...Business Analysis Part I MGT 521 12/15/11 Whole Foods Business Analysis Part I Whole Foods Market (WF) is the largest supermarket specialized in selling natural and organic foods ("About Whole Foods Market," 2011). They offer a wide variety of products, mostly specialized items, as well as prepared meals. The business operates on the principles of food quality, customer health and social responsibility. Since their start in 1980, Whole Foods has continued to grow and today consists of more than 310 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom ("About Whole Foods Market," 2011). The organic food retailer has growth opportunities in various areas, although its weaknesses and potential threats should be considered as factors in determining whether to invest in this company. The following is an analysis of Whole Foods’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths Whole Foods 0 With consistent revenue growth throughout the years and 2010 financials reporting a 12 percent increase in sales and an 84 percent increase in stock price, WF market is undoubtedly the leader in the organic supermarket industry ("Whole Foods Market Annual Report," 2010). Their initial success was in large part due to existing health food stores that were small, pricey and carried few products. Whole Foods offers a wide variety of quality foods, even including deli food and other prepared food. They also offer catering, in-store events and a robust website with...
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...COMPETITIVE FORCES AND SWOT ANALYSIS Competitive Forces and SWOT Analysis Teresa Hamlett BUS 599 Strayer University Dr. Russell Handlon January 22, 2012 Competitive Forces and SWOT Analysis Got organic? Concerns for healthier foods have led to consumers purchasing alternative foods. Consumers have found solace with organic foods. Organic foods are considered to be like natural foods. These foods do not contain any harmful processing agents or ingredients or chemicals and pesticides. Whole Foods Market is a producer and seller of organic foods. The trends associated with retailing of organic foods have impacted those of Whole Foods Market. Other supermarkets who are now selling organic foods have created a competitive environment in which Whole Foods Market must vie with. A SWOT analysis will reveal the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats Whole Foods Market must face. A further analysis of these will be useful in Whole Foods Market maintaining a competitive advantage in the marketplace. Organic Food Trends “According to the USDA, 2000 was the first year in which more organic food was sold in conventional U.S. supermarkets than in the nation’s 14,500 natural foods stores (Thompson 2009, Pg. C-4).” Supermarkets have stocked more organic foods over the last decade and have even setup sections that only have organic foods in those sections. As consumers are becoming more health conscious, worried about what is in their foods, and concerned about...
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...Whole Foods Market: A Strategic Analysis Adrienne Lee Richard Linowes Spring 2009 General University Honors 5/6/2009 1 WHOLE FOODS MARKET: Strategic Company Analysis EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Whole Foods Market, Inc. has long been admired as an innovative company with quality standards, a devotion to community and environmental responsiveness, a healthy growth model and highly-regarded employment practices. However, the company has faced recent difficulties as a result of the economic recession, increasing competition, and complications from acquisitions. To revitalize the company from historical lows in its toughest year in history, Whole Foods Market must reassess its costs, refocus its expansion strategies, and promote its brand to compete for the diminishing consumer spending dollar. During the changes in strategic initiatives, it is also important for the company to keep Whole Foods Market’s mission and its brand value intact. The chain is known for its high standards, quality, and ethical practices; this image is at stake when any changes in brand or reputation are made. It is of utmost importance to balance the positioning in order to increase awareness and sales, but at the same time avoid diminishing the brand and message of the company. Without the value behind the Whole Foods brand, the company will not survive—recession or not. If Whole Foods can successfully complete these initiatives that include major restructuring while also generating public relations...
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...Marketplace Analysis of Whole Foods Charles Griffith University of St. Mary Marketing Management MGT-704 MARKETPLACE ANALYSIS OF WHOLE FOODS “With great courage, integrity, and love – we embrace our responsibility to co-create a world where each of us, our communities and our planet can flourish. All while celebrating the sheer love and joy of food” (Whole Foods, 2015). This is Whole Food’s “higher purpose statement”. This statement expresses and delivers what Whole Foods, as an organization, believes and what must be apparent to the consumer. As an organization founded with the drive to bring the freshest and most natural products to consumers, Whole Foods must maintain alignment with that core philosophy. Created in response to the lack of organic and natural options of the traditional grocery stores and chains Whole Foods has grown from its origins in a three story house in Austin to the multi-billion dollar enterprise it is today without sacrificing this core value (Harrison, 2014). This is very important: The continued development and growth of Whole Foods must maintain this core philosophy. The platform for value creation is rooted in market share growth and consistent and well defined organizational philosophy (Deshpande, R. & Webster, F. 1989). Keeping Whole Food’s core philosophy in mind, strategy for growth of the business and recapturing of market share are the primary goals of this analysis. The supermarket and “other grocery” markets within the United...
