C&C Group: A Brief Overview
Question:
Discuss about the Reflections on Practical Experiences Industry.
In the modern economy, there are several organizations that are operational and each one of them have the idea of increasing their market share and increase their level of profit by increasing their level of sales (Rocha et al. 2016). It is due to this fact that sales management is a key concern for most of the companies and therefore every one of them have their different and unique strategies with the help of which they can increase their level of sales.
In accordance to this topic, the organization that has been taken into consideration is C&C Group which is an Ireland based organization. C&C Group Plc in the previous time had their name as Cantrell & Cochrane Limited, which is the producer, distributor and marketer of alcoholic drinks especially ciders. C&C Group produces Bulmers which is the leading Irish cider brand, Magners the well-known international cider brand and the C&C brand has various kinds of English Ciders and the Tennent’s beer brand. C&C Group has their headquarters in Dublin and their manufacturing units are located in various parts of Europe mostly in Ireland. The organization is registered under the Irish Stock Exchange and has been functioning in an effective manner for a very long time in the global economy. The company even manufactures beer and other non-alcoholic drinks and thereby have been trying the capture the market of the non-alcoholic customers. The organization has a key account plan with the help of which the company has been functioning all their operational activities in a precise and effective manner. There are several risks that are associated to the operational activities of every company and therefore it becomes pertinent for any organization to construct plans and polices with the help of which they would be able to mitigate the risks (Nakauchi and Wiersema 2015). The costs that are associated to the various products that have been manufactured needs to be recorded in order to have an idea about the profit margin that have been attained. There are several products that are manufactured by the company and it is essential for the organization to understand the profit that is attained from each of the products. Therefore, the short term objective is to assess the volume of the production, the value of the product and the margin of the product every year (Larrañeta, Zahra and Galán González 2014). The strategies and the tactics that are followed by C&C Group would even be assessed in order to have an idea about the plans and strategies are ideal and the ones that requires to be changed in order to improve the efficiency of the business. The paper would even addresses the key activities that is undertaken by the company over a year in order to have knowledge about how the company operates their business. The following section addresses the suitable framework and the structure that is essential to develop a one year account plan.
Short Term Objective
|
Volume |
Value |
Gross Margin |
Commentary |
|
t+1 |
t+1 |
t+1 |
|
|
Cider · Magners – 90000 ml annually · Bulmers- 75000 ml annually · Chaplin & Corks- 57000 ml annually · Woodchuck – 101200 ml annually · Wyder’s- 48000 ml annually · Hornsby’s- 93000 ml annually · Blackhorn- 60000 ml annually · Olde English- 50000 ml annually · Addlestones- 120000 ml annually · Montano- 90000 ml annually Beer · Tennent’s- 140000 ml annually · Tennent’s Beer Aged with Whiskey Oak- 150000 ml annually · Caledonia Best- 135000 ml annually · Menabrea- 140000 ml annually · Heverlee- 140000 ml annually · Clonnel 1650- 115000 ml annually · Pabst- 90000 ml annually Wine and Spirits- 170000 ml annually |
Cider · Magners – € 5.28 · Bulmers- Chaplin & Corks- € 4.37 · Woodchuck –€ 4.00 · Wyder’s- € 3.90 · Hornsby’s- € 2.83 · Blackhorn- € 4.00 · Olde English- €3.90 · Addlestones- Montano- €5.20 Beer · Tennent’s- €7.50 · Tennent’s Beer Aged with Whiskey Oak- €7.00 · Caledonia Best- €3.50 · Menabrea- €4.00 · Heverlee- €3.80 · Clonnel 1650-€7.50 · Pabst- €8.00 Wine and Spirits- €20-€500 |
Cider · Magners – € 1.40 · Bulmers- Chaplin & Corks- € 0.50 · Woodchuck –€ 0.30 · Wyder’s- € 1.25 · Hornsby’s- € 0.50 · Blackhorn- € 1.00 · Olde English- €1.30 · Addlestones- Montano- €3.20 Beer · Tennent’s- €2.25 · Tennent’s Beer Aged with Whiskey Oak- €3.12 · Caledonia Best- €0.50 · Menabrea- €1.10 · Heverlee- €0.75 · Clonnel 1650-€2.30 · Pabst- €2.50 Wine and Spirits- €1.25-€40 |
The short term objective has been to maintain effective brand market combinations in the core locations with the help of customer investment and branding with the help of leveraging wholesale platforms and creating a high premium brand portfolio (Ruff 2015). |
|
Objective |
Strategies |
|
O1: Maintain effective brand market combinations in the core locations |
· Promotional activities in the area (Karadag 2015) · Development of customer investment by increasing the wholesale platform · Training and development of the sales team |
|
O2: Expand the market share in the international market |
· Developing plans and policies that would be helpful in expanding the market in the international scenario (Sakas, Vlachos and Nasiopoulos 2014) · Rise in the investment in all the brands · Rise in the advertisement in the international market about their products |
|
O3: Maintain price that is similar to their competitor |
· Assess the market from time to time and thereby understand the price that the customers are ready to pay and accordingly frame the price (Zheng, Singh and Mitchell 2015). · Assess the demand in the market for their product and accordingly construct their prices |
|
O4: Maintain the quality of the product and with the advent of time improve their quality in order to maintain competitive edge |
· The research and development team of the company needs to examine the quality of the product and would even look to improve the product quality with the help of new and innovative mechanisms and ingredients so that the product quality and taste can be improved. |
|
Objective |
Strategies |
Tactics |
Who |
When |
Cost |
|
Maintain effective brand market combinations in the core locations |
· Promotional activities in the area · Development of customer investment by increasing the wholesale platform · Training and development of the sales team |
Discounts and attractive offers with the product Customer awareness and involvement Making the employees aware about the market and the demand that is seen in the market |
Management and the sales team |
1- 2 months |
