Strategy

Executive Summary

Sara Lee Corporation was founded in 1939 and in 2001 had acquired more than forty companies.The sales had reached from $10 billion and doubled in 1998,and as the revenues peaked in 1998 Sara Lee struggled to managed the wide portfolio of operations in the various domains across the geographies.

In the February of 2005,Brenda Barnes announced a strategic plan to transform the company into a more focused conglomerate of its roducts.The main idea was the divestiture of the weak performing business units and their product categories which accounts to about 40% of the Sara Lee revenue stream.

It was understood from the change that Sara Lee would gain from the decision as it was trying to focus its energies on a smaller number of business segments which can propel its performing businesses into limelight.The market for these brands were well positioned and was targeted their customer groups.

The transformation was carried out in phases where in the first leg the company exited their eight businesses like the Direct Selling,U.S retail coffee,European apparel,European nuts and snacks,rice,US meat snacks,European meats and apparel brand.The apparel brand was later rechristened as Hanesbrands Inc.

When these non strategic business were disposed in 2006 Sara Lee began to focus its attention in the increasing the sales,market share and the profitability of its remaining business.When we see from the SWOT analysis of the company we see that the opportunities in the food market in the North American markets are huge and this made Sara Lee concentrated their expertise on North American retail markets like fresh bakery,foodservice,international beverages,household and body care.

Sara Lee management decided that a focus on the stronger brands and pertaining to the core competencies of the company will lead to a revenue stream generation which can help in the growth of the company.The revenues were estimated to grow to about $ 14 billion and the operating...