The Effectiveness of the Marketing Structure - Healthy Choice - Assignment Example

OPERATIONS DECISIONS Introduction Healthy choice was established to capitalise on the new trends in frozen foods. The company produces healthy and high quality foods. The company’s management constantly encourages proper and beneficial work ethic between the employees and management at the work place. This is one of the main reasons why the company has continued to flourish over the past three decades. Plan that will enhance the effectiveness of the marketing structure Mission statement The company’s mission is to provide low calories and high quality foods to its market in the United Kingdom. The company also has plans to sell its foods at a fair market thus targeting people from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. The main difference between this Company and its main competitors is that it very tasty and good to look at low calorie food stuffs that are also healthy. With more and more people increasingly focusing on healthy eating, the company also manages to constantly outshine its key competitors that have much higher calorie foodstuffs. Target Market Most residents in the UK prefer low calorie foods since they are much more concerned about their health than in the previous years. This hands the company an added advantage over its competitors like KFC and Mac Fries that have higher calories food on their respective menus. Most of its customers are of the ages from 20 to 55 years coming from all the socio-cultural backgrounds. Amongst the two genders, women form the largest segment of their customers since they tend to watch their health and weight much more keenly than their male counterparts.. SWOT Analysis These refer to the internal and external factors that affect the company’s marketing opportunities. This analysis identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, which are significant in determining actions or aspects that are necessary for the marketing plan. Strengths of the Company The company has tasty, good looking and high quality products which leads to the attraction of a big number of customers. The company outsources other transportation companies to be used in distributing its products to retailers and wholesalers. The company has a competent and efficient work force which ensures that everything is running smoothly. The company has over the years experienced an incredible growth in sales volumes which has lead to higher returns and a healthy bottom line. Weaknesses of the Company The company faces competition from much lower-priced companies which leads to a limitation of the number of sales it can record. The company incurs extra expenses due to outsourcing of other transport companies to do their delivery work. The regular introduction of new techniques and technology makes the company incur extra costs in conducting training of its staff members. The company is exposed to less opportunities of growth due to its limited resources when compared with other competitors. Opportunities of the Company Improved technology enables the Company to develop much more efficient marketing and production techniques that makes the company continue to advance. There is an explosion in demand for healthy foods that have low calories. The company uses a unique branding technique that can be effective in breaking through to a much larger targeted market. Threats to the Company There are increased incidences of the company’s direct competitors duplicating its products and selling the same at cut prices. There is an increasing number of healthy food companies that provide much more stiffer competition. The fluctuations in currency tend to affect the company. Marketing strategy The company tries to make good food in a simple and more sustainable manner while at the same time striving to meet its commercial goals. The company has ensured that it is capable of balancing the four main elements of marketing so as to achieve the above states objective. A successful product or service has to incorporate a distinctive marketing mix for it to be successful. The right mix of these elements will ensure the company has a higher chance of achieving this stated objective that leads to increased customer satisfaction. This consists of four P’s that include: product, price, place and promotion. In the food and beverage industry, the product has to look and taste good as well as constituting the right ingredients. The products’ prices also need to be fair in order to boost sales and company income. The Company should know the best location for marketing and selling its products. In this case, the Company should sell its products to wholesalers and retailers such as supermarkets, restaurants, among others. In addition, the Company should figure out how the product will reach the consumers. For instance, it can place its products at a strategic section of the supermarket where customers are able to identify with ease, thus increase in sales. More so, the Company ought to utilise transport from other Companies. In this case, the transport Company delivers products to a central depot where the retailers are able to obtain them. Also, the transport Company delivers goods directly to wholesalers, who in return sell to restaurants, supermarkets, among others. In relation to promotion, the Company should ensure that the products have the correct labels that gives information on the amount of sugar, fat, salt, which enables consumers choose the right product for their health benefit. Labelling of food should be at par with the Food Standard agency and Guideline Daily amount (The times 100, 2014). The Products can be promoted through advertisements such as the media, television and radio. More so, the Company can incorporate the use of newsletters and emails in advertising its products. In addition, the Company can offer discounts to customers, drop leaflets to various institution in order to obtain an enormous market. Factors that Influence the Marketing Structure of the Company An efficient and effective marketing strategy is a developing aspect that changes because of a number of factors. (Smith, 1999) When a person is coming up with a marketing plan for a company, she or he has to consider aspects that can affect the strategy in both short and long term. A much more effective long term plan should be able to adapt to the prevailing changes in the market. The constantly changing needs of the target consumers are bound