Kraft Whole Foods Case Study

Kraft Foods, Inc., is a $42B global corporation. Its U.S. brands include well-known brand names such as Kraft cheeses, dinners, and dressings, Maxwell House coffee, Nabisco cookies and crackers, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheese, and Oreo-brand cookies. The purchase of Nabisco has left the company with $18.5B in long term debt. The company is also much stronger in the US than in other countries. Kraft needs to determine a way to reduce their debt while showing product sustainability in the US and growth in the international market. While Kraft foods continue to show strong margins and net income compared to their competition, the earnings per share for Kraft could be improved. This paper details the long term objectives for Kraft foods and provides recommended strategy implementations.

Long Term objectives:

* Sustainable, long-term growth

* Reduced long term debt

* Improved international growth

* Decision making agility

Understanding the long term objectives are key to building an effective strategy. Kraft Foods has four distinct long term objectives. First, they must determine how to have sustainable, long-term growth for products in the US. New competition in generic brand names are a danger to Kraft as customers cut down on their spending. Kraft needs to determine methods to continue to appeal to customers and compete with cheaper, generic products. Second, they must work to reduce their long term debt. Third, international growth is a key for Kraft. Kraft has a significant hold on market share in the US, but they are not strong in other countries. Improving their international market share will help Kraft with long term growth. Finally, a company as large as Kraft must ensure that their decision making policies to react quickly compared to competition that may be much smaller companies.

Recommended strategies:

* Market Expansion

o Restaurant sales

* Decentralization

o Organizational Structure

o Incentive Structure

o Business and accounting procedures

o Work flow processes

* Leverage economy of scale advantages

o Distribution

* Improve efficiencies

o Packaging

* Talent

...