Steven Masetti
Professor Guo
11/29/13
BU201

General Mills General Mills is a company engaged in the marketing and manufacturing of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The company operates about 50 facilities for the production of the wide range of food products. General Mills operates through three business divisions, U.S. retail, international services, and bakeries and food service. Its consumer brands include Cheerios, Fiber One, Haagen-Dazs, Nature Valley, Yoplait, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old El Paso, and Wanchai Ferry. Its main headquarter is in Minneapolis and the company operates in more then 100 countries. General Mills’ International operations have been growing rapidly in recent years. Fiscal 2012 international segment net sales are expected to exceed US$4 billion. including sales from the Yoplait international yogurt business acquired July 1,2011. International sales are growing 22%, although earnings will be flat with last year, capped by one-time charges in 2012 for acquisitions of brands in Canada, Brazil and the U.S. General Mills product line is very well increasing in revenue and one main product that has been a huge seller is the Greek 100. Greek 100 is General Mills’ biggest-selling new Yoplait product in at least 20 years. It’s expected to do $140 million in sales in its first full year. Only about 2 percent of new consumer product launches do over $50 million in their first year so that’s really a big move. Greek 100 helped Yoplait gain ground in the Greek segment over the past year, though its market share is still only in the high single digits. As far as the companies culture goes, one thing that is interesting is they practice meditation. For seven years now, a growing number of General Mills workers have been practicing meditation, yoga and so-called “mindfulness” in the workplace. All starting as a side project by one worker he transformed the company into practicing meditation multinational. They feel as a company it’s a way to clear the mind, bring out creativity and feel connected. This is a strong philosophy behind the company’s corporate culture. General Mills is a very friendly organization with a culture that markets toward children with products such as Play-Doh, Easy Bake Ovens, Spirograph, Monopoly and Nerf balls. They’re also associated with such memorable characters as Betty Crocker, Rocky & Bullwinkle, the Lone Ranger and the Pillsbury Doughboy. The outlook on the culture of General Mills is one that is team-oriented, diverse, and making a difference. Some programs they have to help employees live a great work life is telecommuting which is a flexible work arrangement. Flextime is helpful because the start times and work hours are flexible with the needs of the employee. Some departments are implementing FUSE (Flexible User Shared Environment) workspaces that don’t include offices. Each worker can be in the workplace they want with a team of people in order to succeed to their fullest and best. This company has a flat organizational structure, which means there are few levels between associate marketing manager and president, offering the opportunity to make an immediate impact not only on the business, but also on an individual’s career through exposure to all levels within the organization. General Mills is expanding globally by agreeing to acquire Yoki Alimentos SA, a privately held food company in Brazil, in a deal that is expected to double the Cheerios cereal maker's annual sales in Latin America to nearly $1 billion. Yoki, based in Sao Bernardo do Campo, is a family-owned company with positions in several growing food categories, including snacks, soups, grains, beans and seasonings. One way in which General Mills treats their environment is to reduce their environmental impact. Their mission is to protect and conserve the natural resources base that its business depends on by continuously improving its environmental performance. They have two key business strategies. The first is Continuous Improvement, which focuses on waste elimination and prevention. This improvement encourages employee ownership of company processes from plant production workers to there executive management team to eliminate and prevent waste,. The second is Holistic Margin Management, which calls on cross-functional teams to understand the value drivers for there brands and eliminate no value-added costs. General Mills also reduced its energy consumption by investing in renewable energy at facilities and by identifying new ways to save energy. The company also installed solar panel roofs at several of its facilities, which reduces summer cooling and winter energy needs. General Mills outlined a four step sustainable sourcing model to improve the sustainability of the raw materials it uses and to manage the impact of water usage across its supply chain. The four strategies are assessment, strategy formation, transformation, and monitoring and evaluation. Some of General Mills competitors are Kellogg, Kraft, Sara Lee, and Campbell soup. No General Mills product may be advertised on any program targeted to preschool children. General Mills brands marketed to children under 12 years of age must meet General Mills’ Guidelines for Healthy Dietary Choices and the sugar guideline. In addition to meeting the Guidelines for Healthy Dietary Choice Standard, only those products that have 12 grams or less of sugar per serving, other than sugar from fruit, vegetables and dairy, will be marketed to children under 12. Suppliers for General Mills are expected to comply with all local and national laws, regulations, rules and requirements with respect to all products and services that they manufacture, distribute or otherwise provide to General Mills. General Mills believes there suppliers follow the rules ethically. General Mills SWOT analysis consists