The Organic Foods Segment Of The Retail Grocery Industry

Every system is made up of millions of loops and the challenge is often determining which loops influence system behavior (Morecroft, 2007). The organic foods segment of the retail grocery industry conforms to this idea in a significant way. The factors that influence production, sales, and profitability in this segment are closely interlinked. Consequently, changes in just one of the critical factors can trigger changes in other factors, affecting the systems overall performance. This paper will identify and analyze one balancing loop, and one reinforcing loop for Whole Foods Market (WFM) systems that are critical to the company’s performance and success. Additionally, WFM’s organizational learning systems will be identified, and a recommendation for improving performance will be made. Reinforcing Loop A reinforcing loop, sometimes referred to as positive feedback loop, occurs when a change is duplicated, or reinvested, to promote that change in the future (Morecroft, 2007). An identified reinforcing loop for WFM is one that continually repeats itself and gains momentum, which ultimately translates into profits. This system can be described in five categories: production standards, quality assurance and marketing, consumer base growth and retention, increased sales revenue. Just like any other business, WFM’s core mission is to maintain profitability in order to continue business for stakeholders. The position of each of these critical factors in WFM reinforcingShow MoreRelatedThe Alignment Of Whole Foods Market1412 Words   |  6 PagesAn inputs analysis of the alignment of Whole Foods Market (WFM) with its overall strategy is crucial in evaluating the overall effectiveness of the company. In general, the inputs of any organization can be categorized into three broad categories. These categories are: environmental inputs, historical inputs, and resource inputs (Nadler Tushman, 1980). This paper will present a comprehensive analysis of WFM’s strategy in order to determine the alignment of the company’s inputs with strategy basedRead MoreCase Study : Porters 5 Forces1740 Words   |  7 PagesForces When examining the retail grocery industry, there are clear indicators that Kroger’s has a mature market segment. The retail grocery industry has a moderate threat of new entrants. This is because there are very few barriers to enter. However, the investment and market share needed to have a successful startup is difficult to obtain. New companies face high startup costs, government regulation policies, and distribution in regards to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Kroger’sRead MoreStrategic Management-Whole Food Market Essay1505 Words   |  7 PagesStrategic Management-Whole Food Market Whole Foods Market competes in the industry of grocery products. As it come to light from the study his industry is highly competitive. This market’s traites are the low prices and convenience are the dominant factors driving consumers to the supermarkets today. The emergence of the supermarkets in the 1930s was result of a three major changes in society: 1.,The shift in population from rural to urban areas.; 2., An increase in disponsable income.; 3., IncreaseRead MoreAn Analysis of the Business Strategy of Whole Foods874 Words   |  4 PagesWhole Foods utilizes a differentiated strategy, focused on organic and natural foods. This distinguishes them from mainstream grocery competitors, and puts them into competition with other specialized grocery outlets (Urani, 2008). This differentiation, combined with more traditional grocery industry size and operations, gives the company an advantage over most of its competitors. The grocery industry is highly fragmented, with a multitude of strong regional players (Safeway, Publix, KroegerRead MoreSwot Analysis Of Tesco s Multi Channel Approach Essay1698 Words   |  7 Pageswas the first retailer to create grocery home shopping in 1997. Its in-store picking model is accompany by a small number of specialized dotcom-only stores that allow Tesco to respond to high customer demand. Click Collect service of Tesco is a key part of its multi-channel offering and enables customers to pick up their shopping according to their suitability. The company has over 1,750 Click Collect collection points for general merchandise and over 260 grocery drive-thrus in the UK(marketlineRead MoreThe Grocery Market And Natural Food Retail Chain Essay1518 Words   |  7 PagesConclusion The grocery market and natural-food retail chain that is being represented can be explained though the Porter’s 5 Forces Model because it has categories that are important when describing any industry. Porter’s 5 Forces include supplier power, buyer power, established rivals, new entrants, and substitutes and these can all be used to describe how profitable a firm will be in the industry. Supplier power in this market is high because of the uniqueness of goods. Buyer power in the marketRead MoreAnalysis of Kudlers Marketing Strategy and Position1021 Words   |  4 PagesKudler Fine Foods An Analysis of Kudlers Marketing Strategy and Position Introduction Kudler Fine Foods is a remarkable small business that has a solid business model. In just a few years time, the company has been able to expand their operations to new retail locations as well as expanding the model to offer catering services as well. Despite the initial success Kudler has achieved, the expansion of the business will dictate that the company reevaluates their market position. There are manyRead