Abstract
Heinz Corporation commonly referred to as Heinz has a popular slogan,”57varieties”. It is well known for the production of ketchup and household products. The company was founded in 1896 by Henry Heinz in America but at present, it has six plants in different countries with its products on sale on every continent. The country has a wide range of products that are estimated at 5700. The business first operated as a partnership in 1969 between Heinz and Nobel and was engaged in selling horseradish and later incorporated vinegar pickles and sauerkraut to its product line.
The business experienced a panic that led to its bankruptcy, but it later recovered and added some of the products in its production line which developed to the now-famous ketchup. The company diversified itself through advertising and the introduction of new products to meet the needs of the customers. The company commenced its expansion to even the Third World Countries venturing into China and Thailand.
The company is distinguished for the compassionate treatment of workers; there were no recorded strikes and this contributed to the company’s success. The company was however faced with several market challenges such as a global recession. Consequently, this helped to increase international global competition, thereby leading to a decrease in the company’s stock prices. To minimize this effect, it diversified its production, cut the number of staff, and reduced production. These measures led to an almost full recovery for the company. The company reaffirmed its decision to concentrate on the domestic market, increase its market share, and undertook a major restructuring plan. In spite often the various challenges the company has had to endure over the years, it has evolved into a global success story.
Introduction
Heinz Corporation is well known worldwide for the production of a variety of food products that are supplied to more than two hundred countries. This is American Food Company was founded in 1896 by Henry Heinz and at the moment, it boasts of more than 5700 products. The company has its headquarter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where it has grown to become an international organization with operations in virtually every country across the globe (Heinz para. 1).
Originally, the company operated as a partnership but later on converted to a company, selling allays products and later added ketchup to its product line. The company has grown to produce a variety of products and it is one of the largest in the world. The company engages in producing kitchen up, baby foods cereals, soups among others (Alexander & Baker 1994, p.66). That serves a variety of customers in the world with the food products.
The company has a strong mission and core values that have enabled it to succeed where others have failed, even when faced with harsh economic conditions. Nonetheless, Heinz Corporation has also been faced with various challenges in its operations. This paper will seek to analyze the mission, goals, and objectives of Heinz Corporation. In addition, the various challenges encountered by the company, along with the efforts of the company in dealing with challenges encountered. Additionally, the various ranges of products offered by the company and its market share shall also be examined.
Mission And Vision Statement
As one of the companies with a global repute in the food industry, Heinz Corporation has well spelled out a mission and vision statement to facilitate the management in achieving the goals and objectives of the organization. The mission statement of Heinz endeavors to provide nutrition and wellness to its customers worldwide by way of availing to them pure and original foods. The vision of the corporation is to be the premier food company, offering nutritious foods to people everywhere.
This means in the products that it offers should focus on satisfying the consumer needs and if not well met then it should try to improve. In the products, they should consider consumer values employees ability and the company growth to deal with the growing demand all over the world of their products. The company works to achieve the mission which is on the way though not yet achieved (Heinz para. 2).
The mission is supported by values that the company is dedicated to achieving. To start with, the company is committed to passionately delivering what the consumer needs in value and the shareholders for them to win their royalty (Heinz para. 3).
Risk tolerance by creating a culture that that is prudent, to take courage in the provision of their services. This will enhance innovation and be in a position to provide the consumer product with ease and also contribute to creativity. In addition, the company is committed to integrity whereby it always works to maintain ethical values and always to be truthful to its customers who consume their products, thus taking in mind the short-term and long-term accountability and balance. Excellence and motivation values are also maintained where they give rewards and recognizing the achievements of the respective people. And on the part of the excellence, they believe their product always outdo the rest of the competitors (Alexander & Baker 1994, p.67)
Market Share Of The Company
Heinz Company is an American company that manufactures thousands of food products that are on sale on all six continents, serving more than two hundred countries. In the United States, Heinz Corporation has a market share of more than fifty percent in comparison with the other companies that offer ketchup. If we can break the company’s sales by sectors ketchup, condiments and sauces account for 24%, frozen goods15%, pet product12% among others (Heinz para. 2).
