Strategic Management Process/Vision, Goals, Objectives This Document Case Study

Strategic Management Process/Vision, Goals, Objectives

This document examines the mission, vision, values, and goals of Kraft Foods Group. It does so primarily to denote the fact that these components are indicators of this company's strategy. The document also aligns these components with the interest of stakeholders.

It is exceedingly important for organizations within today's climate of rapid-fire technology and constantly changing marketplaces to adhere to strategy. Due to the celeritous pace of both of these factors, there has been a tendency of many competitive organizations to assume that they can only remain competitive by refining operations processes, which involves cutting costs and increasing time to market of its products (Hammond, 2001). Nonetheless, an evaluation of one of the most successful enterprises within the food and beverage industry, Kraft Foods Group, reveals that an adherence to strategic positioning is a critical prerequisite for not only short-term success, but that which continues in the long-term. Kraft reinforces this notion by largely evincing its strategy within some of its most eminent company markers -- namely its mission statement, vision statement, values and goals. An analysis of each of these respective facets of the company helps to shed a considerable degree of insight not only on the success of Kraft Foods Group as a whole, but also on the valuable impact and continuing relevance of strategy as a whole within today's business climate.

COMPANY'S MISSION STATEMENT AND ANALYSIS

The mission statement for Kraft Foods Group is somewhat twofold. One the one hand, the company declares "we are on a mission to be the best food and beverage company in North America." On the other hand, the company also declares that its mission is to make Kraft "the best investment in our industry." All things considered, both of these mission statements are fairly routine and actually denote very little about the advantageous strategy this company has employed to consistently remain one of the top purveyors of food and beverages throughout North America and the world at large. In fact, these mission statements are incredibly generic. In fact, Welch and Welch (2008) have observed that "the terms mission and values…have largely developed into fathead jargon. Almost no one can figure out what they mean…they…gussy up a vague package deal along the lines of: "Our mission is to be the best fill-in-the-blank company in our industry." Thus, it is readily apparent that the mission statement of Kraft Foods Group is fairly generic. It lacks the degree of specificity and detail that characterizes other mission statements that are credible examples of this type of literature.

Once this point is acknowledged, however, there are some aspects of this mission statement that attest to the type of strategy that Kraft employs with its company and which is responsible for its reputation as a leading purveyor of food and beverages. The second of these mission statements in which the company desires to be the best investment within its industry is a little more specific, and alludes to the specificity that abounds in its vision statement. This second mission statement not only alludes to the industry that the company is in, but it also identifies itself as a superlative investment. Such an investment is certainly something that gives employees to strive for, which is one of the things that good mission statements want to do. However, these statements should be a lot more detailed than the variety that Kraft is disseminating on its web site, and ideally should be indicative of the type of strategy that the company employs. There are other statements in which Kraft is able to do so quite successfully.

COMPANY'S VALUES and ANALYSIS

In much the same way that vision and mission statements provide a highly specific amount of information about a company and its strategy (particularly when they are written well), a company's values also help to serve a very specific purpose. Quite simply, these should be a "set of company values describing how employees should behave in order to achieve the mission." Although the mission statement of Kraft Food Company does little to yield any significant information about its strategy, its values are more detailed and indicative of how its employees should behave. The company's values are neatly summarized in the subsequent quotation. "We will treat all employees with the respect they deserve. We will provide them with a safe workplace. And we will inspire them to do great things. Because we know that, every day, our success depends on the 23,000 talented, dedicated, diverse people of Kraft." The values of this company not only allude to how the company will treat its employees, but also how its employees should behave accordingly. Those values, then, are talent, dedication, diversity, and inspiration. These values are actually well aligned with part of Kraft's strategy. Inspiration is a key value that is part of strategy, because if an organization were attempting to merely reduce its expenses while spending time to market of its product, inspiration would not necessarily be a value. Inspiration implies a degree of creativity and innovation, qualities that are readily found in organizations that have a definite strategy.

The other values also help to denote certain aspects of Kraft's strategy, and are commendable values in that they denote how employees should act while representing this organization. Talent is a value that is well aligned with inspiration. In fact, one can argue that with both inspiration and talent, anyone can achieve virtually anything -- especially within the business environment. This value makes it clear that part of Kraft's strategy is to innovate based upon talent. Dedication is another value that contributes very well to the culture of innovation that Kraft is seeking to engender and which helps to distinguish it from its competitors and to fuel its strategy.

COMPANY'S VISION AND ANALYSIS

In comparison to its mission statement, the vision statement of Kraft Foods Group is extremely detailed and one of the most salient indicators of its strategy. Its vision statement is

Our aim is to be North America's best food and beverage company, and we'll get there by continuing to offer products that consumers love, creating a performance-based culture that motivates and excites employees and becoming the best investment in the industry.

This statement is an appropriate vision statement in many ways, one of which is based on the fact that it functions as a future prediction and is not solely about what the company is doing in the present. Moreover, it is extremely detailed -- so much so that it alludes to the company's values and also includes its mission statement. It is noteworthy that this statement is actually listed by Kraft Foods Groups as its mission statement. However, since it refers to the future it is a vision statement and a good one at that.

COMPANY'S GOALS and ANALYSIS

The goals of this particular company are listed in the subsequent quotation. We expect to be well-positioned over the long-term to deliver steady, reliable growth with a strong focus on cash flow to fund a highly competitive dividend and reinvestment in our people, innovation, and brand building (Kraft Foods Group, 2012). The company's goals, then, are to achieve growth that is denoted by its cash flow. These goals are tangible and indicative of its strategy. Additionally, the company's goals are to build its brand and to invest in innovation and its people. The specificity of these goals is laudable, and an example of a company whose goals are extremely suggestive of its strategy.

ALIGNMENT OF COMPANY'S MISSION, VISION, VALUES, AND GOALS WITH STAKEHOLDER'S INTERESTS

Kraft's mission, vision, values, and goals is fairly well aligned with the interests of its stakeholders. This fact is corroborated by an examination of the various stakeholders which include customers, partners (in the various food offerings Kraft distributes), laborers, and upper….....