MoreSegmentation and Target1262 Words   |  6 PagesOctober 28, 2013 Segmentation and Target Market Trader Joe’s is an organic grocery food store that is one of the best known organic food chains. By listening to the consumer and adjusting to the changing consumer market, Trader Joe’s had built a brand equity that is continuously growing. Trader Joe’s faces stiff competition from other large organic food chains therefore must stand out and adapt to the consumers’ needs. Marketing strategies are important toRead MoreWhole Foods Market Inc.905 Words   |  4 PagesOverview: Whole Foods Market is a retailer company that has one operating segment of natural and organic foods supermarkets. It seeks out the finest natural and organic foods available to maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry, as well as obtain an immovable commitment to unending agriculture. Whole Foods Market has been operating 362 stores within the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom since 2013. Whole Foods Market offers a wide collection of natural and organic productsRead MoreThe Value Of A Healthy Diet Essay1540 Words   |  7 Pagesdistinctive segment we have identified is composed of the people considered price a determinant factor in making their vegetables and fruits purchasing decisions. From the data gathered from our interviews, we realized that most of our participants are considering price an important factor in purchasing our produce. From external data, we determined that 80% of the consumers are price-conscious in their purchasing across all industry. Therefore, we determined that our price conscious segment is 80% potential

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz Free Essays

John McPherson, which resulted in his wife getting out of bed and unfortunately causing her death. The next day at school, Mr. John McPherson shows up under the influence of alcohol, completely drunk and starts to insult the Jews and making extremely racist comments. We will write a custom essay sample on The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is Just a small example of Anti-Semitism during Duddys childhood. Another idea I found important in the text was selfishness as well as ambition and greed. Even though Duddy was making more money than a 17 year old should, he always wanted more. Nothing was more important to him than making money. When he heard that the last piece of land in Lac St. Pierre was up for sale, he took all the money he had, but still came up short. Duddy decides to forge a cheque from Virgil’s chequebook. Virgil was a man who Duddy met in New York and helped him make money illegally by smuggling pinball machines. After Virgil and Yvette found out about what Duddy had done to them, they never spoke to him again. Discuss the author’s style. Describe 2 iterary elements the author uses successfully and give a clear example of each. The author used a few techniques to deepen our understanding of the story. One of the techniques was using a teenager as the main character of the novel. I think this showed us the ambition of the young man because all teenagers want to make money and dream about becoming rich one day, but it’s not all 17 year olds that want it as bad as Duddy Kravitz. Another technique used by the author was making the main character a Jew. As we all know, Jews have a reputation for wanting money so ad and I think that the fact that Duddy is Jewish makes the whole story about a young man chasing money more meaningful. Did you enjoy the book? Why or why not? I enjoyed this novel a lot and recommend it to everyone living in Montreal and who likes a story that may have many things in common with their own personal lives. I think it is an important part of Montreal history in our generation. I also think it’s good for Jewish people to read this novel because we also see how racism has stronger racism against Jews was in the 1940s How to cite The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Papers

Implementing a Strategic Human Resource Plan

Question: Describe about steps involved in implementing a Strategic Human resource plan, Developing HR strategies to support the strategies of the organization and Methods to review and monitor the implementation of HR strategic plans? Answer: Steps involved in implementing a Strategic Human resource plan: Important steps involved in the implementation of strategic human resource plan are Determining the present Human Resource capacity. Forecasting the requirement of human resources. GAP analysis Developing human resource strategies that would sustain the organizational policies and strategies. Evaluating the present human resource capacity: In the first step of strategic HR the present skills, knowledge and abilities of the staff is analysed. Forecasting the HR requirements: The next step is to forecast the need of human resource in the organization. This is the assessment of the number of employees needed at particular point of time. It also determines the present external challenges that the company is facing right now. For e.g. the impact of economy, technological and cultural swings, Changes in the labour market, changes expected in the near future. Gap analysis: A gap analysis is done to determine the gap between the present status of the company and the anticipated status of the company. Developing HR strategies to support the strategies of the organization: Recruitment strategies Restructuring strategies Outsourcing strategies Collaboration strategies Communication with employees for enhancing the strategic plans