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...obesity, it is important to follow a healthy diet and exercise lifestyle. Unfortunately, this healthy diet food is under attack by use of GMO, pesticides, hormone additives, antibiotics, and other chemicals which are harmful to the body and cause other health problems. Zerbe (2010) reported that the President’s Cancer Panel is now urging people to eat foods grown without such harmful chemicals; organic foods. Due to such health concerns, organic food markets are slowly gaining popularity again as consumer demand is rising. This is great news not just for the consumers, but also the local organic farmer stands, e-commerce organic product sites and stores like the Whole Foods Market. In fact, this research will present the Whole Foods Market, Inc. strategic analysis. This analysis is being conducted to provide advice on how to integrate Whole Foods into ABC Company. It will cover the first step in the strategic planning process which is Whole Foods Market’s mission, vision and values; followed by presenting company’s Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat (SWOT) analysis. This research will further discuss competition within the industry by conducting the Porter’s Five Forces Analysis and describe Whole Foods Market’s strategic position. Based on this analysis, I will provide my recommendation for the integration of Whole Foods into ABC Company. Whole Food...
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...Unit 5-Whole Food Market Case Study Analysis Kaplan University School of Business MT460 Management Policy and Strategy Author: Andrea Reed Professor: Dr. Marian Leerburger Date: November 21, 2012 Whole Food Market Case Analysis Introduction In 1978, John Mackey opened a natural foods grocery called Safer Way that focused mainly on vegetables. The store was not very successful and in 1979 Mackey joined with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles and they started Whole Foods Market. What Craig, Weller and Skiles wanted to do was change the world’s diet to a healthy one. Whole Foods not only has markets they have several other business; Allegro Coffee company, Pigeon cove seafood processing and Produce Field Inspection Office and Select Fish (Harasta and Hoffman, 2007). Whole Food Markets looks forward to one day providing the highest quality good tasting foods available. Synopsis of the Situation Whole Foods Market is a leading seller of natural and organic food. With over 100 stores their goal is to become one large store instead of a number of small ones. Whole Foods Market would like to make shopping for food into a pleasant, fun experience. It is the desire of Whole Foods to make the customer think of home when they enter one of their markets. The vision of Whole Foods is to have a brand known worldwide, and to introduce the future generation to a healthy diet and be the best in food retail( Key Issues With the growing demand will World Food Market be able to...
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...Whole Foods Markets Based On the Congruence Model Name Institution Whole Foods Markets Based On the Congruence Model Introduction World Food Market just like any other established organization, regardless of size and the capacity to facilitate production, enters the business world with expectations to meet targets for the desired outcomes. The desired outcomes in most instances rely on the possibility of implementing the appropriate business strategy from which a baseline is derived to attain the set goals and objectives through systematic planning, execution, and review. Imperatively, the current world economy is directed by the evolving market dynamics. Currently, Whole Foods Market is regarded as the most prolific and reputable organization in the global industry. For Whole Foods Markets to achieve goals and objectives set by the top management through the implementation of top quality strategies instituted to steer the organization to new heights. However, with many prolific organizations as with Whole Foods Markets, challenges are not unavoidable and quite inevitable. Whole Foods Markets have encountered numerous challenges that have impacted the organization’s ability to achieve its postulated projections as depicted by the current higher rates of competition within the natural food industry, a fledgling economy and the inherent problem of identifying and acquisition of business locations (Thompson, 2012). Consequently, Whole Foods Markets have come up...
