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SOC 2101 CASE STUDY
SOC 2101 CASE STUDY
University of Ottawa
Jiang Jiteng300172850
Introduction：
Illness communities have changed the way people view diseases and also helped significantly in addressing misconceptions as well as stigma. Illness communities act as support groups, available both offline and online with the aim of providing necessary support to victims of chronic illnesses. The illness community that will be studied in this case study was the community of people living with HIV. People who are infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) are more susceptible to infections and other disorders because the virus affects the cells that assist the body fight infection. Most typically, it is shared via unprotected sexual contact or by sharing injection equipment with someone who has HIV. AIDS may develop if HIV is not treated (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). The current paper focuses on several discussion points, including the biological and social characteristics of the community of people living with HIV , and how these characteristics process and influence the treatment of the community, as well as exploring the labelling and identity of the group members. This paper claims that disease characteristics and social characteristics can have an both positive and negative impacts on the treatment of disease groups, including non-optimal medication compliance, poorer visit compliance, increased depression, and a worse overall quality of life in general, requiring that more stakeholders in the healthcare sector work towards educating the public, and not just the community of people living with HIV.
Characteristics of the community of people living with HIV The characteristics of the community of people living with HIV necessitate mentioning of the ways and means of transmission of HIV and the management of this condition. First, HIV is transmitted through three main routes: sexual transmission, blood transmission, and mother-to-child transmission. The primary cause of patient infection through sexual transmission is unprotected sex, a route of transmission that is common in both the heterosexual and LGBTQ communities. In fact, reports from Nelson et al., (2019) indicate that more than 32044 gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) were infected with HIV in 2018, representing about 51.7 percent of individuals living with HIV in Canada. There is also a high risk of contracting HIV during unprotected heterosexual sex, according to the American Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC). Having vaginal intercourse with someone who has HIV without the proper use of protection (like condoms or medicine to treat or prevent HIV), can lead to contraction of HIV (Haddad et al., 2019) . The second route of transmission is blood transmission, such as through sharing the same syringe or other drug injection equipment. According to Kapila (2016），HIV can be transferred by intravenous, intramuscular, or subcutaneous injection of contaminated blood. This blood-to-blood transfer can happen through transfusion of infected blood and blood products as well (Kapila, 2016). The third mode of HIV transmission is mother-to-child transmission, which, as the name implies, occurs from mother to baby. According to HIV gov，during pregnancy, delivery, or nursing, an HIV-positive woman might pass the virus to her child (Logie et al., 2018).Next, the treatment of HIV is one of the characteristics that affects the community of people living with HIV, and antiretroviral therapy (ARTs) is the most common treatment for the condition today. According to Okunola (2017), due to the fact that this treatment has significantly decreased the mortality and morbidity associated with this illness, antiretroviral therapy (ART) has become the mainstay in the care of HIV globally.（Okunola，2017）. In summary, the way of transmission and treatment of HIV are the important characteristics that affect the treatment of community of people living with HIV.
Social characteristics of the community of people living with HIV：
Social characteristics can affect the treatment of community of people living with HIV. As I learned in class SOC2101, which focused on the social determinants of health (SDH), the community of people living with HIV is influenced by these very social determinants of health in terms of education, social status, gender, and access to healthcare. The awareness of the community of people living with HIV regarding HIV/AIDS mainly comes from the health knowledge education provided by both governmental and non-governmental institutions. According to international technical guidance on sexuality education, the protective impact of education in lowering vulnerability to poor sexual health outcomes such as HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections, is critical (Kalichman et al., 2009). Education can help prevent uninformed, high-risk behaviors and reduce the risk of HIV transmission, as well as make it possible for those already infected to start treatment.
In addition, the social status of the community of people living with HIV is a major factor influencing their access to treatment. Some people in poor areas do not have enough financial resources to support the expensive treatment costs and therefore give up treatment. According to Tsafack，（2009）in the developing nations, the pandemic spread the fastest. This negative relationship between national wealth and HIV prevalence shows the role that better infrastructure, access to health care, and nutrition appear to play in the disease’s spread. Poverty also has an influence on HIV transmission because it restricts access to health care (Tsafack, 2009).
