Business operations and organizations turn in the market are hugely dependent on the approach which they take while operating. It is to be mentioned that usage of theories and model have increased in modern business operation context. There are various concepts and strategies which company have used in order to gain competency and achieve competitive advantage in the market. In this assessment there will be discussion over some theories and concept which has been applied to firm and how it helps the organization to fair well in the market. The company which has been taken into consideration is Whittaker’s Chocolate Company. The company was established in the 1986 and currently operate in New Zealand. It operates as an confectionery manufacturer in the country and has been operate from the last 120 year which show that the company has sustained it market over the past few decades.
Paper Purpose
The core purpose of the current assessment is to discuss about the marketing as well as the business models used by the Whittaker in order to operate in the New Zealand Confectionary industry. The different dimension of both operational and marketing aspects will be covered within the assessment.
Scope
The scope of the project is to define the marketing environment role within an organizations operational activities and the ways in which the following impact on the overall operational performance of the organization. The scope of the project is to show the ways in which operation within a firm is affected by the marketing and external environment.
Limitation
The assessment is limited by the focus on a particular company which is Whittaker. Hence there will be discussion over the company only as the following will be used as tool for discussion. There will not be an overall discussion which can be made over the subject as the discussion will only be limited to the company.
The company was established in the year 1968 in Macclesfield. The founder of the company was J.H Whittaker. The company initially started as the founder started manufacturing chocolates and became famous in the city. After the increase of the manufacturing size the business shifted to Wellington in the 1940s (Bocken et al. 2014). The proprietor then started to expand the manufacturing of the company in different parts of New Zealand. The company started to grow and was soon recognised as one of the best chocolate manufacturing companies in the country. As the operational areas of the company expanded its operational activities as well as its human resource size increased. The tangibles and intangibles of the company he also increased with the increase of its financial assets (Martins, Rindova & Greenbaum, 2015). It is to be mentioned that the Company also operates its operation all around New Zealand. The company has expanded its market all around the country and in 2014 the company also expanded in Malaysia which shows its operational process. It is to be mentioned that as the company has grown into a chocolate manufacturing giant in the country it has also diversified its work force and operational area (Foss & Saebi, 2017). This shows that the company has transformed itself into a confectionery giant which is why it is said that the company has used effective module and concepts to operate in the New Zealand as well as international market. The company followed manufacturing business model in order to initiate and operate in the market. The diagram of it is as follows:
The company’s core value is to be like the be the best chocolate manufacture in the country and eventually in all over the world. It can be said that the company wants to achieve the highest valuation the norms of achievement and brand value. The Whittaker’s chocolate company is established at 1896, started at a very small scale and eventually becoming one of the leader in the chocolate selling segment in the country of New Zealand. Initially, when the company just started, the owner of the company struggled very much in order to arrange capital to produce the chocolate and sell to the customers. The starting phase for any company is difflicialt to to stand and at time of the company, it has only one type of product, which ofcore was a super favorite in the market. The company’s main focus is on the long-term marketing excellence in order to gain the trust of the customer as the brand name and also of their products. In New Zealand the company has also been awarded by the most trusted brand value for seventh year continuously, these creates a positive image in the customer’s mind and add value to the brand image of the company. The company has placed its pricing strategy very adequately in order order to maintain the equality in their products, they are value based pricing, competition based pricing , differential Pricing and Bundle pricing. These were the four kind of pricing strategy used by the company. The company also uses the top quality coco materials in their chocolate making process and portray in the websites and the advertisements (Juga, Juntunen & Paananen, 2018). These are easily compared by the other brands and in comparison the company shows its excellence as their product contains the best in class cocoa powder and best old techniques. The numbers can be seen clearly in the company’s website.
