Consumers of Folgers benefited from the strength and increased visibility afforded the brand by Smuckers.
Employees have not necessarily benefited from the company's mission and objectives in recent years. Smuckers is the process of restructuring Folgers. This benefits workers in New Orleans, where a $70 million expansion is underway and it Orrville (Plain Dealer, 2010). However, workers in four other plants are losing their jobs in the restructuring (Associated Press, 2010). The strategy therefore benefits some of these stakeholders but only at the expense of others as the company is forced to rationalize some plants in order to contain costs and maintain its price competitiveness.
The company can improve its mission by lending it clarity. The company's strategy may be relatively clear, but it is not equated to any well-articulated sense of mission or any vision. The company's mission can be inferred, but employees in particular would benefit from clarification of the firm's core values and its core purpose (QuickMBA, 2007). This is especially crucial during times of restructuring, as the company has entered into at present. Employees may sense uncertainty and unease about their own jobs in the wake of such job costs. In particular, cutting jobs when the company is enjoying strong profits and growth is especially likely to shake the corporate culture. Better understanding of the company's value and purpose would help the remaining employees understand the changes and their role in the firm.
In addition, a vision statement should be developed. Smuckers has no vision statement, and its annual report does not contain any long-range future statements. In part, this derives from the many years the company spend as a mature firm, milking cash cow products and experiencing incremental growth. The acquisition of Folgers marked the beginning of an expansion phase for the company, but there has been no indication that company management has a clear vision for what lies beyond the immediate time frame. Clearly, the company has good vision -- the Folgers acquisition paid off immediately and handsomely. It should...
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
The vast majority of the trademark value at Smuckers ($1.824 billion) is considered by the company to be indefinite-lived, not subject to amortization. This means that the company believes its marks have near-permanent value, evidence of their strength in the market. The company's distribution competency is also considered to be one of its greatest strengths. Smuckers has saturation distribution across North America, which allows it to launch brand extensions and
IMG "International Management Group / Evolution of Sports" International Management Group (IMG) is the diversified group which believes in enhancing the career and talent of others. It handles business in many diversified fields such as sports, fashion and media being the core fields of business. Other expertise of IMG includes event management, IMG College which is the leader in collegiate marketing, licensing and media rights. IMG are the pioneers in there business.
Com/article/144053-the-j-m-smucker-company-f4q09-qtr-end-04-30-09-earnings-call-transcript Occasionally, a firm will appear in the business media specifically for successes or failures in certain areas. Smuckers, for example, received an extensive write-up about their human resources practices and the ways in which they develop competitive advantages through human resources in Fortune Magazine when they were named the #1 company to work for in America in 2004. These sources can contain excellent information not normally available to members of
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