Furthermore, income is an important factor in the patient’s acceptance of treatment, which is somewhat related to the conflict theory I learned in SOC2101. By Conflict theory emphasizes the inequality of social and health systems, where social resources are limited, but most of the resources are held in the upper social classes, and the upper and lower classes receive and are provided with different levels and types of healthcare. People in the lower income brackets often do not receive adequate attention and treatment when they need medical resources, so inequality in social resources and health systems is one of the social characteristics that affects the access of the community of people living with HIV to treatment. Not only that, but the reasons that influence the community of people living with HIV to accept treatment vary across different social stages. Poverty may hinder access to health care and subsequent treatment in resource-poor nations, whereas issues correlated with poverty, such as addiction or depression, may prevent persons living with HIV from adhering to treatment in resource-rich countries (Jonsen & Stryker, 1993).The next meaningful social characteristic is gender. HIV continues to afflict women and young girls disproportionately over the world, but notably in Sub-Saharan Africa (Temah, 2009.). The unequal social status of men and women also makes it more difficult for women to protect themselves from HIV. Women’s capacity to negotiate condom usage and protect themselves from HIV is often hampered by financial inequities and intimate partner violence in partnerships. Lower access to sexual health services, including HIV testing and treatment, is closely connected to gender inequality in education and social autonomy among women. Despite worldwide agreements to minimize the impacts of gender inequality, there is a need to considerably scale up efforts since social inequalities and violence against women continue to exist across the world (Women, U. N. & UNICEF, 2018).
Finally, the environment and location in which the community of people living with HIV lives are also influential factors in determining their ability to receive effective treatment. The kinds of treatment available to the community of people living with HIV differ from region to region. The developed world has a more comprehensive medical facility system and a more universal medical policy, which allows people to have easy access to medical resources for timely and effective treatment, but people in poor areas are unable to receive effective treatment due to the lack of supporting medical facilities and medical policy, which negatively affects their health. According to Jonsen and Stryker (1993) the first shock of the AIDS pandemic was absorbed by the country’s public health systems—federal, state, and municipal. Since the pandemic has become more concentrated in low-income and minority groups in Canada, however, the public health system has become the major service provider for a significant number of persons living with HIV or AIDS at the local level. Drawing on from the above, the improvement of public facilities has a certain impact on the treatment of the community of people living with HIV. In summary, the discussion demonstrates that social characteristics affect access to treatment in the community of people living with HIV in terms of education, social status, gender, and medical infrastructure.
Labeling/stigmatization/identity of the community of people living with HIVAs time goes by and knowledge becomes more widespread, increasing numbers of people can gain a basic understanding of HIV/AIDS, and the community of people living with HIV and gradually eliminate their prejudices. In a time when knowledge was scarce, people often thought that suffering from AIDS implied gay sex and drug addiction (Garenne, Lydié, & Garenne, 2001). Nevertheless, a phenomenon that has been noticed all around the world： minorities that are marginalized, racially, ethnically, or sexually are all linked to HIV transmission（Kontomanolis et al.，2017).. In addition, the perception or stigma of the HIV community varies from region to region. In some places, people tend to think that the main means of transmission of HIV is the lifestyle of the community of people living with HIV, such as experimenting with risky sexual behaviors or using drugs, so in some areas, even with the knowledge, there is still a deep prejudice against the community of people living with HIV. In South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, health-care workers and the general public have similar attitudes against AIDS patients, according to research revealing that 80% of nurses and 90% of doctors discriminate against AIDS patients (Logie et al., 2018). When they talk to the patient or provide treatment, they will physically distance themselves from a them and medical workers’spouses will put pressure on healthcare workers, asking them to stop providing care to their patients. Among them, there is a widespread belief that HIV is only transmitted through sexual activity. Interestingly, while knowing the transmission channels well, the physicians do not appear to truly believe the facts (Ullah, 2011).
In order to quantify how the stigmatization of the community of people living with HIV is nearly uniform across cultures, the AIDS stigma scale was developed based on data collected from HIV patients in Cape Town, Swaziland, South Africa, and Atlanta, USA. Experimental analysis found that these data had some internal consistency and time stability（Kalichman et al.，2009）. These data demonstrate that people with AIDS experience different levels of prejudice and discrimination regardless of their cultural background and location.
