F&P Gruppo - Gallo Rice

F&P Gruppo - Gallo Rice

Introduction

F&P Gruppo is a private firm specializing in the value-added rice

industry that has been a family owned operation for five

generations. F&P Gruppo’s Gallo brand name and signature rooster

logo is consistently utilized across all product lines and markets.

F&P Gruppo has extensive international operations and its products are

sold throughout Europe and South America. Wholly owned subsidiaries

and production facilities are located in Argentina, Italy, Germany,

and Uruguay. Additionally, F&P Gruppo also has wholly owned

subsidiaries in Brazil and Switzerland and a joint venture in the

United Kingdom.

The company’s stated goal was to achieve market share leadership in an

increasingly segmented industry through producing and marketing

differentiated higher margin products. Their success to date is a

result of many contributing factors. F&P Gruppo is one of the few

companies to be involved in the entire rice producing process: from

growing and milling to packaging and marketing. They have been dubbed

‘the rice specialist’ and have a competitive advantage of owning the

entire value chain. Rice is the only food industry they operate in,

so they are very focused with a high degree of expertise. This has

led to a deep understanding of how to market to their customer base.

A better than average commitment to research and development has

yielded competitive advantage in creating new and improved strains of

high quality rice, developing proprietary manufacturing processes, and

improved packaging. A company objective displaying the importance of

research and development for F&P Gruppo is that 35% – 40% of total

gross margin should be derived from products that were not in t...

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...ice would seem to be a good company to use as an

example of the appropriate way to approach marketing in foreign

countries. Gallo Rice has been aided in their international expansion

by the fact that they have kept an eye on consumer interests in the

respective countries they have chosen to operate in. Rather then

releasing a single homogeneous product line throughout the world, they

have done a good job of adapting to the wants of needs of local

consumers. Gallo has also done a good job of keeping track of the

individual actions of their major competitors in the respective

markets in which they operate. By keeping pace with the different

consumer expectations in individual countries, as well as keeping tabs

on the actions of local competitors, Gallo Rice has created a

strategic advantage over its competitors that will continue to aide

them in the future.