of the company: Communicating the strategic plans to the employees is very necessary. In the absence of proper communication, a very efficient Human resource plan will also fail to work (Armstrong and Armstrong, 2011). The employees will need to understand the objectives of the Strategic plans for their appropriate functioning. The employees can be communicated by the following ways: 1. Objectives: Employees need to learn the objectives of the strategic plans in order to deliver the best output. The objectives must be very clearly stated by the management and understood by the employees.2. Procedure: The procedures are the method by which the employees can attain the goals and make a successful strategic planning. The employees will have to made to understand the proper way to perform in order to attain this goals. If certain changes are made the organization should try to train the employees in certain fields if required (Dessler, 2013).3. Results: The employees will need to know the results of such strategic plans. If there lies any confusion regarding the success of the strategies implemented, then all the confusion will be vanished. Communication happens to be a very important part of an organization. Without proper communication and coordination, nothing is possible in an organization (Dowling, Festing and Engle, 2013). Human resources plan to be adopted to accommodate in changed circumstances: Environment has a great impact in business. A business environment is ever changing and needs to be handled carefully. Various types of environmental changes that can take place in a business environment. These are globalization, technological change, work force diversity, Legislation, rapid changes, evolving family roles. These changes affect the functions of a business greatly. The human resource management team has to implement its strategic human resource plans to make the organization sustain in the market. The two types of strategies that would probably help an organization during changes in the business environment are Recruiting strategies and collaboration strategy (Ivancevich and Konopaske, 2013). Recruitment Strategies: This process includes identifying the recruitment needs of an organization and fulfilling those needs. The organization policies will work better when the organization has right number of people at the right place and at the right time. Collaboration strategies in human resource management: In collaboration strategies, the strategic human resource planning looks beyond the organization and makes alliances with organization and deal with certain shortcomings of certain skills. This includes working together with other organizations to avail courses offered by them. Collaboration with other organizations, to train the employees and bring great insights and skills to the organization (Mello, 2011). Methods to review and monitor the implementation of HR strategic plans: Constantly monitoring the Human resource strategic planning is very essential. If it is not done properly and carried out continuously, then the organization may suffer a lot monetarily and a lot of time will be lost. The human resource strategic plans can be done by using reports against its annual operational plans to review the progress and meet the expected objectives of the company. Monitoring and reviewing the human resource strategic plans indicates the performance of the company and is very useful to the company. The processes by which the organization can review the strategic plans are as follows: 1. By ensuring that the activities are conducted within the norms of the strategic objectives of the organization.2. By ensuring that the activities are consistently complying with the organizational objectives, aims and plans, visions, mission.3. The review must be kept under internal, external changes and may also require to slightly change the organization`s goals to attain the strategic objectives of the plans.4. Checking the budget of the total strategic plan after some point of time will also help to understand the monetary expenses in carrying out the plans (Mello and Mello, n.d.) Types of environmental trends that impacts human resource management: Environmental trends have a great impact on the employees and their management. These types of regulations affect all the process of human resource department like recruitment, training, compensation etc. The four types of environmental trends that may affect the HRM in an organization are: 1. Government regulations: The HRM is always under a constant pressure to comply with the laws of the land and carryout all its process within the law and protecting the needs of human resources at any cost (Mondy and Mondy, 2012).2. Technological advancements: Technological advancement is a matter of daily affair. Every now and then there are technological up gradation and the HRM has the responsibility to train the employees at all point of time.3. Workforce Demographics: Workforce demographics refer to the levels of employee in an organization. Workforce impacts the functions of the organization as the various levels have their own demands. These demands have to be fulfilled by the HRM.4. Economic Conditions: The shape and the status of the current economic condition of a country is a huge factor affecting the HRM. Even if the company is well in the market its potential would slow down if the economic conditions are not good. Information needed to predict the future labour needs of an organization: Human resource is the main component of a strategic HR planning process