Introduction The case study is based on Harvest Farm Foods Inc. The company has been facing declining or stagnant sales and dwindling shareholder’s profit. Therefore, the company top management had been changed in order to bring forth fresh air to the operations and increase profit. The new president, Patrick Webb is trying to find out what problems ail the company and how it can be solved. This case study analysis aims at finding the competitive position, strength, and weaknesses of the company in order to be in a position to provide valid recommendations. First, the analysis will provide the present situation of Harvest Food and then provide recommendations based on the analysis done on the company. The data on the company is deduced from the case study and industry condition of packaged food industry in the US is derived from secondary sources. Based on the analysis recommendations will be provided to the management. Problem What measures can be taken by Patrick Webb to do to improve Harvest Farm Foods profits? Alternative 1 First option is to aim for vertical integration and lessen its horizontally increased product line. Alternative 2 Change its line-forcing sales/distribution policy in order to distribute its product even to small sellers. Critical issues   * Increase profit   * Selling through small retailers   * Reduce product line Motivate sales force   * Marketing research   * Cost effectiveness   * Obtaining a competitive advantage   * Just-in-time delivery   * Distribution policy   * Using excess capacity   * The competitive environment   * Adopting the marketing concept Alternative 1 Harvest Farm Food has been facing low levels of profit for several years. According to the case, in the last 13 years, Harvest Farm Food’s competitors have provided an average profit return on shareholders’ investment of 5 to 9%, while it had provided an average of just 1.5%. In addition, the company’s profits have not increased since 1987. Given this, it is imperative to evaluate the competitive environment of the company. In order to a competitive analysis of the firm, Porter’s Five Forces model is employed to see the competitive forces that the firm faces. The company operates in a highly competitive market. From the information provided in the case, it can be intuitively deduced that the company operates in a market, which is highly competitive with the firms operating in the market having little or no power of the price at which they offer their product. Further, the power of buyers –here we considers the buyers to be the superstore chains through whom Harvest Store supply their product – is also high as they can stress on the product they want and on the price at which they intend to buy it. Further there is little or brand loyalty for packaged food. The reason is provided in the case as the increasing paucity of time among customers. If the customers do not find one product available, they readily switch to another accessible brand. Supplier power is high too, as Harvest Food buys them from other manufacturers. Here suppliers are agricultural product suppliers, manufacturers of packets and packagers, etc. These suppliers have a great degree of power