Nevertheless, this stigma is completely unfounded. It is often assumed that people with HIV are infected because of homosexual sex or drug use, and such statements undoubtedly label the community of people living with HIV inappropriately. In some areas of severe gender inequality, women have extremely low social status, so they have little right to demand that men take protective measures when they have sex and thus become infected with HIV. In addition, there is more than just sharing syringes as the only method of blood transmission of HIV (Logie et al., 2019). For example, if a patient receives a blood transfusion from a person with HIV/AIDS who has not been properly tested, that patient can also develop HIV, often in areas with poor medical care, and not only that, but according to HIV.gov (2022), HIV can also be transmitted through broken skin, wounds or mucous membranes, so the blood-borne route of HIV does not represent all of the inappropriate behaviors such as drug use. Therefore, those who discriminate against or try to stigmatize the community of people living with HIV are simply applying a perverse label on them and labeling them as abnormal, which is inappropriate and absurd.
The impact of the stigma and discrimination on the treatment for the community of people living with HIV is stark. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), 2010), people living with HIV have emotional and mental health issues as a result of HIV stigma and discrimination. People living with HIV frequently internalise their stigma and develop a bad self-image as a result. Internalized stigma associated with HIV can result in emotions of shame, fear of revelation, loneliness, and despair. People may be hesitant to get tested or treated for HIV as a result of these sentiments (UNAIDS, 2000). Thus, it is clear that stigma and discrimination have severely impacted access to treatment for the community of people living with HIV. Stigma has a negative impact on people’s lives. For persons with HIV, stigma has a detrimental impact on health outcomes including non-optimal medication compliance, poorer visit compliance, increased depression, and a worse overall quality of life in generalStigmatization should therefore be avoided. According to the CDC, we can act in several ways to avoid stigmatizing community of people living with HIV. First, we need to know how to talk about HIV to avoid stigmatization, and people should converse about HIV using supportive words, instead of stigmatizing language. Furthermore, positive and positive actions should be taken towards people with HIV/AIDS, including physical contact such as hugging or shaking hands, thereby correcting the stigmatization of people with HIV/AIDS. Third, the basic knowledge of HIV should be shared as widely as possible, including the facts on how the infection spreads. To sum up, I believe that stigmatization and discrimination have a great impact on the treatment of AIDS patients, and these stigmatization and discrimination views are not correct. We should stop stigmatization and discrimination against AIDS patients through various means.
Conclusion：
This paper has analyzed the disease characteristics and social characteristics of community of people living with HIV, as well as how social characteristics affect the treatment of community of people living with HIV. Finally, the harm of stigma and discrimination and its impact on treatment were analyzed, as well as ways to avoid them. The discussion has shown that disease characteristics and social characteristics can have an impact on the treatment of disease groups. The paper has shown that disease characteristics and social characteristics can have an both positive and negative impacts on the treatment of disease groups, including non-optimal medication compliance, poorer visit compliance, increased depression, and a worse overall quality of life in general, requiring that more stakeholders in the healthcare sector work towards educating the public, and not just the community of people living with HIV.
Reference list：
Ahsan Ullah, A. K. M. (2011). HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination: A study of health care providers in Bangladesh. Journal of the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care, 10(2), 97-104.
American Psychological Association (APA). (2010). HIV/AIDS and Socioeconomic Status. HYPERLINK “https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/hiv-aids” https://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/hiv-aids
Centers for disease control and prevention (CDC). (2022). HIV: Ways HIV can be transmitted. HYPERLINK “https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/hiv-transmission/ways-people-get-hiv.html” https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/hiv-transmission/ways-people-get-hiv.html
Garenne, M., Lydié, N., & Garenne, M. M. (2001). Gender and AIDS. WHO monograph on Gender Analysis of Health. HYPERLINK “https://www.who.int/gender/documents/GenderAIDS.pdf” https://www.who.int/gender/documents/GenderAIDS.pdf
Haddad, N., Robert, A., Weeks, A., Popovic, N., Siu, W., & Archibald, C. (2019). HIV: HIV in Canada—Surveillance report, 2018. Canada Communicable Disease Report, 45(12), 304.
HIV.GOV. (2022). Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV. HYPERLINK “https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/hiv-prevention/reducing-mother-to-child-risk/preventing-mother-to-child-transmission-of-hiv” Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV | HIV.gov
Jonsen, A. R., & Stryker, J. E. (1993). The social impact of AIDS in the United States. National Academy Press.
