Characteristics of the Market Essay Example for Free

Characteristics of the Market Essaya. field marketProcessing the small specialty foods with a broad product line and sales of $ three hundred million per year which a food brokers represent the fellowship to the retail food chains by the network. This confederation more focused on ethnic food specialties which including salad dressings, sauces for Italian pasta and condiments such as specialties pickles.b. Two plants produced productOne in the Central Valley of California at Fresno and the other in Illinois south of Chicago which they buy the ingredients from other foods suppliers to avoid the peak seasonal characteristics encountered by food packers. The gild production has take place in bear-sized quantities to maintain low production costs and discipline consistent product quality.c. Generally order on small quantityCompany has ordered from supplier amounting to five to six cases per order only or about 150 to 200 pounds at a time.d. Poor giveyHowever, customers have commented that the company have a poor delivery services because of umteen of ingredients are shipped over long distances and it has depending on the season.e. Two major department managementThis is include the market and Sales and besides has Production department and several staff units for personnel, purchasing and finance. Both of departments are creditworthy for marketing the product lines such promotion, product inventory at the semipublic warehouses, providing sales support and also merchandising. There is also a national sales manager who responsibility for maintaining contact with food brokers, organise public warehouses and arrange for delivery1) Case Summary (Whats the issue?) panorama Foods Corporation (hereafter opinion) is a still-growing, nationwide foods organization that is widely known for its high quality products. With $300 million sales each year, the firm has been relatively successful so far, gaining good reputation and arousing much interest of the pub lic through its brokers and local retailers. However, as the company prospers and customers demand more, Horizon foresees a coming crisis. The distribution issue, which the company has faced for a while, is now causing stock-outs, and increasing competition in the market is threatening the companys market share. Authorities involved fail to scrutinize the issue and its cause, and they are eager to peck each other for the problems. The division of labor between two major departments Marketing and Sales, and Production seems to train a complete rearrangement for a more efficient process.Horizon should also analyze its current sword positioning in the market and rework its strategies if needed. 2) Q1. What are the characteristics of the market served by the Horizon Foods Corporation? Horizon is a specialty foods processor. It has served a national market composed of food brokers who represent retail cut in chains. The food brokers make orders to Horizon. Generally, the orders are small. The production is done in two different plants thanks to the ingredients from few food suppliers.The plants are located in agricultural areas to reduce the cost of transportation. Moreover, Horizon produces in large quantities, and the food produced is very good in quality. The production is dispatched to several public warehouses. Then, these warehouses use contract carriers to deliver the products to the customers. Because of the small orders, the transportation cost to retail stores can be high. The market is very competitive since many another(prenominal) of Horizons food competitors also offer a complete production line