McCain Foods Limited was established in 1957 in Florenceville, New Brunswick, Canada. The McCain brothers identified the need for frozen food in Canada and they decided to come up with a company that would satisfy this need. Andrew McCain discovered that there was a vast market for potatoes across the globe. Therefore, he established McCain Produce Company with an aim of exporting seed potatoes. Later, his sons came up with an idea to establish a business that dealt with frozen foods. The company started by hiring thirty employees, and during the first year, it made sales worth $152,678. Today, McCain Food Limited is one of the multinational companies that deal with frozen foods. The company’s operation is so massive that it processes one million pounds of potato products each hour and sells one-third of the world’s frozen french fries products in over 110 countries. Moreover, the company offers jobs to thousands Continue reading
Business Analysis Case
Case Study: The Daimler Chrysler Failed Merger
In 1999, the Daimler Benz corporation of Germany merged with the Chrysler Corporation. In merging, the two companies aimed to create a company with a global presence and to bring the strengths that each company had to the global automobiles market. At first sight, the companies appeared to be equal partners in the merger. The companies at the time of the merger were almost equal in size. In addition, the companies appeared ideal for a merger because each had specific strengths which could be complemented by the other. Chrysler, founded and having its main operations in the US, was a company that emphasized innovation and flexibility while its counterpart, Daimler Benz, was a company characterized by structured, hierarchical management and German engineering excellence. These apparent equal partners were thus ideal for a mutually beneficial merger. In addition, the two companies were among the market leaders in their areas of specialization, and their Continue reading
Case Study: The Strategic Alliance of Fiat And Chrysler
Corporations, firms, and companies implement stringent measures to improve operations during periods of severe financial constraints. Many livelihoods depend on their stability and it would be unethical to fail to take action. In addition, it is necessary to protect the investments and interests of stakeholders who would be affected if the businesses collapsed. Therefore, it is crucial for organizations and companies to take necessary steps to safeguard interests of stakeholders. The 2009 strategic alliance between Chrysler and Fiat was a bold move towards saving Chrysler, a company that had operated for many years. The merger was a major setback for Chrysler to a certain degree. Chrysler lost a lot of money when it allowed Daimler to relinquish its portion of the company to Cerberus because the offer price was less than a quarter of the initial capital. However, the merger saved Chrysler because it was in a financial crisis that Continue reading
Case Study: McDonald’s Entry into the Chinese Market
The history of the McDonald’s Corporation dates back to 1954 when a man by the name of Ray Kroc heard about Mac and Dick McDonald, two brothers who were running a burger and shakes joint in San Bernardino, California. Kroc paid the two brothers a visit and this visit culminated in a franchising agreement to use the McDonald’s name limitlessly. Seven years later and with more than one hundred and thirty McDonald’s restaurants across the United States, Ray Kroc bought the chain from the McDonald’s brothers for 2.7 million dollars. The growth of McDonald’s Corporation continued in the United States and soon Kroc set his eyes on markets away from home. Today, the McDonald’s Corporation is the leading fast-food chain globally, and owns the restaurants in different continents: South America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, and even Africa. McDonald’s Entry into the Chinese Market Due to the diverse cultural beliefs and practices Continue reading
Case Study: Fiat Automobiles Survival From Turbulent Times
Fiat is a manufacturer and a seller of the common Fiat brand vehicles based in Italy and with many sales branches around the world. It has been successful for many years in the production of its vehicles and has made a lot of returns from that. However, the company has faced a lot of challenges, especially the effects of the global financial crisis, factors that have caused it to undergo a recession and a great fall in its business resulting to very low returns. On the other hand, the company has undergone a lot of pressure from its competitors in Italy and also other car manufacturers from prominent countries like Germany and Japan and this has resulted to a lowered competitive advantage. All these factors have contributed to what has been referred in the vehicle business world as the fall of Fiat. In addition, the company suffered a lot of Continue reading
Case Study of FIAT: Deployment of Robotics in Manufacturing
Fiat was among the first companies to adopt a Post-Fordist system in production after its recovery from the 1970 oil crisis. The large-scale deployment of robotics in the production process of Fiat Company was the most significant move to cope with increased competition and demand. In 1972, the company initiated the adoption of FMS so that it could shift to flexible production methods from the Fordistic inflexible mass production systems. The move was considered as the first step towards discontinuity in management and organization involving the shift in planned goals and replacements of procedures supporting operations supervision. The Robogate technology was developed in-house by Fiat Company and used to create flexibility with enhanced product-mix flexibility. Product-mix flexibility is the conferred ability of an organization to produce different products sequentially using the same lines of production. As indicated, the shift from Fordist mass production systems enables a company to reduce tool specificity Continue reading