Case Scenario:
General Mills was founded in 1928, about 87 years ago in Minnesota. "The company markets many well-known North American brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totino's, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, Cheerios, Trix, Cocoa Puffs, and Lucky Charms. Its brand portfolio includes more than 89 other leading U.S. brands and numerous category leaders around the world"(). General Mills now facing a problem; the tasty of consumers are changing quickly nowadays and General Mills used to produce frozen food which cannot satisfied consumers' needs. What customers necessary is food that healthier and fresher. According to meet the consumers' needs, General Mills have to do the innovation and need to change the traditional method of producing foods.
The driving force for General Mills to make changes could be concluded in 3 points. The first and the most significant one is consumers' need recently. With the development of economy, consumers are not only focus on have enough to eat and wear but also started to seeking healthier way to live longer. An article online claims three reasons for not eating frozen foods. "Too Much Fat, Too Few Calories, Supermarket Freezers Are Big Greenhouse Gas Emitters and Waffles Taste Better With Syrup, Not Sewage"(BethB). The main products of General Mills were frozen foods and it is obvious that consumers become no longer accept unhealth frozen foods. Therefore, the announcement by General Mills that the company will remove artificial colors and flavors, the most significant driving force is to satisfied consumers' changing needs. The second one is for catching the changing food industry. General Mills is one of the biggest food company in the industry. Though it is reasonable to consider that General Mills dominants the direction of food industry, but the structure of the market is different. If a company want to win the competition in the market place, it should be aware of how the industry change. General Mills have to do the innovation and consider about the new food industry. Or it will be eliminate from the new market. It is clear that, the new food trend among customers is "Responding to consumer demand, food processors and restaurants are getting rid of artificial flavours and colours, and going natural"(Daniel). Therefore the second driving force for General Mills is to catch the food industry trendy.
The restraining force for General Mills to innovate is clear and simple --- the cost. It is obvious that take off artificial part from its new products, General Mills should spent more compared with its old budget. Like Simond said "They need to make a really, really big wins when they make those big bets, and that's just harder and harder to do." For General Mills, it is harder to make money but easier to spend. New materials and new method to produce will cost much more than before. For example, the reasons to explain why food company spend more money on organic food. "Production costs for organic foods are typically higher because of greater labour inputs per unit of output and because greater diversity of enterprises means economies of scale cannot be achieved"(Fao.org). Advertisements, packages, research and development of new products cost General Mills more, so the restraining force for General Mills is the cost, it should be prepared for loss in the first year it do the change.
Though do the innovation will cost the company more than before or even the company may experience loss in the first year, General Mills needs to change. For attract more customers and standing steady in the market place, it cannot steady the same and keep using its traditional ways to produce and sell products, which will lead the company to the elimination. Therefore the conclusion is General Mills should change.
In this case, I learned 2 things. The first one is a company, or a person should be aware of the changing world. Reading the news, do some searching online and see how this world change. Holding the latest information helps a person getting a better position. The second thing is, when a person want to change but the cost will be too much to bear. Compare which one is more important, changing or cost. If the cost can be offset in the future, than just do the change, because that will lead you to see a bigger and better world.