The Campbell Soup Company
The Campbell Soup Company was founded by Abram Anderson and Joseph Campbell in 1869 as a canning and preserving business (Dess et al., C235). Campbell has its headquarter in Camden, New Jersey and competitively operates in five segments that include U.S. Simple Meals, Global Baking and Snacking, International Simple Meals and Beverages, North America Foodservice and U.S. Beverages.
The company has expanded its operations in over 100 countries that include Canada, Mexico, Australia, Belgium and many others. Campbell acquired Pace Foods Ltd in 1994 as a strategy of diversifying Campbell and extending the Pace brand to other products (Dess et al., C237). Campbell became overwhelmed about the soup consumption in China and Russia. As a result, Campbell sent a marketing team to study the Russian and Chinese market so that they could tailor the products to meet the taste of the markets.
Consequently, Campbell developed a production line called Domashnaya Klassika for the Russian market that had soups that contain mushrooms, beef or chicken (Dess et al., C236). However, the soups never turn up to the expectations of the management forcing them to pull out of the Russian market and concentrate in the U.S. and Chinese market. In response to the increasing competition in the food industry, Campbell developed certain key strategies that would enable sustainable operations.
Among the strategies include growing its icon brands within simple meals, baked snacks and healthy beverages. Campbell also made a commitment to deliver higher levels of consumer satisfaction through superior innovation that focuses wellness by providing quality and convenience (Dess et al., C241). However, Campbell still faced a great setback from some highly branded food companies such as Nestle, Kraft Foods, Heinz and General Mills (Dess et al., C240). For example, General Mills had been the brand leader in flour, baking mixes, fruit snacks and grain snacks. Despite its success, General Mills had been working on efficient techniques of brand positioning in the market.
As a result, Campbell experienced low operating earnings from the stiff competition in the industry. Additionally, there were increased costs in the beverages business that diminished margins. Moreover, the bakery unit plus the Pepperidge Farm experienced industry consolidation and heavy price discounting leading to financial distress (Dess et al., C242).In response to these, Campbell should facilitate their new NFL-themed Chunky soup campaign in order to grab a significant attention of the consumers (Dess et al., C243). Additionally, the company should reinvest in their product offerings especially in the soup division by introducing new flavors that would satisfy desired consumer taste without interfering with the budget of the consumers.
Work Cited
Dess, Gregory et al. Strategic Management: Text And Cases. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2015. …
