Introduction
General Mills Company is one of the American best companies. Today, general mill is named in the fortunes top 100 best companies. It deals mainly with food production. Its headquarters is in Golden valley, Minnesota. They market many well known products. This brand portfolio is more than 100 United States brands.
Business Processes Used by General Mills
One of the processes applied is comprehensive record management. This helps it manage all its information. The company General Mills is one of the largest food manufacturing companies in the world. It also operates in more than 100 countries in the world. This means that it has to generate an enormous number of electronic records for its branches.
Like any other global enterprise, it also receives massive number of electronic records from the branches. These records need to be managed with varying degrees of retention. They need to be managed in such a way that they are easily accessed by authorized users when need arises. General mills needed to come up with a system that would help it store, prioritize and manage its large volume of electronic record.
Another process is the coherent record retention policy. Implementation of this policy was to help it manage its data center. It helps reduce cost and even save time at the data center. This policy also helps improve the ability of those working in the data center to locate and access the information the need.
General Mill’s Business Strategy
Open innovation strategy is one of the strategies that General Mills has created. This helps them to collect the brightest mind and the best ideas internally and externally. The company uses these ideas and minds to improve their products and services. This strategy helps them develop new products.
Another business strategy that General Mills is using is connection with the suppliers. By connecting more effectively with the suppliers, the company is able to enjoy services like cost reduction from suppliers. Reduction of the cost by suppliers will make it easier for the company to reduce the production cost. This will lead to a lower price of their products hence attracting many customers.
Giving offers to customers is also another strategy. Aging boomers is one of the offers where the company’s customer who are 55 years and above are focused. Kaplan (2011) says that the company is concerned with improving the customers’ health and wellness. The company is emphasizing the health benefits of some of its food products. It is also introducing more health oriented offerings and smaller portion sizes as part of its strategy. This will increase the sales of the products hence higher profit margin.
Increase of the middle class people in the countries all over the world has made General Mills Company to come up with campaigns. The campaigns will involve product and marketing campaign aligned with local campaigns and distribution pattern. This will lead to a growth of the company’s market. The campaigns will also lead to an expanded profit margin.
General Mills has a good corporate governance practices and board of Directors who are committed to the company. They ensure that every activity of the company is done correctly and at the right time. They show a good example to the junior workers who also make sure that their duties are well done and in good time. This leads to satisfaction of the customers, hence more sales.
Information Systems That General Mills Can Use
General mills directors should adopt the executive support system (ESS). This helps senior management make strategic decisions. This system will gather and summarize all the information in the business. This system is concerned with internal and external information.
Management information system is another system needed by the company. According to O’ Brien (1999), it provides information needed to manage organizations efficiently and effectively.
Reference List
Kaplan, D. A. (2011). General Mills’ Global Sweet Spot. Fortune, vol 163, pp. 94-99.
O’ Brien, J. (1999). Management Information System: Managing Information Technology in the internet worked enterprise. Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill.