National Cranberry Cooperative (Abridged) : Executive Summary

NATIONAL CRANBERRY COOPERATIVE (ABRIDGED)
Written Analysis of the Case (WAC) Format

I. Executive Summary
The National Cranberry Cooperative was an organization formed and owned by

growers of cranberries to process and market their berries. NCC was one of the largest
organizations and had set-up in all the major developing regions of North America. Being a
leader in the fruit industry, the management of the company is planning to make some changes
in the operations specifically in the process of cranberries. The management believed it was
high time to make necessary changes that in turn will increase the productivity and level of
effectiveness and efficiency in the overall operations of the company.
II. Industry Analysis

Threat of Substitutes
o The hazard of substitute is extremely high in the United States National Cranberry Cooperative
1996 market. The major reason behind the high risk of substitution is due to low switching cost
and there is less differentiation between products. With surplus cranberries and changing
American households some enterprising growers began canning cranberries that were below-
grade for fresh market.
Threat of New Entrants

o Threat for new entrants is a weak competitive force due to excess production capacity and
competition for retail shelf space. In addition to this, due to the health consciousness, the
customers want to buy a popular brand name. The existing players of the marketplace have a
strong brand identity, that makes the strength of the threat of new entry way to be lower.
Rivalry Among Competitors
o It can be analyzed that there is high rivalry among competitors. National Cranberry Cooperative
1996 war in between dominant gamers in the market. The items are truly similar and identical,
the cost is no far different with the cost of NCC as well as includes high advertisement,
promotional activities and uses various techniques in order to grab market share and consumers.
Threat of Buyer Power

o The threat of buyer power is thought about to be moderate to high in the NCC market. Retailers
are the primary buyers for cranberry-based products, but distributors play a major role in
making products available to retailers. Both of these are able to exhibit considerable leverage –
retailers, because of their control of space allocation and placement while distributors, because
of their importance in getting the product to market. The reason behind the high bargaining
power is the existence of various controlling players in the market who offer almost identical
items to the clients.
Threat of Supplier Power

o The power of suppliers is low from one view point and high from the other because NCC’s raw
products come from their own cranberry farm since the organization is formed by the growers
of cranberries to process and market their berries. This disproves the dependency on suppliers
and manufacturers to whom production is to be out-sourced. Hence, National Cranberry
Cooperative is in a comfortable position concerning its competition in relation to suppliers.
III. Problem Statement

The main problem faced by National Cranberry Cooperative (Abridged) is how to
increase the productivity and level of effectiveness and efficiency in the overall operations of
the company. The following are some of the issues identified during the study:
o Extra waiting time for trucks that was entirely a waste of time.
o Amount of overtime costs for workers brought by inefficient workforce scheduling.
o Shortage of rooms for either water-harvested or dry berries before properly processed.
IV. Objectives of the Study

The main objective of this article is to find out the bottleneck of the operations which
leads to reduction on efficiency of operations and aggravated problems in overtime.
It also aims to identify and resolve the most significant challenges or problems that
National Cranberry Cooperative has encountered in its overall business operations. The
following objectives are:
o To determine the result in reducing idle time of the trucks.
o To evaluate the factors affecting the overtime costs and the effect of rescheduling the
process shift time.
o To analyze the decision of adding two new dryers and its impact on the process.
V. Strategic Analysis
The presenters identified strategic alternatives ways for National Cranberry

Cooperative to minimize their expenditures while maximizing their profits. In order to make
improvements in the scheduling, the company needs to take some measures regarding the
delivery time of the trucks along with the number of cranberries that needs to be delivered. To
warrant that the waiting time is decreased, the company needs to make an even and smooth
scheduling by setting a minimum acceptable weight so that quantities of trucks that are required
can be identified which will help reduce the overall waiting time of the process.
As far as the issue of absenteeism and high salary cost is concerned, the company must
do a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether hiring more employees, increasing overtime
rates or paying extra wages will motivate the existing employees or attract new ones. They also
need to find an optimal level which can be implemented during the highest selling months that
in turn will attract more people to work for the company. In this way, the company will be able
to decrease the level of absenteeism to some extent.
As mentioned above, the company is experiencing shortage of rooms for the harvested
berries, thus requiring cost analysis in manufacturing processes and production management is
important, to identify if installing additional dryers would be significant.
VI. Recommendation to Management
The management should make slight modification of the overall process through which
berries enter into the plant, move and then exit. Such as, strengthening the brand name image,
high quality, skin-friendly, eco-friendly, various other modified features and the persuasive
marketing through advertisements. By making such modifications, the company would be able
to decrease the overtime cost that has become very expensive for the company. By making
reductions in the overtime, the company would be able to decrease the overall waiting time for
the trucks supply. Making all these strategies implemented, will help the company to increase
the efficiency of the plant and the process will be done in standard business hours with an
increase in the profitability of the company as a whole. Thus, expanding the business would
be able to enhance its consumer base and would have a new market for its present item, which
would ultimately improve the success and sales of the company and offer a competitive edge
to the company.

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NATIONAL CRANBERRY COOPERATIVE (ABRIDGED)

Written Analysis of the Case (WAC) Format

The National Cranberry Cooperative was an organization formed and owned by

II. Industry Analysis

Threat of New Entrants

Threat of Buyer Power

Threat of Supplier Power

III. Problem Statement

IV. Objectives of the Study

The presenters identified strategic alternatives ways for National Cranberry

VI. Recommendation to Management

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