of its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. General Mills strengths are that it’s a strong market position driven primarily by the strong brand portfolio. They offer a variety of food products in the ready-to-eat cereals category, yogurt, frozen dough products, dry dinners, frozen vegetables, grains and snacks, baking mixes, organic foods, frozen pizza and they market all these products under big brand names like Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Yoplait, Nature Valley..etc. Another strength is that they focus on nutritious, convenient and tasty foods. In 2011 the company launched an 80-calorie Fiber one cereal and 90-calorie brownie. The company also made health improvements in many of its product lines. They added a gluten-free bisquik mix to its 300 gluten free offerings and they also lowered sodium in a lot of their products. Lastly another strength is their growth in international business. In 2011 the international business recorded revenue of $2,875.5 million, which was an increase of 7.1% since 2010. General Mills weaknesses are its reliance on large retail customers, which curtails operational flexibility, and several instances of product recalls could hamper the company’s brand image. The company dearly relies on few customers for majority of its revenues. In 2011 the five largest customers in the US retail accounted for 53% of General Mills net sales. As far as product recalls go General Mills voluntarily recalled a single days production of Chocolate flavor fiber one 90-calorie chewy bars because of a labeling issue. The company’s opportunities are rising obesity which increases demand for health foods. General mills offers whole grain gluten-free, all natural yogurt and organic foods. Another opportunity is their positive outlook for yogurt market. People are eating a lot more yogurt nowadays looking to live a healthier lifestyle. Another opportunity is the growth possibility to remain robust in the emerging market. The company is concentrating on emerging markets to capitalize on growth opportunities. Rising middle-income groups in countries like China, Brazil and India created huge opportunities for food packaging companies. A big opportunity General Mills have was their acquisition of Yoki Alimentos. General Mills signed an agreement to acquire Yoki Alimentos in Brazil and its been selling 600 products across the country. Lastly an opportunity to General Mills is how they focus on foodservice channels. General mills alcoholic and no-alcoholic beverages increased by 0.7% in 2010 and by 2.5% in 2011. Its predicted to keep rising as the years go on. One threat to the food company is the rising cost of raw materials. Main ingredients are rising which effects the company like grains, sugar, dairy products, vegetables, fruits, vegetable oil, meats, and other agricultural products. Another threat is the intense competition. The competition has increased especially with the whole products targeted for breakfast. Kellogg’s is always right up there as a threat to General Mills. Lastly a threat to the company is the increase in food safety regulations. There was a law passed in 2009 for more frequent food inspections of processing plants and giving the government authority to order the recall of tainted foods. General Mills responsibility is to make sure they’re the most socially responsible food company in the world. From their profits they make financial donations to charitable causes. The company has an Ethics and Compliance group in which they make sure employees know to act ethically to their Code of conduct policies. The Code of Conduct outlines their ethical expectations and provides practical tips and examples for how to act with integrity in every decision, every action, and every day. General Mills encourages their employees to seek for help if they are not sure how to go about something through their manager or ethics line. The ethics line is available 24 hours seven days a week. Employers also have a site that only they have access to that’s purely dedicated to Ethics and Compliance information. The company also has a strict responsibility towards the environment. The CEO three times a year convenes the Sustainability Governance Committee. The committee reviews and approves strategies, programs and key investments. One of General Mills programs is Join my Village which is a program to promote education and economic development for women in Malawi. If you sign up online you activate a contribution to General Mills by watching a video about a girls future. All personal donations are then matched dollar for dollar. The program, which is partnered up with, a humanitarian organization called CARE fund scholarships for girls and lends out money for women. They have also partnered up with organizations such as Feeding America, United Way, American Dietetic Association, and Habitat for Humanity. I believe that this company ethical assessment is one that is very efficient and stays true to giving back. The triple bottom line is a method that focuses on a company’s social, economic, and environment impact. They address all three of these components socially they have programs to help out women in funding for their futures. For environment they have ways and are still looking for ways to reduce water usage and reduce their consumption of natural resources. They have the two business strategies the Continuous Improvement and Holistic Margin Management. They reduce energy in through projects and have successfully saved money. They make sure their customers are happy with their purchase and make sure all employees are trained well to follow their ethic code of conduct. I also found it interesting how they do meditation which I feel like is a good way to let the employees have a clear mind for being a better individual and complying with the rules of General Mills.