to have a significant impact on a company’s overall marketing strategy. If the consumer needs change because of economic, social and environmental aspects, the Company ought to change the marketing plan accordingly. If the Company does not adjust to the consumer needs, it may lose a large amount of money in advertising products that the target consumers are not interested in purchasing. In addition, the Company’s objective can make one change the marketing structure. In the initial stages of marketing strategy development, the objectives of the business ought to act as a frame and end goal. In the long run, one’s strategy will have to be altered based on adjustments at the top ranks of the company. By being focused on strategic objectives, the Company can mold its strategy to act as the main target and be efficient on a greater level. Analysis of the major production and cost functions The cost and production function are the main factors that determine the economic sustainability of a Company.(Food and Agricultural Organization, 2003). In trying to maximise profit and achieving state of balance, a Company must consider factors of production and costs to be incurred. The short run and long run production function helps one understand the supply aspect in a given market. The price of a product is usually determined by the input. In this regard, if productivity diminishes, more variable input is required so as to increase the quantity of goods. This in return brings about increase in cost of production, thus the Company increases the price of commodities so as to make adequate profit. Production function can be expressed as below Q= f (X1, X2, X3 ,,,,,, ,Xn) Where Q is the amount of output and X1, X2,,,,X3 are the amount of inputs (like labour, capital, land and resources (Food and Agricultural Organisation, 2003). On the other hand, the analysis of production cost indicates the relationship between the production and costs of a product in a given duration of time. The cost of production can be calculated if the prices of the inputs are established. In this regard, the cost production function can be expressed as follows: Q = a + b x (VI) + c x (VI) 2 - d x (VI) 3  Where Q is the amount of the product, VI the elements of the variable inputs, and ‘a, b, c and d are constants’ (Food and Agricultural Organisation, 2003). Aspects that may result to disclosure of a Company Factors that may lead to the disclosure of a firm or a Company may have an adverse negative effect to the Company. A Company may find it hard to find potential buyers or to put into place essential marketing. This may result to losses, thus force the Company to discontinue its practices. In addition, a Company may evaluate its strategies and performance of its business; if it finds out that its business is unfit or there is a potential huge loss, it may decide discontinue its operations. To curb the stated circumstances, management ought to purchase insurance cover so as to be compensated for potential risks. More so, disclosure of business may force employees lose their job, who in return may sue the Company. To avoid such legal problems, the Company ought to know the legal obligations towards their employees. For instance, they should compensate workers by giving them ‘goodwill’. A pricing policy that will make the Company maximize profits When pricing a product, the Company ought to come up with a strategy that will maximize its profits and reduce cost of production. Info Entrepreneurs. Org (2014) state that, value- based pricing is one of the essential strategies of pricing a product. In this case, the Company should determine a price in which consumers are able to pay. Value- based pricing is determined by the strength of the benefits the Company is willing to offer to the consumers. If the benefits attract more to consumers, the Company can outshine its competitors resulting to more profits. Outline of a plan that will evaluate the financial performance of the Company: Business Help. Org (2013) Long term assets Land $ Renovations $ Building $ Furniture & Fixtures $ Computers and office apparatus $ Total Long- Term Assets $ Intangible Assets Accounting and legal fees $ Franchise Fees $ Pre- Opening Costs (grand opening advertising, training) $ Other; $ Total Intangible Assets $ Short- Term Assets Working Capital $ Inventory $ Supplies $ Lease and Utility Deposits $ Other: $ Total Short- term Assets $ Total Uses of Funds i.e. short- term, long term and Intangible Assets$ Sources of funds Equity Injection Cash $ Other Equity $ Total Equity Injection $ Borrowed Money Company Loan $ Other $ Total Debt $ Total Sources of Funds $ Profit and loss projection graph Month 0 Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Revenues @month Total revenue Cost of goods sold @month Total COGS Expenses Partner’s salary Employees wages Taxes Office Expense Promotion/advertisement Insurance Transport Others Total Expenses Actions for improving profitability A company is able to attain more profits if it comes up with a clear advancement strategy and powerful execution infrastructure. In this case, a Company’s infrastructure must support the success of strategy execution. To achieve this, the Company ought to grow leaders in all levels of management, get rid of departmental silos and make use of performance drivers that are in line with the strategy. More so, the leaders should consider the potential growth that is incorporated in the core business. Also, the Company should come up with a strategy, which involves the creation of advanced impact value propositions essential for the new/ potential customers. Outline of the implementation plan References Food and Agricultural Organisation (2003). Micro- Economic Analysis of Production. Retrieved on 4 February, 2014 from http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/v8490e/v8490e07.htm Info Entrepreneurs.Org (2014). Price Your Product or Service. Retrieved on 5 February, 2014 from http://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/guides/price-your-product-or-service/ Liabotis, B. Three Strategies for Achieving and Sustaining Growth. Ivey Business Journal. May, 2007) Pycraft, M. (2000). Operations management. Cape Town: Pearson Education South Africa. Michman, R. D., & Mazze, E. M. (1998). The food industry wars: Marketing triumphs and blunders. Westport, Conn: Quorum. Traill, W. B. (1998). Competitiveness in the food industry. London [u.a.: Blackie Academic & Professional. Read More