Strategic Measures and Practices in the Sales and Marketing Area at Great White - Case Study Example

Project Feasibility Study Table of Contents Section A: Introduction 3 Contextual Information about the Organisation 3 Setting the Scene 3 Need for Change 4 Section B: Project Feasibility Study (PFS) 6 Change Process Description 6 Justification of PFS in Response to the Change 9 References 11 Section A: Introduction Contextual Information about the Organisation Founded in the year 1935, Allied Bakeries Limited (Allied Bakeries) is regarded as one of the prominent divisions of Allied Milling and Baking. The company has long been observed as a major functional division of Associated British Foods (ABF) plc, one of the leading global businesses with an annual financial turnover of £12.3 billion and almost 106,000 numbers of employees, working across its 47 international countries (Allied Bakeries, 2014). The company comprises a strong set of brands in producing and delivering quality based food items through its wide range of supply chain operations. With regard to the current scenario, the company incorporates four major brands that include Kingsmill, Allinson, Burgen and Sunblest, altogether playing a pivotal role for Allied Bakeries to build its long-term sustainability in the global food processing and retailing industry (1Allied Bakeries, 2014). Setting the Scene In relation to the recent observation, the company has been facing a significant level of difficulties regarding the operational functions and performance of its leading brand, Kingsmill. Kingsmill of Allied Bakeries has long been identified as one of its leading brands, principally because it is capable of providing a wide range of food items ranging from the Little BIG Loaf to 50/50. Its primitive aim has therefore been focused on sufficing the nutritional needs of the consumers in the national baking industry (2Allied Bakeries, 2014). In its recent performance, the company has introduced the Great White loaf with the brand name of Kingsmill and has collected the attention of the global consumers within a short-run (Ritson, 2014). However, the market research conducted by Allied Bakeries has demonstrated a different scenario regarding the newly launched White loaf in the UK markets. Although marketers may gain success by altering the preferences or demands of the customers, in various cases, the changes may convey severe risks for the organisations to maintain its long-term sustainability. In relation to the business strategy of Allied Bakeries regarding its innovative Great White, the intention of changing consumption habit or attitude of the customers may lead the company to cause a negative impact on its brand positioning. Therefore, major changes regarding the innovative concept of Great White has emerged as an essential practice for the company to preserve the brand position of Kingsmill and the reputation of Allied Bakeries as well (Askew, 2014). Need for Change Change in the business strategies is a common and widely accepted practice of the modern organisations. The changes may occur in any parts of the organisation relating its corporate strategies or operational and marketing processes. In relation to a conventional business model, changes in the strategic measures and operational processes have major influence on the organisation to avoid major complexities that can hinder organisational achievements and obstruct its successful accomplishment of the determined business goals and objectives (Samuel, 2013). With regard to the recently introduced Great White loaf by Kingsmill, with the intention to drive a change in the consumption behaviour of the consumers has been witnessed to capture a lower level of customers’ attention than desired. In the long run, this particular obligation may convey major challenges for Allied Bakeries to preserve its dominant positioning in the global food processing and retailing industry (Amagoh, 2008). The overall sales of Great White have been observed to face long-term decline falling by 4.8% in terms of its aggregate volume sold across the UK market throughout the past year (William Reed Business Media Ltd, 2014). This particular hindrance can ignite radical challenges for Kingsmill by declining its brand positioning or maintaining its competitive positioning in the UK’s bakery industry. Moreover, the failure of Great White may also impose major challenges to Allied Bakery to regain a strong positioning for its major brand, i.e. Kingmill. The product development and marketing strategies relating to Great White can also impose major influences on the company to attain potential consumer segments that are more likely to play a crucial role in increasing sales volume and attaining the desired financial goals of the company. In this regard, a radical change is essential for Allied Bakeries to avoid potential threats and regaining a strong position of its Kingsmill brand in the UK business market (Joseph, 2014). Additionally, the marketing and promotional strategies associated with Great White have also been able to attract a specific segment of consumers by changing their consuming habits, which reflects a positive aspect regarding its potential success in the market. Observably, the unique concept of marketing and promotional strategies for Great White has been highly influenced by the notion of changing psychological aspects of the customers while purchasing breads. However, its aggressive approach towards changing consumers’ buying decisions by applying psychological approach may also lead the brand (Kingsmill) to face major challenges by lowering the demand for its substitute brands and therefore, hindering the