Characteristics of the Market Essay

a. National marketProcessing the small military strength forages with a broad harvest-festival line and sales of $300 gazillion per year which a food brokers cook up the company to the retail food chains by the network. This company more focused on heathen food specialties which including salad dressings, sauces for Italian pasta and condiments such as specialties pickles.b. two plants produced productOne in the Central Valley of California at Fresno and the otherwise in Illinois south of Chicago which they buy the ingredients from other foods suppliers to avoid the rosiness seasonal characteristics encountered by food packers. The company production has take fundament in large quantities to maintain low production appeals and visualize consistent product quality.c. Generally order on small mensurationCompany has ordered from supplier amounting to five to six cases per order solo or about 150 to 200 pounds at a time.d. shortsighted languageHowever, customers have comm ented that the company have a poor delivery services because of umpteen of ingredients be shipped over long distances and it has depending on the season.e. Two major department managementThis is include the Marketing and Sales and likewise has Production department and several(prenominal) staff units for personnel, purchasing and finance. Both of departments are responsible for marketing the product lines such promotion, product inventory at the public warehouses, providing sales support and similarly merchandising. There is also a national sales manager who responsibility for maintaining contact with food brokers, organise public warehouses and arrange for delivery1) Case Summary (Whats the distinguish?)Horizon Foods Corporation (hereafter Horizon) is a still-growing, nationwide foods organization that is widely known for its high quality products. With $300 million sales separately year, the firm has been relatively successful so far, gaining good reputation and arousing a lot interest of the public through its brokers and local retailers. However, as the company prospers and customers prerequisite more, Horizon foresees a coming crisis. The distribution issue, which the company has faced for a while, is now causing stock-outs, and increasing competition in the market is with child(p) the companys market share. Authorities involved fail to size up the issue and its cause, and they are eager to blame each other for the problems. The fraction of labor between two major departments Marketing and Sales, and Production seems to invite a fetch up rearrangement for a more efficient process.Horizon should also analyze its current brand positioning in the market and rework its strategies if needed. 2) Q1. What are the characteristics of the market served by the Horizon Foods Corporation? Horizon is a specialty foods processor. It has served a national market composed of food brokers who represent retail store chains. The food brokers make orders to Horizon. Generally, the orders are small. The production is through with(p) in two different plants thanks to the ingredients from some food suppliers.The plants are located in agricultural areas to reduce the cost of transportation. Moreover, Horizon produces in large quantities, and the food produced is very good in quality. The production is dispatched to several public warehouses. Then, these warehouses use contract carriers to deliver the products to the customers. Because of the small orders, the transportation cost to retail stores can be high. The market is very competitive since many of Horizons food competitors also offer a complete production line