Question

Pick one strategic imperative that separates Whole Foods from its competitors. Draw a partial activity map for Whole Foods; post it and address the following questions:

Define the activities that support it.

Do those activities support each other?

Describe how the activities support each other specifically.

Answer 1

A strategic imperative is defined as a business priority which has the most value as per business plans and objectives. Critical planning and evaluation of alternatives is done to come up with the most single priority of the business firm. The approach has been found to make business organizations have high return on investment, sustainability and growth in long run. Identification of goals, objectives and the best targets of the company are done to have best outcome. Strategic imperative is the priority which is achieved before anything else in any business firm. Let’s evaluate the business imperative in the Whole Market Food Inc. as well as activities which make the strategic imperative stand out. Evaluation of the support factors will be analyzed too. Whole Foods Market, Inc. was founded in the year 1980 and has grown very fast from a single shop to 175 stores. The firm has got employee size of 38,000 in the year 2005. The level of revenues generation is comparatively high, making the firm very unique.

The main strategic imperative focus of the company is customer being placed at the center. The company focuses on customer satisfaction and giving the highest level of returns to the clients of the company. Customer focus is achieved the objectives and goals of the firm. It is very clear that the initial idea of the company was mainly to ensure that customer needs are well met. Originally, the firm was started to ensure that there is provision of services which are beyond normal food supply and retailing. The main focus was to meet the customers’ needs of a very ample place to rest, have quality food, relax and enjoy. The issue of customer is on center focus. Human resource focuses on having 32,000 full time employees and 1,800 part-time workers. Having non-unionized members and “declaration of interdependence” which is focused on production of healthy food for the humanity. Each store is run by its own manager, with recruitment done through rigorous interview process. The objective is to get the best person for the job, hence ensure customer is well catered.

The focus on production of healthy natural foods is another milestone which supports the objective of having customer at the center. The choice of the foods is done in line with what the market desires for. Supply of natural products and organic commodities is the core objective. The company CEO and founder, John Mackey, had the customer on top of the list. With data showing that the company sold over 68% organic foods in 1991, focus on ensuring that the customer needs are met made the company stand out. Focus on Whole Foods such as organic foods and natural commodities shows that there is full support of ensuring that the strategic imperative objective of the company is to meet customer needs.

Allocation of the company resources still shows that the company is fully committed in meeting the customer needs. In the year 2005, the company sales reached $4.7 billion, which translated to close to a fifty of share of all natural foods supplied and sold in the United States, . . The organizational and design of the stores is another way which favors the core objective of the firm. All stores are unique. The uniqueness of the stores is dictated by the prevailing conditions. The environment in which the firm operates makes it have its own way to run its own affairs. The design is mainly made in a way which ensure that the customer needs, demand and personal preferences are met. Attention is given to the customers through research and development of commodities which favor market demands.

The customer focus can be said to be the strategic imperative since is the single focus through which company ensures that there is growth and progress. All other resources such as logistical functions, human resource management system as well as allocation of finances are done in line with customer focus. There is great support from each other department making the company stand tall in global competitive environment.