Kalichman, S. C., Simbayi, L. C., Cloete, A., Mthembu, P. P., Mkhonta, R. N., & Ginindza, T. (2009). Measuring AIDS stigmas in people living with HIV/AIDS: the Internalized AIDS-Related Stigma Scale. AIDS care, 21(1), 87-93.
Kapila, A., Chaudhary, S., Sharma, R. B., Vashist, H., Sisodia, S. S., & Gupta, A. (2016). A review on: Hiv aids. Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biological Research, 4(3), 69-73.
Kontomanolis, E. N., Michalopoulos, S., Gkasdaris, G., & Fasoulakis, Z. (2017). The social stigma of HIV–AIDS: society’s role. Hiv/aids (Auckland, NZ), 9, 111.
Logie, C. H., Lacombe-Duncan, A., Wang, Y., Kaida, A., Conway, T., Webster, K., … & Loutfy, M. R. (2018). Pathways from HIV-related stigma to antiretroviral therapy measures in the HIV care cascade for women living with HIV in Canada. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 77(2), 144.
Logie, C. H., Marcus, N., Wang, Y., Kaida, A., O’Campo, P., Ahmed, U., … & Ogunnaike‐Cooke, S. (2019). A longitudinal study of associations between HIV‐related stigma, recent violence and depression among women living with HIV in a Canadian cohort study. Journal of the international AIDS society, 22(7), e25341.
Nelson, L. E., Tharao, W., Husbands, W., Sa, T., Zhang, N., Kushwaha, S., … & Kaul, R. (2019). The epidemiology of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in African, Caribbean and Black men in Toronto, Canada. BMC infectious diseases, 19(1), 1-10.
Okunola, O. A. (2017). Antiretroviral Therapy (ART): Evaluation of Art’s Perception among People Living with HIV/AIDS in South Western Nigeria. J AIDS Clin Res, 8(650), 2.
Temah, C. T. (2009). What drives HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa?. Revue d’économie du développement, 17(5), 41-70.
UNAIDS. (2000). AIDS and HIV Infection: Information for United Nations Employees and Their Families. HYPERLINK “https://data.unaids.org/publications/irc-pub01/jc306-un-staff-rev1_en.pdf” https://data.unaids.org/publications/irc-pub01/jc306-un-staff-rev1_en.pdf
Women, U. N., & UNICEF. (2018). International technical guidance on sexuality education: an evidence-informed approach. UNESCO Publishing. HYPERLINK “https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/ITGSE.pdf” https://www.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/ITGSE.pdf
Soar Model, a problem solving model
Soar Model
Name
CourseCourse Instructor
Date
SOAR stands for Self, Opportunity, Aspirations and Results and the different parts of the model can be used in promoting personal enquiry. Furthermore, SOAR is a problem solving model as well as a system designed to account for a wide range cognitive phenomena. This tool is very essential in discovery or rediscovery of self as well as in the construction of individuality through involvement and active engagement with prospects for learning inside and outside the course (Clancey, Smoliar & Stefik, 1994, p. 138-140). SOAR supports a method in which learners may be able to develop genuine objectives and intents that can motivate the learners to achieve desirable results. Learners may also use SOAR tools to build confidence in their own capability and meet future challenges. Generally, SOAR model can act as a good way of letting an individual to be more aware in their choice, activities as well as outcomes in reacting to the unceasing flow of prospects and challenges people undergo in daily basis.
There are several assumptions underpinning the SOAR technique such as the fact that students are distinctive persons full of prospective and that the world is full of opportunities. Although accessing these opportunities are unequally dispersed and differentially available to people(Kumar 2007, p.250-260). Capabilities and personalities of the learners are assumed to be vital as far as utilizing their potentials to seize diverse opportunities is concerned. Paying much attention on every of SOAR’s processes as a positive inquiry is essential in appreciating its value and gives a strong sense of self that empowers a student to focus on important items (Hollan 2007, p. 150-175).
SOAR does not just concentrate on secluded identity but also plays a major role in shared constructivist view of learning view where one’s understandings are sharpened through group interactions. SOAR creates lasting strength which fuels creative emergency and backs strategies which comprises both success and strength (Kumar 2007, p.250-260). SOAR model may help in magnifying small issues thus making the issue both noticeable and appreciable. A learner grows up with more holistic notions regarding the higher education experience which is significant in making a learner to get ready for various things such as working and understanding in the multifaceted world. The learner tend to know a lot through attending high education and interacting with the people within the institution irrespective of disciplinary measures put in place (Polk & Seifert 2002, p.622-625).
