Will Keith Kellogg and his brother John Harvey Kellogg, both staunch seventh day Adventist adherents founded the Kellogg’s cereal company on February 19th the year 1906(Kellogg Company Funding n.p).The company was initially called Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company as it was founded in Battle Creek Michigan. The company was renamed to Kellogg Company in 1922.Presently it is referred to as Kellogg’s (Kellogg Company Funding n.p.). The company initially marketed their product as Kellogg’s Toasted Corn Flakes, a product that was well accepted in the market in those days. The company is headquartered in Battle Creek Michigan and in Trafford Park Manchester in the UK (“Global brand local values” n.p.). As a result of the great depression, the Kellogg Company to accommodate more workers changed its working hours from 40 to 30 hours. This way they could employ extra staff. This was under the stewardship of Will Keith Kellogg. The company would maintain this trend through World War II and some of its departments kept up with the practise upto the1980’s (Kaplan n.p.).

Corporate Strategy

Kellogg’s is credited with influencing the breakfast practices of most of the world especially so the developed world. Through various strategic acquisitions over the years, the company has set itself up as a food manufacturing giant with a foot print in all of the world’s major markets. Its various acquisitions include Salada foods, Fearn International, Mrs. Smiths's pies, Ego as well as pure packed foods in between 1969 and 1977 (Kellogg company Funding n.p.).The company did have a quiet period when its expansion strategy seemed to have gone out of track compared to competitors such as Quaker Oats and General Mills. Its market share went down to a low of 36.7 percent by the year 1983, but after it was criticized for not keeping up with the times it came up with a whole new market share not exploited by any of the players in the cereal business before. Under the steward ship of its then chairman William E. LMothe, it chose to market its products to an older demographic starting with the 80 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964.The company marketed cereal as being a health breakfast alternative therefore moving the masses aged between 25 and 49 to the cereals bandwagon with a 26 percent rise in people eating cereals compared to five years earlier. By 1983 the US cereal market had expanded to about US. $3.7 billion in 1973, and totaled to $5.4 billion in 1988(Patricia n.p.). Keebler was the biggest acquisition that the Kellogg’s company has ever made. This company is the second biggest maker of cookies and cracker snacks. This was one of their biggest diversification moves. Other acquisitions made in subsequent years include Morning star farms and Kashi divisions, Bear naked, Natural touch, cheez-it, Murray, Austin cookies and crackers, Garden burger Famous Amos and Plantation brands (Patricia n.p.). In a cash deal valued at US. $2.7 billion, Kellogg's acquired Pringles potato crisps from Procter and gamble. This strategic move made the company only second to Pepsi in the snack food industry the world over("Kellogg to buy Pringles.." Reuters.com).

All the various acquisitions over the years seem to have paid off well for Kellogg’s. Presently, the company is listed on the NYSE with the letter ‘K’ denoting its presence. Kellogg’s now controls about 40 percent of the breakfast cereals market in the world. Presently it is located in 19 countries worldwide and it has set up about 40 plants in these nations with the biggest of this plants being in Trafford Park Manchester, UK. Kellogg’s products are sold in 180 nations around the world (Kellog.com n.p.).

In the year 2007, Kellogg was ranked as the largest manufacturer of cereal products. The company's share price by 8th July 2015 stood at 63.69-044(0.69%). Its revenue stood at US$ 14. 59 Billion in the last fiscal year . As per the last fiscal year, it had a market value of US. $23.5 Billion as of 5th May, 2015. Investors as of the year 2014 got a return on investment of 10 percent of money invested. Profit as percentage of stockholder equity stood at 22 percent the company has 29,790 employees worldwide. The present CEO of the company is one John A. Bryant and the company has appeared consistently on the Fortune 500 group of top companies for a record 21 years.

Mission, vision, values

Kellogg’s mission statement and vision go hand in hand with their main objectives; The company's mission statement says that “Kellogg is a global company committed to building long – term Growth in volume and profit and to enhance its worldwide leadership position by providing nutritious food products of superior value" From this mission statement it is clear the company main focus is being a world leader with ambitious expansion goals that tie in with their bottom-line goals of profit. The mission statement clearly explains how to achieve this ambitions and this is through supplying value products unrivalled in value to their customers. As regards the vision statement of the company it reads like a slogan’

“To be the food company of choice’ Here Kellogg’s seems to have set out a goal for them and this is to be the customers go to company for their cereal food needs.

Stakeholders

The stake holders of the Kellogg Company comprise of those people that own share stock in the company and this are internal stakeholders. The board of directors also makes up stakeholders in the company as well as the employees of the company who according to the company’s website stood at 29,790 by 2014. External stake holders of the food company include the governments of the nations it operates in. The governments are considered stakeholders as they must follow laws set down in these countries that are set out for various businesses. As well, the environment is a stakeholder in the company’s decisions eventually affects its immediate environment which comprises employees, communities living near their plants, offices, distributors and the end consumers of their products.

Situation Analysis

This section explores the context and background of the problem solving situation for your chosen company, and it should start on a new page after the Executive Summary. This is the only section that starts on a new page! This is where you attempt to understand the organization’s goals, mission/vision and key stakeholders, and it will guide the rest of your problem-solving activity. This is where you should include financial background information, a competitive overview and a SWOT analysis. Create relevant charts and graphs that will give the reader a concise, yet complete, picture of what happening with the company at this point in time. This section should leverage from Homework Assignment #1, and might even be an edited and revised version of that assignment.

