Case Study #1: Whole Foods Market
Case Study #1
1. What are the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market is pursuing?
In 1997 John Mackey the “Cowboy of doing things” developed the slogan “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole planet”. This slogan is a symbol used to explain the purpose and future of the Whole Foods Market.
This slogan made for seven core values that resonates throughout the company. These values go above making money and making a world a better place, but also include long term education and empowerment. The values distribute power and promote a long term growth model that is a chief element to their strategy. In 1991 after the company went public they began to add growth as a key strategy element. They added new stores of their own as well as started purchasing smaller companies to help take large areas.
The next major strategy was their location strategy. They liked to place their stores in educated areas as well as areas that have high frequency. They had steady growth in stores numbers except for in 2009 where they closed one location. They have tried to keep the store numbers low focusing on increasing functionality of smaller spaces to save money. This strategy worked great and led into their product line very well.
Product line is another key strategy for Whole foods. They focus on offering the highest quality goods that the industry has to offer. While doing this they have moved into a niche market in which they sell organic and natural foods. But all of these elements boiled down into the initial internal strategy of the business. As mentioned before the company has a deep-seated philosophy in bettering and empowering people for a better future. In all these are their four main strategy points.
2. Is Whole Foods’ strategy well matched to market conditions in the food retailing industry (one of the criteria for a winning strategy discussed in Chapter 1)?
As discussed earlier Whole Foods Market has an excellent ethical philosophy that
1. What are the chief elements of the strategy that Whole Foods Market is pursuing?
In 1997 John Mackey the “Cowboy of doing things” developed the slogan “Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole planet”. This slogan is a symbol used to explain the purpose and future of the Whole Foods Market.
This slogan made for seven core values that resonates throughout the company. These values go above making money and making a world a better place, but also include long term education and empowerment. The values distribute power and promote a long term growth model that is a chief element to their strategy. In 1991 after the company went public they began to add growth as a key strategy element. They added new stores of their own as well as started purchasing smaller companies to help take large areas.
The next major strategy was their location strategy. They liked to place their stores in educated areas as well as areas that have high frequency. They had steady growth in stores numbers except for in 2009 where they closed one location. They have tried to keep the store numbers low focusing on increasing functionality of smaller spaces to save money. This strategy worked great and led into their product line very well.
Product line is another key strategy for Whole foods. They focus on offering the highest quality goods that the industry has to offer. While doing this they have moved into a niche market in which they sell organic and natural foods. But all of these elements boiled down into the initial internal strategy of the business. As mentioned before the company has a deep-seated philosophy in bettering and empowering people for a better future. In all these are their four main strategy points.
2. Is Whole Foods’ strategy well matched to market conditions in the food retailing industry (one of the criteria for a winning strategy discussed in Chapter 1)?
As discussed earlier Whole Foods Market has an excellent ethical philosophy that