Its revenue most is generated from North America. In areas where the six plants are located in Australia, it is well known for tinned baked beans and spaghetti. Philistines as part of nutriAsia, owns a large industry of condiments, where it has the third largest tomato sauce and spaghetti in the country (Heinz para. 6). In Canada, it was established in 1909, where it is one of the largest suppliers to fast foods in Canada (Alberts 77).
In India and Netherlands Heinz still stands to be one of the large supplier firms and even for exports. In the United Kingdom plant mainly deals with infant foods and uses some of the television series to advertise the products for example in the comedy goodies where baked beans were advertised. The United States has a company headquarters based in Pittsburgh. Through these six plants, they can export the product to other countries in the world.
Benefits To Employees And Dress Code
Heinz’s culture hinges on the company strategies that allow it to stand out among its competitors. It has a range of products and this has enabled its employees to get a rich experience in the different stages of manufacturing. In addition, employees at Heinz Corporation enjoy various benefits to make sure they are well-performing and be in a position to maintain the standards of their products. The company also offers leadership opportunities and career progression from the various products offered. Heinz offers benefits in support of their employees. Incentives include investment programs, health care coverage paid vacations, and a commitment to employee development and values (Alberts 65).
On the issue of diversity, the company offers employment to people of different diversity and is very much against discrimination. This means their employees comprise people of different ethnic backgrounds and it subsidizes education expenses. And globally women hold a big management position in the company. The dress code is casual that is provided by the company for uniformity and decency. Heinz has a legacy of fair treatment at work. The company pays competitive wages with safe and humane working conditions. It is involved in charitable work and is very well known for its committed social responsibility to the community (Murray71).
Challenges faced by the company
Every company involved in production and sales is faced with various challenges. Over the years, Heinz has been faced with stiff competition from other firms that produce similar products. Some of the leading competitors such as Colgate Palmolive posed competition in the market. This gave them to losing the market share of the values of their products (Alberts 61). The Company managed to deal with this challenge where it modified its core operation for example introducing pet food. They also through aggressive pricing strategy made it possible to improve on market share. Heinz Corporation encountered another challenge in the form of a changing and demanding global market.
However, despite these challenges, the company revived the guiding principles allowing it to still take the lead in the market. It modified the products to ensure they remained appealing to the public. There was a reduction of revenue; globally there has been an economic downturn. This affected the various companies Heinz being one; this has lead to the decline of revenue which has affected the company’s growth (Alexander & Bake 72). However, the company was able to deal with it since it concentrated on cost reduction, and also since it was well established social responsibility it remained appealing to the consumers.
Company management composition
A company comprises various levels of management. Some top-level managers are involved in the entire running of the company or in determining the way forward for an organization. Top-level managers form the policies and strategies that a company should achieve. They rarely interact with the employees. The other level is the middle-level managers that are mainly involved with strategic management. The lower level managers involve first-line managers and are also called the supervisor and are mainly involved with the production processes. In Heinz, the earlier years have changed where they put more emphasis on low levels of management this emphasis that more effort should be put to the lower level since they are the ones who determine the performance of the company( Murray 85). Heinz is committed to gender equality and over the years, the number of female employees has been on the increase.
Conclusion
Heinz has a wide variety of products on offer and these are consumers all over the world. It has great values that make it stand out in the market, relative to the competition. Therefore it may be argued that over the years, the company has succed3d in providing its consumers a value for their money given that its market share has been on the increase globally. Although, the company has had to face various challenges along the way, nonetheless, its strong values and mission statement have ensured that it remains in business.
Works Cited
Alberts, Robert. The Good Provider. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973. Print.
Alexander, Keith and Bake, Stephen. The New Life of O’Reilly. Business Week, 124.64(1994): 64–66.
Heinz. Heinz at a glance. 2009.
Heinz. Mission and values. 2009. Web.
Heinz. Corporate Social Responsibility Committee Charter. 2010. Web.
Murray, Michael. Era Is Nearing an End As Heinz’s Johnson Assumes More Control. Wall Street Journal, 86.24 (1997).