BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

The Business Environment



Table of Contents

Introduction3

Discussion4

Trends in British Food Market4

Porter's Five Forces on Edible Food Market5

Bargaining power of suppliers5

Bargaining power of customers6

Rivalries between direct competitors6

Pressure from substitute products6

Threat of new entrants7

Environmental Factors8

SWOT analysis8

Strengths9

Weaknesses9

Opportunities9

Threats10

Competitive advantage10

Conclusion11

References12

Appendix14

SWOT in Tabular Format14

The Business Environment: Vestey Foods

Introduction

This paper is based on a case study that involves an edible food (meat) retailer firm called, Vestey Foods. The company's headquarters are located in London. The company has enjoyed a formidable position in the edible food (meat) sector, being the leader, and committed to provide top quality edible food (meat) to its customers. Since its inception in 1897, the company has practiced its core values of providing standardised food to their customers not only locally but also on the global scale (Borch, 2006: 1). This philosophy is particularly evident in the mission of the company, Standandised food for all. In this paper, company's marketing strategy is discussed focusing on the marketing strategy and persisting trends in the market, which has seen a tremendous growth in contemporary times due to presence of potential competetors, striving to make their mark in the ever-growing industry(Bluestein, 2008: 35).

The U.K. market is in dispute over the European market due to its label "edible" (without direct equivalence with the EU regulation on bioproducts, is booming and now accounts for nearly 35 percent of U.K. food market. According to a recent report published by the British Dietetic Association, entitled "Eating Habits of British Citizens", 2010, three-quarters of U.K. consumers buy edible products. The unprecedented growth of the sector is creating real problems. It is estimated that edible food (meat) sales reached U.K. £15.7 billion in 2006 (Borch, 2006).

Discussion

Trends in British Food Market

A rate of double-digit growth simply means that there are not enough edible farms and organically raised animals in the United Kingdom to meet demand of the consumers. The result is a tremendous pressure to increase supply, which in many cases is leading to questionable practices and processes (Ansoff, 2005: 52).

Despite the confusion of the consumers and the economic downturn, health continues to influence food purchases by consumers in the U.K. However, taste is king for consumers regardless of the benefits of a health product. Food manufacturers can not compromise on taste when developing healthier versions of existing products or when they introduce new.

This pressure has forced the edible food (meat) retailing companies, such as Vestey Foods to reconsider their options and get back to focus on the quality of the product. Edible foods with high fibre rate are becoming more popular these days. Thus Vestey Foods should opt for a more suitable strategy to attract these health-conscious customers by introducing new range of fibre-rich products with low-calorie content (Achrol & Kotler, 2007: 46).

More importantly, Vestey Foods should be aware of the false marketing campaigns, which are now becoming a usual trend for the competitors to make money. Fashion for the "naturalness" has formed a global market of biological products as early as 1990, and today edible label on a product ...