The strategic resources of the company are the many aspects and combining these aspects the company stands out the strategic results and outcomes. The strategic resources like the materials used in the making process of the chocolate bars and shown portrays in the advertisement, comparing with the other chocolate brand results in the best echolocate manufactured by the company. This is the strategy used by the company in order to attain the several aspects in marketing , customer trust and many more aspects ( Wei & Clegg, 2018). The other resources can be the distribution network , the company only manufacture in a city in New Zealand but their products sells all over the New Zealand. The company also export their product to the nearby countries and few more, the demand in foreign countries also are very nice. These can be only attended by the help of a good distribution network and the company has already have it. The company has executed a good necessary marketing strategy, and it is very necessary in order to maintain the brand value and sales of the products. The marketing companies like Assignment Group, MBM, Twin Agencies, etc help the Whittaker’s to advertise and keep the company ahead of the competitors. This strategy includes the showcasing of the fact that the Whittaker’s includes the best in class of the chocolate raw materials which are not provided by the competitors in the market (Torres, Mayo & Jiménez, 2018). The company’s product also contains more amount of cocoa powder, measured in percentage than that of the top chocolate selling brands in the country. Thus helping to say ahead in the competition. The 2017 the Whittaker’s has been also awarded the best marketing strategy award by bar one.
The company’s massive marketing strategies and good distribution network help the Whittaker’s to compete with the global giants ( cadbury and nestle ). The company stands out well in the strategic competition with the competitors. The Whittaker’s have quality products to stand out in the front of the global giants (Hatch & Howland 2015). The company potary their usage of raw materials (quality ones, hard to find and brings from the remote places on earth) and claims the better products than that of the competitors. The company also offer value for money for their products in the market, in that cases the company already being ahead from the competitors. It showcase in their contents used in the back of their products and also in front of their wrappers in bold, the amount of cocoa content used in making of the chocolate (cocoa being the main main ingredients for chocolate), also the types of sugar content in the chocolate bar used are very good for health as compared with that of the competitor. These strategy of the Whittaker’s chocolate company helps them to stay ahead of the competitors. The Whittaker’s have been awarded by the New Zealand’s most trusted brand from past seven years in a row. The company have potential to sustain there positive outcome as seen from results and in the upcoming years the company is more likely to hold its progress report (Baker & Sinkula 2015).
Whittaker’s is the top-selling dark chocolate company in New Zealand and has been certified with the Fairtrade. Whittaker’s is the exclusive chocolate sponsor for Oxfam’s ‘Biggest Chocolate Break’ and ‘Biggest Coffee Break’. 72 percent Dark Ghana and 5 Roll Refined Creamy Milk are the two top-selling 250 mg block of Whittaker’s Chocolate company. The main performance objective of this chocolate company is to provide the best quality of Dark Chocolate to their sponsors and customers and remain the topmost dark chocolate brand of New Zealand. This company used vegan method to prepare the chocolates i.e. no solid milk which adds one of the best features to their chocolates (Lin, Wang & Ellingwood 2016). They forward their quality of chocolate by using cocoa butter and cocoa milk. Whittaker’s company give the first preference to their customers or public relation as a public relation is also one of the important factor for the company performance. They also focus on the customer’s loyalty. This customer loyalty is preferred by the company in consumer promotion which ensures that customers will have a long-term relationship with the company. Whittaker’s use packaging, loyalty schemes, refunds and exhibitions to attract their customers attentions. Whittaker’s main objective is to attract customers to purchase chocolates made by their company instead of other brands.
The main strategy that the company uses to distributes or sell their products to the selected or limited areas or people. This method of distribution is opposite to an open distribution system but works well and in favor of Whittaker’s chocolate company. This method of distribution has its own charm and beauty because this method of distribution decreases the competition of area and increases the margin of profit. Other global companies like Cadbury or Nestle use the open distribution system and they will not able to survive in business territories of Whittaker’s as Whittaker’s are surviving in this territories from a century long. A foreign brand cannot able to afford such high-cost rate of production because of international taxes. And if they try to launch their product by slightly cost cutting in their quality then the new customers will bring more interest to their previous brand of chocolate. And is whole this will make Whittaker’s chocolate company more successful (Katzenbach & Smith 2015). The strategies that the company should use to increase their sales and profit are to promote their line of products very well and in an efficient manner to the customers. They can design and arrange promotional campaigns in other countries in their regional language, they can also use facebook, twitter or any social media website to promote their products and customer will able to see their new flavour or existing product. The other strategy that a company can be used to distribute their products are direct, indirect or channel distribution method. A company should start giving their franchisees and or open their own branch outlets to different areas at the continental level. Some important factor that company should keep in mind are quality of the product, pricing of the product and product placement as well (Fitzpatrick, 2016).
