Conagra Fact Sheet: Marketing Innovation And Company Culture
ConAgra
Bellevue University, Spring 2013
Abstract According to their website, ConAgra is a Fortune 500 company with over $18 billion in sales and employing over 36,000 people (ConAgra Fact Sheet, n.d.). Based in Omaha, NE, ConAgra is dedicated to delivering sustainable, profitable growth. The following research will discuss the elements of corporate citizenship, marketing innovation and company culture. We will also discuss how these elements are interrelated, as well as the implications for employees, customers, managers, and society at large. The impressive award-winning portfolio from ConAgra helps to not only drive sales, but to also make a positive impact on their customers, community, and planet. …show more content…
Corporate Citizenship Nickels, McHugh and McHugh (2013) defined corporate social responsibility as “the concern businesses have for the welfare of society, not just for their owners” (p. 97). ConAgra corporate citizenship initiatives are based on three premises: Good for You, Good for the Community, and Good for the Planet (ConAgra Citizenship, n.d.). Their website notes that they show commitment to health and nutrition with the variety of calorie and portion control options, dietary variety, and heart healthy options. Commitment to food safety is achieved through legislation such as the Food Safety Modernization Act, ongoing research, proactive management of health issues, and communication with employees, investors and consumers.
ConAgra is also a strong supporter of their communities by supporting volunteerism, investing in sustainable agriculture, investing in local sourcing, funding grant programs, and working towards ending child hunger. According to their website, during their “Week of Service” in April 2013, ConAgra logged more than 7,000 hrs of community service by their employees. This included stuffing backpacks, serving meals, and partnering with retailers and food industry experts to engage customers in the fight against hunger. One of their most prominent initiatives is ending child hunger. ConAgra donates the equivalent of 1 million meals each month to Feeding America foundation, and donated 3.1 million meals in 2013. ConAgra also funds grant programs to support non-profits finding innovative ways to combat child hunger and enhance nutrition among high risk populations (ConAgra Citizenship, n.d.).
While promoting products that are good for the individual as well as their community initiatives, ConAgra doesn’t stop there – they are also committed to minimizing their impact on the planet. According to the ConAgra website, initiatives are in place to reduce greenhouse gases, energy use, water usage, and waste. Approx 40% of water from their facilities are recycled and used for irrigation of neighboring farms, which returns a significant portion of the water to benefit agricultural use (ConAgra Citizenship, n.d.). Protocols are also in place to increase efficiency by recycling and donating products to feed people or animals. In 2013, the “Zero Loss” continuous improvement program resulted in 93% of the solid waste from ConAgra facilities being diverted away from landfills. Instead, products were recycled, donated to feed people or animals, used for energy generation, or as soil additions or fertilizers. According to the ConAgra website, in 2013 ConAgra “collectively reduced their carbon emissions by more than 26,700 metric tons, reduced landfill waste by 23,000 tons, conserved 646 million gallons of water, and generated $22 million in cost savings through projects” (ConAgra Citizenship, n.d.).
Implications of corporate citizenship While everyone can probably agree that corporate citizenship is a good thing, studies have shown that there are more implications than what may meet the eye. According to Lou and Bhattaacharya (2006), corporate social responsibility was found to increase customer satisfaction in highly innovative companies, which in turn leads to increased financial returns. Their research also noted that since corporate social responsibility contributes to a positive market value, managers can obtain a competitive advantage and reap even more financial gains by investing in socially responsible behavior. By modeling socially responsible behavior, an organization can effectively help keep their customers happy and increase sales at the same time. As managers, the responsibility lies in promoting and investing in these behaviors within the organization, so that the positive trends continue. Other studies have suggested that an organization can also influence its employees to positively impact company culture and performance. Abdullah and Rashid (2012) concluded that the commitment demonstrated by an organization towards social responsibility seems to correlate positively with the employees own altruistic behavior. This suggests that a socially responsible organization is doing more than just helping society on a larger scale. It is also positively influencing its employees on an individual level. This leads to improved company culture and performance, which ultimately leads to improvements in other areas of the organization and an overall positive impact on the bottom line.
Marketing Innovation
Through corporate citizenship, leadership, and management, ConAgra has grown into a remarkable and innovative marketing company. This North American company continues to thrive off of their marketing skills, making them one of the largest packaged food companies, serving grocery retailers, and restaurant establishments. In order for any company to become successful today, they must learn consumer needs while being market oriented as well. ConAgra’s marketing team has proven to be a well-developed team which studies how other organizations work, develops expansion strategies, and shows off their divine and promising products all while making large profit for the company. As a developing company, ConAgra has found their marketing department to be a vital part of their success and growth, this team works to provide insight, define the ConAgra brand, develop additional marketing plans, and nourish consumer lives. With marketing being this company’s central functioning element, each department within ConAgra helps contribute to their success as well as building a strong and competitive industry.