Additionally, introduction of PDP led to new ways of aiding learners to prepare for even more complicated and indeterminate world. There are various serious challenges and problems which are informational, social and cultural found in the learning environment that requires high degree of solution which can only be solved by the use of PDP. Such kind of technical problems may not be easily solved by modest and normal solutions since the description of the difficulty as well as an individual’s understanding develops as a result of attainment of more insights hence prompting new potential resolutions to be applied (Kielbasa, Theisen & Zanzig 1996, p. 8-12).
SOAR is very fundamental in helping a learner powerfully observe him or herself that are very important in making choices that can really boost performance especially in a work place. The technique may prompt someone to gain very critical but simple things that are very vital to their achievements and happiness. Long term usage of information in the long run as a result of previous performance of task is what this model stresses on. It explains how memory works in the perspective of execution of actual, usually complex tasks which involves the entire cognitive system (Cockell & Mcarthur-Blair 2012, p. 35-46).
However, the habit of selecting from previous performance and applying in a current situation may be blocked or challenged in numerous ways. At times Soar may fail in to apply in the current situation or may even recommend large number of solutions thus making it hard to choose from. When soar faces such kind of states then it can try to regenerate another solution that may deem suitable. Furthermore, the technique may also prompt further processing in the information provided so that the issue or the impasse can be resolved at once. This may lead to hierarchy in the working of the model (Laird 2012, p. 69-75).
As much as Soar only assumes a unitary vibrant memory, availability of various encodings can result into multiple memories making soar to remain neutral concerning functionally discrete memoirs that are localized in the brain. It is therefore evident that Soar’s response to human memory is limited unless supplemented with numerous short term modality-specific stores such as phonological store (Kumar 2007, p.250-260). Furthermore, working memory may experience challenges in their functional grounds and existence of those accounts render such kind of resource based descriptions unnecessary. It is apparent that Soar is attuned with definite types of capacity limitations where for instance, dynamic memory can only accommodate two items of similar type (Carman 2005, p. 108-118).
Soar’s strength is in assimilating knowledge, organization, response, and exploration as well as learning within a competent architecture. Soar helps greatly in diagnosing a problem, understanding natural language as well as learning by instruction. However it should be noted that Soar may not be suitable when there is limited time in solving a particular problem or in developing a system. Soar requires a lot of time and practice before it can be successfully put into use.
Additionally, Soar is very useful and may be termed as the only system that helps in learning and integration with problem solving as well as aiding in parallel reasoning. Also it provides a knowledge explanation and design method as regard to problem spaces and in interruption as a core aspect of behavior. Furthermore, Soar is modeling cautious cognitive human behavior to greater heights for instance in exploring human computer interaction tasks, idea attainment and learning by instruction. Soar has successfully been used in modeling learning in various tasks such as natural language understanding and arithmetic although learning enhances some vital sophistication to the constitution of the task which is not for casual user (Stavros, Cooperrider & Kelley 2009, p. 3).
SOAR techniques are very consistent with current employment market actualities and career concepts. This is because careers are changing in terms of concepts and the students are also changing. Higher learning institutions are working very hard to meet the labor market demand and life changing benefits that involve occupations (Bobrow 1993, p. 389-395). It is essential to note that Soar can bridge the gap in theoretical standings such as educational, career and professional as well as mixing bipolar positions that is chief in executing the Soar technique. Soar model therefore applies to excellent ideals and academic values to individual and career growth as to any other subject.
References
Bobrow, D, G 1993, Artificial Intelligence in Perspective, Amsterdam, Elsevier,
Carman, T 2005, Strength-Based Teaching: The Affective Teacher, No Child Left Behind, Lanham, Md, Scarecroweducation.
Clancey, W, Smoliar, S, & Stefik, M 1994, Contemplating Minds: A Forum For Artificial Intelligence, Cambridge, Mass, Mit Press.
Cockell, J, & Mcarthur-Blair, J 2012, Appreciative Inquiry In Higher Education: A Transformative Force, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint.
Hollan, H 2007, Soaring & Crashing: My Bipolar Adventures, Minneapolis, Mn, Mill City Press.
