Information technology is an essential tool for the development of an organization. Technology assists companies in their operation. The use of technology is especially crucial in the management of global organizations. The technological advances assist these organizations to avoid crimes and errors committed through technology. Mars Inc. is one of the companies that have embraced technology in their operations. This paper is set to research on Mars Inc. and its operations in the global market. Additionally, it analyzes the technological advancements employed by the organization in its operations.
The History of Mars Inc
Mars Inc. denotes a private company owned by the family of Frank Mars. Mars Inc. primarily manufactures confectionaries such as staple food, drinks, and pet food products. It has branches in approximately sixty-eight countries globally. The company's headquarter is in McLean, Virginia (Ireland, Hoskisson, & Hitt, 2008). The total number of workers employed by the company is estimated as sixty-five thousand. The net sales of the company are about thirty thousand United States dollars. The company being a private , rarely releases its annual financial reports. The financial details can only be found from the company. The products from the company are branded its logo.
The company does not operate as a block unit but rather as segments. Six segments of the company operate worldwide. They include Simbioscience, food, chocolate, Wrigley gum, confections, drinks, as well as chocolates. The company’s different segments operate using different brand names. For instance, the segment producing chocolates has brand names such as Galaxy, Snickers, Twix, Milky Way, and the Dove. The pet care segment operates under Whiskas, Sheba, Cesar, Royal Canin, and the Pedigree. The drinks produced by the company are branded Flaxia and Klix. These extensions enable the company to survive in a market environment, which is competitive.
Orbit gum is a popular product of Mars Inc. Wrigley produces the product, which is a subsidiary of Mars Inc. The company sold its eponymous gum exclusively to soldiers while the orbit was preserved for the public. The sale of orbit gum went down towards the end of the World War II. This prompted the company to stop its production. However, it made a comeback during the later stages of the century. The orbit has been one of the company's most surviving products. Almost all the Mars Inc. segments worldwide produce orbit.
Strategies for Competitive Advantage
The company is regarded as one of the biggest food companies globally. The company has been focusing on expansion to ensure it operates in all continents of the world. The company operates under specific principles. These principles give them an undue advantage compared to their other competitors. The principles include quality, responsibility, mutuality, efficiency, as well as freedom. These principles have been part of the organization's culture.
In the beginning, Mars Inc. was producing and selling fresh candy in wholesale. This operation failed due to the inability of the company to constantly produce the large volume of candy that was required. Frank and his wife then moved back to Minnesota where they started the business again. This time, they were successful in producing a product named ‘Milky way bar'. The sales of the product were high, and the company was then moved to Chicago following the need for expansion. In 1932, Mars Limited was launched in the United Kingdom. This produced candies for the entire U.K market.
The principles of action have been one of the most important factors in the success of the business. The principal aim of Mars Inc. is to ensure the principles are put into action. Through the principles and improved performance, the organization hopes to impact positively on the life of the world population. The themes of nutrition, health, proper supply chain management, as well as communication of the principles assist in the outlining of the progress, targets or the company's progress.
The organization is also known for producing excellent leaders. This acts as an attraction to individuals with leadership visions (Ireland, Hoskisson, & Hitt, 2008). Most of the chief executive officers globally developed their skills in Mars Inc. For instance, Allan Leighton, the former C.E.O of the royal mail was once a manager at Mars Inc. It is a legacy of the firm. Mars Inc. is a seasonal producer of world's greatest managers. Since people like associating with success, it is believed that the products produced such as chocolate bars might be the main reason. Therefore, this has also enabled the Mass In. to be regarded as one of the greatest organizations.
The company has been working on approaches that give it a competitive advantage over it rivals. Most of their strategies employ the use of technology through information systems. The Mars Inc. has perfected the use of the internet to edge out its rivals. The stability of the company's website allows its customers to access it even on the mobile phone interface. This enables the company to share information about its existing as well as new products. The website is lighter and loads at a higher speed than other websites. The intranets that have the company's important information are the fastest in the market. Through the intranet, the management can communicate faster and effectively (Stair & Reynold, 2013).
