...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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...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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...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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...|i| |s| |f| |y| |a| |g| |r| |o| |w| |i| |n| |g| |d| |e| |m| |a| |n| |d| | | |N| |a| |ï| |m| |a| |F| |a| |k| |i| |r| |5| |/| |1| |5| |/| |2| |0| |1| |0| Supervisor: Dr. Brahim Allali | | Will there be enough organic food to satisfy a growing demand? Will Whole Foods Market (WFM) be able to meet this need? John Mackey, Chairman and CEO of the firm is facing this challenge of meeting the company's aggressive growth targets. Whole Foods Market is an Austin, Texas single natural food market. This joint venture was created in 1980, between “Clarksville Natural Grocery” and “Safer Way natural” grocery stores. WFM was the leading retailer with 172 stores in North America and the United Kingdom that offer a wide variety of both natural and organic food, including produce, grocery, seafood, meat and poultry, prepared foods and catering, bakery, beer, wine, floral, cheese, in addition to whole body, household products and animal products. In addition to the strict quality standards practices from its opening, WFM has outlined some core values. For instance, delighting and satisfying their customers, selling the highest organic and natural...
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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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...BME-214614-04 Organizational Behavior 18 February 2013 Belief and Support of Human Capital: Case Study Analysis of Whole Foods What role, if any, does McGregor’s Theory Y play at Whole Foods? Explain? The primary focus of this case study analysis shall be to examine the methods of Whole Food’s distinctive approach and development to the implementation of creative management strategies and how they can continue to successfully help them to maintain growth in their company. The underscoring premise of McGregor’s Theory Y primarily rest on the assumption that that the role of management is develop the potential of their employees and help them to realize their potential to meet the common goals of their organization (Steward, 2010). With this underlining thought in mind McGregor’s Y Theory plays an intricate and crucial role at Whole Foods. According to our textbook, Organizational Behavior, by Robert Kreitner and Angelo Kinicki, and the company’s primary mission directives, Whole Foods goal is for upper management to share the responsibility with their frontline managers in the development of a successful work environment (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013, p. 30). Whole foods promotes their employee teams to be self-directed and take initiative and responsibility for operating together for the benefit of their entire business organization. To this end John Mackey, Cofounder and Co-CEO of Whole Foods Market promotes through the application of McGregor’s Theory Y the happiness and growth...
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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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...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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...HRM 598 Week 3 Case study Job Evaluation at Whole Foods Purchase here http://devrycourse.com/hrm-598-week-3-case-study-job-evaluation-at-whole-foods Product Description Written Case Study: Prepare a Job Structure Read "Job Evaluation at Whole Foods" Case Study (text pp. 153–157). The Whole Foods Market has completed a job analysis and written job descriptions for Jobs A thorough Job I. Respond to the following: • Evaluation of Jobs and Job structure Evaluate the jobs listed in the case study and prepare a job structure based upon its evaluation. Assign titles to jobs, and show your structure by title and job letter. • Process, Techniques, and Factors Describe the process you went through to arrive at that job structure. The job evaluation techniques and compensable factors used should be described, and the reasons for selecting them should be stated. • Evaluation of Job Descriptions Evaluate the job descriptions. What parts of them were most useful? How could they be improved? You will need to follow APA style and format and have a title page, brief introduction and conclusion, centered headings for major parts, page numbering and page headers, and a reference page. The case study should be approximately 4–6 pages in length. The assignment will be reviewed using the following criteria: Written Case Study: Prepare a Job Structure rubric. Written Case Study: Prepare a Job Structure Rubric Possible Points Earned Points Comments • Evaluation of Jobs and...
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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 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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...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 upon the others through a beautiful and delicate symbiosis” (Hunger and Wheelen pg.28-2). Whole Food’s objectives consisted of targeting their locations where...
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...Consultant Role. For this activity, students should assume they are part of a consultancy firm hired to advise the top executives of the organization in the case. Students will have assigned cases. Prepare for oral case discussion according to the guidelines in A Guide to Case Analysis. PowerPoint slides will not be used. Organize the case analysis in three sections: Identification, Analysis, and Recommendations. Identify key strategic issues and analyze the issues with the strategy techniques covered in the course. Formulate recommendations and describe how they are aligned with the company’s mission. Please hand in a two-page report of the case analysis in bullet points. Bring two copies of the report to class. A hard copy of the report is due in the beginning of the class. Students may keep a copy with them for their reference during the case discussion. Upload an electronic copy of the report to Blackboard before class. [pic] Your report should include: • Three sections corresponding to Identification, Analysis, and Recommendations • A concise answer to the Study Questions for the case listed in the syllabus 3 Please type your written assignment and use Times Roman or Calibri 12-point type. Leave top, bottom, and side margins of one inch. Use single line spacing. The first line should include the student’s name. Include a section for references where you list all sources of ideas and information you used to write your assignment. Format your references...
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...COMPANY BACKGROUND Whole Foods Market was founded in Austin, Texas, when four local businesspeople decided the natural foods industry was ready for a supermarket format. Their founders were John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery. The original Whole Foods Market opened in 1980 with a staff of only 19 people. It was an immediate success. At the time, there were less than half a dozen natural food supermarkets in the United States. It has grown in leaps and bounds since then. Today, they are the world’s leader in natural and organic foods, with more than 310 stores in the North America and the United Kingdom (About Whole Foods Market). During its 31-year history, Whole Foods Market has been a leader in the natural and organic food movement across the United States, helping the industry gain acceptance among growing numbers of consumer concerned about the food they eat (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2010, p.C-2). The company seeks out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintains the strictest quality standards in the industry, and has an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture. Add that to the excitement and fun they bring to shopping for groceries, and you start to get a sense of what they are all about. John Mackey, the company’s cofounder and CEO, believes that Whole Foods’ rapid growth and market success has much to do with its having “remained...
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...COMPANY BACKGROUND Whole Foods Market was founded in Austin, Texas, when four local businesspeople decided the natural foods industry was ready for a supermarket format. Their founders were John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, owners of Safer Way Natural Foods, and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery. The original Whole Foods Market opened in 1980 with a staff of only 19 people. It was an immediate success. At the time, there were less than half a dozen natural food supermarkets in the United States. It has grown in leaps and bounds since then. Today, they are the world’s leader in natural and organic foods, with more than 310 stores in the North America and the United Kingdom (About Whole Foods Market). During its 31-year history, Whole Foods Market has been a leader in the natural and organic food movement across the United States, helping the industry gain acceptance among growing numbers of consumer concerned about the food they eat (Thompson, Strickland, & Gamble, 2010, p.C-2). The company seeks out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintains the strictest quality standards in the industry, and has an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture. Add that to the excitement and fun they bring to shopping for groceries, and you start to get a sense of what they are all about. John Mackey, the company’s cofounder and CEO, believes that Whole Foods’ rapid growth and market success has much to do with its having “remained...
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