Kudler Fine Foods Strategy Assignment

Running head: STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT

Kudler Fine Foods Strategy Assignment

Steven Hogan

University of Phoenix

Managing the Business Enterprise

MBA 502

Ken Peter, MBA

April 09, 2008

Strategy Assignment

Strategy Assignment

Introduction

Kathy Kudler is the creator of Kudler Fine Foods. Kathy’s primary goal in establishing KFF was to create a retail store that provides a selection of gourmet foods in order to meet the needs of the typical person all within one store. A wide variety of foods are offered at Kudler Fine Foods. The many different departments include gourmet baked goods, dairy, cheese, wine, organic and non organic produce sections, fresh meats, and seafood. Furthermore, the three different retail locations will offer cooking classes in addition to monthly cheese and wine customer appreciation classes. Some of these services will be expanded into the private residence sector. Adding to their list of offered services, KFF has just added a new catering service in an attempt to attract new customers as well as increasing revenue from their existing customer base. There have been some recent operational changes at Kudler that will be advantageous to the success of their stores. Kudler is able to increase their profitability by using operational strategies such as establishing contracts with local producers of organic produce, creating a purchasing department, and through the use of marketing tools. The purpose of this paper is to identify the business opportunities created due to the changes in the use of technology. Additionally this paper will show the generic strategy of Kudler Fine Foods, how to implement it, and the role the management team will have in keeping Kudler Fine Foods competitive in the fine foods industry.

Changes in technology

In today’s world technology never seems to stop changing. This technology can be beneficial to Kudler Fine Foods and it can help elevate their company to the next level. Studies show that due to new technology there has been a significant improvement in profitability and an increase in the viability of companies (Turban, Rainer, & Potter, 2003). Kudler currently has a standard website that gives detailed directions to their store locations, the store hours, and provides descriptions of the various departments within the stores. Kudler also makes use of an Intranet. The company’s Intranet provides information about Kudler’s supply chain, the Kudler employee hand book, sales and marketing strategies, and past financial data. Each of Kudler’s individual stores will contain POS systems networked together and linked to one main computer system. Kudler is able to use the more technologically advanced systems to develop operations of the company as a whole, and at each individual store location. Presently the company maintains a customer data base which includes demographic information about the customer. One of Kudler’s marketing strategies is to employ a customer tracking system using data software to track purchases the customers make (UOP, 2007). Each customer will be assigned a customer service number to provide ease of tracking by entering the information automatically at POS stations when purchases are made. The database will compile all demographical information which can be used to enhance their services in order to meet necessary demands.

An increasing amount of people are choosing to shop online. This creates a bigger market potential by appealing to the cyber shopper. Satisfying the needs of the cyber shopper has become a necessity. Online shopping and cyber shopper population has rapidly increased due to the use of computers in more than 50% of U.S. households (Kerin, Harley, Berkowitz & Rudelius, 2006). Internet should be used as a means of incorporating online orders. This online ordering service will provide customers with the ability to order products from any location and have them delivered to his/her home for an extra charge. It would be wise to offer some kind of online coupons to encourage more online usage. Kudler must ensure that the necessary software/hardware be implemented, that they train associates to access the needed order information, and finally for marketing purposes create a system to track these orders for future use. The new system should include the usage of placing orders with most of their vendors. Using this method of ordering gives anytime access to most vendors. All these things will aid in streamlining the suppliers and vendors the store locations use. The database software will make it possible to have identical products at all three stores. This will give the purchasing department an opportunity to cash in on any bulk purchasing discounts as well as ensuring each location will carry an adequate inventory needed for each location.

Generic strategy

Kudler’s strategy can be put into practice after they understand all competitive forces with their industry. An excellent