Kudler Marketing
Kathy Kudler was employed as a VP of Marketing for a defense contractor but she had an itch inside to change careers in order to slow her life down. Her passion for gourmet cooking led her to seek a business opportunity an upscale epicurean food shop. In 1998 now Owner/President Kathy Kudler opened the first of what is now a three store chain of specialty food store with a focus on providing the consumer with superior domestic and imported foodstuffs, wines, and supplies. Kudler Fine Foods has experienced rapid growth and is looking to further expand to four stores if the opportunity arises. Kudler Fine Foods has a strong organizational structure in place which has allowed them the potential for such growth. This paper will look at the primary functions of management at Kudler and determine who responsible for those functions. Further, a brief explanation of how technology and the internet are utilized by Kudler will be given including, how these two entities affect the success of the Kudler management team. Finally, this paper will look at Porter’s Model and give an example from Kudler Fine Foods for each of Porter’s Five Forces.
The primary functions of management at Kudler Fine Foods are planning and strategizing, organizing, leading, and controlling (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002). Kudler Fine Foods aim is effectively to meet its Mission Statement of providing the customer with the finest food along with a quality, experienced, and knowledgeable staff to better benefit the consumer. The organizational chart for Kudler Fine Foods shows Owner/President - Kathy Kudler at the top and all other management positions answers to her. Answering directly to Ms. Kudler are the three store managers and her administrative assistant. Further, Ms. Kudler's leadership team consists of the Director of Finance and Accounting – Harvey Stephens, the Director of Store Operations – Yvonne Reynolds, and the Director of Administration & Human Resources – Brenda...
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