Cooper Industries’ Corporate Strategy

8. How well is Costco performing from a strategic perspective? Does Costco enjoy a competitive advantage over Sam’s Club? Over BJ’s Wholesale? If so, what is the nature of its competitive advantage? Does Costco have a winning strategy? Why or why not?

A merger offer would raise the stock prices of Massey-Ferguson, if the deal is perceived as synergic for the company in the long run, and would infuse financial resources and flexibility into the company in the short term. In the light of Massey-Ferguson’s negative performance, however, a merger offer from any company seems highly unlikely due to

The company is the corporation’s question mark performer and has the potential of becoming a star performer given the limited competition in the market. The company has the advantage of the parent corporation’s 25-year-old positive reputation as a local family owned business known for the quality of their products.

     As Burton is a privately owned company, it is not as competitive as other companies are, when compared to public corporations that have financial support from shareholders. Burton reinvests in its company with only its profits, yet with shareholders backing, investment could be higher. Burton expanded by its family by creating four parent companies within two years of each other. The short time committed to, and before starting, each new addition may not have allowed for enough attention to each. (www.hoovers.com, 2004)

10. What recommendations would you make to Jim Sinegal regarding the actions that Costco management needs to take to sustain the company’s growth and improve its financial performance?

1. Identify the key factors responsible for the success of Gordon Biersch to date. What concerns, if any, do you have as the company looks ahead?

Discuss the strategic decisions that firms in this sector may be facing. What future strategies can firms pursue to try to secure their competitive advantage and long term survival?

1. What is J. M. Smucker Company’s corporate strategy? What common strategy elements are shared across its brands? Did it make sense for Smucker to expand its business lineup beyond jams, jellies, and preserves? Why or why not?

1. From a strategic management standpoint, why do you think that corporate management at Alcoa delayed taking action for five years as the plant continued to lose money and deteriorate in other operational measures?

20 5. Corporate-level strategy 25 6. How is the effectiveness of the company’s strategies? (ROIC) 26 7. What strategic problems does the company have?

After acquiring, Newell would get the service level of each business to their standards as fast as possible to make sure that these businesses do not damage its reputation. Thus association of brand name to Newell highly enhanced the individual companies inside Newell’s portfolio to be of good service and fast distribution. Other than these factors, the acquisition of different companies might bring in different skills and synergies to complementing goods such as production knowledge and complementary assets. Companies that produce complementary products are able to know what exactly to produce that would suit their customers, while companies producing differentiated products of the same category would be able to learn from each other to produce better products for each customer segment. Companies of similar nature are also consolidated and the plants upgraded to increase manufacturing efficiency which will benefit these companies in the cost aspect.

1. What is Kraft Foods Inc.’s corporate strategy? How has its corporate strategy evolved since its independence in 2007?

Moreover, Cooper’s corporate strategy is diversification through acquisitions and mergers. This diversification is in both related and non-related

Cooper also divested many less profitable businesses over an eighteen year period from 1970 to 1988. The benefit added by the Cooper conglomerate to its business units justifies the costs associated with a corporate / centralized control. Furthermore, Cooper’s corporate management effectively managed and invested in the best opportunities for growth with little political bias.

Coe’s has been a trusted brand in the U.S and Canadian markets for well over half a century, and has enormous brand recognition in many major markets. The company’s mission statement and value proposition “an affordable path to ownership while still making a profit,” has been the guiding principle for business operations since its inception in 1950. Coe’s present executive leadership team, specifically the CEO, Stan Windham and the CFO, Carl Amirault, were protégées of the founder of Coe’s, Terry Windham, and they continue to be guided by these founding principles while staying true to their core leadership styles: Carl Amirault is typically prudent and conservative, while Stan Windham( son of Founder) is idealistic and intuitive. Implementing a growth strategy which includes expanding into Mexico will require the leadership tendencies of both of these key decision makers. Global expansion, starting with the neighbor to the south, Mexico, will allow Coe’s to grow the core business faster, but consistently, while capitalizing on the strengths of the existing brand and taking advantage of the opportunities to reach new global markets as well.