Determined to develop at a fast rate, ConAgra has set their focus on their new “Gold Store” strategy which “sets its sights on product innovations and retail value-adds to help ensure that shoppers can readily identify the foods they want, and incorporate them easily into their lifestyles. This approach, set forth by the company’s new management team is designed to focus on the company’s proven products, top brands and strategies to drive sales volume and profitable growth” (ConAgra Foods News Release, n.d.). Through the years, ConAgra has been able to consistently target customers for new production, efficiently test their products, make big marketing decisions, and sell their products. “Today the company can boast one of its best success stories, the restaging of Healthy Choice, which following quality improvements, the addition of new meals, a repackaging and a quirky marketing campaign starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, has posted solid sales and market-share gains. Perhaps most impressive for Healthy Choice is that the brand has achieved these sales increases without discounting. Single-serving meals have declined in the recession as consumers are eating more meals with family. Healthy Choice has grown its dollar share 9% in the last 52 weeks, according to IRI. The category is down 2% as a whole, and the company notes that competitors are down 4% or more” (York, 2010). ConAgra is a company who is using proven marketing innovation to increase sale rates, company reputation, and company competition. As they have grown, ConAgra has realized that without their marketing strength they could have offered the best products, but potential customers would have had no knowledge of the company, brand, or products produced.
Company Culture
ConAgra is one of North America’s largest food companies employing more than 36,000 individuals (ConAgra Fact Sheet, n.d.), and their culture is shaped by those individuals.
“When employees at ConAgra are asked about their careers they mention family, quality, trust, respect, pride and innovation. ConAgra places a very high value on leadership qualities because they view every employee as a leader” (ConAgra Culture, n.d.). ConAgra also understands the importance of recognizing its talent, which is why it utilizes a formal employee recognition program called the ConAgra Foods Extraordinary Every Day recognition program. This program recognizes employees that are instrumental in positively representing ConAgra’s business goals and also improve people’s lives. This program includes peer recognition, making an environment that encourages positive interactions between internal customers. Since the beginning of the program more than 1300 employees have been awarded over 52,500 awards from their peers. To support this culture ConAgra offers a range of benefits that include tuition reimbursement, on-site fitness facilities, on-site cafeterias, summer hours, and 15 days of paid vacation (ConAgra Culture, n.d.). This positive corporate culture also supports the corporate citizenship goals by promoting positive interactions with both internal and external …show more content…
customers. Responsible corporate citizenship and innovation in marketing are just two factors that impact the successful corporate culture of ConAgra. ConAgra doesn’t just try to have a winning culture - it excels at it. ConAgra has won many awards in the areas of Workplace, Corporate Responsibility, Brands, Research Quality & Innovation and Marketing. Here are just a few of the awards that ConAgra has won:
Workplace
Omaha 's Young Professionals Choice Award — Omaha YP Summit, 2014
Diversity Leader Award — “Profiles in Diversity Journal®,” 2011
Top 100 Women MBA Employers — Universum, 2010
Corporate Responsibility
Listed on Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America, 2011, 2012, and 2013
100 Best Corporate Citizens — “CR Magazine” (formerly “Corporate Responsibility Officer Magazine”), 2010, 2011 and 2012
Carbon Disclosure Project, participating since 2008
Marketing
David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research for Hunt’s Crash Kitchen Tour campaign — Advertising Research Foundation, 2012
“The Hub” Top 12 for shopper marketing excellence — “The Hub” magazine, 2012 (fourth consecutive year)
Shopper Marketing Hall of Fame — In-Store Marketing Institute, inducted in 2010
These are just a few of the awards that ConAgra has received over the years.
ConAgra has turned its work place into a winning recipe for a successful culture that breeds leaders of tomorrow.
The culture at ConAgra has implications for management, employees and customers as well. Management must continually encourage, coach, direct and support the employees at ConAgra. It is clear that ConAgra has high standards and that shows in the awards that it has won in the workplace. Management must continue to instill the core values of ConAgra in its employees to continue to be recognized as one of the industry’s best employers.
Employees have already spoken for ConAgra as it has been recognized as a best place to work, as well as one of the best places to intern and develop leadership skills. In an organization such as this, it is apparent that the employees have been empowered to make suggestions and take action should they see a need for improvement. Without the continuous improvements from their employees, ConAgra would stop receiving such prestigious
awards.