and the future goals of an organization. The human resource management team will have to keep on estimating the present and future human resource needs of an organisation. The human resource management will have to conduct a gap analysis to understand the gap between the present and the anticipated human resource needs. The information of the various skills needed and the type of employees needed in an organization should be known. The information of the transition of the employees within the organization has to be checked all the time. The day-to-day functions of the organization may not leave much time for the planning and anticipation but this an important function to have all the information before predicting the future human needs of the organization. The annual planning for the forthcoming year is a quint essential part of strategic human resource planning. The importance of maintain a proper budget has to be kept in mind. Sourcing of Labour Supply: There are various sources of labour supply; the organization just needs to look around to find them out. These supply of labour can be divided into external and internal sources. External sources are those sources that are from outside the organization and internal sources are those sources which are found inside the organisation. Internal sources of labours: Through internal sources, the companies can get employees through promotions, transfers, confirming the temporary employees etc. This are very reliable sources and the HR executives do not have to do much hard work to find them. This sources are reliable because the employees are from within the organization. External sources: It is not always mandatory and necessary for the organizations to get employees within the organization. A long search is needed to find out the best human resource in the market. External sources include the recruitment of labours from outside like from educational institutes, training institutes, placements portals, human resource consultancies, private agencies, employment exchanges, unsolicited application, advertising, intermediaries etc. In external sources, the company incurs expenses and a lot of time is lost to find the employees, if the search is conducted by the organization itself. Legislation that an HR manager should be familiar with are: The role of an HR manager is very tough; he has to look after the whole human resource around which revolves all the laws of a nation. Various laws are there which an HR manager should be aware of in order to carry out the process of human resource management calmly. Few of them are as follows: 1. Minimum wages: In every country, there is a law of minimum and fair wages that protects the interest of the employees working in an organization. It ensures that all the employees are getting the right amount of remuneration as per mandated by the law. The organization have to follow this and provide the employees the wages that are required to carry out their lives peacefully and maintain a good quality of life. The law mandates this; hence, on deprivation on any law the employee can go to the court and file a lawsuit against the organization.2. Workplace safety: The maintenance of safety of the workplace is the foremost preference of the law. Protecting the employees from any sort of accident and occupational hazard is the duty of an HR manager and mandated by the law (York, 2009).9. The evolving role of a HR practitioner has tended to place more emphasis on strategic activities and less on operational service industry. In light of this shift, complete the following sentences th at describe the shift towards more strategic focused HR function.a) Strategic HR is characterized by being goal oriented. They are driven by the mission and the vision of the company, the success of the company as well as to meet the needs of the needs of the employees rather than input focusedb) Strategic HR is focused on the alignment of HR systems and performance criteria with business activities and performance and strategies.c) Production HR performance indicators and key result areas are shifting from the old concept of making production in the company with the utilization of resources and the output to be generated within the specific period of time and productivity being measured in terms of the labour hours worked, to the newer concept of competence, where the employees are sought to be competent thus making the company more competing in the market scenario and it leads to the productivity of the organization10. Fill in the blanks to complete the names of 4 strategic object ives for human resource services.a) Human resources information systemsb) Recruitment and selectionc) Staff retention and succession planningd) Job analysis and design 11. If an organization decided that in order to be effective it must develop high performing self managed teams. Name 2 human resource strategies that could be adopted to support this decision It must be noted that an effective high performing team is very necessary for the growth and the development of the organization. It is very necessary that the HR managers that they retain the talented employees of the organization and to motivate them so that high performing teams can be made and managed (Inc.com, 2015). The staff retention and the succession planning is for the development of the employees and for supporting the employees in developing the careers. The succession planning also helps the organization to retain the valuable and the talented employees and ultimately in the formation of a well performed