Mis Homework

The Hershey Company

Group #1a – Dalila Springer, Chris Johnson, Mutassim Ayasrah

Hershey is the leading maker in North America of “quality chocolate and sugar confectionery products” (www.hersheys.com). Some of their popular products include chocolate candies such as Hershey’s Kisses and Kit Kat bars, to sugar treats like Jolly Rancher’s and Ice Breakers gums.

When you visit the Hershey website, it's evident that Hershey puts a lot of thought and practice in understanding their customers, business partners and employee base. They introduce themselves as “…[the] largest producer of quality chocolate in North America and a global leader in chocolate and sugar confectionery.” The site then dedicates itself as much to their product offering, as it does to their commitment to social responsibility and becoming forefront leaders in their industry overall. As successful as Hershey has been since its inception in the early 1900s, as a group, we wondered how they remain so skillful despite business risks, changes in the economy, and competition both domestic and international.

The answer: Strategy. The company does an exceptionally good job at employing long-term commitment to strategic practices that provide continued success for the Firm as a whole. Taking a closer look at their annual report, we saw constant reiteration on those commitments as the Firm takes steps in focusing their investors on the company’s growing role “…[towards] responsibility for building global brands, developing transformational growth platforms, brand positioning and portfolio strategy.”

Specifically, Hershey centers its strategy through subgroups, which allow for centralization of the company brand and overall goals. To best understand their strategy, investors have to look within those subgroups:

o Selling and Marketing: Hershey highlights is organization as both domestic and international in scope. They clearly define their reasoning for...