Customers also benefit from an organization such as ConAgra. It is clear that ConAgra takes pride in delivering quality products and innovating new ways to make the products more enjoyable for the consumer. ConAgra is in touch with their customer base, and does what it can to appease the customer within ethical boundaries. This is one reason why it won the Quality Achievement Award for Manufacturer of the Year – Safe Quality Food Institute (SOFI), 2011.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the combination of corporate citizenship initiatives, innovative marketing strategies and a positive corporate culture have been shown to be a winning recipe for ConAgra. Studies have shown that socially responsible organizations have increased customer satisfaction, which in turn increases the organization’s financial returns. Combine this with an award winning corporate culture and marketing innovation, and the result is a product that businesses and consumers are able to easily incorporate into their lives. As a company, ConAgra continues to strengthen their company goals of becoming more innovative, collaborative, and competitive both in and out of the marketplace. With these strategies, ConAgra is able to continue to deliver profitable and sustainable growth while positively impacting its managers, employees, customers, and society.
References
Abdullah, M. H., & Rashid, N. R. N. A. (2012). The implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs and its impact on employee organizational citizenship behavior. International Journal of Business and Commerce, 2(1), 67. http://www.conagrafoods.com/our-company http://www.conagrafoodscitizenship.com/good-for-you/health-and-nutrition/our-focus-areas/ http://www.conagrafoodscitizenship.com/good-for-the-community http://www.conagrafoodscitizenship.com/good-for-the-planet http://www.conagrafoods.com/news-room/news-With-Innovative-New-Products-and Gold-
Store-Retail-Strategy--ConAgra-Foods-Fills-Shopping-Carts-with-Great-Tasting--Quality-Solutions-Giving-Consumers-More-Time-in-Their-Busy-Lives-1008636
http://www.conagrafoods.com/. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.conagrafoods.com/ http://www.conagrafoods.com/news-room/company-fact-sheet Luo, X., & Bhattaacharya, C.B. (2006). Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Satisfaction, and Market Value. Journal of Marketing, 70(4), 1-18.
Nickels, McHugh, & McHugh. (2013). Understanding Business (10e ed.).McGraw-Hill.
York, E. (2010). Healthy Choices Aid ConAgra Resurgence. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/cmo-interviews/marketing-healthy-choices-aided-conagra- resurgence/142317/
Bellevue University, Spring 2013
Abstract According to their website, ConAgra is a Fortune 500 company with over $18 billion in sales and employing over 36,000 people (ConAgra Fact Sheet, n.d.). Based in Omaha, NE, ConAgra is dedicated to delivering sustainable, profitable growth. The following research will discuss the elements of corporate citizenship, marketing innovation and company culture. We will also discuss how these elements are interrelated, as well as the implications for employees, customers, managers, and society at large. The impressive award-winning portfolio from ConAgra helps to not only drive sales, but to also make a positive impact on their customers, community, and planet. …show more content…
Corporate Citizenship Nickels, McHugh and McHugh (2013) defined corporate social responsibility as “the concern businesses have for the welfare of society, not just for their owners” (p. 97). ConAgra corporate citizenship initiatives are based on three premises: Good for You, Good for the Community, and Good for the Planet (ConAgra Citizenship, n.d.). Their website notes that they show commitment to health and nutrition with the variety of calorie and portion control options, dietary variety, and heart healthy options. Commitment to food safety is achieved through legislation such as the Food Safety Modernization Act, ongoing research, proactive management of health issues, and communication with employees, investors and consumers.
ConAgra is also a strong supporter of their communities by supporting volunteerism, investing in sustainable agriculture, investing in local sourcing, funding grant programs, and working towards ending child hunger. According to their website, during their “Week of Service” in April 2013, ConAgra logged more than 7,000 hrs of community service by their employees. This included stuffing backpacks, serving meals, and partnering with retailers and food industry experts to engage customers in the fight against hunger. One of their most prominent initiatives is ending child hunger. ConAgra donates the equivalent of 1 million meals each month to Feeding America foundation, and donated 3.1 million meals in 2013. ConAgra also funds grant programs to support non-profits finding innovative ways to combat child hunger and enhance nutrition among high risk populations (ConAgra Citizenship, n.d.).
