Kiddyum Venture Into The Baby Food Market

Introduction

Kiddyum, being one of the key players in the food industry, is involved in the production of millions of frozen meals. With consistent growth, Kiddyum showed the potential of expanding into the baby food market. One of the key areas of concern includes the efforts of Kiddyum in contributing towards environmental sustainability, and available opportunities for the company. This section of the paper will outline the supply chain management problems and environment sustainability aspects within the business (macro- and micro-) environment of the company. Moreover, it will investigate the company operational management towards it quality management highlight the need for market research and analysis. Lastly, it examines the key factors that drive the company that include performance objectives and subsequently role in its expansion objective locally and internationally.

Supply Chain Management Issues

Supply chain management is regarded as the management of flow of both goods and services. It involves movement as well as storage of the work-in-process inventory and raw materials among other things (Slack et al., 2010; Ferdows, and De Meyer, 1990; Van Weele, 2010). Kiddyum seemingly walked the same path of supply chain management and relevant issues. The small company won a contract from the established Sainsbury, which is popular for being the big supermarket chain in Britain. However, the success of winning a contract might have invited more problems regarding operations management. In the event that Kiddyum signs the first Sainsbury contract in managing the operations, it is likely to face several issues that include lack of skills in managing the contract, quality failure, reduced morale among employees, supplier collusion and the loss of the corporate memory (Slack et al., 2010). While Kiddyum’s management may lack the necessary skills to control the influence of Sainsbury, it is important that Kiddyum should strike a benchmarking deal that offers the on-job training on the contract lifecycle management.

The lifecycle provides compliant contract management remedy, which facilitates streamlined, standardized, and automated contracts that run from initiation, negotiation, creation, execution to renewals and expiration. Secondly, the support offered from Sainsbury might make Kiddyum to encounter quality failure due to lack of close supervision. This means that Sainsbury can tamper with the supply chain thereby impact the quality of the products supplied in the market. However, Kiddyum can solve quality issues by considering frequent quality audit, which can possibly tap into non-conformities across the processes (Holweg, 2007; Ferdows, and De Meyer, 1990). As illustrated by Christopher (2000) and Monczka et al. (2015), the audit helps in taking note of the deviations and loopholes across quality management. Another area of concern is supplier collusion where Sainsbury may have its own preference, which is different from the one selected by Kiddyum. In this case, the enterprise should consistently ensure process traceability where every step is updated from time to time. This means that Kiddyum should keep Sainsbury on check as far as services from other stakeholders, such as suppliers, are put into consideration.

The process will ensure that records are reviewed from time to time and activities are planned before they take place (Womack, Jones, and Roos, 1990). Moreover, the issue of employee morale is essentially determined by the kind or type of the management in place (Deloitte. 2014; Green et al., 2012). While employees are used to Kiddyum’s management, the contract is likely to bring changes in the operations management. Additionally, the organization should foster a collaborative management with Sainsbury which maintains the impact of the former across operations management (Ohno, 1988). In addition, it should train its employees on maintaining positive attitudes and self-discipline. The training program can be agreed upon by Kiddyum and Sainsbury while sharing the goals and team spirit.

Environmental sustainability

Environmental sustainability can be defined as the responsible interaction with the immediate surroundings as a measure to avoid degradation or depletion of the natural resources. According to Gold et al. (2010), this is normally done to enhance the long-term environmental quality. The entire practices that involve environmental sustainability focuses on ensuring that people’s needs are met without tampering with the capability of the environment in catering for future generations (Carter, and Liane Easton, 2011). Therefore, as pointed by Golicic and Smith (2013) the essence of environmental sustainability has attracted key attention from various industries in the world. One of the key industries that should pay attention towards sustainability is the food industry. A check on the diet by adding no sugar and low salt forms one area that concerns the health of the people and their wellbeing as well.

However, this area has rarely been addressed from the sustainable point of view, and therefore attracts less attention. It is worth noting that the manufacturing model of Kiddyum is expected to incorporate measures that address the issue of environmental sustainability. First, the model should incorporate digital transformation within the supply chain, which boosts the organizational relations with other stakeholders (Gravier, 2016). The digital transformation means a perfect system put in place for solid waste management and show absolute measures that address the issue of waste control (Holweg, 2007; Beske et al., 2014). Kiddyum is a food-based firm and it is likely to be faced by issues of food waste as a result of poor storage or keeping certain foods for a long period of time. Therefore, the firm should focus on a waste management system that has the capacity of recovering value components, or minimize the waste produced.

Essentially, waste minimization can be achieved through good manufacturing and processing methods, which call for best equipment design. On the other hand, food waste streams can further be used in generating energy, which is a process that enhances sustainability (Papar et al., 2014; Murthy, and Naidu, 2012). The waste-to-energy transition can be regarded as a recycling process that can work on the proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates to produce energy. In addition, Kiddyum can also pay attention to energy consumption, which seems to affect the environment as a result of high energy demands. Extreme energy use is likely to impact the environment through the greenhouse gas emissions, which is an area that challenges the food processing sector (Tomei, and Helliwell, 2016; Loring et al., 2016). Therefore, the food industry should refocus on reducing the energy consumption through good manufacturing practices, energy recovery, recycling systems and optimization and control.

