Question

how would you recommend that Pillsbury company position itself relative to competitor's?

Answer 1

Pillsbury company in a good position relative to competitor's Due to following:-

The Pillsbury Company is one of the oldest and most recognized firms in American food retailing. From its beginnings in flour milling in the late 1800s, Pillsbury has grown into the leading refrigerated dough brand in the United States, with a product arsenal that includes a variety of biscuits, breadsticks, cookies, pie crusts, crescent rolls, and bread. Pillsbury also manufactures and sells frozen breakfast pastries, frozen pancakes and waffles, and the Jeno's and Totino's brands of frozen pizza products. In 1989, Pillsbury was acquired by Grand Metropolitan plc, a diversified British beverage company. General Mills Inc. became one of the largest food companies in the world after buying Pillsbury for $10.4 billion in 2001.

Pillsbury invested heavily in market research and development during the 1950s and by the end of the decade had broadened beyond baking-related products. The company also continued its vertical integration efforts during the decade, opening milling plants in Canada and increasing its grain storage capacity. The company grew so quickly that by 1963 the Pillsbury name appeared on 127 different products. As the company's marketing and development continued to accelerate throughout the 1950s, so did its interest in a bigger market.

Pillsbury's business boomed during the 1970s, as Spoor solidified Pillsbury's strategy and made several smart purchases. Green Giant and other frozen-food companies gave Pillsbury a much larger share of the food industry and more consistent earnings. Profits in 1976 were divided almost evenly between three groups: consumer foods, agricultural products, and restaurants. By 1984, the agriproducts group had shrunk to only 4 percent and restaurants provided 53 percent.

The agriproducts group had long been run by Fred C. Pillsbury, Charles S. Pillsbury's brother, who developed cattle feeds from mill byproducts before the turn of the century. The division grew to become responsible for the collection, milling, storage, trading, and distribution of grain and feed ingredients. Pillsbury continued to provide about 10 percent of U.S. flour into the 1980s, and the division became one of the largest U.S. purchasers of grains and dry beans.

Consumer foods, the company's largest division, marketed Pillsbury's supermarket products. In addition to its domestic subsidiaries, Pillsbury sold grocery items through H.J. Green and Hammond's in the United Kingdom, Erasco and Jokisch in West Germany, Gringoir/Brossard and Singapour in France and Belgium, and Milani in Venezuela. Pillsbury also owned similar operations in Mexico, Guatemala, Jamaica, and the Philippines. In the United States, Pillsbury's line of refrigerated dough, for products such as pastries and cookies, was distributed by Kraft Foods for many years. These products accounted for about 10 percent of the company's sales.