While promoting products that are good for the individual as well as their community initiatives, ConAgra doesn’t stop there – they are also committed to minimizing their impact on the planet. According to the ConAgra website, initiatives are in place to reduce greenhouse gases, energy use, water usage, and waste. Approx 40% of water from their facilities are recycled and used for irrigation of neighboring farms, which returns a significant portion of the water to benefit agricultural use (ConAgra Citizenship, n.d.). Protocols are also in place to increase efficiency by recycling and donating products to feed people or animals. In 2013, the “Zero Loss” continuous improvement program resulted in 93% of the solid waste from ConAgra facilities being diverted away from landfills. Instead, products were recycled, donated to feed people or animals, used for energy generation, or as soil additions or fertilizers. According to the ConAgra website, in 2013 ConAgra “collectively reduced their carbon emissions by more than 26,700 metric tons, reduced landfill waste by 23,000 tons, conserved 646 million gallons of water, and generated $22 million in cost savings through projects” (ConAgra Citizenship, n.d.).
Implications of corporate citizenship While everyone can probably agree that corporate citizenship is a good thing, studies have shown that there are more implications than what may meet the eye. According to Lou and Bhattaacharya (2006), corporate social responsibility was found to increase customer satisfaction in highly innovative companies, which in turn leads to increased financial returns. Their research also noted that since corporate social responsibility contributes to a positive market value, managers can obtain a competitive advantage and reap even more financial gains by investing in socially responsible behavior. By modeling socially responsible behavior, an organization can effectively help keep their customers happy and increase sales at the same time. As managers, the responsibility lies in promoting and investing in these behaviors within the organization, so that the positive trends continue. Other studies have suggested that an organization can also influence its employees to positively impact company culture and performance. Abdullah and Rashid (2012) concluded that the commitment demonstrated by an organization towards social responsibility seems to correlate positively with the employees own altruistic behavior. This suggests that a socially responsible organization is doing more than just helping society on a larger scale. It is also positively influencing its employees on an individual level. This leads to improved company culture and performance, which ultimately leads to improvements in other areas of the organization and an overall positive impact on the bottom line.
Marketing Innovation
Through corporate citizenship, leadership, and management, ConAgra has grown into a remarkable and innovative marketing company. This North American company continues to thrive off of their marketing skills, making them one of the largest packaged food companies, serving grocery retailers, and restaurant establishments. In order for any company to become successful today, they must learn consumer needs while being market oriented as well. ConAgra’s marketing team has proven to be a well-developed team which studies how other organizations work, develops expansion strategies, and shows off their divine and promising products all while making large profit for the company. As a developing company, ConAgra has found their marketing department to be a vital part of their success and growth, this team works to provide insight, define the ConAgra brand, develop additional marketing plans, and nourish consumer lives. With marketing being this company’s central functioning element, each department within ConAgra helps contribute to their success as well as building a strong and competitive industry.
Determined to develop at a fast rate, ConAgra has set their focus on their new “Gold Store” strategy which “sets its sights on product innovations and retail value-adds to help ensure that shoppers can readily identify the foods they want, and incorporate them easily into their lifestyles. This approach, set forth by the company’s new management team is designed to focus on the company’s proven products, top brands and strategies to drive sales volume and profitable growth” (ConAgra Foods News Release, n.d.). Through the years, ConAgra has been able to consistently target customers for new production, efficiently test their products, make big marketing decisions, and sell their products. “Today the company can boast one of its best success stories, the restaging of Healthy Choice, which following quality improvements, the addition of new meals, a repackaging and a quirky marketing campaign starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, has posted solid sales and market-share gains. Perhaps most impressive for Healthy Choice is that the brand has achieved these sales increases without discounting. Single-serving meals have declined in the recession as consumers are eating more meals with family. Healthy Choice has grown its dollar share 9% in the last 52 weeks, according to IRI. The category is down 2% as a whole, and the company notes that competitors are down 4% or more” (York, 2010). ConAgra is a company who is using proven marketing innovation to increase sale rates, company reputation, and company competition. As they have grown, ConAgra has realized that without their marketing strength they could have offered the best products, but potential customers would have had no knowledge of the company, brand, or products produced.
Company Culture
ConAgra is one of North America’s largest food companies employing more than 36,000 individuals (ConAgra Fact Sheet, n.d.), and their culture is shaped by those individuals.
