...9-913-517 OCTOBER 22, 2012 W. CARL KESTER CRAIG STEPHENSON Hill Country Snack Foods Co. The Chief Executive Officer of Hill Country Snack Foods had never enjoyed analyst conference calls, but in late January of 2012, Howard Keener was yet again asked about the company’s cash balances, capital structure, and performance measures. One analyst complained that Hill Country’s growing cash position, absence of debt finance, and large equity balance made it difficult for a company in a mature industry to earn a high rate of return on equity, and recommended a more aggressive capital structure. “Maybe I don’t fully understand capital structure theory and practice,” replied Keener, “but I have observed that companies don’t get into trouble because they have too much cash; they get into trouble because they have too much debt.” Hill Country had seen its sales and profits grow at a steady rate during Keener’s tenure as CEO, and at the end of 2011 the company had zero debt and cash balances equal to 18% of total assets and 13% of market capitalization. Having just celebrated his 62nd birthday, Keener was approaching retirement, creating speculation by investors and analysts that the company might change to a more aggressive capital structure in the near future. Company Background Hill Country Snack Foods, located in Austin, Texas, manufactured, marketed, and distributed a variety of snacks, including churros, tortilla chips, salsa, pretzels, popcorn, crackers, pita...
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...I. Strategic Profile and Case Analysis Purpose Starbucks has always been the famous coffee shop in the world. When people smell coffee the first thing that came into their minds is “Starbucks”. Starbucks starts in 1971 in Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington. It wasn’t always about selling coffee drinks, before Howard Schultz was selling coffee beans and coffee machines not the coffee drink itself. Then for about 10 years he thought of a way of selling coffee since it became famous, with that he came up of opening a store named II Giornale. After a year, Jerry Baldwin, Zel Siegl and Gordon Bowker sell the name Starbucks to Schultz and quickly renamed II Giornale to Starbucks and started to expand across America. Now Starbucks has more than 11,000 stores in the United States alone and more than 17,000 stores around the world. Having so many stores, it became more available to the public. You can buy their coffee almost anywhere. With this kind of availability, the long lines where nowhere to be found. Coffee serving and production was fast. But having so many stores can make a huge impact. The convenience of the costumers was met, but the sales might make a huge loss. That is why the main purpose of this Case Study is to identify how having so many stores can make a huge impact on Starbucks’ demands and to prevent it from happening with making an action plan. Another purpose is to identify the latest perception of consumers that will make Starbucks innovate and focus on other...
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...Thompson−Strickland: Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases, 13th Edition 23. PepsiCo’s Acquisition of Quaker Oats Case © The McGraw−Hill Companies, 2002 1 case 23 PepsiCo’s Acquisition of Quaker Oats John E. Gamble University of South Alabama In 2001, PepsiCo was the world’s fifth-largest food and beverage company, with such brands as Lay’s, Tostitos, Mountain Dew, Pepsi, Doritos, Aquafina, and Lipton contributing to revenues of approximately $26 billion. PepsiCo’s revenues had reached $31 billion in 1996, but a new corporate strategy embarked upon in 1997 slimmed the company’s portfolio from a collection of fast-food restaurants, snack foods, and beverages to a sharply focused lineup of convenience foods and beverages. Between 1997 and 1999, CEO Roger Enrico spun off Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut as one independent, publicly traded company; created a stand-alone softdrink bottling business through an initial public offering; and entered additional snack and beverage categories with the acquisitions of Cracker Jack and Tropicana. Enrico’s focus on convenience foods and beverages placed PepsiCo in food and beverage categories that grew at twice the 2 percent industry growth rate and gave it a 2-to-1 market share lead over its nearest competitor in the convenience food and beverage industry. Roger Enrico and Quaker Oats Company’s CEO, Robert Morrison, jointly announced on December 4, 2000, that PepsiCo would acquire Quaker Oats...
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...McDonalds SWOT Analysis Case Study Report McDonald’s BACKGROUND: Brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald founders of McDonald’s Corporation grew from a single drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California in 1948 to the largest food service organization in the world. In 1955 Ray Kroc opened firs McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois and became exclusive franchising agent for the company. By 1991 McDonald’s owned $13 billion of fast-food industry, operating 12,400 restaurants in 59 countries (Ezine). The company recorded revenues of $21,586 million during the fiscal year ended December 2006 and increase of 8.8% over 2005 (Yahoo Finance, 2007). SWOT ANALYSIS: Strengths: The greatest strengths of McDonald was introducing people to the fast food and creating an image in people minds of fast food culture. McDonalds has over 30,000 branches in 120 countries and 80% of its revenues is derives from eight countries like Canada, Brazil, Germany, France, Japan, UK, Australia and US (Ezine). The biggest strength that the case study focused on was strategy – market leadership and buyer supplier relations. Shamsie stated that “the bigger success came in the form of McGriddles breakfast sandwich which was lunched nationwide in June 2003” (Dess, Lumpkin & Eisner, 2007, p. 692).New breakfast addition gave the firm comparative advantage in the market place and brought about 1 million new customers each day. Weaknesses: The same factors which are consider strengths are also weakness...