€ 1000-2500 |
|
Expand the market share in the international market |
· Developing plans and policies that would be helpful in expanding the market in the international scenario · Rise in the investment in all the brands · Rise in the advertisement in the international market about their products (Gans and Ryall 2017) |
Assessing the plans and policies developed by the rival companies and thereby understanding the changes that can take place within the company Improving relationship with the stakeholders in order to increase the level of investment |
Management |
2-5 months |
€ 1250 approx. |
|
Maintain price that is similar to their competitor |
· Assess the market from time to time and thereby understand the price that the customers are ready to pay and accordingly frame the price. · Assess the demand in the market for their product and accordingly construct their prices |
Frequent feedback from the customer about the price of the product Assess the market and thereby understand the price that is ideal for the market |
Marketing and sales team |
2-3 months |
€ 4500 approx. |
|
Maintain the quality of the product and with the advent of time improve their quality in order to maintain competitive edge |
· The research and development team of the company needs to examine the quality of the product and would even look to improve the product quality with the help of new and innovative mechanisms and ingredients so that the product quality and taste can be improved. |
Introduction of new and innovative technique and machines that would improve the operations of the organization |
Management and research and development team |
6-9 months |
€ 15000 approx. |
|
Key Assumption |
Basic of assumption |
What event would have to happen to make the strategy unattractive |
Risk of such an event High- (7-10) Medium (4-6) Low (0-3) |
Impact if occurs |
Trigger point of action |
Contingency plan proposed |
|
Changes in the tastes and preferences of the consumers |
With the advent of time the choice of the customers may change |
Better plans constructed by the rival companies |
High-9 |
Loss of revenue and market share |
Make changes in the operational plan and production activities (Aguinis, Edwards and Bradley 2017) |
Improve the quality of the product and concentrate on the brand that is demanded by the consumers |
|
Economical factor like changes in the rate of inflation |
There can be changes in the rate of inflation because of various economic factors nationally and globally (Bergh et al. 2016). |
Inflation can be mitigated with the help of effective pricing strategies |
Medium- 4 |
Loss of sales and revenue |
Make changes in their plan with the help of which the effect of inflation can be mitigated |
Maintaining plans and policies with the help of which in case of such risk the issue can be eliminated |
The table that is represented above indicates the daily operational activities of the organization. Each one of the operational activities have been given an abbreviation and they are as follows:
The rational for the plan that has been constructed for C&C Group is a justifiable one because of the fact that this plan is helpful for the organization and their associated stakeholders to recognise the faults and the discrepancies that are seen within the operational activities of the company that is leading to the risks that are faced by the company (Oehmichen, Schrapp and Wolff 2017). The plan is helpful in finding out whether their operational activities are able to reach the goals and the objectives of the company (Chen, Delmas and Lieberman 2015). This plan provides an insight over the aspects on which the company can work on and thereby improve their operations. The plan is able to address the associated risks and thereby construct plans to mitigate the same. The plan is able to recognise the product that is providing the optimum profit and the product that requires improvement and focus on the product with the help of which the company is able to attain competitive edge.
Reference List and Bibliography
Aguinis, H., Edwards, J.R. and Bradley, K.J., 2017. Improving our understanding of moderation and mediation in strategic management research. Organizational Research Methods, 20(4), pp.665-685.
Bergh, D.D., Aguinis, H., Heavey, C., Ketchen, D.J., Boyd, B.K., Su, P., Lau, C.L. and Joo, H., 2016. Using meta?analytic structural equation modeling to advance strategic management research: Guidelines and an empirical illustration via the strategic leadership?performance relationship. Strategic Management Journal, 37(3), pp.477-497.
Chen, C.M., Delmas, M.A. and Lieberman, M.B., 2015. Production frontier methodologies and efficiency as a performance measure in strategic management research. Strategic Management Journal, 36(1), pp.19-36.
Gans, J. and Ryall, M.D., 2017. Value capture theory: A strategic management review. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1), pp.17-41.
Karadag, H., 2015. Financial management challenges in small and medium-sized enterprises: A strategic management approach. Emerging Markets Journal, 5(1), p.26.
Larrañeta, B., Zahra, S.A. and Galán González, J.L., 2014. Strategic repertoire variety and new venture growth: The moderating effects of origin and industry dynamism. Strategic Management Journal, 35(5), pp.761-772.
Nakauchi, M. and Wiersema, M.F., 2015. Executive succession and strategic change in Japan. Strategic Management Journal, 36(2), pp.298-306.
Oehmichen, J., Schrapp, S. and Wolff, M., 2017. Who needs experts most? Board industry expertise and strategic change—a contingency perspective. Strategic Management Journal, 38(3), pp.645-656.
Rocha, C., Duclos, L.C., Veiga, C.P., Bischof-Dos-Santos, C. and Neves, N.A.F., 2016. The control mechanisms on the performance of the strategic initiatives management: analysis of critical sales process in a metallurgical business. International Business Management, 10(4), pp.357-369.
Ruff, F., 2015. The advanced role of corporate foresight in innovation and strategic management—Reflections on practical experiences from the automotive industry. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 101, pp.37-48.
Sakas, D., Vlachos, D. and Nasiopoulos, D., 2014. Modelling strategic management for the development of competitive advantage, based on technology. Journal of Systems and Information Technology, 16(3), pp.187-209.
Zheng, W., Singh, K. and Mitchell, W., 2015. Buffering and enabling: The impact of interlocking political ties on firm survival and sales growth. Strategic Management Journal, 36(11), pp.1615-1636.
