Overview Of Management

Overview of Management

University of Phoenix

MBA 502: Managing the Business Enterprise

November 28, 2007

Introduction

Founded in 1998 by Kathy Kudler, Kudler Fine Foods (KFF) is an upscale specialty food store located in the San Diego metropolitan area (Kudler Fine Foods, 2007). The company has three locations with each encompassing approximately 16,000 square feet of retail space. Ms. Kudler combines the ease of one-stop shopping with reasonable prices. KFF sells high quality wines, bakery items, meat and seafood, produce, cheese and dairy products while providing customers with the finest in selected foodstuffs, wines and related needs in an unparalleled consumer environment (Kudler Fine Foods, 2007). This paper will illustrate the primary functions and responsibilities of management, explain how technology and the intranet are utilized by Kudler Fine Foods and cite examples of Porter's model.

Discussion

Primary Functions of Management

The primary function of Kudler Fine Foods management is to maintain satisfactory business throughout all three locations. Kudler operates with an administrative and store level management system led by Kathy Kudler who is at the helm of the company. Ms. Kudler's direct reports consist of Harvey Stephens (Director of Finance & Accounting), Yvonne Reynolds (Director of Store Operations), Brenda Wagner (Director of Administration & Human Resources) and a store manager for each of Kudler's three locations. In addition to the direct reports above, each store manager has two assistant managers, four department managers, department assistants, cashiers, baggers, stockers and clerks.

Harvey Stephens, Director of Finance & Accounting, is responsible for planning and directing the finance and accounting activities for KFF. The director coordinates the budget, payroll and basic income statements for the company. Mr. Stephens oversees two accounting clerks and two computer support specialists. The accounting clerks are in charge of the daily accounting functions such as invoicing, audits and general ledger data entry. The computer support specialists are to maintain all the computer functions needed to perform business operations. Yvonne Reynolds, Director of Store Operations, is accountable for managing the operations of three stores including inventory, purchasing and logistics. In addition, Ms. Reynolds monitors the safety of the store, security, facility maintenance and state - federal compliance regulations (Kudler Fine Foods, 2007). Ms. Reynolds administers an inventory and purchasing manager who oversees the purchasing assistant. The inventory manager's tasks are to establish appropriate inventory levels for the three stores, comply and maintain records of quantity, type and value of the inventory. The purchasing manager is responsible for directing and coordinating activities for purchasing and distributing materials, equipment and supplies (Kudler Fine Foods, 2007). Brenda Wagner, Director of Administration & Human Resources, develops policies, directs, coordinates administrative and HR activities such as employment, compensation, labor relations, benefits, training and employee services. Ms. Wagner also oversees the HR and administrative assistants.

Furthermore, each of the three stores have a store manager who manages the retail store, prepares work schedules, assigns employees to specific duties, formulates pricing policies, answers customer complaints and supervises two assistant managers, four department managers, cashiers, baggers, stockers and clerks.

Technology and the Internet Affects on Management

Technology is used throughout all aspects of the Kudler Fine Foods business. Shoppers are transported to a virtual food website where they can click and read a description of Kudler's products, locations and store hours. They have computers to track inventory and time cards. Kudler has an entire staff in charge of the numerous technology components including software, hardware, spreadsheets, word processing and data-base updates. KFF information technology system is comprised of tables ranging from the customer to the tender enabling the company to operate more efficiently.

The customer table contains demographic data on each of Kudler's customers. The data is extrapolated to order processing and special mailings. The inventory table is used to manage inventory and determine the available ingredients for prepared and bakery items. The item and order tables allow KFF to record information on each order and item purchased coupled with the description, quantity and price of each. The supplier table retains data for KFF wholesalers, vendors and other inventory purchases. The tender table is perhaps the most important as this table provides an avenue to record customer purchases via cash or credit card transactions.

Porter's Model

Michael Porter provided a framework that models an industry as being influenced by five forces. The model is often used as an aid to develop an edge over rival firms to better understand the industry context in which the firm operates (QuickMBA.com, 2007). Porter's five major forces are (a) the rivalry among existing firms in the industry, (b) the threat of substitute's products or services, (c) the bargaining power of customers or buyer power, (d) the bargaining power of suppliers, (e) the threat of entry of new competitors (Turban, Rainer & Potter, 2003).

In the traditional economic model, competition among rival firms drives profits to zero. However, competition is not perfect and firms are not passive price takers. Thus, firms strive for a competitive advantage over their rivals (QuickMBA.com, 2007). Kudler Fine Foods is able to achieve this by providing customers with the finest selection of the very best foods and wines while enhancing culinary visions (Kudler Fine Foods, 2007). In Porter's model, substitute products refer to products in other industries. As more substitutes become available, the demand becomes more elastic since customers have more alternatives.