This section should be at least a page or two and could be longer. The rest of this text is just filler and does not reflect actual length. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nam et ante non nisi gravida hendrerit. Suspendisse potenti. Aliquam lacinia purus ac sem. Vestibulum lectus justo, cursus ac, dictum et, vehicula ut, augue. Aenean metus diam, suscipit sit amet, vestibulum nec, congue vel, augue. Mauris nonummy purus sit amet elit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean egestas condimentum risus. Integer nec dui. Etiam eu lectus. Morbi vel elit non erat auctor convallis. Praesent tempus varius neque. Sed enim ligula, tincidunt auctor, pharetra ac, convallis non, orci. Suspendisse potenti. Cras erat. In ultricies consequat lacus. Aenean ipsum tortor, dignissim eget, pretium id, ultricies non, lectus. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Curabitur aliquet. Vestibulum nec quam.

Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Donec semper, risus ut consequat egestas, sapien sem sodales augue, in blandit magna massa vel tortor. Aliquam erat volutpat. Pellentesque quis nisi eget urna condimentum egestas. Vestibulum justo lacus, varius sed, placerat vitae, placerat quis, pede. Praesent molestie interdum pede. Fusce semper posuere lectus. Nam vel metus nec risus accumsan semper. Curabitur a nibh. Cras quam. Morbi eu ante tincidunt lectus lacinia bibendum. Nullam justo ipsum, fermentum vitae, semper vel, blandit ut, quam. Fusce mauris mauris, venenatis pretium, interdum eu, imperdiet sed, elit. Phasellus hendrerit. Phasellus blandit volutpat felis. Donec sit amet nulla at erat ullamcorper volutpat. Suspendisse massa lacus, egestas vitae, ullamcorper sed, luctus id, est. Maecenas blandit, neque in varius varius, purus dui tempus dolor, nec elementum sem dui egestas tortor. Sed pretium ultricies nibh.

Problem Analysis & Description

Use this section to explore the critical issues facing the organization and ultimately define and describe a problem that will be your focus for the remainder of the paper. In other words, you will solve the problem identified and described in this section in the following sections of the paper. Gather additional data to support issues identified in the Situation Analysis, analyze that data, identify key symptoms, prioritize thesesymptoms and find connections and relationships between them, if any. Symptoms are the indicators of the ultimate problem. They are the "gaps" talked about in class. Provide a clear, focused problem description by the end of the section. Be specific. Include numbers, if you can. Back it up with data gathered during your research. Use some root cause analysis to ensure that you aren’t mistaking symptoms for causes. Refer back to the Situation Analysis section and note any new stakeholders and any conflicts with the corporation’s mission and vision. As I finish reading this section, I should have a clear idea of the problem you are solving throughout the rest of the paper. If there is no single cause for your problem, list the range of possible causes.

The rest of this text is just filler and does not reflect actual length. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Nam et ante non nisi gravida hendrerit. Suspendisse potenti. Aliquam lacinia purus ac sem. Vestibulum lectus justo, cursus ac, dictum et, vehicula ut, augue. Aenean metus diam, suscipit sit amet, vestibulum nec, congue vel, augue. Mauris nonummy purus sit amet elit. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean egestas condimentum risus. Integer nec dui. Etiam eu lectus. Morbi vel elit non erat auctor convallis. Praesent tempus varius neque. Sed enim ligula, tincidunt auctor, pharetra ac, convallis non, orci. Suspendisse potenti. Cras erat. In ultricies consequat lacus. Aenean ipsum tortor, dignissim eget, pretium id, ultricies non, lectus. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Curabitur aliquet. Vestibulum nec quam.

Solutions, Evaluation & Recommendation

Based on the problem described in the previous section, develop at least three possible solutions and describe them in as much detail as possible given the constraints of the paper. This is the decision-making part of the paper. Use some of the tools from class to evaluate the solutions and make an informed recommendation. A weighted criteria decision matrix is a great tool to use in this part of the paper. Use a Cost/Benefit Analysis as part of your decision-making, either comparing the net benefits of the various options, or to show the Net Benefit of your final recommendation. By the end of this section you should make a clear choice, and present a strong case for why you made that choice. Convince the reader. Present a basic ethical screen of your recommendation as discussed in class.

Implementation Plan

To the extent possible, prepare a brief discussion of how your solution can be implemented. Describe the steps that will be required to put your solution into effect. If you are able to define the steps with sufficient clarity, you can also include a timeline and budget for the implementation.

Success Metrics

Develop a set of measures that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of your solution in delivering proposed benefits. Discuss when, how often, and how the solution should be evaluated.

Bibliography

Note: You should have at least ten different sources.Use MLA style guidelines. Here are some sample sources for format guidelines only.

"2011 Annual Report." Halliburton Corporate Website. 6 June 2011. Halliburton Company. Web. 12 July 2012. <http://ir.halliburton.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=67605&p=irol-reportsAnnual>

"Energy: The Pros and Cons of Shale Gas Drilling." CBS News 14 Nov 2010. CBS. New York. Web. 12 July 2012. <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/11/12/60minutes/main7048737.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;videoMetaInfo>

"Halliburton Company SWOT Analysis." DATAMONITOR: Halliburton Company (2011): 1-9. Business Source Premier. EBSCOHost. PSU Library. Web. 12 July 2012.

"Halliburton Provides Operational Update." Halliburton Corporate Website. 6 June 2012. Halliburton Company. Web. 12 July 2012. <http://ir.halliburton.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=67605&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1703165&highlight=>

Johnson, Jeff. "Poor Management Led To BP Spill." Chemical & Engineering News 89.9 (2011): 11. Business Source Premier. EBSCOHost. PSU Library. Web. 12 July 2012.

Nakashima, Ellen. "KBR Connected To Alleged Fraud, Pentagon Auditor Says." The Washington Post 5 May 2009. Web. 12 July 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/04/AR2009050403283_pf.html>

Appendix

If you have arguments or data that are needed to support your recommendations, but are too lengthy to include within the body of your report, include one or more appendices. If you use appendices, you must reference them in the body of your report.