Strategy Implementation the First Source

Strategy Implementation

The first source is the Smuckers website. The website is, as for most companies, primarily a marketing tool. As such, it does not offer much depth of information regarding the firm's operations. Much of the information that can be gained is gained from inference, in particular with respect to important symbols and behavioral norms. The best place to start to gather information in the Investor Relations section, which contains press releases and statements that speak more to internal issues. This is a primary source of information, and is biased towards painting a positive outlook of the company.

Smuckers website. Retrieved March 19, 2010 from http://www.smuckers.com/family_company/investor_relations/

The second source is the Smuckers Annual Report. The Annual Report, and its companion the Form 10-K, provide information to investors and to securities regulators with respect to the company and its operations. Though this source of information is biased as it is produced by the company, the Annual Report is one of the best sources of information with regards to the firm's internal operations. Most reports contain a statement from the CEO, which will undoubtedly focus on the firm's internal strengths. Sections such as "Risk Factors" or the notes to the financial statements may also shed light even on the firm's negative attributes. That the Form 10-K is filed with regulators gives it a standardized format and more importantly ensures that the information contained within is relatively reliable, especially with the provision installed by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act that make senior management directly responsible for the report.

Smuckers Annual Report. Retrieved March 19, 2010 from http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MzQyODkzfENoaWxkSUQ9MzI5MzkwfFR5cGU9MQ==&t=1

Another excellent source of information is through earnings calls. Each quarter, the company issues a Form 10-Q or the annual Form 10-K. Public companies follow up on these reports by holding conference calls with analysts, shareholders and other external stakeholders. The questions that come from these calls often compel management to reveal information about all manner of internal operations. The information, coming from first hand sources, can generally be considered to be reliable although there is inevitably going to be some bias. Transcripts of earnings calls are often made available online, and the calls themselves are sometimes made available as well.

Smuckers Earnings call Q4 09 transcript. Retrieved March 19, 2010 from http://seekingalpha.com/article/144053-the-j-m-smucker-company-f4q09-qtr-end-04-30-09-earnings-call-transcript

Occasionally, a firm will appear in the business media specifically for successes or failures in certain areas. Smuckers, for example, received an extensive write-up about their human resources practices and the ways in which they develop competitive advantages through human resources in Fortune Magazine when they were named the #1 company to work for in America in 2004. These sources can contain excellent information not normally available to members of the public. There is less bias in a source like this in part because it is a media outlet and in part because they used objective methodology -- if they praise, it is praise that has been earned.

No author. (2004). 100 best companies to work for. Fortune Magazine. Retrieved March 20, 2010 from http://www.pbs.org/wsw/news/100best/smuckers.html

For many publicly traded firms, there are research reports produced by various analytical agencies. These reports are an excellent compilation of publicly available information about the company. They are generally free from bias, and may be the strongest source of information available about the company because they synthesize their data from a wide range of other sources. The main drawback is that the reports are not available for free, and can be quite expensive.