...By 2006, Whole Foods Market (WFM) had evolved into the “world’s largest retail chain of natural and organic foods supermarkets.” (Case Analysis-Whole Foods Market 2005 p.1). An example of strategic decision making is WFM implementation of “Health Starts Here” ; an initiative to offer healthier pre-fab food options with limited add-ons such as refined flour and sugar and processed ingredients. The purpose is to encourage better eating among its shoppers. To make it successful they hired healthy eating specialist for each store and created wellness clubs. This is unconventional, and WFM is performing different activities from rivals, and more important this new activities fit and reinforce the other activities such as: selling the highest quality, least processed natural food, satisfies and delights their customer, active support of organic farming, sustainable agriculture that helps protect our planet and decentralized, self-directed team culture. Their Strategic Based Position is a Needs-Based; they seek to meet organic grocery needs of its target customers which are college educated residence interested in eating natural and organic foods. There strategic position is sustainable because of the trade off of being so streamlined with their organic options that tend to be higher priced, by doing so gives up their service to lower income families by not providing lower cots options. As well as only purchasing from farmers that meet WFM’s organically certified requirements...
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...Organizational Goals and Objectives Whole food presents a “Declaration of Independence,” (the combined single mission statement) as follows: Our motto — Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet — emphasizes that our vision reaches far beyond just being a food retailer. Our success in fulfilling our vision is measured by customer satisfaction, Team Member excellence and happiness, return on capital investment, improvement in the state of the environment, and local and larger community support. Our ability to instill a clear sense of interdependence among our various stakeholders (those who are interested and benefit from the success of our company) is contingent upon our efforts to communicate more often, more openly, and more compassionately. Better communication equals better understanding and more trust. Whole foods clearly has instilled in its core values the importance of having a balance within their stakeholders which makes whole foods have a inviting nature for all parties involved. Subsequently, the Whole Foods mission statement satisfies the needs of all stakeholders. Although, whole foods does pride that their costumer is their more valued stakeholder. Our customers are the most important stakeholder in our business. Therefore, we go to extraordinary lengths to satisfy and delight our customers. We want to meet or exceed their expectations on every shopping trip. We know that by doing so we turn customers into advocates for whole foods. We guarantee our customers...
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...Date: To: 26 January 2011 Mr. John Mackey, CEO Whole Foods Market , SVP Corporate Strategy Group Interim Strategic Analysis From: RE: In response to our conversation on January 19, I have prepared a strategic analysis to assess the current competitive position of Whole Foods Market in the retail grocery and organic food industries. As you are aware, the US food industry is intensely competitive with firms ranging from corner store shops up through national retail chains. In recent years, there has been an increased focus on healthy living as characterized by exercise, mental wellness, and eating healthy and organic food. In addition, concerns over food safety, particularly the use of pesticides and other chemicals, has gained media attention and caused some consumers to shift their purchase habits toward organic and natural products.1 If the government implements stricter food production policy, Whole Foods should expect an additional increase in sales. Lastly, a growing awareness of the food supply chain sustainability from the producer to the retail store has also attracted some customers to our stores. Whole Foods enjoys as loyal customer base because of our unique position as a national organic food retailer. We have seen an increase in middle aged and older customers shopping at our stores, in line with the aging US population. These customers tend to have higher discretionary spending and can afford to pay the premium price for organic groceries. On the other...
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...Strategic management BIG CASE DISCUSSION 4 (Question 3&4 of the external analysis) I. What factors are driving industry changes, and what impacts will these changes have on competitive intensity and industry profitability? * Driving forces 1) Increasing globalization: * New markets in Canada and UK: WF has acquired Wild Oats Market in the US and Canada. - New competitors from neighbor countries like Fresh & Easy from British supermarket giant Tesco. * Products from other countries, for example: Lebanese fig jam, preserved lemons from Morocco, Indian curies, Thai rice, stuffed grape leaves from Greece, and goulash from Hungary. 2) Changes in the long-term industry growth rate: - Natural food generated $22.3 billion in sales in US in 2008, up 10% from 2007, and up 37% from 2004. - UPC-coded organic foods accounted for 49 billion in sale, 16% higher than the previous year, and up 132% since 2004. - Global sales of organic products were estimated to be $52 billion in 2008 and to have grown at the compound rate of 13% since 2004. 3) Changing societal concerns, attitudes, and lifestyles - People are more concern about health and food safety -> Consumer demand for organic products growing at double-digit rates – much larger than that of the traditional grocery products (2-3%) - Demand for value-priced: The United States now spends more than $1 billion a year to import organic food, according to the USDA, and the ratio of imported to exported...
