Operational Agility

Open the current annual report of a major global food manufacturer, and you will find that its strategy typically focuses on improving customer demand, investing in and managing global brands, developing and introducing new products, and driving the operational excellence required to fund all those growth initiatives.

Moreover, the achievement of strategic goals must take place in a world where:

• Consumer tastes and living patterns continue to change, driving a focus on health and ease-of-consumption features (such as on-the-go meals) for new products.
• Transportation and raw material costs continue rising.
• Growth has mainly come through multiple mergers and acquisitions, as well as expansion into emerging markets, and will continue to do so.
• Customers (retailers) have continued to consolidate, have more power, and are more demanding than ever.
• The regulatory environment continues to change (including, for example, Sarbanes-Oxley, traceability, and new label requirements).