Oscar mayer

Group 1
Rachit
Sarthak Sahni
Shubham Bhardwa
Shweta
Yash Mittal

The Oscar Mayer Story

Founded over 125 years ago by Oscar F. Mayer and his brother, Gottfried.
AnAmerican meatandcold cutproduction company .
Acquired Kraft's Food Group .
Known for its Hot Dogs,Bologna,Bacon,Ham and Lunchables products.
It is also famous for their Wienermobile , which has toured the United
States for over 70 years. The first Wienermobile was created in 1936

timelin
e
1883:
Oscar F. Mayer &
Gottfried Mayer
founded the
company in
Chicago.

1979:
Louis Rich Inc.
was acquired

1936:
WienerMobile
makes its debut.

1971:
Oscar Mayer
Company went
public & was
listed on
Newyork stock
exchange.

1989:
Merger with Kraft
Food, Inc.

Main leads in the

case

Marcus McGraw:

22 years career with Oscar

Mayer Foods
President for the last 4
years.

Mike McTiernan:

Rob Goodman:

Founder of McTiernan
Consulatation Firm.

Category Manager at
Louis Rich

Jim Longstreet:
Jane Morely:
Director of Finance &
Planning.

New member of Direct

Management Team.
Brought into new product hit
rate.

Eric Stanger:
Vice President of Oscar
Mayer brand.

Marcus Mcgraws strategy

Relied on McTiernan Corp. for planning advice and market research for
many years.
Easy vertical chain of command.
Planning the future actions.
Consider every option available and analyzing the reports and memos.

Challenges faced by the

Management

Preference of people for less fat products and that to which are lower in
price.
Demand for the products which are easier to prepare and cook for fastforward pace of our lives.
Increasing demand for white meat and overall fall in the demand of red
meat consumption.
Carefully investing for short-run and long-run profits.

Memo -1
Rob Goodman (Category Manager) Louis Rich- White Meat Product
Line

Suggestions:
Switch to Rich Campaign

Boosting up our brand awareness by heavy advertising.

Emphasis on advantages of white meat over red.

2. Introducing the string of new products.

Memo - 2

Jane Morely (Director of Finance & Planning)

Suggestions:
Healthy and convenient products
Acquisition of small companies
Chicken Rite Inc. Low cal. Chicken salad
Turkey Time Ltd. Readymade frozen Sandwiches
Crabbies, Inc.
Simulated Shell fish products.

Memo - 3

Jim Longstreet (Newest member of Direct Management team)

Suggestions:
Zappetites
Meeting consumer trends of :
The change in trend from sit-down meals to on-the go handheld portable meals.
With the explosive growth of microwave ovens, the associated need of the products that
fit frozen food category.
2. Lunchables
In substitution to the same homemade meals 5 days a week.
Will include sliced lunch meats, cheese & crackers, condiments, and a chocolate treat.

Memo - 4

Eric Stanger (VP of OM Brand)

Suggestions:
Six Urgent Actions
Price cut by 10 cent per package on lead top 3 OM products.
Increase the advertising budget by $25m.
Re-institute the Wienermobile promotional campaign.
Formulate a low fat & salt line.
Focus on rationalizing & capacity utilization in OM brand.
Enliven Oscar Mayer Brand.

Question & answer

QUESTION -1

In the beginning of the case McGraw thinks he has Never encountered such a
complex business challenge as the one he currently faces. By the end of the
case, after he has read the ideas listed in the four memos, McGraw cant
believe he ever thought the investment issue was Going to be hard one.
What changed the presidents perspective? What strategic decision making
process does McGraw pursue?

ANSWER - 1
Marcus McGraw has given his 22 years to Oscar Mayer foods including the last four years as
president of the division. He never encountered such a complex matter. McGraw changed his
perspective soon when he looked into Mike McTiernan note and all the memos. He gradually
brought down all the points and linked all the need full strategies to achieve his goal which
he targeted at the first place. He knew Once a thorough environmental scan is complete,
a plan can be constructed to identify alternatives, establish challenging goals, determine the
optimal marketing mix to attain these goals, and detail implementation. Then Marcus would
create a marketing strategy to create a plan to monitor progress and a set of contingencies if
problems arise in the implementation of the plan.
Marcus McGraw knew very well that the Marketing strategies serve as the fundamental
of marketing plans designed to fill market needs and reach marketing objectives. Plans and
objectives are generally tested for measurable results. Marketing strategies are developed as
multi-year plans, with a tactical plan detailing specific actions to be accomplished in the
current year.

QUESTION - 2
If McGraw chooses a strategic direction that favors only one department,
what negative effects could this have on other departments? How can
McGraw mitigate the damage?

ANSWER:
McGraw truly believed in the solutions provided by his managers were for
the best of the company. He considered them to be his best men on the job.
If Mcgraw would have gone with a single solution then he would have risked
his faith on other managers, so in order to find an optimal solution , he
gathered inputs from all of them and came to an optimal solution.
It would have sent wrong signals about the companys belief in the diversity
of their products and created distrust among the two organizations of the
same parent company.

Question - 3

Oscar mayer is facing many challenges and competition from multi billion
dollar competitors(conagra,sara lee, hormel etc)
STRENGTHS: -

strong financial position

Market Share
more specialized manufacturing and marketing skills
Focus on building value added brands

WEAKNESS
Reduced brand strength
Longevity relative to oscar mayer
These have encouraged the OM division to start devising strategies to
develop healthier red meat products, invest in white meat, create new
convenience products, and innovate in order to differentiate
themselves.
Impact in Investment decision
OM is increasing investment in Research & Development, Advertising
& Promotions and new human resources and acquiring new firm.

Question - 4

Absent any resource constraints, which of the four departmental

directions do you think is the most viable? Which is the second best
strategy? Which is the least viable?

Answer - 4

The most viable strategy is the strategy suggested by Eric stanger ,

vice president of OM brand. Like 10 per cent price cut on top 3 OM
branded items. Increasing the A&P budget by 25 million, enough R&D to
develop low fat and salt line product.
Second most viable alternative is suggested by Rob goodman Louis rich
category manager , he believes that white meat can capture 50 per cent
of market . His folks have put together aggressive plan centered on two
initiatives.
Boosting the brand awareness and trial heaving up their advertising
behind switch to rich campaign.
Introducing the string of new product that r&d has introduced.

The least viable strategy is being suggested by Jim Longstreet in order to

achieve 4 per cent volume growth rate they believed that they need to
come up with 4th category within processed meat that will address
change in consumer lifestyle . he came up with two ideas to offer which
have come out of work of cross functional teams
Zappitities
Lunchables

Question - 5

Given the information in the case, what strategic course do you think the
Division should pursue?

Answer - 5
There are basically 4 lines given
Boosting brand value and increasing advertaising along with the new brand
of bacon and roast turkey and
Taking over other healthier products like chicken rite ,turkey time or crabbies
New products like zappities or lunchables
There are basically 4 lines given
Boosting brand value and increasing advertaising along with the new brand
of bacon and roast turkey and
Taking over other healthier products like chicken rite ,turkey time or crabbies
New products like zappities or lunchables

Question - 6

Which of Jim Longstreets new product ideas is less likely to succeed?

Why?

ANSWER :
The second one or the lunch box idea is the one more likely to fail as the
self-life of bread is low and small treats like chocolate ,cheese or crackers
are not really filling for kids and they are not really healthy in the long run
so moms are not accepting it