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...Graze goes German: The Internationalisation Strategy of Nature Delivered Ltd. Table of Contents Section 1: Country Profile 3 Introduction 3 History 3 Geographical overview 3 Macroeconomic overview 4 Political overview 4 Legal environment 5 Foreign Direct Investment 5 Financing and incentives 5 Taxation 5 Labour 6 Infrastructure 6 Food Industry 6 Market trends 7 i) Health awareness 7 ii) R&D 7 iii) Obesity 7 iv) Environmental awareness 7 v) The ageing population 8 The E-Commerce Industry 8 Consumer culture 9 Section 2: International Expansion Plan 10 Graze Company History 10 The Product 10 The Business 10 Location 10 Reasons for expansion 11 Timing of Entry 11 Modes of Entry 12 FDI Entry Mode 13 Place 14 Organisational strategy 14 Competition 15 Organizational architecture 16 Control systems and incentives 18 Target market 18 Response to competitive threats 19 Conclusion 20 Bibliography 21 Section 1: Country Profile Introduction Successful businesses know when and how to adapt and change. In the increasingly competitive and rapidly changing business environment of today, expanding a company internationally provides opportunities not only for revenue growth, but also the exchange of knowledge and the enhancement of capabilities, thereby strengthening the long-term competitiveness of a firm. However, the decision to embark on an international expansion can be both an exciting yet frightening...
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...PepsiCo Case Study Analysis Paper Michael Gillespie Organizational Policy and Strategy, OML-450, Cohort (835) Professor Vicky Sons-Eiden September 15, 2011 PepsiCo Case Study Analysis Paper A case study analysis on PepsiCo’s diversion strategy in 2008 will be addressed in this paper. The elements that will be discussed are the vision and mission of PepsiCo, the background and history of the company, the external and internal forces of PepsiCo’s business environment, PepsiCo’s strategic marketing plan, and a conclusion and recommendations on how the PepsiCo company can improve their business strategy to stay competitive in years to come. Vision and Mission The vision of PepsiCo is to be a responsible company that supports continuous improvement of all areas across the globe in which they operate. These areas include the environment, social, and economic conditions creating a better future then the present. The mission of PepsiCo is to be the best company in the industry that provides convenient foods and beverages to the consumer. The company has a goal to provide financial benefits and growth for its shareholders as the company provides growth for its employees, its business partners, and the communities in which they are established. In all aspect of the business, PepsiCo strives to be the leader in honesty, fairness, and integrity. (PepsiCo, 2011). Company History PepsiCo Inc. was formed in 1965 when Pepsi-Cola Bottling merged with salty snack icon Frito...
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...Case Analysis on McDonald’s Vinil K Pillai City University of Seattle MBA 500 Essentials of Business Management June 22, 2014 Abstract This paper discuss about the case analysis of McDonald’s, one of the leading food chains around the world. This report starts off with a brief overview of the company, its presence and operations, and moves on to analyses of both external and internal environments. This paper tries to find out the relative strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in different aspects of business operations of McDonald’s. The paper then looks at the issue faced by McDonald’s in today’s competitive world. The study finally concludes by suggesting some actions and recommendations to overcome those issues. Keywords: overview, external & internal analysis, issues and alternatives, recommendations and actions Company Overview McDonald’s corporation headquartered in Chicago, United States was founded in 1940 is the world’s leading global food chain service retailer with customers over 110 countries. The company restaurant offers a variety of food items, coffee, soft drinks and other beverages as well as newly added breakfast menus. McDonald’s is one of the most successful global restaurant chains around the world. Since coming in the market in the early 50’s McDonald’s has done very well in common stock and performing very consistently compared to its competitors. They have used the most effective management and global expansion strategies to...
