Hershey - Company profile and Management Principles

The Hershey Company, known until April 2005 as the Hershey Foods Corporation and commonly called Hershey's, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America.Its headquarters are in Hershey, Pennsylvania, which is also home to Hershey's Chocolate World.

History :

It was founded by Milton S. Hershey in 1894 as the Hershey Chocolate Company, a subsidiary of his Lancaster Caramel Company. Hershey's products are sold in about sixty countries worldwide. Hershey is one of the oldest chocolate companies in the United States, and an American icon for its chocolate bar. It is one of a group of companies established by Milton Hershey. Other Milton Hershey-established companies include Hershey Trust Company, and Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company, which runs Hersheypark, a chocolate-themed amusement park, the Hershey Bears minor professional hockey team, Hersheypark Stadium and the GIANT Center. Most of the employees for the factory come from the surrounding counties, towns, and boroughs, such as Lebanon County, Hummelstown, South Hanover, and Harrisburg.

Milestones:

1893 visits World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and learns about chocolate machinery

1894 aware of the growing demand for chocolate, he started the Hershey Chocolate Company.

1900 sells his caramel company for $1 million, and devotes his attention to making chocolate.

1900 Hershey introduces the original HERSHEY’S milk chocolate bar.

1905 Hershey introduces the HERSHEY'S kiss

1908 Hershey introduces HERSHEY’S milk chocolate with almonds bar.

1971 Hershey introduces HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK chocolate bar.

1980 Hershey introduces Big Block/King Size versions of HERSHEY’S chocolate bars

1980 Hershey introduces HERSHEY’S SPECIAL DARK chocolate bars.

1994 Hershey introduces HERSHEY’S COOKIES ‘N’ CRÈME bar.

2004 Hershey introduces Limited Edition bars in HERSHEY’S white chocolate with almonds

Products :

Mission and Values :

Mission - Undisputed Marketplace Leadership
Vision - Great People Building Great Brands

Market share of products -

Market value (3/25/2011) 12,356.1 $ millions
Hershey Foods has 42.5% of the US chocolate market.Hershey sells products in 50 countries under 60 brand names including, Hershey's, Reese's, and Kisses In 2010, the company's net revenues were $5.67 billion with net income of $510 million. Additionally, Hershey maintains the right to manufacture and sell competitors' products, such as Kit-Kat bars, through licensing agreements with foreign Nestle (NSRGY) and the former Cadbury Schweppes (now part of Kraft Foods (KFT)).

Capacity of products -
Hershey's Production capacity
•       33 million Hershey’s kisses per day
•       Total production capacity stands at 12 billion per year

Manufacturing plants -
The first plant outside Hershey, Pennsylvania opened on June 15, 1963 in Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada and the third opened on May 22, 1965 in Oakdale, California.In February and April 2007 Hershey's announced that their Smiths Falls and Oakdale plants would close in 2008, being replaced in part by a new facility in Monterrey, Mexico. The Oakdale factory closed on February 1, 2008.Hershey chocolate factory in São Roque, Brazil was opened in August 2002.
Hershey also has plants in Stuarts Draft, Virginia; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Hazleton, Pennsylvania; Memphis, Tennessee; Robinson, Illinois and Guadalajara, Mexico.
Visitors to Hershey, Pennsylvania can experience Hershey's Chocolate World visitors center and its simulated tour ride. Public tours were once operated in the Pennsylvania and California factories, which ended in Pennsylvania in 1973 as soon as Hershey's Chocolate World opened, and later in California following the September 11, 2001 attacks, due to security concerns.

Key People –

Chief Executive Officer

John P. Bilbrey

President and Chief Executive Officer

Global Leadership Team

Humberto P. Alfonso	Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer
Michele G. Buck	Senior Vice President, Chief Growth Officer
Thaddeus J. Jastrzebski	Senior Vice President, President, Americas
Terence L. O'Day	Senior Vice President, Global Operations
Peter F. Smit	Senior Vice President, President, Asia, Middle East & Africa
Burton H. Snyder	Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
E. Daniel Vucovich, Jr.	Senior Vice President, President, United States
Kevin R. Walling	Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer
D. Michael Wege	Senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer

Future plans –

The Future plans include ongoing updates to support process changes and to take advantage of enhanced functionality in each new AR System release.The IS
staff is expanding its use of root cause analysis to pin-point the causes of recurring problems and take action to eliminate them.The staff also plans to extend the service request application to provide a single point for requesting all IS services. Finally,
Hershey Foods is beginning to roll out Remedy-based applications outside of IS.

On January 30, Hershey announced plans to put $10 million towards solving child labor problems on West African cocoa farms by 2017. The money should also help farmers access educational programs and improve their cocoa yield.

SWOT Analysis –

Strengths :

-         Extensive Global Market Base;Spread across more than 60 countries

-         Largest Distribution Network across North American territory

-         Enjoys government support and has major role in policy-making

Weaknesses :

-         Criticism for changes in chocolate making processes as part of cost-cutting.

-         Lead time for Operations much greater than its competitors.

Opportunities :

-         Tapping into South-east Asian and Eastern European markets.Recently,Hershey announced that it would be entering Indian Market independently.

-         Exploring the packaged foods and drinks market segment by acquistions in Europe and america regions.

Threats :

-         Competitors like Cadbury,Nestle have already established markets in South east asia

-         Packaged foods and drinks market provides lesser revenue generation opportunities as profit margin is very less.