Super Bakery
What strategies did the management of Super Bakery, Inc. use?
Realizing that they were in a highly competitive, and at times commoditized business, Super Bakery Inc., relied on a series of strategies to differentiate themselves from their competitors while also concentrating on key accounts. The bakery wisely concentrated on high-value segments and strategies that could drive greater profitability on an account basis. These strategies included concentrating on the school system segment of the institutional food market for schools, whom the company believed was poorly served with existing bakery products. Super Bakery also pioneered low calorie, vitamin enriched donuts that met USDA guidelines and strived to taste good too. This strategy proved prescient for the bakery as high-fat donuts began to decline due to the public's concern over healthy snacks and eating (Davis, Darling, 1996). The second strategy the Super Bakery relied on was avoiding the local market restriction of most fresh baked goods by refrigerating the product, vacuum-sealing it and distributing it nationally (Davis, Darling, 1996). This gave Super Bakery the opportunity expand distribution and gain market share in a highly fragmented market. Third, Super Bakery chose to collaborate with suppliers, distributors and key members of their value chain to further drive down costs for customers through the use of government-supported commodities (Davis, Darling, 1996). Finally, and what forms the basis of this case study is the decision by Super Bakery to become a virtual corporation by drastically reducing capital investment over time, leading...
Finance Activity-Based Costing at Super Bakery The management at Super Bakery has developed a very lean business model which is an efficient use of capital. The model is based on the concept of a virtual organization. In this business model the firm owns very few assets that are required for production; by outsourcing to third parties the firm does not need to make the investments that are traditionally associated with production companies.
In a situation where the profit margin can vary greatly between customers that are charge the same price, increased transparency of costing will empower the company to adapt their pricing system so that costs could be more effectively recouped in the way the contracts are negotiated (O'Guin, 1992). Activity-based costing allows for the different stages of a process (the activities) to be costed in an effective manner, including costs
S. economy is down, Target profits are likely to go down in response. Problem The main strategic problem is low employee wages, which has altered public perceptions. The retail industry is very unstable and some of the competition Target faces ebbs and flows quickly. The main competitors Target faces are Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Sears. Most cities have other smaller stores and department stores, which all compete with Target for the same customers.
KO Advantages Coca-Cola pursues a differentiation strategy, and has built its company around the pursuit of this strategy. The strengths that the company has -- R&D, marketing, and heavy advertising -- all directly support the differentiation strategy. Coca-Cola uses its strategy to foster sources of sustainable competitive advantage, although the strongest of these is the company's brand. All told, Coke has an excellent strategy that does not result in many missed
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As a result of huge growth, the company's management may lose focus of the scope of their business. Miller Inc. has a highly centralized hierarchy of management and lacks the managerial backup to promote creativity amons the employees. Single-sourcing which is the characteristic of Miller Inc. could be a recipe of disaster should the supplier fail. Contingency plans for supplies need to be considered. The constrant production nature of the product leads to
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