Kielbasa, M, Theisen, & Zanzig, T 1996, Taking Charge: Managing Life’s Struggles, Winona, Minn, Saint Mary’s.
Kumar, A 2007, Personal, Academic and Career Development In Higher Education Soaring To Success, London, Routledge.
Laird, J 2012, The Soar Cognitive Architecture, Cambridge,Mass, Mit Press.
Polk, T, & Seifert, C, M 2002, Cognitive Modeling, Cambridge, Mass. [U.A.], Mit Press.
Stavros, J, Cooperrider, & Kelley, L 2009, Fast Fundamentals Soar: A New Approach To Strategic Planning, San Francisco, Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Smuckers In 2011 Expanding The Business Lineup
Smuckers In 2011: Expanding The Business Lineup
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc380783420 h 1Internal Company Situation PAGEREF _Toc380783421 h 2Financial Analysis PAGEREF _Toc380783422 h 3Weakness PAGEREF _Toc380783423 h 7Opportunities PAGEREF _Toc380783424 h 7Threats PAGEREF _Toc380783425 h 8Problem Analysis PAGEREF _Toc380783426 h 9Strategic Alternative & Analysis PAGEREF _Toc380783427 h 9Strategic Recommendation & Justification PAGEREF _Toc380783428 h 11Strategic Implementation PAGEREF _Toc380783429 h 11
IntroductionThis is a case analysis for a food processing company called the J. M. Smuckers. Jerome Monroe Smucker established the company in 1879 in the state of Ohio, in Orville, as a cider mill, powered by steam engine. A few years in the business, he realized the market for cider was smaller than the rate of production. Accordingly, he expanded the product line with a family recipe by producing butter. This product became very popular in the local market that by 1920 he started to expand the product line to include preserves, jam and jellies. In the following year product line expansion became the means the company realized its growth objectives. In 1970, though, there was a change in strategy where the company started to acquire other firms to pursue growth objectives. This continued into 1980, for instance they acquired Magic Shell in 1982 that specialized in production of ice cream topping to help the firm expand the product line. This acquisition strategy came around also due to changes in the food processing industry. Besides, the product line the leadership of the company also exchanged hands over the years. The company had excellent human resources strategy as exhibited by its being ranked in the top quartile of the 100 Best Companies by the Fortune magazine in 1997. This case study analysis, reviews the company internal and external strengths and points out strategic challenges and how the company can overcome them.
Internal Company SituationValue Chain Analysis & Core Competencies
The area the company had greatest strength in was in the production of jams, preserves and jellies. These products made the company a leader in United States, Australia, and Canada in the first years of 21st century. In spite of this, the company still performed relatively poorly compared to giants in the industry due to its slim product line and the smaller size of the company. This gave the company a lower bargain power as compared to giants like Nestle and Unilever. It had difficulties in bargain for higher prices, which would have made the company to expand its profit margins. Industry growth at the time was through consolidation by acquisition of smaller companies by the larger ones. This gave the young generation of leaders for the company difficult times.
The new firm leadership developed a three legged growth strategy to build company resilience. This included introduction of new products, organic growth in sales, and acquisition of firms that the company felt they shared in vision. For instance, acquisition of P&G Folgers in 2008 enabled the firm to become the largest producer of beverages and breakfasts in North America. Acquisitions enabled the firm to expand its product line to strengthen brands like jellies and jams, coffee, cooking oil and peanut butter all in North America. The company was also able to raise its sales to 4.6 billion in 2010 from $632 million recorded in 2000.
In spite of these gains, the company relatively smaller size compared to competitors in the food processing industry remained a great concern as indicated by analyst. This is because it created a price negotiation disadvantage when competing for larger retailers. Bigger companies like Nestle over these years that Smucker registered an increase in sales revenue had also recorded significant gains. Nestle sales increased to $100 billion from $61.3 between 2010 and 2000. The relative smaller size also placed the firm at a disadvantage as market share was proportionately cut by consolidating super5markets.
Financial AnalysisGross Profit Margin
Gross Profit Margin analysis for the firm indicates that the firm was able to sell its products at higher price than the cost of producing them. Smucker had a GPM of about 38.8% in 2010, as compared to a GPM of 31% computed from the sales made in 2008. This indicates that the company sales and ability to meet the costs of production increased relatively between the two years. The following computation shows the GPM ratio for the two years.
