STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT REPORT

Strategic Management Report



Strategic Management Report

Stage 1- Introduction

One can hardly find a party without them, the Kelly products: Popcorn, chips, peanuts have been keeping the American Party flair going for more than 40 years. Kelly's is a brilliant Viennese company with a long traditional success story. The crunch-munch story began in Vienna during the post wartime, 1955. The US major Howard M. Kelly tried to find a way to stay in beautiful Vienna - he met Herbert Rast. In 1955 nobody in Austria wanted to eat popcorn. And so the two of them showed the Austrians that eating popcorn in cinemas is a great experience. The two founded the first American popcorn company with the motto: “If it doesn't work- it does not work”. This was said without having much business experience. They had no clue about facts and figures the only thing they knew that the price of popcorn in American cinemas was 10 cents.

10 Cents at that time was 2 ½ shillings and that is the price they charged. The company expanded quickly and they soon saw that it is important to include potato chips. This was the start of a very funny way of American advertising that still continues today. There were 46 producers of popcorn, later there was 25 of them. And 10 years after that there was just Kelly's providing the market with the product. Not only did they have quality, they had the know-how to produce and distribute. In those days they drove to every wholesaler in small cars delivering the fresh product and collecting the outdated. They were always the best and remained till this day. The product line quickly grew, production needed more space and that is when Helmut Jordan entered the company. All the work paid off and the company needed a larger production infrastructure. They found the best suited place about 25 km south from Vienna in Fachstetten. There they rented a building 25 m long, and 70 m wide. It was packed with all the necessary departments: office space, warehouse, production facilities, packaging and loading docks for transporting.

Through and through the employees in the laboratories analyze the consistence of salt, fat content, and moisture of the product. Raw materials and plastic packs are also tested. Since 1997 in order to offer excellent quality Kelly implemented the quality management system ISO 9001. The products are packaged and sealed in plastic foil and then placed on pallets and moved to the warehouse by elevators. Trucks deliver products such as popcorn to the warehouse 8 times a day. The truck is automatically unloaded; the products are then sent on the conveyer belt to the storehouse and remain there together with the products from the production site of Vienna. Together they are stored in a high-shelved warehouse. The warehouse is 100 m long, 22 meters wide and 30 meters high. The products do not remain in the warehouse since they are usually delivered to the customer within 4 ...