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...How sustainable is Whole Food’s competitive advantage? What factors will be the most crucial in maintaining it over the coming decade? Whole Foods can sustain its competitive advantage over the next decade on the basis of following four questions that will address about its resources and capabilities. The question of value: The Company has built a reputation for being selective in the products sold and only providing its customers with the highest quality natural and organic foods available. It appeals to upscale and affluent shoppers and has managed to evoke the kind of lifestyle brand. Moreover, Whole Foods strives to make shopping engaging, fun and interactive store atmosphere where community can interact, educate and grow, whereas its counterparts emphasize on low cost and abundant variety foods. For the upcoming decade, as customers are being more aware about the idea that low-priced foods from conventional sources costs more to the environment, communities, and animal welfare, the overall company’s outlook looks very positive. The question of rareness: The Company is in the customer-centered business, where customer happiness is pursued with greater interest, passion and empathy as compared to profit-centered businesses. The employees are organized into self-directed teams and employees are empowered to decide what products to stock in their section. The individual freedoms and positive reinforcement is far more philosophical, and therefore more difficult to replicate...
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...Whole Foods Market, Inc. (Whole Foods Market or 'the company') is a natural and organic foods supermarket chain that operates through several wholly owned subsidiaries. The company's supermarkets are located in the US, Canada and the UK. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas and employs 64,200 people, of which 13,300 are part-time employees and 2,700 are temporary employees. The company recorded revenues of $10,107.8 million during the financial year ended September 2011 (FY2011), an increase of 12.2% over FY2010. The operating profit of the company was $547.6 million in FY2011, an increase of 25% over FY2010. The net profit was $342.6 million in FY2011, an increase of 42.5% over FY2010. Strengths Whole Foods Market is the world’s leading retailer of natural and organic foods and America’s first national “Certified Organic” grocer. The company is the 10th largest food retailer overall. This is an attractive company to work for as Whole Foods has been named by Fortune Magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in the U.S. for 15 consecutive years. Whole Foods has a strong focus on creating the right size for their stores. The company is focused on the right sized store for each location. Since FY2008, the company has downsized 20 leases by an average of 13,000 square feet each. They reduced approximately 1.4 million square feet from its development pipeline, downsizing 20 leases for stores in development and terminating an additional 22 leases...
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...food stores called Sun Harvest Meadows and this little market in a strip mall on South Lamar Blvd called Whole Foods. My earliest memories were of Sun Harvests was their decent food selection but dreary appearance and poor customer service compared to Whole Foods trendy style and outgoing staff. Crafted in Austin where the city’s motto is “Keep Austin Weird,” there’s no surprise that Whole Foods would adopt the trendy feeling that the city’s vibe carries and become successful in a town where people both value their personal health as well as the health of the environment before “going green” became a popular trend. Since my gaining my lasting first impression of their first store the early 1980’s, I’ve had the ability to watch my neighborhood grocer grow into a successful distributor of natural foods to a global customer base. Becoming this successful was not by chance but the product of a leader with a sound vision, a mission statement that was more than just eye fodder and a culture that married the elements of uniqueness, respect, vision, and responsibility. When crafting the strategic road map for this company, John Mackey, cofounder and CEO of Whole Foods started with the goal in mind but had to create the running rules to march towards that future state. To help guide the company’s direction, they created the core values which are still in place today. Whole Food’s core values are: Selling the Highest Quality Natural and Organic Products Available Satisfying and...
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...Carbohydrates Carbohydrates: Good Carbs Guide the Way ------------------------------------------------- Top of Form What Are Carbohydrates? Carbohydrates are found in a wide array of foods—bread, beans, milk, popcorn, potatoes, cookies, spaghetti, soft drinks, corn, and cherry pie. They also come in a variety of forms. The most common and abundant forms are sugars, fibers, and starches. The basic building block of every carbohydrate is a sugar molecule, a simple union of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Starches and fibers are essentially chains of sugar molecules. Some contain hundreds of sugars. Some chains are straight, others branch wildly. Carbohydrates were once grouped into two main categories. Simple carbohydrates included sugars such as fruit sugar (fructose), corn or grape sugar (dextrose or glucose), and table sugar (sucrose). Complex carbohydrates included everything made of three or more linked sugars. Complex carbohydrates were thought to be the healthiest to eat, while simple carbohydrates weren’t so great. It turns out that the picture is more complicated than that. The digestive system handles all carbohydrates in much the same way—it breaks them down (or tries to break them down) into single sugar molecules, since only these are small enough to cross into the bloodstream. It also converts most digestible carbohydrates into glucose (also known as blood sugar), because cells are designed to use this as a universal energy source. Fiber is an exception. It...