GPM 2010 = 4,605,289 – 2818599/4,605,289 * 100
= 38. 79%
GPM 2008 = 2,524,774 – 1,742,610/2,524,774 * 100
= 30.97%
Net Profit Margin
On the other hand, net profit margin analysis indicates that Smucker was able to meet its tax obligations. Smucker profits in this sense were 10.73% of the sales in the year 2010. This shows an increase from the previous year 2009 of 7.08%. The following computation shows how these statistics were reached.
NPM ration for 2010 = 494,138/4,605,289*100
= 10.73%
NPM ration for 2009 = 265,953/3,757,933*100
=7.08%
Return on Assets
This ratio indicates the firm’s bottom-line profit ratio as per the firms’ total assets. The Smuckjer after tax rate of return in 2010 was 6.20%. Again, this shows an improvement from the previous year rate of 3.25%.
ROA 2010
Net Income = 494,138
Total Assets = 7,974,853
ROA= 494,138/7,974,853*100
= 6.2%
ROA 2009
Net Income = 265,953
Total Assets = 8,192,161
ROA= 265,953/8,192,161*100
= 3.25%
Return on Equity
This is an important indicator that the firm is financially stable to attract investors. It is denoted as ROE and is one of the financial indicators that investors look at in building their confidence with a firm. As shareholders their intention is to invest in a company likely to give them the maximum returns on their investments. Smuckers year 2010 return of equity was 9.28%. This shows that for every dollar invested in the firm by an investor it earned 9.28 cents. In 2009 the ROE was lower than this standing at 5.38%. This indicates why the stock price for the company increased significantly between the two years. The following computation shows how this conclusion was reached.
ROE 2010
Net Income = 494,138
Common Equity = 5,326,320
ROE= 265,953/5,326,320*100
= 9.28
ROE 2009
Net Income = 265,953
Common Equity = 4,939,931
ROE= 265,953/4,939,931*100
= 5.38%
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Leader in Certain Brands
Smucker had a strong brand name for certain product categories. In 2010, it held the first position in marketing of 11 categories of food. This include dessert toppings and fruit spreads, ground and roasted coffee, natural and health beverages, cooking oil, peanut butter, evaporated and condensed milk. Brands like Robin Hood, Bick’s Europe’s and Carnation were leaders in their respective categories in Canadian market.
Strategic Acquisitions over the years
The food processing industry is highly consolidated. As a result, many firms use acquisition strategy to expand and enlarge their market share. Strategic acquisition by Smuckers has enabled the firm to enlarge its product line and market presence and coincidentally improve its sales revenue over the year.
Expanding Market Presence
Smuckers operates both locally and internationally. It has many production points in United States and Canada. This local and international presence enables the firm to reach a large customer base.
Financial Health
The firm operating profit margins are good enough as indicated by the financial analysis section. The firm has adequate funds to finance growth strategy for internationalization. Besides, the firm’s return on investment is also attractive meaning the firm can attract investors to fund potential growth avenues.
WeaknessDeclining Market Share
Globally the firm sales were minimal compared to those of giant food processor like Nestle. In 2001, for instance, the firm recorded $651 million as compared to Nestlé’s 84.7 billion and Swiss Francs’ 61.3 billion. Further, this challenge was magnified by the fact that the firm was relatively small and its product line too limited.
Smaller Product Line
The smaller product line of fruit spreads, organic and natural beverages, natural peanut butters, ice cream toppings, and other smaller specialty put the firm at a bargain disadvantage. Besides, even with the acquisition the changing consumer preferences and high rate of innovations in the industry makes it difficult for the firm product line to build a strong competitive edge.
OpportunitiesExpanding market
Following the 2009, European markets were highly affected by financial recession. However, new emerging markets in the industry existed in less developed countries with growth potential of between 3 and 4 percent. Companies that are growth oriented as a result focused their efforts in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe markets.
New Advertisement Channels
The social media is a rapidly expanding marketing avenue that the firm can use to build strong brand loyalty. Social media offers opportunities for creating brand community platforms and referrals to enhance the firm opportunity.
Expansion of Product Line
The firm can take advantage of the changing consumer preference to develop a strong R&D mechanism to roll out new products and enhance the strategic acquisition. The firm can use point of sale data collection methods like RFID to collect strategic information on the consumer tastes and preferences.
