Strategic plan for W.W. Grainger Jayme Knapp June 17, 2008 Grainger will drive the future of material requirement for operations (MRO) purchases through strategic operations by focusing on growing current customers and embracing new technologies that will strengthen the company’s current capabilities. Over the last three years Grainger has made significant investments into emerging technologies that allow for more efficient workflow and faster turnaround times on sourcing quotes for those hard to find items or “one-offs”. An internal audit of Grainger shows that of a stable, forward thinking and very strategically planned company that looks for top quality people who will provide world class service to its customers. …show more content…
The grainger.com website, which hit $1 billion in sales in 2007 had, until recently been operating at a negative margin, with a write-off of $125 million in 2001, grainger.com has gone back to the basics. Yet, one of Grainger’s most significant core competencies will always be with the company’s knack to efficiently manage logistics, supply chain and warehousing of over 188,000 products in 9 distribution centers, and over 450 branch based stores. According to Harps (2002) Grainger continually reinvents itself to meet the changing needs of its customers. One example is that customers have the option to “call”, “click”, or “stop by” to order product. Another significant change has been the explosive expansion of the product line since 2001 – from 100,000 to over 188,000 in 2008. As Grainger continues to lead the industry its focus must be to maintain product deep and breath that is economically justifiable to meet the needs and service levels of its current and future customers. The focus on ebusiness, market expansion and availability will be key to the future success. In addition, to clearly understanding the opportunities within the walls of the company, Grainger must stay focused on product knowledge, supply chain and logistics. There are several significant external threats facing
DG has a current competitive advantage within its industry that is maintains through a unique cost-efficient approach. This low-cost structure is apparent through low inventories, low advertising costs, and location of stores in rural areas. Though profitable in the short-run, DG's current advantage is not
Comcast is the leading cable telecommunications and Entertainment Company in the industry. Their strengths lie in their products and the will to explore and improve with their services. They always continue to provide customers with new and improved services and continue to build on existing services. Comcast is the fourth largest cable company in the world and served customers in 39 states with over 24.7 million cable customers. (Comcast, 2008). The chart below shows the amount of subscribers in the country:
The organization strategic plan consists of addressing clinical quality, growth, and becoming a larger part of the community, and providing long term value. The annual report states the following strategic goals (Bon Secours, 2012):
Though Kudler researched and found the most helpful, experienced and knowledgeable workers that will provide all their customers with the very best shopping experience, they still need to market research to compete with other upscale specialty foor stores. They have to market themselves even more now because there is a demand for their stores. A company can not just have a couple stores with demands from customers of more of what they supply. They have to expand the company. Mor market research has to be performed to know where new Kudler stores can be placed. The four locations they have now are not enough. The company needs to branch out and show the world what they are missing. The finest foods, wines, and spirits are all products Kudler have to offer to the world. They need to research upscale areas all over the world and set up trial locations to do group tests. This will give them feedback if they like their products and services they offer like the classes and wine steward assistance. They will be able to pinpoint the areas they want to set up test stores and see if they
Kudler fine foods is a store that markets fine foods but needs to bring some focus toward expanding their goods to the public. Improving their business operations will increase store efficiencies and the demand of its customers at a higher volume of purchases. The growth of this organization is significant and growth will coincide with strategic marketing that will expand Kudler Fine foods locally and internationally. Kudler’s current marketing strategy and tactics have limited the company from targeting the right group of areas of consumers to promote goods too. Examining demographics and consumer behaviors
Kudler Fine Foods currently has three locations-La Jolla, Del Mar, and Encinitas-throughout San Diego, with a fourth location possibly in the company’s near future. The company maintains several systems including strategic plan, legal, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, human resources, and operations. This paper is an analysis of the marketing system for Kudler Fine Foods, and touches briefly on the company’s background and strategic plan.
Kudler Fine Foods is a company that deals with bakery and pastries products, along with providing produce, meats, seafood, condiments, cheese, specialty dairy products, and they also package foods if necessary throughout their many locations within California. Kudler Fine Foods ultimate goal is very similar to all businesses alike, which is to have an excess amount of income over expenditure. According to what is stated on the Intranet for Kudler Fine Foods, their drive as a business, is to always maintain being the best in the business when comes to servicing customers with top high end products (goods and even services produced by Kudler Fine Foods). KFF will also have to understand what the needs of customers
In the current retail food industry there are numerous competitors fighting for the same dollar. It is important for each company to identify their target market, identify their competitors, and then build their marketing plan. The information below will detail Kudler Fine Foods marketing strategy which includes expanding its services, improving its efficiency of operations, and increasing the customer purchase cycle. The paper will also discuss areas where Kudler Fine Foods needs to further their market research.
Strategic planning can dictate the success of any organization if properly planned as well as the failure of an organization if not implemented as planned. Strategic planning is all about making choices. It is a process designed to support leaders in being intentional about their goals and methods. Simply stated, strategic planning is a management tool, and like any management tool, it is used for one purpose only—to help an organization do a better job. This portion of the strategic plan will explain why an
For retailers, P&G has developed a sophisticated ordering application whereby retailers can now order via wired phone or wirelessly via a mobile
Bunnings is the market leader in this industry who gains 64% of total market share, followed by Mitre 10 with 13.0%, and Masters with 8.0% of market share (The Australian, 2016). The company’s revenue continuous increased since they started the business in 2011 to 2014, they gained total revenue around $1527 million in 2014 (Woolworths, 2015) but the company still got the loss from their operation expenses. Moreover, the sales dropped by 16% in 2015 that was the main reason for Lowe’s to delist the joint venture in the beginning of 2016 as it claimed that Masters has poor profit performance (IBIS, 2016). In the meantime, Woolworths publicised its intention either to selling the business or shutting it down (ABC, 2016, para. 15). Thus, there are several causes of these problems that Masters should solve in order to survive in this business and compete with its competitors.
This strategic analysis of The Kroger Company will take a look at the changing trends of
W. W. Grainger, Inc. is a leading supplier of maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) products to businesses and institutions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico with an expanding presence in Japan, India, China and Panama. The company works with more than 3,000 suppliers and runs an extensive Website (http://www.grainger.com) where Grainger offers nearly 900,000 products. The products range from industrial adhesives used in manufacturing, to hand tools, janitorial supplies, lighting equipment, and power tools. When something is needed by one of their 1.8 million customers it is often needed quickly, so quick service and product
Procurement: More than 50 of Intel's most important material suppliers have online access to confidential engineering and product-specification documents, reducing the amount of time it takes to design products and get answers about Intel's needs. Using a "vendor-managed inventory process," allows Intel to accurately reconcile its suppliers' inventory on hand, materials in transit, and shipment projections with a customer's shop-floor consumption rate. The process has given Intel more-accurate forecasting data and allowed the company to respond faster to demand fluctuations.
This organization developed and sold an inventory tagging technology which permits its customers to streamline their supply chains.