EDUDORM ACADEMIC SERVICES

Case study analysis for Whole Foods Company

Assignment 1

Case study analysis for Whole Foods Company

Whole Foods Company is has recently been ranked in the Fortune 500 after being the leading retail supermarket in the line of natural and organic foods own by John Mackey. It started as a simple entrepreneur retail shop that grew and progressed up to the current competitive level. It has dominated the United States of America in 193 stores and other small subsidiaries. The company has grown big since it started majorly through the opening of new store, braches and merging. All these achievements have been realized through the engagements of certain strategies. First, the company has made it in promoting health for its customers and stakeholders by providing healthy eating education. The company has extended their support to the community by establishing environment that is appreciated by all. The company has also achieved high quality production of the natural and organic products for the delight and satisfaction of the customers.

Situation analysis

Whole Foods Company has laid out a strategy since 2002 that aims at the opening large stores which are its own rather that acquiring small stores of chain. This strategy would help in creating an interactive store atmosphere for the satisfaction of the customers. This would make the business more fun and Whole Foods Company would eventually become a third place for its customers. After the presentation of the financial results in 2005, it was seen that the revenues have been going down. Compared to other competitors. The prices of Whole foods products are also high above the industry average hence becoming hard to sustainable the trade.

The human resource is well trained and experienced and so they are able to deliver quality services to the customers. The working force has been greatly inspired by the company’s mission which has complemented their wants about the distribution of the profits. The company’s motivation of the human resource has made them feel good hence enjoying working under very clean and high standards.

Strengths of Whole Foods Company

Their major strength lies in the passion of maintaining high standard of the quality of the products and services. This gives a 100% satisfaction of any product that has been purchased. The other strength is the competitive advantage because it is the largest in terms of square foots. There are very few food stores that exceed 20000 square foot. The other advantage of the cooperation that they offer an economic value added management and incentive system. The highly motivated workforce also has been the stronghold of this company.

Weakness of the company

The company is heavily dependent on the US market which makes it vulnerable to the economic variation of the U.S market. The company has very limited supply networks that can supply and satisfy the standards that it offers. This can be a hindrance to the growth and the expansion of the company. the prices of this company are also high compared to the adjacent competitors. This sends away the price sensitive competitors who prefer to buy cheaper goods from other store.

Opportunities of the company

The opportunities of the whole market company are dependent on the global market and the competitive environment. First, it has the opportunity of expanding. It has all it takes to decentralize their operations in to other parts of the world rather that depending on the U.S market only. The company has the opportunity of adjusting their prices by making slight reasonable reduction of costs which would increase the competitive advantage. The popularity of the organic foods has also become an opportunity which has been backed up by the health emphasis. The other opportunities are the attractiveness of the products, and the growth through acquisition. It has a brand image which can be improved through the involvement in the community service.

Threats

The company faces a number of threats. The competitors like Walmart offer the same products at a low cost which tends to threaten the progress of the company. There are also other small scale retailers who have opened similar businesses of natural and organic foods which are offered at a low cost. The coming up of the GMO products has become a great threat to the availability of natural and organic plants making the foods to be contaminated by the GMO ingredients. Lastly, the growth of the company is threatened by the global warming. This directly affects the food production in the farm hence bringing an indirect threat to the growth of the company.

Assignment 2

30 second elevator speech

I have recently worked as a communication professional and most of my fellow workers have complemented on my skills especially as a story teller. My presentations have moved crowds and many have liked them. I’m aiming at establishing myself on a platform that will help me start video production of company motivations. Since documentaries are my area of inspiration, I will help the companies to present their missions and the strategic planning in the social media through the videos I shall be producing.

People will hire me to compile their adverts, documentaries and other materials in a video form.

Discussion question

How you can use VCA, RBV, and SWOT analysis help in making a successful strategy.

SWOT analysis is the key guide of conducting an internal analysis of any firm. It uses the approach of identifying the strong points and weaknesses, threats and opportunities that are potential in making the strategic planning of a firm. In the first place, it helps the executives to make a comparison between the internal and the external forces that directly and indirectly affect the firm. Once the SWOT analysis is made, a clear pathway of areas of focus is defined and the plans are made more real for success to be realized. It also helps them to make decisions For instance; the Whole Food Company was able to employ the SWOT analysis in making a strategy that propelled it for thirty years (Rao, Rao & Sivaramakrishna, 2008).

VCA refers to the activities that a that are undertaken by a firm in its efforts to deliver a quality product of either the goods or services it offers to its customers. It breaks the firm into units that add value to the final product until it meets the expected quality and standard. Its main application in the market is to create a competitive market strategy. It also helps in making decisions on how much of product should be produced for a sustainable trend to be ensured. VCA analysis involves three basic processes which are activity analysis, value analysis as well as evaluation and planning. The three steps aim at identifying the activities that shall add value of the product, making necessary changes depending on the interest of the customers and finally implementation of the introduced changes (Rao, Rao & Sivaramakrishna, 2008).

RBV is the application of tangible and intangible valuables resources in maintaining the firm’s average returns. RBV gives a firm a competitive advantage by the use of the locally available resources. Tangible things may include the pieces of land, machinery and buildings among others. Intangible assets include trademarks and brand reputation among other others. RBV has several distinct roles in the strategic planning such as identifying the potential assets in the firm, the value of each resource and the characteristics of the valuables (Rao, Rao & Sivaramakrishna, 2008).

Response to Amy’s Analysis

The Amy’s description of the VCA is brief and precise which defines the analysis to be a value chain that that analyzes how changes in inputs into output is done with some additional of value in each step. The customers’ value is a value that meets the needs of a customer that depend on the three basic sources: activities that differentiate the product, activities that lower its cost, and activities that meet the customer’s need quickly. In addition to this summary VCA is more of creating a competitive ability of a firm by attracting the customers by providing high quality products.

The summary of RBV has been done in the best way possible only that she never gave examples of these assets. They include buildings, pieces of land and trademarks among others.

SWOT analysis indeed aims at using the approach of identifying the strengths weaknesses threats and opportunities in the analysis of the strategy of the firm.

Response to Brandon’s analysis

The analysis here is great though it needed to be specific on what each analysis does to the strategy of the firm. The VCA and RBV need more elaboration on what their roles are in the firms. The SWOT analysis is well described by saying of the transparency it b rings into a firm. It also helps the company in making decisions that act as the basis of success of these firms.

References

Rao, C. A., Rao, B. P., & Sivaramakrishna, K. (2008). Strategic management and business policy: Texts and cases. New Delhi, India: Excel.

Appendix

Figure 1. SWOT Analysis based upon the topic of the week for the company case.

Strengths