team (Job Analysis Methods, 2015). If the teams in the organization are satisfied with the way the HR treats them, looks after their benefits, then the teams will automatically perform well in the organization and they will respond to the changes in the organization (Basic Philosophy of Human Resources, and Hiring and Employment Situation, 2015). Moreover the job analysis includes the process of reporting and determining the important information of the organization which are related to the nature of the job that the employees and the teams will perform. The process by which the works are structured in the organization, and are given to the employees and the work groups and teams, are important to the achievement of the organization. The HR manager must specify the various needs of the job that the team members must perform in order to manage the teams and to extract the best performance from the teams. Describe the benefits and disadvantages of using one of the following options for the provision of human resource services. b) Outsourcing the work to an external service provider Outsourcing is the process by which the certain business processes of the company are allocated to a specialist who is a service provider external to the company. Most of the time, the organization is not able to handle the various aspects of the business processes, which are internal to the company. When the task is outsourced to an external service provider, then that party has the responsibility to carry out the task as well as maintain the assets of the organizations. There are various advantages and disadvantages with the process of outsourcing that the company must keep in mind. The advantages are: Expertise and swiftness- the tasks are given to those people who are specialized in their fields. It is outsourced to those people or the third party since they have the capability and specialized techniques to perform the jobs. They are more efficient than the outsourcing organization and can complete the task faster than them. Risk sharing- the outsourcing of specific tasks to another company external to the company shifts the risk of the company. Since the company to which the job is outsourced are more specialized than the outsourcing company, the risk involving the time and the quality of the result shifts to them. If the recruitment of the company is outsourced to an external company then the all the works are borne by the company along with the risks (Outsourcing, 2015). Reduced recruitment and operational cost- the outsourcing of the specific jobs to a third party includes the reduced cost otherwise needed for the recruitment of specialized people needed for the job. Moreover the cost needed to perform the job and the time needed will not bother the company as it has been done by the outsourced company. The disadvantages are- Risk that the confidential data will be leaked- when the organization outsources the payroll, recruitment and the HRB services to another company the associates itself with the risk of exposing the data which are confidential to the company. Hidden costs- the outsourcing of the business processes are cost effective, though it must be kept in mind that there are sometimes hidden costs which are associated with the contract which the outsourcing company are sometime unaware of (Flatworldsolutions.com, 2015). Lack of focus for the customers- the company to which the jobs are outsourced, may simultaneously handle the tasks of several clients. Thus it may so happen that the company is not able to pay full attention to the task of a particular company. This may result in the detoriation of the work quality of the company which has outsourced. 13. Describe 2 strategies that could be used to agree on the human resource philosophies, values and policies with relevant managers. The human resource philosophies enable the managers to engage the employees of the organization energetically in rewarding work culture (Human Resources Philosophy, 2015). The employee needs to give their best to the organization and a diversified work culture must prevail in the organization. The company as well as the managers of the organization must hire the individuals on the basis of the performance of the employees and not on their age, gender, disability, nationality, or other factors of discrimination. It must be kept in the mind that the right kind of person must be hired for the company for the right kind of job, so that the most possible outcomes can be extracted from the employees. The HR managers must compensate the employees rightly so that the employees give their best to the work (Basic Philosophy of Human Resources, and Hiring and Employment Situation, 2015). The compensation and the benefits need to be according to the work performed by the employee in order to motivate the employees. The performance of the employees is greatly enhanced if the employees are appraised and they are given compensation by the employees. List 4 groups of stakeholders The 4 groups of stakeholders are: The users- the users are the people who will ultimately use the products and the services of the company. For example in case of a manufacturing company the users will be the business who will purchase the products from the company (Gormley, 2015). Governance- they are the people who have a particular interest in the processes of the business. The management board is an example of the governance. The board of directors has a keen interest on the processes by which the business is carried out in the organization. Moreover the health and