1) What is your opinion on ANTONIO'S ANSWER to the QUESTIONS below?
ANTONIO'S ANSWER
General Mills target scope is industry wide (broad), while the company's main advantage is product uniqueness. Therefore, General Mills utilizes the differentiation strategy in regards to the Porter's Generic Strategy. The company's top executives are constantly focusing on not just one specific brand or product, they focus on all brands. The company's top executives are placing great efforts to ensure each of the company's brands quality and brands loyalty are constantly improving in order to maintain competitive advantage. General Mills' products are offered to their consumers at considerable competitive prices, but the company main purpose is not to sell its products are lower prices that the competitors. On the other hand, the company is more concerned about product quality, and brand loyalty that keeps customers going back to stores to buy their products instead of other substitute products available at a lower price.
QUESTIONS:
What are General Mills' corporate-level strategies? What generic Porter strategy does the company follow? Are General Mills' strategic choices aligned with the Porter generic strategy you believe the company follows?
2) What is your opinion on MARK'S ANSWER to the QUESTIONS above?
MARK'S ANSWER:
General Mills mostly follows a Cost Leadership Strategy. This is largely because they offer the same basic food products as other major processed food distributors. (General Mills, 2014) This leads to the company targeting a very broad market. (Quick MBA, 2010) General Mills does also deploy Differentiation Strategy as well to set itself apart from the competition. (Quick MBA, 2010) This is demonstrated by its partnerships with smaller companies such as Haagen Dazs and Yoplait used to target smaller base consumer markets. (General Mills, 2010)
With a company so large, General Mills must always be refining their strategy. This includes ways to reduce costs and break into new markets to grow the customer base. (General Mills, 2010) While striving to keep costs low, the company also employs marketing strategies to convince customers that their products are superior to the competition (Differentiation Strategy, (Quick MBA, 2010)). (General Mills, 2010)
General Mills (2014) Putting the consumer first. General Mills 2014 Annual Report. Retrieved from
https://generalmills.com/en/Company/purpose
Quick MBA (2010) Porter's generic strategies. Retrieved from
https://www.quickmba.com/strategy/generic.shtml