“When employees at ConAgra are asked about their careers they mention family, quality, trust, respect, pride and innovation. ConAgra places a very high value on leadership qualities because they view every employee as a leader” (ConAgra Culture, n.d.). ConAgra also understands the importance of recognizing its talent, which is why it utilizes a formal employee recognition program called the ConAgra Foods Extraordinary Every Day recognition program. This program recognizes employees that are instrumental in positively representing ConAgra’s business goals and also improve people’s lives. This program includes peer recognition, making an environment that encourages positive interactions between internal customers. Since the beginning of the program more than 1300 employees have been awarded over 52,500 awards from their peers. To support this culture ConAgra offers a range of benefits that include tuition reimbursement, on-site fitness facilities, on-site cafeterias, summer hours, and 15 days of paid vacation (ConAgra Culture, n.d.). This positive corporate culture also supports the corporate citizenship goals by promoting positive interactions with both internal and external …show more content…
customers. Responsible corporate citizenship and innovation in marketing are just two factors that impact the successful corporate culture of ConAgra. ConAgra doesn’t just try to have a winning culture - it excels at it. ConAgra has won many awards in the areas of Workplace, Corporate Responsibility, Brands, Research Quality & Innovation and Marketing. Here are just a few of the awards that ConAgra has won:
Workplace
Omaha 's Young Professionals Choice Award — Omaha YP Summit, 2014
Diversity Leader Award — “Profiles in Diversity Journal®,” 2011
Top 100 Women MBA Employers — Universum, 2010
Corporate Responsibility
Listed on Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America, 2011, 2012, and 2013
100 Best Corporate Citizens — “CR Magazine” (formerly “Corporate Responsibility Officer Magazine”), 2010, 2011 and 2012
Carbon Disclosure Project, participating since 2008
Marketing
David Ogilvy Award for Excellence in Advertising Research for Hunt’s Crash Kitchen Tour campaign — Advertising Research Foundation, 2012
“The Hub” Top 12 for shopper marketing excellence — “The Hub” magazine, 2012 (fourth consecutive year)
Shopper Marketing Hall of Fame — In-Store Marketing Institute, inducted in 2010
These are just a few of the awards that ConAgra has received over the years.
ConAgra has turned its work place into a winning recipe for a successful culture that breeds leaders of tomorrow.
The culture at ConAgra has implications for management, employees and customers as well. Management must continually encourage, coach, direct and support the employees at ConAgra. It is clear that ConAgra has high standards and that shows in the awards that it has won in the workplace. Management must continue to instill the core values of ConAgra in its employees to continue to be recognized as one of the industry’s best employers.
Employees have already spoken for ConAgra as it has been recognized as a best place to work, as well as one of the best places to intern and develop leadership skills. In an organization such as this, it is apparent that the employees have been empowered to make suggestions and take action should they see a need for improvement. Without the continuous improvements from their employees, ConAgra would stop receiving such prestigious
awards.
Customers also benefit from an organization such as ConAgra. It is clear that ConAgra takes pride in delivering quality products and innovating new ways to make the products more enjoyable for the consumer. ConAgra is in touch with their customer base, and does what it can to appease the customer within ethical boundaries. This is one reason why it won the Quality Achievement Award for Manufacturer of the Year – Safe Quality Food Institute (SOFI), 2011.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the combination of corporate citizenship initiatives, innovative marketing strategies and a positive corporate culture have been shown to be a winning recipe for ConAgra. Studies have shown that socially responsible organizations have increased customer satisfaction, which in turn increases the organization’s financial returns. Combine this with an award winning corporate culture and marketing innovation, and the result is a product that businesses and consumers are able to easily incorporate into their lives. As a company, ConAgra continues to strengthen their company goals of becoming more innovative, collaborative, and competitive both in and out of the marketplace. With these strategies, ConAgra is able to continue to deliver profitable and sustainable growth while positively impacting its managers, employees, customers, and society.
References
Abdullah, M. H., & Rashid, N. R. N. A. (2012). The implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs and its impact on employee organizational citizenship behavior. International Journal of Business and Commerce, 2(1), 67. http://www.conagrafoods.com/our-company http://www.conagrafoodscitizenship.com/good-for-you/health-and-nutrition/our-focus-areas/ http://www.conagrafoodscitizenship.com/good-for-the-community http://www.conagrafoodscitizenship.com/good-for-the-planet http://www.conagrafoods.com/news-room/news-With-Innovative-New-Products-and Gold-
Store-Retail-Strategy--ConAgra-Foods-Fills-Shopping-Carts-with-Great-Tasting--Quality-Solutions-Giving-Consumers-More-Time-in-Their-Busy-Lives-1008636
http://www.conagrafoods.com/. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.conagrafoods.com/ http://www.conagrafoods.com/news-room/company-fact-sheet Luo, X., & Bhattaacharya, C.B. (2006). Corporate Social Responsibility, Customer Satisfaction, and Market Value. Journal of Marketing, 70(4), 1-18.
Nickels, McHugh, & McHugh. (2013). Understanding Business (10e ed.).McGraw-Hill.
York, E. (2010). Healthy Choices Aid ConAgra Resurgence. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/cmo-interviews/marketing-healthy-choices-aided-conagra- resurgence/142317/