As noted, the recent "supply chain streamlining" is a move to cut costs and build greater economies of scale. This is consistent with a firm engaging in a cost leadership strategy. That the company also has strong brands allows it to continue to pursue its longstanding differentiation strategy as well. However, the company has been slow to respond to new trends, a reflection of its conservative culture and the slow pace of change at the family-owned firm. This may have cost the company some market share in the past. Indeed, the company's recent success has been Folger's, which is positioned at the low end of the coffee market. As the recession hit high end coffee companies like Starbucks hard, low end companies benefited as consumers traded down. Folgers has been a rare cost leadership success for Smuckers, but did so on the existing strong level of brand recognition. The Folgers success and recent move towards economies of scale indicates a shift in focus for Smuckers. While this move has already been successful in some ways, it also leaves the company's structure at least somewhat incongruent with its current strategy. There is limited alignment between the structure and the branding element of the strategy. The differentiation that Smuckers hopes to achieve may be difficult to achieve because the company's organizational structure is focused on channels rather than on products. Smuckers appears to take the view that building and supporting brand strength is less important than building economies of scale. The brand strength, however, is a critical element to the blue ocean elements of strategy. For example, Folgers was in a good position to win coffee drinkers as they traded down because of its combination of brand strength and cost leadership. If either of these elements had been lacking, it is unlikely that Folgers would have been the success story it was. Yet, the brand focus that helped build Folgers did not come from Smuckers, which had just acquired...
That brands in the Smuckers family did not enjoy the same benefits of the recession as Folgers despite their combination of strong brand equity and relatively low cost indicates that perhaps Smuckers does not sufficiently emphasize branding. In doing so, it may lose brand equity and if that occurs the company would become just another low cost producer, to the detriment of the company's ability to charge premium prices for its products.
In-N-Out Burgers has a rich history that has generated a loyal consumer base. Harry Snyder introduced California's first drive-thru hamburger stand in a space barely 10 feet square at Francisquito and Garvey in Baldwin Park (In-N-Out Burger, N.d. ). This entrepreneur would wake up every day before dawn and go to the meat and produce markets to pick out fresh ingredients that would be used in the burger preparation for
2.3 Product Offerings In-N-Out Burger serves a very specific and limited menu of products, including hamburgers, cheeseburgers, French fries, soft drinks, milkshakes, Neapolitan shakes and grilled cheese sandwiches. This minimalistic simple menu keeps the ordering process quick and simple for both customers and staff. They have a much-touted secret menu, but the secret menu builds on the ingredients from the offerings on the traditional menu. 2.4 Keys to Success The key to in-N-Out
In-N-Out has never directly competed with McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's. It remains small, disdains high volume sales, and still offers as fresh a product as it did in 1948. Patrons, who might be angered at a Bible verse if they saw it on the wrapper of another chain burger continue to come back to In-N-Out. The level of food quality and service makes even California's many liberal skeptics
S. Or from other countries may not be as familiar with the in-N-Out Burger brand compared with the brands of some of the chain's competitors. The ways in which consumers interact with businesses is also changing, as a result of social media. Consumers have become more media savvy, making them harder to reach with conventional advertising, but consumers respond well to sophisticated marketing techniques utilizing emerging technologies, social media and viral
In-N-Out Burger is a beloved institution on the West Coast because of its high-quality ingredients; its fresh, made-to-order taste, and the popularity of its not-so-secret menu which gives loyal patrons a sense of being part of an 'in' crowd when they order from the restaurant. This paper will argue that In-N-Out Burger is an ideal addition to the Atlanta burger culture: the chain can capitalize upon the frequent calls to
The communication plan Communication is the basic ordeal of operation within the company. The company will desire to embrace the new modes of social media as done in the fashion industries. The company has collaborated with radio stations and television broadcast houses that enable the company to create awareness over its perceived products. Furthermore, the company will involve online communication channels as Twitter, Facebook, and creation of blogs, which bears the
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