Market Performance of General Mills Company - Case Study Example

The lack of good strategies for running the company is very evident. The company is seen to be shifting from one type of business into another to expand its business or maximize profits, but in return, it gets losses. This shows poor market research and consideration of the market statistics over the years. According to Wojahn, General Mills Company underwent a series of losses after it decided to start a business dealing in non-food substances. This was immediately after the Second World War when it ventured into home appliances, electronic goods, animal feeds, and commercial flour. Wojahn (Wojahn, 2003, p.25) says that this was a result of the rush they had into the market after noticing opportunities to invest. They needed to conduct market research to determine the market trends, their preferred products, and customer patterns before they could venture into it (Wojahn, 2003, p.25).

Their lack of good strategies also makes the board decide on moving out of a market without proper consideration of future outcomes. The company easily pulls out from a market it has tried out but has not been successful. This is shown immediately after the Second World War when it pulled out electronic goods, home appliances, and animal feeds. In this case, the company had to set the right strategies that could see it, and make profits in the same business venture rather than losses. They needed to conduct market research and improve their products to gain a good market share that could make them gain good profits (Wojahn, 2003, p.25).

After the failure in home appliances, electrical goods, and animal feeds the company still ventured into the worldwide sale of snack foods. This could have been a success for the company, but they pulled out so soon. General mills Company bought several companies dealing in snacks in the following years and even had plans to acquire an international company to deal in manufacturing shaped snacks (Wojahn, 2003, p.25). This vision went blank when FTC restricted them from buying any more companies due to antitrust reasons. The company then started to sell the bought companies one by one, until it remained with only one company. In this case, they needed to expand the already acquired companies to gain market share and profits, which they could use to open other companies. Pulling out of the business after some time shows a lack of good strategies for running the company (Wojahn, 2003, p.25).

Considering their lack of tactics in dealing with issues at hand, the company’s board of directors is seen to lack active participation in discussions of matters affecting the company. This is evident when the CEO of the company urges the directors to ask questions that can help to point out a problem in decisions made by the board. The board is seen to remain silent (Wojahn, 2003, p.25). This is a big show of the lack of tactics in dealing with issues affecting the company. The CEO of the company is also seen to lack tactics in handling situations when it is evident that, he takes an average of the views put forward by the board to make a decision. A director needs to listen to his director's views but comes up with his own critically analyzed decision. Following any of the views put forward is the main problem facing the company.

From the above analysis, one of the solutions to issues is to conduct market research. From the market research, they will need to decide on which business to venture in. the company will need to run this line of business until they are familiar with all trends of the market. From this, they can grow their businesses a great deal. The other solution to the problems they are facing is to restructure their board meetings such that they are longing for a lengthy and healthy discussion. The board also needs to be sensitized so that they are very active during discussions about the company. The number of times the board meets per year also needs to be increased. They will need to make special arrangements such that they can meet at any time if need be. This will help to solve upcoming problems in time to avoid them from destructing company activities.