Quality for the outputs of Kiddyum’s operations

The processes incorporated by Kiddyum in the production process informs on the constituencies of the outputs that can be identified during and after establishing the quality criteria. Kiddyum’s case study indicates that the firm is involved in providing the frozen children’s food brand. The output of the process is heavily embraced following a sales increase by 30%. The first element behind the performance includes the relevance, where the outputs are assessed against the needs of the users. In most circumstances, a good that fails to sell in the market is said to be irrelevant and the blame goes to the operations management, which plays a critical role of adjusting the quality of products based on the demand (Baird et al., 2011; Oakland, 2014; Ross, 2017).

However, the idea that Kiddyum’s frozen meals performed well after the launch informs on a well-organized system that resonates with the needs of the customer. While the food category seemed to have performed well, Jayne Hynes still insisted on the virtue of commitment towards production of quality meals. However, an increase of 30% means that Kiddyum still has a gap for improvement and should conduct more market research and analysis. The second element is accuracy, availability and reliability of the outputs. According to Oakland (2014) and Akdeniz et al. (2013), effectiveness and reliability determines whether an item can function in the desirable manner upon demand. Most products would bear the inherent design, operating stress, precision of manufacturer and materials used in developing a product (Page, 2014; Akdeniz et al., 2013). This is the same idea that can be extended to Kiddyum’s outputs and their performance in the market.

Following the interesting performance of the frozen children’s food category indicates that the product is substantially available, reliable, and accurate on the basis of the inputs determined by Kiddyum. However, the idea of partnership adopted by Kiddyum indicates possible chances of being unsure of the future of the product. The consideration of the innovation mile shows that the company is still working on new ideas that are likely to change characteristics of the frozen meals (Roue-MEN, 2018; The Economist, 2017). Another element under consideration revolves around timeliness and punctuality where the output has to be released in a punctual and timely manner. While the time factor appears less evident in the Kiddyum’s case, it still remains a key factor in its subsequent partnerships with other companies. Another area of focus is coherence, flexibility and comparability where outputs are expected to be consistent for them to be compared between countries and regions. The outputs from Kiddyum are comparable to the ones produced by such players like Authentic Food Co. among others. Lastly, accessibility and clarity insist that outputs should be presented in an understandable form, suitable as well as in a convenient manner. The output is expected to be available at least all the times for consumption reasons. Kiddyum perfectly meets the accessibility requirement.

5 performance objectives

There are five key performance objectives which include quality, speed, dependability, flexibility, and cost. Quality can be defined as doing things or adding and features to products or services that can satisfy the demands of the potential customers (Goetsch, and Davis, 2014). On the other hand, speed implies doing things within the convenient period of time and making the product available within the expectations of the customers. As highlighted by Ageron et al. (2012), dependability means performing or doing what it takes to facilitate delivery of products to customers as promised. Essentially, flexibility implies the ability to change while conforming to the dynamics within the operations of a company (Liao et al., 2012; ElMaraghy et al., 2012). Lastly, cost refers to monetary valuation based on the quality of the product.

On the priority list, the leading objective or Kiddyum is quality. Being part of the food industry, meeting the client’s expectations is always the priority even before realizing the value of a service or a good. From the start, Kiddyum moved millions of the frozen meals to its own manufacturing site. The deal would see the company rework on a new deal that would later enable it work on new meals. The growth is remarkable in the sense that quality remains the key tool (Slack, Brandon-Jones, and Johnston, 2013). The second objective on Kiddyum’s priority list is dependability where Kiddyum wants to deliver the promise to its people. Jayne Hynes indicates that the company has also been working hard on innovation as a way of boosting the company’s delivery of the goods. The third item on the priority list is flexibility, where Kiddyum is more concerned to work in line with the market dynamics in such a way the allows it to work a new product and still sell in the same market (Ferdows and De Meyer, 1990). The fourth item on the priority list is speed, which only defines Kiddyum’s lead-time from order to delivery as far as production of the frozen meat and dairy is concerned. Lastly, Kiddyum cares less about the costs involved but would be more attentive when it comes to discounts offered to the clients as one way of containing the competitive pressure.

Operations Impact Of Kiddyum’s Intended International Expansion

Kiddyum realized a growth in sales after launching the products, which prompted the company to think on expanding the business overseas as well as work on the new product development. Jayne Hynes indicated the interest and the importance of development as the key pillars of Kiddyum’s growth. However, in the beginning, the company had shown weaknesses while taking the Sainsbury’s contract and it even raised issues on operation’s management. With such a complaint floated in the beginning, it can be seen that Kiddyum’s effort to hit international expansion is likely to attract operations impact on the normal functions of the company. First, expansion to new markets is likely to affect the operating model as Kiddyum needs to reorganize the supply chain due to distances, which can lead to difficult conditions (Gollnhofer, and Turkina, 2015; Teece, 2010). The adjustment of the supply chain can also reduce the resources pumped into the main business, which can render it less functional.