Internationalization
As indicated previously international markets especially in less developed countries offers important growth opportunities that the firm can pursue to increase its total revenues. Currently the firm is popular in North America and expanding especially to the East where new emerging markets are opening up can give the firm the competitive edge.
ThreatsIncreased Price Competition
The popularity of supermarkets enabled them to change the competition dynamics tilting it from strong brands to price differentials. Through use of point of sale technologies these firms were able to tell what appealed to consumers and how they can induce them to change between brands.
Large and Expanding Retailers
Large grocery stores like Wal-Mart controlled the largest share in the market. In 2010, 70 percents of the total sales were accounted for by large retailers like Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger, Ahold USA and Supervalu/Albertson’s. Besides, competition in the industry is also high because some very large manufacturers like Nestle have more dominant brands.
Changing Consumer Preferences
One of the greatest risk factor for firms operating in the food processing industry is change in consumer preferences. Participants in this industry are compelled to keep responding to changes in consumer preferences. This make it relative hard to build strong brand names. This is further compounded by rivals who keep innovating to increase their market share.
Problem AnalysisStrategic Problem
The Challenge faced by JM Smucker is maintaining a competitive edge in rapidly expanding market dominated by huge manufactures. The company relatively smaller size and limited product line is a major competitive disadvantage. Further, this challenge is magnified by the high competition on the bases of price in some local market and changing consumer preferences.
Strategic Alternative & AnalysisCertain strategic solutions do exists that the firm can use to pursue a growth model that enhances its capacity to meet the strategic challenges highlighted above. The first solution is to ensure that the strategic alliance the firm pursues enhances its competitive advantage. According to Ahuja, Lampert, &Tandon one of the ways that a firm can be able to increase or expand innovations is to ensure it has access to external knowledge. This can happen either through having the right networks or alliances. Collaborations in particular can improve firm’s access to technology needed to steer innovations (31). This indicates that acquiring firms that adds the firm technical ingenuity can be one of the solutions to improve the firm expand its product line through innovations. Additionally, the firm must emphasis on its people as they are of strategic importance in creating a competitive edge. In the early 21st century the firm was considered one of the best 100 companies. Wan Ismail, Omar & Bidmeshgipour emphasize that success of a company can be hinged on existence of strategic management of people, based on knowledge, learning organization, and leadership (396).
Besides innovations, the firm can increase its market share through a growth strategy that emphasize on internationalization and localization of the firm. There are numerous opportunities in the food processing industry in Asia, Africa, East Europe and Latin America. The firm should move out of its traditional North American market and venture into these emerging markets. The firm can use joint venture or acquisition strategy to penetrate these new markets. A joint venture can for instance help the firm market its brand very easily in international markets. It can use its huge margins to conduct advertisements on social networks to raise public awareness of the brand. The firm can also make local brands in these international markets to attract huge market shares.
Strategic Recommendation & JustificationHaving looked at alternative solutions to counter the strategic challenges facing J.M Smuckers, my recommendation to the firm executive is to explore new markets internationally. This is because this strategy especially if implemented through forming alliance with in a joint venture approach can lower the risk of penetrating these new markets. Besides, the firm relative size makes it relatively disadvantaged as compared to other huge firms like Nestle and Wal-Mart stores.
Strategic ImplementationThe Major challenges that the firm is likely to encounter in implementing this solution are establishing trustworthy and resourceful partners internationally. However, the firm can use various sources of data to collect information about various firms in the local markets targeted to identify potential partners. Only those firms that are likely to add value to the firm should be picked for the joint ventures. The firm should also not give up its control of decision making process in this arrangement. The firm should start by moving to one region for instance Asia, before rolling out the scheme to other regions. This is to give the firm an opportunity to understand the new market dynamics and the cultural differences challenges. It will also provide management with an opportunity to understand the challenges of joint venture and develop solutions.
Work Cited
Ahuja, Gautam, Lampert, Curba Morris and Tandon, Vivek. Moving Beyond Schumpeter: Management Research on the Determinates of Technological Innovation. The Academy of Management Annals, (2008), 2.1: 1-98. Print.
Wan Ismail, Wan Khairuzzman, Omar, Rosmini, and Bidmeshgipour, Maryam. The Relation of Strategic Human Resource Practices with Firm Performance: Considering the Mediating Role of Resource Based View. Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, (2010) 1.3: 395-420. Print.