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...Kaitlyn Keane Prof. Sanjay Jain MGMT 162: MWF 10:30am April 24, 2015 Whole Foods Case 1. In what ways do you think Whole Foods has created value for society? And how have their efforts to create social value led to business results? When the majority of Americans were not eating properly Whole Foods came in and offered healthy and organic food items that enhance customers’ lives by nourishing their bodies. With this emphasis on healthy and tasty foods, more and more Americans began to purchase healthier and organic options. Whole Foods also created value for society by working with organic regional and local farm owners to sell their produce in their stores. The company has also contributed donations to nonprofit organizations that supported things such as sustainable agriculture, reducing waste, and encouraging environmentally friendly store maintenance programs. Employees were also encouraged to give back to the community through 20 hours of paid community service. These examples of ways Whole Foods has created value for society have helped their business in multiple ways. It fostered a strong group of dedicated employees who praised the company’s values. The value created for society also attracted more loyal customers who supported the grocery store doing so much for the environment and society. In turn this has increased the companies sales and profitability. 2. In the last few years is Whole Foods more about growth or is its social mission? How does it support...
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...Week 2 Written Assignment: Case Study: Whole Foods Monique Marszalik MBA 671- Strategic Management Benedictine University Professor Peter Papantos January 20, 2013 Abstract Organic foods are the new trend and there is one supermarket that is synonymous with organic – Whole Foods. Whole Foods opened in 1980 and has become a leader in natural and organic foods. The company has a very strong mission and vision that they adhere to. This paper will discuss how well the company is doing in regards to their mission statement, core values, and financial statements. It will also show how Whole Foods is doing in regards to its competitors like Trader Joe’s and Wild Oats. Whole Foods is the world’s largest natural and organic supermarket chain. It was founded in 1980 and in these 30 years, has become a leader in the natural and organic food movement. John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, wanted to market natural and organic foods because he felt that if he could provide this high quality food to everyone, he would be helping the world be healthier and more aware of their diets, and live better lives. He planned to do this by having a very mission – driven company. Whole Food’s mission statement is “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet” The main elements of Whole Foods business strategy are very simple and straightforward. Since going public in 1991, their growth strategy has been to open new stores and purchase existing smaller organic food stores. The locations...
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...Introduction: By 2006, Whole Foods Market had evolved into the “world’s largest retail chain of natural and organic foods supermarkets.” Their rapid growth and success is primarily due to being highly selective about what they sell, as well as being dedicated quality standards and core values. Whole Food’s stated mission statement was to “promote vitality and well-being for all individuals by offering the highest quality, least processed, most flavorful natural and naturally preserved foods available.” II. Situational Analysis a. Firm Analysis (Internal Strengths and Weaknesses) (Based on Appendix A). i. Current strategy and strategic position in industry: Whole Food’s strategy since 2002 has been to open its own large stores, 50,000 square feet and larger, rather than acquiring small chain stores ranging from 5,000- 20,000 square feet. The driving concept behind their merchandising strategy was to create and “inviting and interactive store atmosphere that turned shopping for food into a fun, pleasurable experience.” Whole Food’s wanted customers to think of the store as a “third place” outside of home and work, where they could relax as well as interact with others in a colorful environment. Financials Analysis: After reading the case and reporting the financial numbers the profit margins from year 2005 have been decreasing each year. The costs of goods sold are on the rise over the past three years and debt over the past three years...
