Kraft's competitive strategies.

A) Post Describe Kraft's competitive strategies.

Kraft Foods Inc. is high value products (organic, healthy and specified). It is the world's second-largest food company, said second-quarter profit increased as improved performance in Europe and emerging markets offset weaker-than-expected sales in North America. The company's corporate strategy follows a portfolio approach. Kraft segments its portfolio into six segments: Beverages, Cheese, Refrigerated Meals, Meals & Desserts, Enhancers & Snack Nuts, and Canada. The company is in the stable stage of the corporate life cycle, with moderate sales increases and a mature market for the company's products. Kraft's the firm seeks to become a huge snacks power house and unrivaled portfolio of brands people love, eat and buy. Kraft focuses its strategy on the complementary nature the company's portfolio which is supposed to lead the brand's growth: Delight global snacks consumers.

As the world's Consumers are looking for on-the-go options because they are always in late for something in work or just life. They're also looking for simple indulgences and healthier options, which is a paradox because people don't have time to cook in a healthy manner but they have to be healthy for the work and thin in the daily life.

B) What strategic challenges does CEO Rosenfeld face?

Rosenfeld has led the restructuring and turnaround of some of Kraft's businesses in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The challenges she faced can be in light of a still challenging macroeconomic environment, consumer confidence and spending weakened in many of their key markets, while competition among food retailers was intense, especially in Europe. They faced significantly higher prices for key commodities, like cocoa and coffee, and this inflation was magnified by local currency devaluation, especially late in the year. Like many other consumer packaged goods (CPG) food companies, Kraft has been buffeted by the Knowledge Economy's crosswinds, namely the splintering of mass audiences in favor of niches andlong tails. In food products, as well as in other "middle market” offerings, the market is bifurcating: consumers tend to shop low price in many categories while treating themselves to select high priced items. Consequently, companies in the middle are struggling--with what some term "the death of the middle” syndrome. This is also reflected by the consistent underperformance of department stores in the face of strong showings by discounters and luxury retailers. It is difficult to make "healthy” foods that consumers want. All food companies have tried to reduce salt, fat and sugar, but consumers usually do not like the taste, and the products disappoint. Kraft is adding fruits and vegetables to its packaged foods .

C) Which evaluation measures should Kraft use? Explain your rationale.

Kraft appreciates the makeup of a heterogeneous marketplace and strives to optimum its resources, business performance, and global presence through market segmentation. The company has annual programs to assess emerging customer needs and requirements through on time, in time and timely market research and unbiased market evaluation. Kraft applies market findings to pursue product marketing complexity adaptive systems strategies and programs, along with product revitalization and cross-marketing business acquisitions. Their assessment revealed that due to changing lifestyles, demographics, single parent families, and two working parents that the frozen food segment presented a business opportunity.

The firm has effectively penetrated the frozen food market by using customer information systems to leverage market demographics, lifestyles, family and parenting structures, health advocates, and diverse cultural meal preparations. To revolutionize the Kraft organization from an archaic food company to a contemporary global competitor, KFI's leadership aligned with various consultant groups to shape a customer centric organizational culture centered on the principles and practices of agility. The agility initiatives and associated behaviors and expectations were methodically and systematically entrenched into KFI's culture which complements the firm's theoretical horizontal organizational structure.

Thus, with the evaluation measures such as appropriate market information, market segmentation, and corporate agility and horizontal structure, Kraft Foods Inc. will remain a competitive force in the global food industry. The utility of adaptive product marketing activities have benefited Kraft's bottom-line. Taking a mature business with mature products, Kraft's management has leveraged the consumers changing tastes and lifestyles to reinvent and bolster its products. Next, Kraft's management team investigated the high growth in the frozen food business.

D) Go to Kraft's website and evaluate revenues, profits and strategic initiatives.

Kraft's revenues

In the period of February 2010, Kraft foods acquired Cadbury.  At the same year, India had been successful in achieving the sales growth of Cadbury. By 2009, the business had been grown to four hundred million dollar.  During the same month of 2010, the visits made by management caused a scene to emerge, stating blank check to make India's business grow to half billion dollar by the end of the same year.  This ultimately referred to the up scaling of regional business. 

Later, the Indian team took an initiative to expand the business operation, setting higher standards for marketing procedures, increment of sales and so on.  The team chose to implement these actions as per depending upon the catering of large customer base and the buying behavior of them.  This team offered appealing benefits.  Here, the scene of company named tang can be noticed as it helped Kraft to develop its business ultimately increasing its revenues from $6 billion to $ 15 billion in less than five years.  The major pillar for the growth of Kraft is the transformation of Tang. 

Kraft's profits

The developing markets leadership team determined to issuing of a blank check by the team of Kraft to the team of Tang stating that the resources equivalent to $50 billion must be leveraged.  Here, the motive of Kraft was to make the team of tang be comfortable so as to have visible and weighted connections and communications with the local people. Tang by the assistance of Kraft's available technological plants and equipments were able to introduce new flavors considering the taste of the local people. Flavors such as tamarind and horchata can be found in Mexico, pineapple and mint in middle countries, mango flavor in Philippines and passion fruit and sour soup in South America.  These additions helped a company to achieve extra twenty five percent sales mainly in the developing nations. 

Kraft's strategic initiatives

Kraft Foods have a strategy that is focused on five key categories (e.g., biscuits and chocolate), 10 power brands (e.g., Oreo, Tang, Trident, and Cadbury), and 10 priority markets (e.g., Brazil, India, and China); the strategy is called 5-10-10. . In 2007, the leadership team of Kraft's developing markets identified Tang as one of their top 10 focus brands, and came up with an unusual strategy for boosting the brand's sales back into the stratosphere: Tang leaders in key countries such as Brazil were given a "blank check,” essentially urging them to dream big and not worry about resources. We can note that Kraft particularly focuses on the five products type such as biscuits and chocolate focusing ten brands such as Oreo, Cadbury, Tang, etc.