The company also advertises its products through the internet. Given the penetration of internet services to several regions of the world, Marc Inc. can reach several individuals instantaneously. Through online marketing, the firm can reduce the cost of marketing. Online marketing is done at the convenience of the targeted individual as well as the marketing officer. Before consumers purchase goods, they often conduct online research on the product. During internet research, customers concentrate on the information found on the website of the producer and the firm takes note of customers’ reviews. Therefore, a website that can be easily accessed by the clients makes Mars Inc outdo its competitors.
The Mars Inc. website is also interactive. It has a section that allows customers to interact with the employees of the organization. Through this, the company can understand the tastes and preferences of the customers (Stair & Reynold, 2013). The website also highlights the principles of the organizations. The principles enable the customers to have trust in the organization thereby providing them with a chance to know more about the organization. Additionally, the website enables the organization to monitor the number of visitors interested in their products. When the number of visitors to the websites increases, it shows that people are interested in the organization. A reduction of customers making internet search on the firm indicates a decline in interest.
Mars Inc. and Alibaba Group announced a partnership that would allow the Mars Inc. products to be available on the Alibaba Group website. This was announced in June this year. Alibaba is the largest mobile as well as online commerce company worldwide. Such a strategy enables Marc Inc. customers to access their product on the website. This partnership also allows the Mars Inc. to develop a food safety program known as Mars Global Food Safety Centre (GFSC). This centre was to be located in China. The customers are also expected to have the best shopping experience. Additionally, the strategy enables the organization to attract and keep customers. The utilization of mobile and electronic commerce gives the company competitive advantage.
Creating networks with some of the biggest companies in the business world enables organizations to attract customers. Having links with a successful organization has a potential of attracting customers. When two successful organizations collaborate, there are high chances that the number of customers for each organization will rise (Ireland, Hoskisson, & Hitt, 2008). This enables the two partners to have an edge over other organizations in their respective fields.
Benefits of Global Operations
The organization has experienced several benefits due to engaging in international business (Portela, 2013). Some of the benefits include improved profits, diversification, and expansion of the business. Economies of scale, as well as long-term business security, represent some of other gains for operating globally. When a company goes into global operations, there is a high likelihood of improved profits due to increasing sales. Mars Inc. has been an international organization for several decades. This has led to the high profits supposedly experienced by the organization. Apart from the improvement in profit, the organization has benefited from the international trade by diversification of its goods as well as services.
Mars Inc operates in the international market and as such, diversifies its operations as well as resources. Diversification is essential in ensuring the company meets the customers' expectations. A company operating in a given region is expected to diversify its human resource. This enables the organization to integrate its culture into that of the society. A company with diversified human resource and culture improves tremendously in global trade. Mars Inc. has improved due to its diversification of culture. For instance, the partnership between Mars Inc. and Alibaba Group enables customers from China to identify the products and services of the organization.
An economy of scale is a concept that is essential to all business organizations that operate global businesses. Indulging in international business enables Mars Inc to reduce the cost of production due to the rise in the output (Ireland, Hoskisson, & Hitt, 2008). Through this, Mars Inc gets additional profits. In global trade, Mars Inc can increase its production because of the demand for the goods as well as services. Increased production leads to increased output, which then leads to reduced cost of production. Mars Inc. has been producing goods in large quantities in most of its segments.
Technology for Supporting Global Position
The organization has been using e-commerce to attract as well as retain customers. Electronic commerce (e-commerce) refers to the use of computer networks in the operation of an organization's operation. In e-commerce, the main tool for collection, analysis, as well as the transfer of information is the computers (Portela, 2013). Mars Inc. collaborated with GSI Commerce Inc. for its e-commerce services. GSI Commerce Inc. is a leading organization in the provision of e-commerce technology. The use of websites helps the company to retain customers. Through the websites, individual companies can advertise their goods as well as services.
