Whole Foods: Philanthropic Responsibility

John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy, the co-founders of the current Whole Foods Market, simply wanted to provide quality healthy food to the American consumer. This was about three decades ago when the first store opened. According to Mackey, making money was not the first priory, but helping people to eat better was. Happily for Mackey and Lawson, the residents of Austin Texas were hungry, no pun intended, for just this type of product. At the time, though there were several small independent healthy food stores, there was not a full sized grocery store. This is what set Mackey and Lawson apart from their competitors, their enormous sized health food grocery store was a huge success and now Whole Foods Market (WFM) is not only a

Mackey believes “making high profits is the means to the end of fulfilling Whole Foods’ core business mission” (Rae & Wong, 2012, p. 152). Mackey says Whole Foods wants to better the world through quality products, but understands this is only possible if Whole Foods is a highly profitable corporation. This is such a reputable view of corporate responsibility and only heightens my respect for the Whole Foods corporation as well as John Mackey. The world needs more corporations such as Whole Foods in rode to be a better-rounded, sustainable world.

A weakness that Whole Foods have is their reputation. A reputation for a grocer is key to its survival and they have the reputation of being very expensive or some call it “whole paycheck.”

promotes pride in team members. All employees have access to most of Whole Food’s financial

Whole Foods has the Philanthropic Responsibility on Carroll’s global social responsibility pyramid, mainly for their involvement in educating employees, and customers on the importance of lifestyle changes in eating more organic, healthy foods. Moreover, Whole Foods involvement in volunteer work through the communities they serve; however,

Whole Foods has many important values. For example, they believe that their customers are the most important stakeholders and the lifeblood of their business.[8] Whole Foods has five major stakeholders; John Mackey (CEO), James Sud, Glenda Chamberlain, Walter Robb, and John Elstrott.[9] Whole Foods selectively chose where to do business based on their average customer. Whole Foods knows that its products are for health and food enthusiasts.[10]

Whole Foods is a great example of democratic approach to store operation. In this organizational environment all team members have the ability to insert their input in decision making that affects their product/service area in addition to having input in store matters as well. Whole Foods has a stringent screening process potential employees are put through to ensure that the applicant is a good fit for the organization. Once an applicant is hired, they are assigned to a team and team leader, who then train the new team member to be knowledgeable on the product/service they are assigned to. Additionally, they are also trained on providing friendly customer service. Due to Whole Foods approach to using workplace democracy, it has created a positive

Whole Foods definitely uses human capital as a competitive advantage in multiple aspects of the company business model. Whole Foods built the foundation of their business model around quality, empowered employees. These employees are the key to the unique experience that defines the company and the source of their primary competitive advantage in the marketplace. This competitive advantage is framed around the concepts of human capital value, human capital rareness, and human capital imitability (Hitt, Miller & Colella, 2015). Whole Foods human capital value is represented by knowledgeable, capable employees empowered to champion the overall strategy of the company and make decisions at the lowest level to ensure a great product and customer experience (Hitt, Miller & Colella, 2015). Human capital rareness is demonstrated by the emphasis placed on sourcing, interviewing, and hiring practices. This ensures Whole Foods hires the unique employee that will champion the quality of their product line as well as the front-line face of the company to customers. Regarding human capital imitability, Whole Foods overall human capital focus and packaging makes a formidable task for competitors to replicate. From the overall compensation package, degree of employee input and interaction, benefits structure, bonus program, and overall company environment, Whole Foods ensures that sourcing and retention of employees provides a definite advantage (Hitt, Miller & Colella, 2015).

Whole Foods Market was founded by John Mackey as a healthy, socially responsible lifestyle that customers can identify with (Pearce & Robinson, 2013, p 29-1). The company differentiated itself from competitors by focusing on quality as excellence and innovation that allows them to charge premium price for premium products (Pearce & Robinson, 2013, p 29-1).

They have a good vision of where they want to go and a mission statement that will take them there. Whole Foods will probably have a difficult time over the next few years, but they have shown as a company that they can persevere through about anything. Revenue growth can be spurred through a marketing campaign and community outreach. Costs can be controlled through reductions in direct labor, using buyer power to push down cost of goods sold, and reducing capital cost growth. Net income may not grow as much as Whole Foods might like, but the company can easily still remain profitable and continue to grow. Through all of the ups and downs that Whole Foods has experienced, at the end of the day you have to recognize that they are a great up and coming company and a force to be reckoned with in the food retail industry. With the growing popularity and demand for organic and natural products, we feel that Whole Foods would be a great company to invest in. They have a very effective strategy and are always looking for ways to improve their standings for consumers and investors. While financial standings aren’t the primary goal of the organization, they do realize the importance of creating economic value for the shareholders and that is essential to have a successful operation. Whole Foods also has one of the highest employee retention numbers out

Whole Foods has become the world’s largest retail chain of natural and organic foods supermarkets. Not only is their focus to transform the way consumers look at food and its natural benefits, Whole Foods is looking to make a difference in the world with their products. Whole Foods appears to be in a rapidly growing market. Whole Foods has worked hard to set their products apart from other grocery retail chains and while their prices might still be considered high across the board, their products are geared towards a more health conscious individual who is willing to pay more for a healthier product.

Whole Foods Market, Inc, is an Austin, Texas based foods grocery that has the finest natural and organic food available, including produce, seafood, grocery, meat and poultry, bakery, prepared foods and catering, beer, wine, cheese; in addition to whole body, floral, pet products, and household products. Whole Foods is among the most profitable health food retailers in the United States. The rapid growth and market success has much to do with having remained a uniquely mission-driven company, highly selective about what they sell, dedicated to their core values, stringent quality standards, and committed to sustainable agriculture.

Whole Foods is known for its quality: Quality ingredients and a unique shopping experience is its foundation. Whole Foods shoppers expect ingredients that adhere to their moral values and that are in line with their social status.

Teamwork is important factor, because without social capital an employee will not become a benefit to the company. Whole Foods offer human capital because of the shared knowledge due to training and other qualifications that begin with the hiring process (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2013). Managers that are selected with potential value to operate very functional is a quality that Whole Foods possess. These are all valuable factors when considering employment at Whole Foods. Overall Whole Foods offer that level of employee satisfaction that is very motivating and compelling to be a part

Whole Foods Market is an American based natural and organic supermarket that is also located in the United Kingdom, and Canada the company has 469 stores in total. Whole Foods also employees over 87,000 team members and they are ranked as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America by Fortune magazine. Whole Foods, 2017 states, “Our team members are part of the local community and they are passionate about supporting the local causes