safety executives, regulators, auditors, are also included in the governance stakeholders. Influencer-The influencers are those people who have the capability of changing the direction of the business. It includes the various media, the trade unions in case of big industries. They help the way the work is being carried out in the organization Providers- the suppliers and vendors of the company are called the providers. Providers can be a broader term than that, they may include the temporary contractors, business partners, catering staff, and others who provide useful resources to the company to enhance a programme or project. How could the technology be used to support the human resource plan? HRM and Technology have a wide range of influences on each other, and the HR managers should be capable to take on the technologies which will allow the re-engineering of the HR task. It enables them to be ready to bear work-design and organizational changes which are caused by changes in the technology, and be able to sustain a correct managerial atmosphere for knowledge-based and innovative organizations. The technological advancements are being driven mainly by large demands from human resource managers for the improvement in effectiveness, speed, and cost control (Marshall and Alexander, 2015). When the benefits of the operational activities are considered like the processing of the payroll, the cycle time is reduced from four days to four hours. Thus, time-effective, accurate, information needs to be delivered by the managers so as there is improvement in the quality and speed of decision making and supports the cost control. Furthermore, in keeping with changing requirement patterns, most ERP vendors have introduced second generation Web-based HRISs that are easier to incorporate with the other applications. Give 3 examples of risk that may need to be managed in relation to a strategic human resource plan Hiring- hiring of the unsuitable and inappropriate candidates (Hrcouncil.ca, 2015) Occupational Health and Safety- the injury of the employees as well as the death of the employees. Employee supervision- ill treatment of the employee with the management and the colleagues. References Armstrong, M. and Armstrong, M. (2011).Armstrong's handbook of strategic human resource management. London: Kogan Page. Basic Philosophy of Human Resources, and Hiring and Employment Situation. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.suntory.com/csr/report/pdf/2012/04_01.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Budhwar, P., Schuler, R. and Sparrow, P. (2009).International human resource management. London: SAGE. Budhwar, P., Schuler, R. and Sparrow, P. (2009).International human resource management. London: SAGE. Dessler, G. (n.d.).Human resource management. Flatworldsolutions.com, (2015).The advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing, pros and cons of outsourcing | Flatworld Solutions. [online] Available at: https://www.flatworldsolutions.com/articles/advantages-disadvantages-outsourcing.php [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Gilley, A. (2009).The Praeger handbook of human resource management. Westport, Conn.: Praeger. Gilmore, S. and Williams, S. (2009).Human resource management. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Gormley, W. (2015).Guidelines for Forming and Sustaining Human Resources for Health Stakeholder Leadership Groups. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.capacityplus.org/files/resources/Guidelines_HRH_SLG.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Hrcouncil.ca, (2015).Risk Management in HR | HR Planning | HR Toolkit | hrcouncil.ca. [online] Available at: https://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/planning-risk-assessment.cfm [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Human Resource Strategy. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.shrm.org/india/hr-topics-and-strategy/strategic-hrm/Documents/HR%20Strategy%20EPG-%20Final%20Online.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Human Resources Philosophy. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://inside.mines.edu/UserFiles/File/hr/HR%20Philosophy.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Inc.com, (2015).Building and Leading High Performance Teams. [online] Available at: https://www.inc.com/resources/leadership/articles/20070101/musselwhite.html [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Job Analysis Methods. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://tsnghia.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/byars-10e-ch04.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Marshall, M. and Alexander, C. (2015).Planning for the Unexpected: Human Resource Risk and Contingency Planning. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/EC/EC-736-W.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Martin, J. (2009).Human resource management. Los Angeles: SAGE. Mello, J. (2011).Strategic human resource management. Mason, Ohio: Thomson/South-Western. Outsourcing. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.cips.org/documents/PG_Outsourcing.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Stakeholders Key Concepts. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.icra-edu.org/objects/anglolearn/Stakeholders-Key_Concepts.pdf [Accessed 11 Mar. 2015]. Subba Rao, P. (2009).Human resource management. Mumbai [India]: Himalaya Pub. House. Truss, C., Mankin, D. and Kelliher, C. (2012).Strategic human resource management. Oxford: Oxford University Press.