Value: As the company is known to be operating from 120 years. It has become very evident that company has increased its value in the market. The manufacturing unit of the company is also very large the resources are high which makes the value of the company high. The goodwill and brand image of the company is also high in the market which increases the value of the firm.
Rarity: It is not that chocolates are rare in the market but the quality of chocolate and premium taste of chocolates manufactured by the company. Hence it can be said that manufacture of the company can only provided by Whittaker’s.
Inimitability: As the quality of the chocolates are different and are of premium quality it can be said that products cannot be imitable by another company. Although there can be another which provide better chocolates which enhanced in taste and quality.
Organization: The organizational size of Whitakers is large and is one of biggest confectionary in the country and has huge brand presence in the market which gives it an advantage over others in the market.
Suppliers are a very important element within an organisation which is manufacturing a product. Manufacturing without proper supplies cannot be possible because it is important that there are sufficient raw materials which can be processed under the production of the company and the same goes with the subjected firm (Jacobs, Chase & Lummus 2014). It is Important to consider that for having sufficient supplies there is a need of multiple suppliers which will resource the supplies of the company and help the company in its manufacturing process. It is to be noted that Whittakers are a prominent company within the New Zealand confectionery industry. As it has been operating in the country for a many decades it is very essential and easy to say that the company has efficient and evident number of suppliers which help the company in operating and manufacturing chocolates efficiently. It is also to be mentioned that in order to have sufficient supplies for manufacturing purpose there is a need of creating an effective and formidable supply chain management. Seeing the structure of the subjected company it has become very clear that Whittaker is efficient in supply chain management enabling the company to get raw materials and office supplies at an efficient and affordable rate complying with delivery time at the time when the raw materials are really needed by the company (Christopher, 2016). The reorder quantity of the company depends on a certain margin which the company keeps. Through the company’s website it has become very evident that the company is certified from Fairtrade Corporation. As a company it is known for producing quality chocolates and it is evident that the raw materials used in production of chocolate will also be of premium quality. It is to be noted that the company trades with suppliers which are known for providing premium raw materials for chocolate production and are certified from Fairtrade Corporation. The sugar, the chocolates and the coffee which are major components and raw materials for the production of chocolates in the company are traded from suppliers of Ghana, Fiji and Australia. This shows that the company has efficient number of suppliers which supply premium quality of products enhancing the quality of production which is undertaken through the supplies supplied by the suppliers of the company.
The company also follows simple supply chain management it is to be mentioned that there is efficient communication between manufacturing houses to the warehouses to the suppliers which is managed by the supply chain management of the company. In this way the company is able to manage their raw material suppliers and also their communication with suppliers within the overall process of supplying raw materials in the company. This helps a company in proper manufacturing of product efficiently used by the company in their manufacturing process. This shows that the manufacturing process of the company is usually supported by its supply chain management of the company and helps in developing an efficient standard of production which increases the quality of chocolate which is produced by the firm ( Hugos, 2018).
Conclusion
Concluding in the light of above context it can be said that the company has been successful in operating for 120 years now. As the operational dimensions and marketing environment around the country as well as in the international market are changing it is important to consider that the strategies of the company should change in a specific manner. This will help in adapting to changes in the current environment which is there in the international market. As for now it seems that the company is growing and is expanding in diverse regions as well as in international markets. This would benefit both the financial as well as operational size of the company we making it stronger in every aspect and process.
References
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Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Fitzpatrick, T. (2016). Playwright, Space and Place in Early Modern Performance: Shakespeare and Company. Routledge.
Foss, N. J., & Saebi, T. (2017). Fifteen years of research on business model innovation: How far have we come, and where should we go?. Journal of Management, 43(1), 200-227.
Hatch, N. W., & Howland, C. (2015). When Does Competitive Advantage Improve Customer Welfare?. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2015, No. 1, p. 18091). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
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