Strategic Review of Kepak Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Strategic Review of Kepak - Essay Example To analyze the current strategies followed by the firm internal business analysis has been done by using TOWS Matrix which analysis the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the organization to produce accurate and strategic solutions and approaches for a better business outcome. Table of Contents Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Industry Analysis 4 PESTLE Analysis 4 Porter’s Five Forces 5 Success Factors Driving Beef Industry 6 Company Analysis 7 Competitive Stance 7 Differentiation 7 Positioning 7 Value Chain Analysis 7 Strategic resources 8 Critical strategy 9 Introduction Kepak is one of the three largest beef producers in Ireland. Noel Keating founded the company in mid 1960s and is headquartered at Meath, Ireland. The Business divisions are Kepak Convenience Foods (KCF), Kepak Meat Division (KMD), and Agra Trading. Started as a retail butcher’s business, it soon expanded as a wholesale supplier selling beef to the food service sector and other lar ger markets (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011). The company is facing some challenges as well as some significant opportunities due to the changing business and economic environment in Ireland. Industry Analysis A business environment consists of three major components (American Accounting Association, 2013). These are suppliers, competitors and customers. Kepak’s external business can be assessed by using pestle analysis and porters five forces model. PESTLE Analysis Economic The current gross domestic product (GDP) of Ireland is $191.5 billion and the purchasing power parity is $41,700 (CIA, 2013). The agri-food sector is considered as one of the major indigenous manufacturing sector in Ireland (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, n.d.). Around 85% of the food supplies are exported to a large number of countries. Ireland is considered as Europe’s largest net exporter of beef and is well known for producing highest quality beef (Ukfg, n.d.). Almost 1 lak h Irish farmers are involved in cattle rearing and out of these almost 70000 are categorized as specialist beef producers (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011). In the wake of the current economic crisis, the Irish government has identified food and agriculture business as the major sector which will significantly increase the country’s growth in exports and imports. Social 62% of the total population in Ireland lives in urban areas getting access to the most of the daily requirements. The average age of farmers kept on increasing. In 2007, 51% of the family farm holders were above 55 years old and only 7 percent were under 35 years of age (Bell, Mcloughlin and Shelman, 2011). This was because of a significant change in the occupational trends of people, who gradually shifted from agribusiness to other alternatives for a more stable and secure life. Beef consumption in the European market has fallen since 2007 (Bordbia, n.d.).Various reasons accounted for this. Because of the economic crisis the consumers started cutting back their beef purchases and changed to lesser expensive alternatives such as protein supplements and dairy products. Environmental High waste-water discharges, air emissions associated with energy consumption, solid waste and order and a moderate to high