Whole Foods Markets
Abstract
This paper examines the published case study Whole Foods Markets, 2005: Will There Be Enough Organic Food to Satisfy the Growing Demand? (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2007, p. C534). Although the published study addresses numerous aspects of Whole Foods Market’s business as a leading international retailer of “natural” organic foods, the analysis provided herein is focused on Whole Foods Market’s ability to meet future growth demands. This paper explores Whole Foods Market’s basic internal environment with subsequent application of Porter’s Five Forces Model of Competition followed by a related Strength-Weakness-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) breakdown…all used to determine critical market success factors and looming challenges to Whole Foods Market’s strategy formulation. Case Study: Whole Foods Market, 2005:
Will There Be Enough Food To Satisfy The Growing Demand? Claiming itself as the “leading retailer of organic foods” Whole Foods Market has staked its claim as the preeminent purveyor of “certified organic” foods with nine major distribution centers and 270 retail locations in North America and the United Kingdom (Whole Foods 1, n.d., para. 9). The aggressive growth strategy that led this small joint venture start-up company to go from 19 employees in 1980 to over 54,000 employees today could be facing greater complexity and challenges as the resource limits of the natural foods market become increasingly strained (Whole Foods 2, n.d., para. 3). To continue such impressive growth, Whole Foods’ strategy must also mitigate the onslaught of new entrants who are directly competing to erode its market share. This competitive environment coupled with product resource limitations and smaller retail outlet expansion opportunities may soon reach critical mass.
Internal Environment To identify business strategies addressing the concerns in the competitive external markets and to capitalize on potential opportunities, Whole Foods
This paper examines the published case study Whole Foods Markets, 2005: Will There Be Enough Organic Food to Satisfy the Growing Demand? (Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson, 2007, p. C534). Although the published study addresses numerous aspects of Whole Foods Market’s business as a leading international retailer of “natural” organic foods, the analysis provided herein is focused on Whole Foods Market’s ability to meet future growth demands. This paper explores Whole Foods Market’s basic internal environment with subsequent application of Porter’s Five Forces Model of Competition followed by a related Strength-Weakness-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) breakdown…all used to determine critical market success factors and looming challenges to Whole Foods Market’s strategy formulation. Case Study: Whole Foods Market, 2005:
Will There Be Enough Food To Satisfy The Growing Demand? Claiming itself as the “leading retailer of organic foods” Whole Foods Market has staked its claim as the preeminent purveyor of “certified organic” foods with nine major distribution centers and 270 retail locations in North America and the United Kingdom (Whole Foods 1, n.d., para. 9). The aggressive growth strategy that led this small joint venture start-up company to go from 19 employees in 1980 to over 54,000 employees today could be facing greater complexity and challenges as the resource limits of the natural foods market become increasingly strained (Whole Foods 2, n.d., para. 3). To continue such impressive growth, Whole Foods’ strategy must also mitigate the onslaught of new entrants who are directly competing to erode its market share. This competitive environment coupled with product resource limitations and smaller retail outlet expansion opportunities may soon reach critical mass.
Internal Environment To identify business strategies addressing the concerns in the competitive external markets and to capitalize on potential opportunities, Whole Foods