overall sustainability and profitability of the company. In this context, the marketing and promotional strategies associated with Great White may lead to a considerable decline the other strong brands of the company by lowering their sales volume (Ritson, 2014). In addition, the activities may also lead the company to increase its production cost, as the production of Great White requires a dissimilar set of equipments and materials as compared to the other brands. Therefore, the rising complexities and issues associated with the marketing and promotional strategies may invite radical changes to Allied Bakeries to maintain its leading position in the UK food processing industry (Ritson, 2014; William Reed Business Media Ltd, 2014). Section B: Project Feasibility Study (PFS) Change Process Description A careful and effective planning of change and effective implementation procedure has long been observed to provide a major support to an organisation, especially when it is likely to adopt changes in its business functions to attain better competencies. Studying the unconventional era of business, organisations are often observed to build a strong set of planning and a rigorous implementation process to avert challenges to be derived from different types of strategic changes. The organisations, in the recent globalisation era, are more likely to adopt changes in order to improve operational and controlling efficiencies that may lead towards the achievement of competitive advantages over the existing rivals (Amagoh, 2008; Morrison, 2006). The failure of Great White has also been observed to require a major set of changes in order to improve its sales volume along with regain the leadership position of Kingsmill of Allied Bakeries. In order to refurbish the brand position of Kingsmill, it is highly essential for Allied Bakeries to build an effective set of strategic measures that can help the company to market its product, i.e. Great White. It will be crucial to identify the controllable as well as uncontrollable risk factors associated with the investment plan at this stage and project initiatives to deal with the same. In this regard, the following recommended areas or sections along with their required types of changes has been briefly discussed henceforth that can enable Allied Bakeries to successfully market Great White under its leading Kingsmill brand in the respective markets (Ritson, 2014; William Reed Business Media Ltd, 2014). Sales and Marketing Strategic Area With reference to the short run market performance of Great White, it has been observed that the sales and marketing segment of the organisation present the key and central challenges for Allied Bakeries. For instance, the initiative of targeting consumers with a motive to change their consuming behaviour and attitude, radically, can be criticised to have led the company to face such challenges. In this context, adequate changes in the sales and marketing strategies are essential for the company to mitigate various types of potential issues associated with Great White. Therefore, the company should consider investing strategic focus on building an exceptional sales and marketing strategy by critically demonstrating the quality, nutritional aspects along with the intake needs and desires of the customers, which might make the marketing process of Kingsmill more sustainable, yielding desired returns from its long run performances. It is thus suggestible that the company emphasises driving a steady and progressive change within the customer group, rather than taking aggressive short run strategies to bring radical changes in the customers’ preferences (Ritson, 2014) Operation and Production Area When launching Great White, the company had centrally focused on a specific segment of consumers who are likely to avoid the brown section of bread, which narrowed its market segment too much to facilitate long run brand productivity in the industry. Hence, the initiative of targeting such a small segment of consumers can be considered as one of the primary factors leading to numbers of challenges for the organisation to preserve its brand sustainability. Therefore, in order to gain a competitive positioning, the operations and production functions of the organisations should encompass a large segment of population emphasising their needs and desires prior to produce product/services. In addition, the operation and production segment of Allied Bakeries may also bring changes as the production process off Great White would highly require additional packaging measures to protect the shape and size of the Great White loafs (Joseph, 2014; Ritson, 2014). Advertising and Promotional Areas The advertising and promotional activities are considered a major essential facet for any organisation to grasp the attention of the target consumers. Moreover, an effective advertising and promotional strategy tends to draw a unique perception in the consumers’ mind towards the effectiveness and importance of the particular product/service (Chew & et. al, 2002). Contextually, the advertising and promotional campaigns practiced for Great White can be witnessed to communicate only about the intake ingredient used in the product. In this regard, it is suggestible that major focus should be delivered in promoting its production quality and nutritional values that would help promoting the product to a larger segment of customers, who are highly persuaded towards a healthier dietary practice. This will not only help widening its sales prospects, but shall also facilitate better sales growth opportunities for Kingsmill. Justification of PFS in Response to the Change Kingsmill’s Great White is