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... April 14th, 2010 Subject: Which Country Next for Whole Foods A Market Screening Exercise Section I. Introduction 1. The Objective and Scope of the Study Objective: The objective of this study performed is to provide clarity, insightful analysis, and recommendations Whole Foods Market will use when selecting a preferred destination for opening a new “natural and organic foods” grocery market. The project focus revolved around achieving long-term success in a market for Whole Foods. The analysis was to determine the most lucrative candidate country in which to introduce a three-store market, keeping all stores no further than ten miles apart. Chronological Scope: To ensure the relevance of information presented in the report, only the most recent available data was analyzed. The indicator analysis covers years 2006 through 2009. Effective evaluation of indicators requires the comparison of the three countries within the same time frame for each individual indicator. Geographical Scope: The report compares and contrasts the following countries: ➢ Brazil ➢ South Korea ➢ Poland Functional Scope: This report provides an insight into the international market screening process for Whole Foods. It outlines specific procedures that were undertaken in order to evaluate each prospective expansion destination and eliminate the two least viable options. In order for Whole Foods to deem a market successful, it must be able to achieve and...
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...Unit 3 Internal Analysis and Long-Term Objectives Case Study Analysis Kaplan University School of Business MT460 Management Policy and Strategy Author: Gerald Short Professor: Dr. Andryce Zurich Date: 12/31/2015 Internal Analysis and Long-Term Objectives Company Name: Whole Foods Market Topic of the Week: Internal Analysis and Long-Term Objectives Synopsis of the Situation Whole Foods Market is the world’s leading company in natural and organic food sales. Their growth and success is due to being highly selective about what they sell, they are also dedicated to high quality standards and their core values. They are also the first American grocer to be a nationally certified organic and ranked 284th in Fortune 500 (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Whole Foods is struggling to maintain its edge over today’s competition, many of their competitors can purchase more product and sell it for less. Due to the rising awareness of healthier eating and farmers producing more organic and natural products Whole Foods finds itself in a precarious position. The position would be the fierce competition from big box retailers such as Wal*Mart, target, Costco, and the standard grocery stores. These competitors have the ability to order larger quantities at a lower cost giving them the ability to offer the natural or organic products at a lower price (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Alternative Solutions 1. Increase brand awareness, image, and loyalty through advertising...
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...Running Head: WHOLE FOODS CASE ANALYSIS 1 Whole Foods Case Analysis Thomas Edison State College WHOLE FOODS CASE ANALYSIS 2 The Whole Foods company mission is whole foods, whole people, whole planet. The Whole Foods company strategy reflects the company mission. Their whole foods mission is achieved by offering a wide variety of food and non-food items that are organic or natural. They source their products locally and usually have stricter store guidelines for the definition of “local” requiring a shorter maximum distance for traveling. “Locally grown” n.d. Their standards of quality are high and they strive to provide products that are fresh, safe and support well being. They have a list of unacceptable ingredients for food and quality standards for other products. “Quality standards” n.d. Their mission of whole people is achieved through the formation of teams at the store level. The teams manage themselves and are encouraged to make decisions about their department they are responsible for. Compensation is in part from stock options so they are invested in the profitability of the store. Fortune magazine has listed them as on the top 100 companies to work for for 13 years in a row now. Team members can go on field trips to...
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...Strategic Management and Business Policy MGMT 4303 – P02 Spring 2015 Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Jermaine Vesey Department of Management & Marketing College of Business Prairie View A&M University Group Case Study: Whole Foods Market Jamal Bacon, Briana Bedford, Alexis Castleberry, Jordon Powell Strategic profile & case analysis purpose Whole foods was the world’s number one leading retailer of natural and organic foods. It was founded by John Mackey when he started with one store, but it has now grown to the nation’s leading food chain. The purpose of this business case study is to explore the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing Whole Foods. In 2005 whole foods had 172 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods Market was created in 1979 when John Mackey partnered with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles. The new company was established in Austin, Texas, in 1980, and consisted of a natural food market with a staff of 19 members. The success of Whole Foods was attributed largely through mergers, acquisitions, and several new store openings. In the United States, Whole Foods is considered the largest natural food supermarket. Whole Foods Markets is driven by its mission, “the company is highly selective about what they sell, dedicated to stringent quality standards, and committed to sustainable agriculture. They believe in a virtuous circle entwining the food chain, human beings and Mother Earth: each is reliant...
