Strategic Choices - The Kraft Foods

Strategic Choices - The Kraft Foods
Name
Institution
Executive Summary
The Kraft Foods Company is one of the largest firms in the world dealing with consumer packed food and beverages. For more than a century the company has been in existence, the company has managed to establish itself as a well-recognized household name. This is demonstrated through the firm’s excellent performance that has been responsible for the high revenues it enjoys, of approximately $19 Billion (Kraft Foods, 2015). By utilizing its SWOT analysis, the company has always been in a position to identify its internal threats and opportunities besides the external ones. This has enabled the firm positioned itself strategically to remain relevant and on top in the food and beverage industry. With constant entries of new firms in the industry, the competition in the industry is continuing to grow. Consequently, for a company to survive it has to be unique in its ways of operations. To sustain its competitiveness, Kraft Foods Company has always remained flexible in providing better quality foods and services at low prices comparable to none. Through such a strategy, the firm has managed to sustain its reputation in the market, safeguarding its customers’ loyalty besides expanding its market base in the food industry (Chairman and Rosenfeld, 2009).
Notably, Kraft Foods has utilized its cost leadership strategy to enhance its strengths and tackling its weaknesses in addition to identifying and taking advantage of its opportunities. The cost leadership strategy has also helped in the recognizing of the potential threats. Through such an operational strategy, the company has remained successful for many years by enjoy a strong competitive position in the market. Accordingly, the firm’s capitalization on its strong brand image to come up with new innovative products will enhance continued growth and development in all areas of the company; for instance, in the research and development, and the acquisition of more facilities. Sociological factors such as being environment-friendly provide the firm with the opportunity to promote its corporate image. This helps the company become more competitive, capable of generating more revenues, which is necessary for continuous growth and development in the food industry. By remaining flexible in adapting to the changes in the industry, in terms of consumers demand, Kraft Foods Company will manage to utilize its strategies more effectively to compete well with its close rivals (Chairman and Rosenfeld, 2009). Although the firm is enjoying a strong position in the food industry, it must keep on adapting new innovative strategies, to its existing strategies, in responding to its threats in order to sustain its competitiveness.
Introduction
As the world food industry becomes more competitive with new entries and highly competitive strategies adopted by different companies, companies need to analyze their internal and external capabilities through a SWOT analysis. Conducting a SWOT analysis is necessary in order to make better decisions on planning the future (Porter's Generic Strategies, 2007). A SWOT analysis provides a firm with the knowledge of its strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats wh...