Free Charles Chocolates Essay Sample

Management and organization

Charles Chocolates is a respectable and privately owned chocolate company based in Portland, Maine (Charles Chocolates, 2015). The company is overall managed by the board of directors who makes important decisions on the management of the company such as appointing the CEO of the company and giving him the targets which he must achieve if he/she wants to keep his/her job at the company. However, the manager is given the opportunity to come up with the strategy which will make the company grow and expand or solidify its presences in the market. Therefore, the CEO has to come up with the strategies which are inline with the company’s culture. The strategy must fit the culture of the company which has been passed from one generation to another. On the hand, the strategies must be inline with the interest of all the stakeholders of the company from the janitors to the board of the company. Thus, the CEO must have this in mind when he/he assume the leadership of the company (García-Morales et al., 2012).
The current CEO is faced with the challenge of whether to change the packaging and the image of the Charles chocolate products or not. The company has been operating with the same image and design of the products for decades. Although, the old image appeals to the old generations and some employees, the young generation does not fancy it (Zietsma, 2013). The CEO is also faced with the challenge of expanding the operations of the business to other regions outside Portland areas. The company has been relaying on the company-owned retail stores, local wholesalers, online/phones sale and sandwich heaven to sells its products. However, this has not helped the company to penetrate United State market effectively. There are parts of the United State which have no idea of the existence of the company and its products. Hence, there is need of the company to partner with large chain stores such as the Wal-Mart so as to have a country wide or global reach (Finz, 2012).

Core competencies and competitive analysis

The company has been in operation since 1985 (Zietsma, 2013). This has given the company a wide knowledge on how to deal with the different dynamic of the market and the economy. This experience of over 20 years has increased the company’s competence in producing quality products with a good taste. The company in 2009 received a prestigious award for excellent taste from the Superior Taste Award from Belgium’s Institute for Taste (Zietsma, 2013).
The company faces a serious competition in the market. The competition comes from both the local and international companies. The competition is the premium chocolate segment is based on the product differentiation through packaging, coloring, and shapes. Additionally, the company faces competition in terms price wars, distribution strength and advertisement. Furthermore, other companies such as the Delice Chocolates and Cardon, have established strong regional based with their own retail stores selling their own products directly to the consumers (Zietsma, 2013). These companies have gone a step further to customize the products at their stores to suits the customer’s needs. They also give discounts to consumers who have made a high volume orders. However, Charles Chocolates have encountered this challenges and competition through production of quality products which have cut a niche for the company’s products. Additionally, the company is selling it products at relatively low prices as compared to other chocolate companies such as the Godiva chocolates and Lindts (Zietsma, 2013). The company has also establishes strong royal customers over the years. Therefore, this strong loyal customer base has enabled the company to fight the competition from other firms in the market.

Trends and opportunities

The current trends which chocolate industry in the United State faces comes from the social perspective which is affecting the operations of chocolate companies including the Charles chocolates. Companies are adopting healthy and consumer friendly products and participate in the corporate social responsibility (Zietsma, 2013). The consumers in the market are increasingly emphasizing on the chocolate products which are safe and healthy for human consumptions. Thus, there is growing demand for the company to produce organic chocolate and dark chocolate since it has anti-oxidant properties. Additionally, the consumers and the employees are putting pressure on the company to share its profits with the community through the corporate social responsibilities. The stakeholders want the company to show it cares for the community not just making profit. Moreover, the chocolate companies are now under the great microscope due to the information on force and child labor in part of the West African (Zietsma, 2013). Thus, there is growing demand for the chocolate companies to show they care about the welfare of the communities by engaging in corporate social responsibility and encouraging ethical and legal business. Due to these emerging trends in the market, the chocolate manufacturers are now asking the United State government to allow them to manufacture cheaper version of the chocolate with low content of chocolate (Zietsma, 2013).
On the hand the online business is getting roots in chocolate business (Zietsma, 2013). The opportunities exposed to Charles chocolate are expansion to other regions which the company is yet to make significant impact and capitalization on the tourists. Portland is visited by many tourists from all over the globe (Zietsma, 2013). Thus, the management should take this opportunity and use these tourists to market the firm’s products through out the globe.

Porter's 5 Forces' analysis for the company

The company faces a significant competition in the market since the chocolate market is not restricted or regulated on the new entrant (Magretta, 2013). Thus, the firm faces threats of new entrance from the local and international companies. Any firm can enter the Chocolate market in the United State as long they have all the legal documents and they follow the law. Therefore, the company is not protected from any new entrants in the market or competition. However, the company has been on operation for decades this has made it established strong link with the suppliers. These suppliers make sure the company has all its raw materials in time for productions. There are many suppliers in the market hence the suppliers have no power over the company. Additionally, the company has a strong supply chain which makes sure all its stores are fully stocked especially on Christmas holiday when the sells are high (Zietsma, 2013). The company has no a singular buyer who has a significant influence on the company. The company has a variety of customers from different regions. Unfortunately, the company faces a lot of threat from substitute products which range from low quality chocolate, ice-cream to candy. Therefore, there is great threat of consumers shifting to the substitute products if the company chooses to increases the price of its product beyond consumers’ purchasing power (Magretta, 2013). Furthermore, there is fierce competition in the market from the existing firms both local and international firms (Finz, 2012).

Works Cited

Charlene Zietsma. Charles Chocolates. Richard Ivey, 2013. Web.
Charles Chocolates. "About Charles Chocolates." Charles Chocolates. N.p., 2015. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <http://www.charleschocolates.com/pages/our-story>.
García-Morales, Víctor Jesús, María Magdalena Jiménez-Barrionuevo, and Leopoldo Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez. "Transformational leadership influence on organizational performance through organizational learning and innovation."Journal of Business Research 65.7 (2012): 1040-1050.
Magretta, Joan. Understanding Michael Porter: the essential guide to competition and strategy. Harvard Business Press, 2013.
Stacy Finz. "Dark Days Behind for Charles Chocolates." SFGate. N.p., 2012. Web. 11 Apr. 2015. <http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Dark-days-behind-for-Charles-Chocolates-3994941.php>.