enriched with two and a half times higher level of fibre, differentiating it from the other available substitutes on the grounds of its nutritional values. With regard to achieve a greater success in the global\food processing and retail industry, Allied Bakeries has made a considerable financial investment of £6.7 in various types of marketing and promotional activities. However, the introduction of Great White has experienced a radical decline with a fall of almost 4.8% in its sales volume within a year of its launch. Therefore, it is essential for bringing a strategic change in its different functional and operational areas in order to avert various types of potential issues. In order to avert the potential threats likely to be witnessed by the company when marketing its White Loaf product, adequate focus should be delivered on streamlining its major operational areas such as operations and production along with sales and advertising segments, which forms the key area in this PSF (Todnem, 2005). The adequate strategic measures and practices associated with the sales and marketing area would further protect the company by averting potential challenges while reintroducing its innovative Great White loaf in the UK market for a larger group of customers. In relation to the changes required in the sales and marketing segment, the social and cultural factors of the demographics within the target market should be considered as some vital aspects, as it might have major influences on the successful marketing of Kingsmill Great White loaf. For instance, in the UK, bread is often used to cook various food items wherein its demand also depends on the taste of the bread when added with other cooking ingredients. As this particular aspect might impose significant challenges for the demand of Great White in the UK market, Allied Bakeries should deliver utmost significance to this variable. The attitude and behavioural aspects of the consumers, in purchasing their required food items, can also prove to be a major cultural aspect that can also have a major influence on the change management practices of the organisation. In order to reduce the potential issues associated with cultural aspects, including individual attitude and behavioural factors, the change management process in the sales and marketing area should highly prioritise the existing cultural factors of the consumers (Amagoh, 2008; Morrison, 2006). Moreover, the changes in the operation and production functions may also have a significant influence on Allied Bakeries while implementing the change management measures. In this regard, individual skills and competencies can be regarded as a major resistance factor for the company while implementing change management procedures. Therefore, the company should also need to consider the capability of each individual to produce Great White loaf that can enable it to meet the needs and expectations of the target consumers. Contextually, the company should also need to focus on making effective decisions in order to ensure the successful implementation of its different change management measures to avert potential challenges (Amagoh, 2008; Morrison, 2006). References 1Allied Bakeries, 2014. What We Do. Allied Bakeries. [Online] Available at: http://www.alliedbakeries.co.uk/what-we-do.aspx [Accessed April 09, 2014]. 2Allied Bakeries, 2014. KINGSMILL. Our Brands. [Online] Available at: http://www.alliedbakeries.co.uk/our-brands/kingsmill.aspx [Accessed April 09, 2014]. Allied Bakeries, 2014. About Us. Allied Bakeries. [Online] Available at: http://www.alliedbakeries.co.uk/about-us.aspx [Accessed April 09, 2014]. Amagoh, F., 2008. Perspectives on Organizational Change: Systems and Complexity Theories. The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, Vol. 13, No. 3, pp. 1-14. Askew, K., 2014. Focus: Allied Bakeries Aims to Halt Sliced White Decline. News & Insights. [Online] Available at: http://www.just-food.com/analysis/allied-bakeries-aims-to-halt-sliced-white-decline_id126169.aspx [Accessed April 09, 2014]. Chew, M. M. M. & et. al, 2002. Managers’ Role in Implementing Organizational Change: Case of the Restaurant Industry in Melbourne. Journal of Global Business and Technology, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 58-67. Joseph, S., 2014. Kingsmill Launches £6.7m Bid to Save ‘Demonised’ White Bread. News. [Online] Available at: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/food-and-drink/news/kingsmill-launches-67m-bid-to-save-demonised-white-bread/4009716.article [Accessed April 09, 2014]. Morrison, K., 2006. Management Theories for Educational Change. Paul Chapman Publishing Ltd. Ritson, M., 2014. Why Kingsmill will Fail to Butter Up the Public. Marketing Week. [Online] Available at: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/opinion/ritson/why-kingsmill-will-fail-to-butter-up-the-public/4009725.article [Accessed April 09, 2014]. Rosswurm, M. A. & Larrabee, J. H., 1999. A Model for Change to Evidence‐Based Practice. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, pp. Samuel, K., 2013. The Effects of Change Management in an Organisation: A Case Study of National University of Rwanda (Nur). Wyno Journal of Management & Business Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 1-18. Todnem, R., 2005. Organisational Change Management: A Critical Review. Journal of Change Management, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 369-380. William Reed Business Media Ltd, 2014. Kingsmill unveils Great White loaf. Latest News. [Online] Available at: http://www.bakeryinfo.co.uk/news/fullstory.php/aid/12466/Kingsmill_unveils_Great_White_loaf.html [Accessed April 09, 2014]. Read More