Sara Lee Corporation (SLE) is a global manufacturer and marketer of consumer goods like food and beverages, branded apparel, and household products. The company primarily operates in North America, Europe and Asia-pacific regions. It is headquartered in Illinois, the US and employs about 138,000 people.
The company traces its lineage to 1939, when Nathan Cummings acquired C.D. Kenny Company, a wholesale distributor of sugar, coffee and tea in Baltimore, and created Consolidated Foods Corporation. In 1956 the company bought a company known as Kitchens of Sara Lee, which became one of the company's best-known brand names. In 1985 management adopted the brand name as the name of the corporation as a whole.
According the data, the company recorded revenues of $13,212 million during the financial year (FY) ended June 2008, an increase of 10.3% over FY2007. The operating profit of the company was $260 million during FY2008, a decrease of 53.7% over FY2007. The net loss was $79 million in FY2008, as compared to a net profit of $504 in FY2007
Strengths
Sara Lee has reorganized its operations into seven business segments: North American retail meats, North American retail bakery, food service, international bakery, household and body care, and branded apparel. To improve operational efficiency, the company is continuously implementing improvements methods to streamline process, and is also centralizing its procurement and information technology across the organization, ensuring stable revenue growth and providing the company with a competitive edge over its competitors.
A contribution to Sara Lee`s great success as a leading firm in the packaged meats industry has been its management team. Sara Lee has implemented aggressive strategies in the way of expansion, brand management, and new product introduction. Its intensive acquisition initiative has pushed it to the top of many of its business and has opened doors in