Case Study 1 Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (A): The Role of the Operating Manager in Information Systems Introduction In order to increase efficiency and productivity of the Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (MSCC), Leon Lassiter, Vice President of Marketing, decides that MSCC could benefit from a systems and software upgrade for each division. However, Mr. Lassiter’s effort to accomplish this failed as additional steps were not taken in order to ensure a smooth and seamless transition. Background Leon Lassiter, Vice President of Marketing for the Midsouth Chamber of Commerce (MSCC), conducted an assessment of each division within the organization. His findings concluded that information systems were limited in capability and lacking in operational capacity to better support its members. Mr. Lassiter realized that new information systems for MSCC would have to be eventually implemented.
For example, in order to increase profit revenue you should start by increasing sales on a specific existing product. For instance, you can try to increase strawberry desserts by 10% within the first six months of the fiscal year. Below, you will find the possible alternative growth strategies. Possible Alternative Growth Strategies * Market Penetration Strategy- You stated that you spend little money on advertising so my recommendation would be to increase advertising, change sizes or packages on hand packed sizes of ice cream. For bigger packages, decrease the price so that customers can get more ice cream for a lesser price.
The introduction of Haagen-Dazs in the UK-helped by world-beating Mars count line extensions (Mars, Bounty, Galaxy, Milky, Milky Way and Snickers) into the ice-cream market in 1988 – had increased the profile of luxury ice-cream in the UK and Europe, making it the fastest-growing sector of the ice-cream market . Moreover, taking the U.S as an example, the prospects for Haagen-Dazs look good. In 1991, luxury ice-creams had taken a 47.6% share of the U.S market (as against around 16% in the UK in 1991, up from 5%in 1988), with standards and economy ice-cream accounting for 38.1% and 14.3%, respectively. Thus, Haagen-Dazs could expect many Europeans to upgrade into the luxury ice-cream market. According to experts, the brand value of Haagen-Dazs had risen steeply, from $ 250 million in 1988 to $782 million in 1993.
The Russian ice cream industry had high economies of scale and new competitors faced high initial costs for the production facilities. Product differentiation was also high, and the brand names were well established. Despite these high barriers to entry, threat of entrants was high (especially from regional producers). After the financial crisis in 1998 and the subsequent decrease of imported ice cream, the market offered good opportunities for new domestic entrants. Luckily this was countered by Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign when he assigned alcohol factories to ice cream production.
Assessment of Current Situation External Factors Currently the Canadian domestic confectionary industry is in the mature stage. One of the primary attributes of a company being in the mature stage is that mature industries undergo consolidation- the combination of competitors through mergers or acquisitions, which allows companies to enjoy lower cost through economies of scale. As mentioned in the case, in the late 1980’s consolidation led to greater concentration of market shares, resulting in the increase plant efficiencies necessary to compete internationally. Also, in this stage customers are more knowledgeable and are willing to pay premium prices for high quality products. This is reflected by the fact that in the late 1980s, the growth of retail gourmet candy shops, such as Laura Secord, pointed to a consumer trend toward purchasing high-quality, specialty products at premium prices.
Our analysis will focus on examining the strengths and weaknesses of the environmental and general corporate strategies in light of its internal resources and external competitive and non-market forces. MARKET DESCRIPTION Ben & Jerry’s operates in the highly competitive super premium ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet business. Super premium ice cream is generally characterized by a greater richness and density than other kinds of ice cream and commands a relatively higher price. The company’s two primary competitors include Haagen-Dazs (a member of the Ice Cream Partners organization) and Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Company, which introduced its Godiva and Dreamery super premium ice cream line in the fall of 1999. Other significant competitors include Healthy Choice, Nestle and Starbucks (SEC Report, 1999).
"The inventory increases when the production rate exceeds the demand rate, and decreases when the demand rate exceeds the production rate" (Yan & Kulkarni, 2008). To handle this situation, it requires a Good Humor factories to quickly adjust and increase the production rate to meet the demand. Good Humor produced and distributed same product through different channels. The same ice cream bar that was sold in grocery store was produced in a production line different from the one that produces ice cream bar sold in trucks. The complexities arise for production scheduling, material ordering, production rate, and personnel management.
So they believed that local market would not have need in as much services and complexity as contrary markets. Also they believed that the local markets would give to company much higher margins and other benefits. But by being small company, Logoplaste for faraway locations needed a huge number of senior managers to control new firms at new markets. Unfortunately Logoplaste did not have enough senior managers to enter new markets. And as well, it was very difficult from financial perspective due to financial crisis, when banks were not giving out loans and funds for every single company.
Ice Cream Galaxy Audit Case 1. The factors that are expected to affect the amount of gross revenue for Ice Cream Galaxy include: a. Weather conditions- If it is over 80 degrees ICG will expect to do more sales. b. Park Attendance- the more people come to the park, the more sales they will get.
They believe in making better on product availability and inventory, the real risk that the customers take their basket elsewhere when there are items out of stock will be reduced. However, there are few factors which greatly affected the company’s total revenue. One of the factors is the continued store expansion activities. Each additional store may take away sales from the existing units. That’s why the Walmart management started to plan a slower new store growth, so that the impact of new stores on comparable store sales will be stabilizing over time.