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...diet program is extremely effective and should only be followed for 4 days then the post diet plan should be used then 4 more days on and then once again the post diet plan. Continued use past 4 days may result in too much weight loss too quickly and can deplete important nutrients and vitamins from your body. The basis of this diet is chemistry. The foods you will eat speed up your metabolism and increase the body’s ability to burn fat. This is why it’s very important to follow this program step by step. If you decided not to eat for 4 days you would not loose the same weight. That’s why it’s fundamental to prepare, so eat and drink as described. The great thing about this diet is that there are no special foods or preparations most food’s you may already have or you will easily find at your local grocery store. Minimum of 8 glasses of water per day 1-2 cups of water in the morning 1 cup of water before each meal 1-2 cups of water before bed 2-3 cups of water throughout the day The more water the better. ONLY EAT AND DRINK WHAT IS LISTED WITHIN THE PLAN NOTHING MORE NOTHING LESS! IT IS RECOMMENDED TO TAKE A MULI-VITAMIN DURING ANY DIET PROGRAM & WHILE OFF ANY PROGRAM. All foods are to be prepared boiled and/or broiled. Do not use oils & salt, only use Vinegar, lemon juice, chili pepper to dress food, etc. No Alcohol. Please note this diet if for the average, if you are a much larger individual i.e. height wise or extremely active and feel extremely hungry...
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...Whole Foods Market: Case Study DeMarcus J. Roberts Keller Graduate School of Management INTRODUCTION Whole Foods Market, Inc is the largest chain of natural foods supermarkets operating in the United States. The company enjoys strong brand name recognition in the fast-growing niche market for natural foods. The company operates under SIC Code 5411, Grocery Stores. Whole Foods defines natural foods as foods that are not processed or are processed to a very small extent and almost free of artificial ingredients, preservatives and other non-naturally occurring chemicals. The company operates stores in 26 states of the US and in the District of Columbia (Whole Foods Market, 2010). The company’s growth strategy focuses on internal expansion, acquisitions and increasing same store sales. Whole Foods offers a range of products such as bakery items, catering menus in stores, coffee, grocery, meat and poultry, prepared foods, seafoods, liquor, and nutritional dairy foods (Datamonitor, 2004). Food products stocked in Whole Foods stores are designed to appeal to both gourmet and natural foods shoppers (Datamonitor, 2004). The point method system strategic evaluates each job by breaking them down into compensable factors and evaluating them each separately. Whole Foods Market (WFM) has in total six core values that drive company operations daily. Using these values, four compensable factors can be derived that can be used when evaluating jobs within the company. These four are: ...
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...Whole Foods: Final Paper Whole Foods Market, Inc Jess Tourville Endicott College Managing in the Evolving Workplace TJ Hanratty March 5, 2013 From the fairly humble beginning of being a one-store entrepreneur living on the third floor and taking baths in the dishwasher, John Mackey has seen his 1978 Safer Way grocery store grow into an $8 billion a year corporation. As of September 2008, Whole Foods had 264 stores in the United States, six in Canada, and five in the United Kingdom. Whole Food’s is now the leading chain of natural food supermarkets in the United States. The company's stores average 28,500 square feet in size and feature foods that are free from artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, and sweeteners. They also offer many organically grown products. Many locations include in-store cafes and juice bars. Whole Foods has also developed a growing line of private label products such as organic pasta, freshly roasted nut butters, oak-aged wine vinegars, and aromatic teas. After the company was founded in 1980 with a single store, it grew dramatically into a chain of more than 130 stores in 25 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada. It is a Fortune 1000 company, ranked as the 41st largest U.S. supermarket and the 730th largest U.S. company overall. There are few companies that attract the kind of following Whole Foods and its CEO/founder has both among its customers and the national media. Their corporate website averages more than 50,000 visitors...
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...Introduction The purpose of this report is to analyze and illustrate the geographical origins of eragrostis tef along with details of its global dispersion. The common name of the crop in Ethiopia is tef. It was chosen for its cultural significance and it’s importance Background In Ethiopia, about 4.9 million acres of land is devoted to its production every year. From 2003-2005 production statistics indicated that tef accounted for about 29% of the land and 20% of the gross grain production of all major cereal cultivation in the country (National Research Council). Eragrostis tef belongs to the grass family Poaceae, and is species of Eragrostis. It contains about 350 species and tef is the only cultivated cereal (Seyfu). Its name tef is originated from the Amharic word yate-tef-ah, which means, “lost”. Since the grains are so small they are easily misplaced (Kloman). It is the world’s smallest food grain and is as small as a grain of sand. It also has quite similar traits to other grains such as quinoa and millet. Tef grows anywhere from 30 to 120 cm in height, with slim stems and long, narrow, smooth leaves. It is a loose or compact panicle. The really small grains are 1.5 mm long, and there are about 2,700 seeds in a gram (Seyfu). The plant uses a Carbon 4 photosynthesis, which uses light efficiently while having low moisture demands. This gives the plant the ability to stand high heat and bright lighting therefore...
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