that as the amount of land decreases, the population density increases
BR was sold to Delta Foods in 1996 for US $2 billion. At this time, it was one of the largest fast-food chains in the world generating sales of US $6.8 billion. DF purchase of BR brought in a new cultural paradigm. DF is an individualistic, aggressive growth company with brands they believe are strong enough to support entry into new overseas markets without the need for local partnership. The DF strategy is one of direct acquisition and JV’s were not part of their strong suit. DF strategic implementation is based on hiring local managers directly or transferring seasoned managers from their soft drink and snack food divisions. The DF disdain for JVs is clearly reflected by their participation in only those JVs where local partnering was mandatory (e.g. China) to overcome regulatory barriers to entry. JVs had been the predominant strategy for BR which was unlike the DF outlook. Terralumen’s strategy was misaligned and out of sync with the DF strategy. This was unlike the complementarity that existed with BR’s strategy. This misalignment began to affect the JV relationship that had worked well with BR in the initial years. The failure of Terralumen and DF to recognize this fundamental cultural difference between their operational strategy styles i.e. Individualistic and Collectivism leads to their inability to proactively create steps for better alignment in the early period after acquisition, creating uncertainties and difficulties for both corporations. There is a lack of communication and virtually absence of trust between two new partners. DF appeared to be flexing its muscles in the relationship and using a more masculine approach compared to Terralumen’s more feminine approach. Both the corporations are strategically involved in a complex situation where they appear reluctant to address the issues at stake and move ahead together. The DF strategy of
Do you think factory farming is fine for the world, would you want to be on a farm forever? A number of antibiotics that the factory farming use is more than what Americans use over a year. Does the use of antibiotics harm the food we eat? “If you are like most Americans, you or someone in your family has been prescribed antibiotics to treat an illness. Maybe it was a simple ear infection or strep throat. Or maybe it was something potentially life-threatening, like pneumonia or a post-surgery infection.” “Russ Kremer, a Missouri hog farmer who caught a blood disease after being gored in the knee by one of his pigs, said his doctor told him he had the same antibiotic resistance as his pigs. His infection was resistant to six out of seven antibiotics used to treat it, Kremer said.”Do
Heifer International Foundation was founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1944 by Dan West with the support of The Church of Brethren. West, a Midwest farmer, had served as a relief worker in the Spanish Civil Wars. During this time, West was exposed to the extreme poverty and hunger which many refugees experienced. It shocked and unsettled him that refugees received only one cup of milk as a day’s meal rations. He knew that he needed to help these families. Inspired by the proverb of, “if you teach a man to fish”, Dan West decided that one possible solution to this crisis could be to give cows to these families. This would allow them to have not one cup of milk, but many. Thus, Heifer International was conceived with the mission, “To work