Bc Frozen Foods Limited: Challenges and Change1 (2012)

CASE DEESCRIPTION This case highlights the importance of change and responding to environmental challenges via creating effective business strategy that helps organizations to be more sustainable. While the needed strategy (s) must insure a continued focus on the organization ~ core competencies, it also must insure that the organization has to continue creating value to its customers. This case has a djfficulty level of three and up, appropriate for junior level and beyond. The case is designed to be taught in two class hours in an entrepreneurship, strategic management, management, or marketing management course. It is expected to require about three hours of outside preparation for students, consisting mainly of reading the case and familiarizing themselves with the business environment in Western Canada as well as with some knowledge of the agriculture and frozen food industry. CASE SYNOPSIS The food processing industry has undergone massive changes due to economic, social and political influences. As a result, many companies in the food processing business were forced out of business as the economic climate became more intense and global competitors emerged on the scene. BC Frozen Foods is one such company that has felt the crunch of a changing environment The primary challenges facing the company were increased local competition, labor shortages, weather, and economic conditions. This has led the company to rethink and develop new approaches to tackle threats to its viability. The results were major changes to its operations to adjust to the intense environment The company has implemented an approach whereby it has begun diversifying its product line. INTRODUCTION It was the spring of 1989, Asad Shah, the controlling owner of S and S Fraser Valley Foods was fmding it difficult to operate his business as a joint owner with Amrit Singh Naiger. The two men were not able to see eye to eye on the direction of the business. Disagreements frequently occurred on how to manage the business, on what prices to pay growers, and how much to sell the product for.1 Two years prior, the pair had opened S and S in a facility formerly operated by a defunct Westvale food. Westvale had operated in the food industry since World War II and had built a portion of the plant that BC Frozen Foods owned. S and S was a mid-size food processing company located in Mission, British Columbia2 a city 45 minutes east of Vancouver. The company was strategically located in the Central Fraser Valley, an area that is rich in fertile soil and vegetation. Realizing the opportunities available to the company, Asad knew that the company needed the right kind of leadership to help it grow and become more profitable. A critical decision was left whether to buy out Amrit Singh's interest in the company or to continue operating as joint owners. In 1989, Asad opted to buy out Amrit's interest.3 During the 1990s, the company made some mistakes as it was still new to the food processing industry. Such mistakes included: Budgetary, seasonal labor forecasting, pricing, and costing. However, by the mid 1990s, BC Frozen Foods had emerged as a serious competitor in the local processing scene.4 Tragedy struck the company in 1997 when Asad Shah suffered a fatal heart attack. His role as the president of the company would not be easily replaced by another. Asad had a background in engineering and was able to create processing line equipment to facilitate production. When the company required a production set up or ran into an operating snag, Asad was able to masterfully craft a design to resolve the issue. After his passing, the company needed new blood to carry it through the next millennium. Yasir Shah, Asad's son, had learned a lot shadowing his father.5 Yasir immediately applied what he had learned to operate the business. Although Yasir did not have the engineering background of his father, he brought a much more business savvy approach to the operation of the business. …