However, international expansion can be advantageous in terms of availing the insights of a new market to Kiddyum’s main business. The second impact would be felt on the people specially where staffing requirements is heavily needed. It will have to explore avenues were to get the labour force. Building from Rugman et al. (2011) assertion, the process can be expensive and can ruin the stability of the home business if Kiddyum fails to observe key investment measures. While the company is likely to have enough workers to be shifted in the new markets, local workers cannot be avoided given that they play the key role of providing the insights of the local market. Therefore, Kiddyum is expected to manage various risks attached to international expansion including technological failure, supplier constraints, human interference, customer lobby activities, and organizational instability. These are key areas that can lead to business failure in case they occur.

Part B Business project and process plan
Overview of operations

The most fast moving fashion in London is the high street fashion with various outlets benefiting from a large pool of clients living in London and its outskirts. Harvey Nichols is one of the outlets founded in 1831 and it has a history of running a luxurious British department store that deals with fashion collections both for men and women (Slack et al., 2010; Ferdows, and De Meyer, 1990). Key operations at Harvey Nichols include coming up with the latest fashion needed in the market through an omni-channel supply chain. As highlighted by Slack et al. (2010), the chain makes use of a central stock pool that controls the price, sales, stock management, and fulfilment. Harvey Nichols largely runs omni-channel retailing in delivering the customer experience. The success of the fashion outlet can be grounded on the seamless experience with the central stock pool playing the key role of fulfilling orders paced by clients.

Process map of the service operation

Harvey Nichols has mostly been thought to revive shopping fun as far as fashion is concerned. The key component that makes the outlet work is the in-store experience while working around with data connected to customers. However, the view of service delivery largely depends on the customer’s perspective (Shaw and Koumbis, 2017). First, the customer is issued with a brochure or opts for window shopping. However, a brochure at Harvey Nichols provides a guide towards decision making. Secondly, customer reads through the brochure before taking an order. The system should check whether the product is available or not before the order is validated or not. After validation, the product can either be delivered to the customer or not. Below is a map for Harvey Nichols as customers are either served from the store or through online ordering system.

For Harvey Nichols to remain competitive in the market, it has to ensure that customer expectations are in line with customer perception of a product or service. Besides, the outlet has to ensure that customer perceptions are above customer expectation. This leads to evaluation of the service attributes, which includes performance as made through my observations (Singh, 2017). The latter indicates that the product should meet the intended purpose. On the basis of the performance of Harvey Nichols, the company is said to have witnessed a loss of over 8.9 million dollars, which amounts to 6.7 million pounds in 2017 alone (Singh, 2017). Such a loss questions the performance of the products in the market. However, the CEO had earlier indicated that most of the losses were incurred during the transformation process of the Knightsbridge store, which houses the contemporary collections and womenswear international designers. From my observations, I noted the service quality attached to brands delivered by Nichols may not meet the competitive standards of Jigsaw as the UK market keep pushing for a unique experience (Keyte and Locher, 2016). I also felt like same rates go to the aesthetic value of quality of delivery, which also encompasses the interior design of the waiting area and where design is carried out.

An improvement priority

Upon my visits, I realized the Harvey Nichols tried to meet the competitive standards in the market but failed in some areas. However, Harvey Nichols can still take the same path as Jigsaw and hit voluminous profits at the end of the day. As the company works through fashion, it aims at attracting more adult men and women through quality provision. Therefore, the company should consider improvement of behaviour and attitudes as the improvement priority (Slack et al., 2010; Christopher, 2016). I noted that the quality of the human resource determines the quality of the service. Service quality bridges the gap between customer satisfaction as well as service provider. This also means that Harvey Nichols should train its personnel based on the fact that human resource forms the backbone of the company as regards strong growth, improved competitiveness and breaks. On the basis of my observations, the enhancement of the human resource should find the meaningful use of the SMART principle while adopting the convenient criteria towards quality improvement. In addition, Nichols should foster sustainable growth within domestic environment. This provides a healthy competition and retention of the market share as the company strengthens the distribution channels and attracts customers. The idea of supply chain management is also applicable in the course of service quality improvement as the company learns how to manage the product from the source of raw material to the time the product is delivered in the market. While supply chain management appears to be a wide field, I felt like Nichols should learn how to stick towards the limitation of the resources.

High-level plan supported by a Gantt chart

Regarding the problem of attitude and behaviour, as well as the human resource, a high-level plan is recommended to contain the issue. The plan includes setting up a new customer service vision, which is a role to be played by the management (Slack et al., 2010). The business will have to assess the employee and customer needs while evaluating behaviour. After identifying the problems, Nichols will be forced to hire new employees for the business before constructing goals for the customer service. With goals in place, Nichols can easily train the employees on the right skills based on the natural ability towards service delivery. Evaluation and accountability remains part of the process in finding value and impact on service quality as best characters are rewarded. While the progress encounters risks, risk mitigation is the absolute strategy to be used in the course.

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