A strategic term paper for California Manufacturing Company

California Manufacturing Company, CMC, a multinational company is both owned by Bestfoods and Ajinomoto Japan. Its core products are salad dressings, bouillon, pasta and peanut bread spreads, under the brands of Lady\u27s Choice, Knorr, Royal and Bestfoods. CMC is the market leader in all these product categories and is now ranked 128 among the top 1,000 corporations. There are three divisions, namely Retail, which mainly serves groceries and supermarkets, Caterplan, which serves hotels and restaurants, and finally, the Export Division. Unilever acquired Bestfoods in June 2000. Although the integration is now starting in the headquarters and some affiliates, there are still no definite plans on how CMC will be integrated with Unilever Philippines. The objective of this term paper is to evaluate the strategies of CMC using the general framework of Wharton\u27s maintaining competitive advantage and other macro issues such as political, social, technological and economical factors affecting the business. This paper was also briefly discuss the merger and acquisition of Bestfoods and Unilever. After analyzing the operations, strategies and implementing framework of CMC, the company can sustain its present competitive advantage by focusing more on the sales growth. This can be achieved through maximizing existing customers, attracting new customers, innovation of products, improving the value delivery system and geographical expansion. The current strategy of CMC on improving cost effectiveness is also recognized and recommended, however. CMC and other Bestfoods Asian affiliates must study thoroughly and seriously the possible convergence of their resources to be able to gain more advantages. This can be done through shared and regional sourcing