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...Whole Foods Market By Larry Davis Discuss the trends in the retailing of organic foods and the impact of these trends on Whole Foods Market. A growing appetite for Organic foods have been observed as a recent trend in the markets of United States in specific and the rest of the global market in general. This has been observed due to the change in the thinking process of the people in terms of remaining healthy and staying fit. The retailing of organic foods as traditional suppliers of organic foods faced competition from companies new to this sector (Plunkett, 2007). The organic foods are now not only sold in the natural product stores such as Whole Foods and food cooperatives but also in supermarkets such as big box stores like Wal-Mart, Costco and the like. These foods do not contain artificial flavors and harmful elements. The rise in the health consciousness has resulted in rise in the demand of such foods. These being healthier as compared to the in comparison to the other fast food this is the reason for the increasing demand and boom in this sector of the industry. However in the earlier times, the increase in demand was not aided by equal supply by the suppliers and thus it became necessary to adopt a proper strategy for supplying and fulfilling demand of the market. The organic handlers responsible for purchasing organic foods from the farmers can be held responsible for boosting and supplying to the retailers and made it available at supermarkets, formal retails...
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...Unit 5 Whole Foods Case Study Analysis Kaplan University School of Business MT460 Management Policy and Strategy Author: Jonelle Newman Professor: Dr. Norris Date: March 29, 2014 Whole Foods Market Case Study Analysis Introduction Whole Foods Market began with a vision from entrepreneur John Mackey and his chain of stores has been successful for 30 years. Whole Foods Market focuses on natural and organic food items. One of the reasons why Whole Foods has been so successful is because their stores are different than its competition and the differentiation “allows them to charge a premium price for premium products.” (Pearce & Robinson, 2013, p. 29-1). Whole Foods focuses on natural and organic foods which is a definite plus as more people become focused on wellness and eating healthier. This leading supermarket chain does not waiver on its core values and mission and their mission statement which has also become their motto is simple: “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet.” (Farfan, 2014). Synopsis of the Situation Whole Foods has grown drastically over the years. The growth of the supermarket chain has been credited to store openings, acquisitions, and mergers. It is necessary to note that although the company’s total sales continue to increase; the operating margin and stocks have declined. (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Key Issues There are key issues that have been attributed to the decline of the company. The recession caused...
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...Project; we the students are require to generate a report using the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model to conduct an analysis of Whole Food Market’s inputs and how they align with the current company strategy, as well as its outputs. In this case study we will use the strategy we previously discussed in Module 1 and using the Porter’s three generic competitive strategies to analyzed organizational categories input to the strategy using the congruence model. The model should be able to help us determine how aligned the inputs are with the strategy. The model will give us three categories for inputs: the environment, resources and historical inputs and three categories for outputs: organizational level, group level and individual level to help us determine the congruence of the outputs. While conducting the Congruence Model we will use the inputs and outputs categories to determine the organizational level congruence of the Whole Food Markets; using all these various aspects the model will give us a good vision of the current organizational structure and performance of the company. Lastly we will analyzed all three level of organizational inputs and outputs and determine how each of these categories interact with each other to determine their similarity to was the Whole Foods Market business strategy. 2- Whole Foods Markets Inc. Strategy The Whole Foods market’s business strategy is based on their reputation and differentiation from other firms in the Grocery industry. The company...
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...Topic: WHOLE FOODS MARKET : VISION, CORE VALUES AND STRATEGY Contents: * Introduction……………………………………………………2 * Main activity & Target group……………….......……………2 * Geographic Market & Acquisitions………......….….....…….2 * Challenges…………………………….………………………...3 * PEST…………………………………………………………….3 * Environmental analysis………………………………………...4 * Michael Porter 5 forces model…………………………………5 * Internal analysis………………………………………………...6 * Possessed Resources ……….………….……………………….7 * Strengths……………………………….……………………….7 * Weaknesses…………………………….……………………….8 * SWOT Analysis………………………….………………....…..8 * Current Economic Performance……….……………………..9 * Objectives………………………………….…………………...9 * Core values………………………………….………………….9 * Vision…………………………………………………………..10 * Mission…………………………………………………………10 * Strategy……………………………………....………………...11 * Conclusion……………………………………………………..11 Introduction I n 1978, 25-year-old college dropout John Mackey and 21-year-old Rene Lawson Hardy, borrowed $45,000 from family and friends to open the doors of a small natural foods store called SaferWay in Austin, Texas.When the couple got booted out of their apartment for storing food products there, they decided to simply live at the store. Two years later, John and Rene partnered with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles to merge SaferWay with their Clarksville Natural Grocery, resulting in the opening of the original Whole Foods Market on September 20, 1980....
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