The use of Computers for e-commerce
Source (Services Group, 2016)
Besides, the organization uses social media as a tool for interacting with its customers. This is an essential platform because of the increasing social media craze. Mars Inc. Facebook page is a free page that can be ‘liked' by anyone. Once a change occurs in a given product, the change is updated on the Facebook page. This enables the customers to be up to date with any changes in the products. Facebook is one of the most popular social networking sites (Ireland, Hoskisson, & Hitt, 2008). Therefore, the company can reach almost all its clients through the site. Additionally, the Twitter page is active. The social networking sites form an essential technological component of internet marketing.
Rise in the Percentage of Internet Users
Source (Perrin et al., 2015)
Challenges Facing Mars Inc
Operating in the international markets are characterized by some challenges. These challenges have hindered the development of certain business in global organizations. However, organizations such as Mars Inc. have waded through these challenges to remain successful global organizations. Some of these challenges include cross-cultural interactions, strategic adaptation challenges, complexity costs, loss of familiarity, as well as focus. When organizations venture into new areas, there is likely to be a culture shock. This offers a significant challenge to the development of the organization. Integrating the culture of the organization and the society is not an easy task. This has affected several organizations such as the Mars Inc. Cultural difference affected the expansion of Mars Inc into China markets leading to the closure of certain shops. The Mars Inc. had to collaborate with organizations from the area to address the challenge of culture shock. However, the sales were still affected.
As organizations grow, they develop strategic benefits (Portela, 2013). However, these benefits are always accompanied by challenges. Adaptability, as well as the flexibility of the organizations, is often realized due to expansion. This results in increasing the diversity of the customers, channels of communications, as well as markets. Inability to adapt offers enormous challenges to the organizations. Organizations that fail to adapt to these challenges often find themselves out of the market. It is essential for organizations to find mechanisms to adapt to the challenges. Mars Inc is not an exceptional. It laid mechanisms to address these challenges and emerged successful in the international stages.
As organizations widen their operations, they become complex regarding resources and management. These complexities lead to certain costs that affect sales and local needs of the organization. Some of these costs include compliance costs and the loss of agility in the market. The organizations must comply with international standards. These international standards are always stricter in comparison to local regulations. These compliance costs are often additional costs on the organizations. The additional costs affect the operations of Mars Inc within international trade.
Expanding to operate in international markets can result in loss of focus and vision (Stair & Reynold, 2013). International operation requires a diversified workforce, which brings the challenge of employees that do not have the vision of the organization at heart. In Mars Inc, this has led to some workers struggling to meet objectives of the firm. The inadequate focus in Mars Inc has affected its productivity, which results in the profit reduction.
Recommendations for Business Improvement
For Mars Inc to improve its standings in the international market, it has to implement certain information system technologies. These technologies can enable the organization to avoid current challenges in the field of information technology. Some of the challenges include cyber crime, hacking, as well as cyber terrorism. These emerging problems affect organizations that have embraced information systems. Mars Inc needs to use artificial intelligence to ensure the safety of their data, as well as other operations. Artificial intelligence is the modelling of computers to perform all tasks that can be performed by human beings. In other words, the technology allows companies to use computers as human beings
In conclusion, it is essential for companies, particularly Mars Inc, to develop strategies to ensure they can operate at the global level. Most of these strategies involve information systems. These systems enable the organizations to stay at the highest levels concerning their operations. Therefore, organizations need to ensure the developed systems are safe to protect them from technology challenges such as cyber crime, hacking, as well as cyber terrorism.
References
Ireland, R. D., Hoskisson, R. E., & Hitt, M. A. (2008). Understanding business strategy: Concepts and cases. Scarborough: Nelson Education.
Perrin, A., Duggan, M., Rainie, L., Smith, A., Greenwood, S., Porteus, M., & Page, D. (2015). Social media usage: 2005-2015.Washington D.C: Pew Research Center.
Portela, I. M. (Ed.). (2013). Organizational, Legal, and Technological Dimensions of Information System Administration. IGI Global.
Services Group (2016). Energising e-commerce. Retrieved July 08, 2016, from http://eservicesgroup.com/blog/hongkongecho-energising-e-commerce.
Stair, R., & Reynolds, G. (2013). Principles of information systems. Boston: Cengage Learning.
