Overview of Kudler's Management

Abstract

The essential point of this paper is to discuss one’s exploration of Kudler’s Fine Foods, a virtual organization on Week One reSourceSM course page. Kudler is a highly successful company that has managed to expand its operation from one location to three locations in less than four years (La Jolla, Del Mar, and Encinitas). The company specializes in gourmet foods, fine wines, and cheeses. This paper will underline Kudler’s management, and explain how technology and the Internet are used and have impacted the organization. From Kudler’s revision, this paper will also identify examples of the five forces of Porter’s Model.

Overview of Management - Kudler's Fine Foods

“Successful organizations know how to manage people and resources efficiently to accomplish organizational goals in tune with changes in the external environment, such as those brought about by technology, legislation, and competitors.”

- Gomez and Balkin

According to Gomez and Balkin (2002), the management process involves planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Planning is setting future objectives and mapping out activities necessary for achieving those objectives. Organizing is specifying how the organization’s human, physical, informational, and technical resources are allocated and how tasks are performed to achieve the desired goals. Leading is motivating people to contribute their best individually and cooperating with others. Controlling is measuring performance, comparing it to the objectives, implementing the necessary changes, and monitoring progress.

Kathy Kudler is the president, founder, and senior executive officer of Kudler’s Fine Foods; she plays the role of a strategic manager. Kathy implemented a plan for Kudler by creating the vision and setting the goals for the organization; those goals are stated in the company’s mission statement below:

“Kudler Fine Food’s mission is to provide customers the finest in selected foodstuffs, wines, and related needs in an unparalleled customer environment.

Our selections, couples with our experienced, helpful and knowledgeable staff, merge to offer each customer a delightful and pleasing shopping outing.

We will provide these services because we “shop the world” for our products; purchase only the finest of products; are highly selected in acquiring our team members; and will go extensive lengths to assure that Kudler’s is the purveyors of choice for customers aspiring to purchase the finest epicurean delights,” (Apollo Group, Inc [AGI], 2007).

Kathy depicted the management function of organizing by specifying the roles of a majority of the employees. According to AGI (2007), Harvey Stephens is the Director of Finance and Accounting; he is responsible for planning and directing the finance and accounting activities of the organization. Yvonne Reynolds is the Director of Store Operations; she is responsible for managing the operations of the company’s three locations, which include inventory, purchasing and logistics. In addition, Reynolds is responsible for the store’s safety, facility maintenance, security, and compliance with state and federal regulations. Brenda Warner is the Director of Administration and Human Resources; she is responsible for developing policies and directing administrative and resources activities, such as employment, compensation, labor relations, benefits, training, and employee services. Stephens, Reynolds, and Warner’s job description identifies their role as tactical managers. Kent Vesper, Laurie Priest, and Juanita Lopez are the Store Managers at the Kudler’s Fine Foods locations. According to AGI (2007), Vesper, Priest, and Lopez are responsible for managing the stores’ engagement in selling gourmet foods. Their job description identifies their roles as operational managers.

Kathy specified most of the employees’ roles; however, some employees’ role remains ambiguous. At each of the Kudler’s Fine Foods location, the employers are highly decentralize and most employees have more autonomy in defining their jobs, prioritizing their tasks, allocating their time, monitoring their own work, and setting their own objectives. The manager’s of the company are improving their ability to plan, strategize, organize, lead, and control by emphasizing on their strategizing skills, task-related skills, people-related skills, and self-awareness skills. Kudler’s Fine Foods has even entered the business realm of using new technology and internet to maintain its competitive edge.

According to Turban, Rainer and Potter (2003), telecommunications and especially the Internet and intranet provides a mean of economically reducing cyclic time of marketing by cutting communications time through the use of e-mail and EDI, and by allowing collaboration in design and operations of products and services. Kudler’s Fine Foods illustrates a degree of sophistication having customers and employees access to an Intranet and Internet Homepage. Hence, the manager’s of the company understand the importance of immediate response and relaying information so it can be easily understood, since the company has invested in the implementation of a Retail Enterprise Management System (REMS).

According to AGI (2007), the REMS manage information for the company’s vital function, such as procurement, sales, accounting, and treasury. The system collects information from different transactions across departments’ functions and business cycles. The data collected at each Point-Of-Sale (POS) and the information derived from that data is used to understand the consumption habits of the customers;