Whitewave Foods Case

2) Company Vision and Mission

As a newly independent company, The WhiteWave Foods Company does not have all the trappings of a traditional, more-established firm. In that vein, it does not call out a vision or mission statement on its website. It does, however, reference the same forward-looking statement multiple times, to answer the question “Why we matter?”: “We want to change the way the world eats for the better” ("WhiteWave Foods," 2015). Likewise, the website and the boilerplate statement on its press releases consistently state that, “WhiteWave is focused on providing consumers with innovative, great-tasting food and beverage choices that meet their increasing desires for nutritious, flavorful, convenient, and responsibly-produced products”

To start, WhiteWave’s individual business units follow a focused differentiation business-level strategy, which is not without its risks. The dangers of this strategy include competitors, who are able to hyper-focus on the target segment, larger competitors (i.e. Kraft, General Mills and Danone) that find it attractive to enter the niche market and the expansion of the needs of narrow market to become more similar to those of the broader market. In addition, WhiteWave has a reliance on the business acumen of Engles to select companies for acquisition and turn them from question marks to rising stars. Should Engles defect to another company, or simply choose to retire, it could be difficult to WhiteWave to continue to grow through acquisition. With a weak cash flow compared to its competition, WhiteWave needs to experience steady growth, as any slowdown could hamper its ability to meet its debt

The capability of information gathering with media marketing can help White Wave Foods drive product innovation and focus their resources on areas with greater potential. For example, the growing baby boomer and Hispanic-American populations hint at promising direction for targeted marketing. With feedback from these consumer groups, White Wave Foods can position itself to capitalize on products developed specifically for these groups.

Potential drawbacks in the industry include increasing retailer demand for private label products. When retailers push store brands and private label products, the shelf space and profitability for manufacturer products decreases. This could be seen as a considerable threat to White Wave operations. Additionally, increasing costs of raw materials, like milk and cheese products, negatively impacts profitability of a company like White Wave Foods, whose major product segments are developed through the use of these raw