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...Marketing Management 1 Assignment 1 Company: Shri Mahila Griha Udyog Lijjat Papad Product: Papad Section: 3 Group: 5 Group Members: Abhishek FT163006 Divya FT163020 Jimmy FT163035 Megha FT163051 Prateek FT163068 Shamipa FT163085 Vaibhav FT163099 Contents Introduction 3 PESTEL Analysis 4 Political and Legal 4 Environmental 4 Socio-cultural 4 Technology 4 Economic 4 Porter’s five forces analysis 6 Competitive Rivalry: Moderate but constantly increasing 6 Threat of New Entrants: Low 7 Bargaining Power of Suppliers – Low 7 Bargaining Power of Buyers – High 7 Threat from Substitutes – Moderate 7 SWOT Analysis 8 Strengths 8 Weaknesses 9 Threats 10 Opportunities 10 Current Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning 10 Segmentation 10 Targeting 11 Positioning 11 Growth strategy for Lijjat Papad 12 Recommendations 12 ANSOFF’s matrix 12 12 Proposed segmentation 13 Proposed Targeting 13 Proposed Positioning 13 References: 14 Introduction Lijjat papad was established on March 15, 1959 by a group of 7 women to spend their leisure time and earn their livelihood using the only skill they possessed, that was cooking. It has grown from 7 women in 1959 to 40000 in 2006 and 43000 in 2014 and from their 1st profit of 80 paise to 300 crores in 2006 and 650 crores in 2014. It started in Girgaum village of South Mumbai and the 2nd office was opened in Vadala that became the regd...
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...Case Analysis Project, McDonald’s Corp, Introduction McDonald’s Corporation franchises and operates McDonald's restaurants in the United States, Europe, the Asia/Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Canada, and Latin America. The company was founded by brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald when they opened their first restaurant in San Bernadino California in 1948. At the time, McDonald’s core business was inexpensive and fast food, burgers, fries and shakes. The present corporation dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by businessman Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois, on April 15, 1955, the ninth McDonald's restaurant overall. Kroc later purchased the McDonald brothers' equity in the company and led its worldwide expansion, and the company became listed on the public stock markets in 1965. Today McDonald’s has grown to become is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving more than 70 million customers daily in 119 countries across the globe. As of December 31, 2013, the company operated 35,429 restaurants, including 28,691 franchised and 6,738 company-operated restaurants. It ranks 111 in Fortunes top 500 companies, with revenues of usd$28.1B at the end of calendar year 2013. Problem Statement McDonald’s problems started in the 1990s as a result of rapid global expansion at the expense of service, cleanness, and quality. Solving for cleaning up stores and improving service were short term fixes. CEO Skinner realized...
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...International Business School Hanze University of Applied Sciences Dutch Food Company Pursuing the Chinese Market Research paper Authors: Nicole Elze, Gediminas Gargasas, Weili Gu, Francia Solórzano Class: MIBM Group A, 2015 - 2016 Group name: SEHCH Date: 11 January 2016 Place: Groningen 0 Abstract The consumer demand for high quality healthy food in East China is increasing and is thus attractive for businesses in the food industry. This paper assessed the Chinese food market from a perspective of a Dutch food company, which is willing to export. Four aspects of international business were covered, namely the involvement in international markets, value chain, dynamic capabilities and marketing. Both perspectives, current theoretical body of knowledge and most recent market information, have been combined to provide a complete and current situation of the food market in China. In the current literature, little is found regarding the Chinese consumer behavior especially towards foreign high quality food. The paper presents the most relevant information on four aspects of international business with an additional focus on marketing and potential clients and distributors in order to lay a foundation for any food exporter willing to export to China. 1 Table of contents 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Methodology .....
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...Case Studies Solutions Case Studies Solutions,Article Writing,Assignments,Research Work,Home Work MenuSkip to content Home How We Work ? Refund Policy How to Order ? Disclaimer Contact Us Finance Cases List POSTED ON MARCH 8, 2013 Hello, If u want us to solve any case study from below list, do contact us anytime, We are here to provide the experience, expertise, and professionalism that you are looking for , Our tutors are available 24/7 to assist you what you need, Click Here to submit your Order. ======================================================================================= Acquisition of Consolidated Rail Corp. by Benjamin C. Esty Airbus A3XX: Developing the World’s Largest Commercial Jet by Benjamin C. Esty American Chemical Corp.by William E. Fruhan, John P. Goldsberry American Home Products Corp.by David W. Mullins AQR’s Momentum Funds by Daniel B. Bergstresser, Lauren H. Cohen, Randolph B. Cohen, Christopher Malloy Arundel Partners: The Sequel Project by Timothy A. Luehrman AXA MONY by Andre F. Perold, Lucy White Beta Management Co. by Michael E. Edleson Butler Lumber Co. by Thomas R. Piper Cartwright Lumber Co.by Thomas R. Piper Citigroup 2007: Financial Reporting and Regulatory Capital by Edward J. Riedl, Suraj Srinivasan Clarkson Lumber Co. by Thomas R. Piper Cooper Industries, Inc. by Thomas R. Piper Cost of Capital at Ameritrade by Erik Stafford, Mark L. Mitchell Debt Policy at UST, Inc. by Mark L. Mitchell Dell’s Working Capital...
