"Company culture is not a foosball table. It's not a set of values that hang on a wall. It's not perks and benefits. It's the personality of the company. It's how people feel about working there." - Stacy Zapar
Several years ago, I worked as a management consultant for the operations and strategic approach of a company referred to as PP Food Development company (PFD, not the actual name), which specializes in developing food and beverage products for the Consumer Product Goods (CPG) sector. The company is medium-sized, with about 20 employees, and it outsources manufacturing and supply chain activities. It allocates a substantial yearly budget of $30 million for research and development (R&D) to ensure customer satisfaction with a high degree of probability.
PFD's core competence lies in its skilled team, including food scientists, dietitians, chefs, and quality control experts, enabling advanced R&D to create natural, healthy, and delicious processed food products. Its strategic objective is differentiation, aiming to stand out from competitors by offering products with natural flavors, colours, and preservatives, along with lower sugar and salt content while maintaining taste.
The company maintains a sustainable competitive advantage by achieving economies of scale to reduce costs, allowing it to offer competitively priced products. This advantage is supported by inimitable and non-substitute resources and capabilities. PFD combines a best cost provider strategy with a broad differentiation strategy, delivering quality-value to customers while striving for efficient cost management. It also collaborates with global suppliers for manufacturing and partners with customers like Walmart, Costco, and Whole Foods for effective value chain management.
"Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with a passion." - Brian Chesky
A notable aspect of PFD's culture is the collaborative and enthusiastic bonding among its team of food scientists, chefs, and dietitians. This cultural environment supports creative experimentation and collaborative strategy execution, where every team member's opinion is respected and contributes to accomplishing strategic objectives.
Overall, the company’s success highlights how it utilizes its core competence, strategic differentiation, cost management, and collaborative culture to succeed in the competitive market of food and beverage products.
"The only thing that works is management by values. Find people who are competent and really bright, but more importantly, people who care exactly about the same values as the rest of the team." - Steve Jobs
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