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...Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in the Twenty-First CenturyI. Case issue: Implications of strategic rivalry on cola industrys structure and performance (See Exhibits 1 & 2 for analysis) A. Implications on structure of cola industry 1. Bottlers have been consolidated by concentrate producers (CP), placing smaller CPs at the mercy of Pepsi and Coca-Colas distribution systems (See Exhibit 3) a. Making it tougher for smaller CPs like Cott Corporation to compete and leaving them open to the threat of acquisition b. Exposing Coca-Cola and Pepsi to the risk of anti-trust legal or regulatory action with bottlers’ exclusive territories and policies that forbid carrying competing cola products 2. Bottlers profitability is in danger with slim margins and declining growth (See Exhibit 4) a. CP should come to bottler’s aide with financial assistance, concentrate price breaks or increased marketing to preserve industry structure b. Bottlers will have to upgrade their technology to handle expanded product lines (See Exhibit 2) c. Bottlers should consider diversifying into snack food distribution through alliances or CP acquisitions like Pepsi’s Frito-Lay division B. Implications on performance of cola industry 1. CSDs made up a substantial share of 2000 US Liquid Consumption (See Exhibit 4), but this doesn’t make them immune to risk a. Declining stock prices show a corrected over-valuation of companies (See Exhibit 4) b. Declining growth rates for carbonated soft drinks and increasing...
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...EATING HABITS OF BATANGEÑOS A Proposed Study Presented to the Faculty of College of Tourism Hospitality Management In Partial Fulfilment Of the Requirements for the Degree Bachelor of Hotel and Restaurant Management CHAPTER1 The Problem and its Background INTRODUCTION Eating is the ingestion of food to provide for all organisms their nutritional or medicinal needs particularly for energy and growth. Everyone must eat in order to survive. Eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies staying unrealistic thin, or depriving everyone self of the food they love. Rather it’s about feeling great having more energy stabilizing their mood and keeping them self as healthy as possible. Filipinos love to eat, and since they’re naturally hospitable and gregarious, food is the basis of their social life. Because the feeling of fulfilment after eating rice, their staple ingredient, is relatively short- lived, they eat three meals a day and two snacks in between. Filipinos, especially country folk, rise early. Some will eat a Segundo almuerzo (second breakfast) around 10:30, plus a merienda, or mid- afternoon snack. Rural folk eat their main meal at midday, while city dwellers emphasize the evening meal. This study is written to help Batangeños to become aware about how they eat. It will also broaden the mind of Batangeños that eating habit is not just about eating but it can be cause also Batangeños suffer in illness and death. The research will also enlighten...
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...The Indian food and beverage industry (not including alcoholic beverages) was valued at approximately $200 billion in the year 2007, according to a FICCI-Technopak study, and is expected to grow to $300 billion by 2015. Of course, not all of this produce goes in for processing, and the food processing industry is therefore estimated at a smaller $70 billion. Beverages, primarily packaged tea and coffee, milk-based packaged drinks, carbonated drinks and fruit-based drinks account for a small proportion of the industry, a little more than $6 billion. The food and beverage industry is considered a priority sector by the government, since it has potential for generating employment in both urban and rural areas. According to the India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), the industry already employs over 1.6 million workers directly, besides its impact on other sectors such as agriculture, logistics and retailing. The food and beverage industry covers many sectors, and the Ministry of Food Processing has broadly divided into the following areas: Dairy processing, Fruits & Vegetable processing, Grain processing, Fish, meat & poultry processing and lastly, Packaged goods such as beverages, snacks, bakery products, convenience/ready-to-cook foods. Currently, many units in the food processing industry work in the unorganised sector, but the share of organised industry is expected to grow, gradually. The packaged food, industry is expected to be a significant contributor to this growth...
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...management, high quality food, site development expertise, advanced operational systems & unique global infrastructure position them to capitalize on global opportunities. KFC is currently seeking highly qualified individuals to join its family as new franchisees in both North America. & International markets. The feature of their tasty fast food items with unique value & services, creating a high demand for KFC in the international business arena. KFC already proves their demand in the global market by providing quality fried chicken & other fast foods. More than a billion of the KFC’s "finger licking good" chicken dinners are served annually. And not just in North America. The KFC’s cooking is available in more than 80 countries and territories around the world. Furthermore, there is a golden opportunity for KFC to expand their global foodservice in Bangladesh also. KFC can enter the Bangladeshi market for its demand & brand image. One of the biggest franchising companies is Kentucky Fried Chicken. Unique brand quality fast food provider KFC hold some exclusive strength. KFC is the provider of world quality foods. Different varieties of food items are there in KFC. KFC will get the maximum competitive advantage in Bangladesh for their exclusive brand image & superior food & service. Demand for KFC foods is another strength for them. KFC is always famous for their customer- oriented attitude. KFC hold some fabulous opportunities in Bangladesh as a world-class fast food provider. For a...
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