Kudler Fine Foods is an upscale specialty food store touting the very best domestic and imported products in the San Diego metropolitan area. To understand the success of the organization this paper will show the primary functions of management and who is responsible for each function at Kudler. In this paper the subject to describe is how Kudler’s management uses the Internet and technology in daily processes for greater success. Finally, the paper will cite an example from Kudler of each of the five forces from Porter’s model.
According to Gomez-Mejia and Balkin (2002) the four management functions are planning and strategizing, organizing, leading/controlling, and decision making. Senior executives handle the management functions in the Kudler organization, but employees also share a responsibility for part of the management functions because of the intimacy and small leadership core of the organization. Kathy Kudler is the president and founder of Kudler Fine Foods, and she takes the lead in several areas of management function. The department managers at each of the three stores are sources in the management functions as well. According to the Kudler Fine Foods (2009) website each of the three department managers at each of the stores handle the majority of the purchasing and are responsible for obtaining the best prices, quality, and delivery. The department managers are responsible for receiving and verifying the orders and sending the invoices on to accounting to be paid. Kathy also takes responsibility for some of the purchasing, mostly the unique, capital, and repair items. Kathy handles the advertising for the organization in coordination with and the store managers. The department managers are responsible for inventory management and assist in the quarterly forecasting and Kathy is responsible for merchandise selection and pricing. In examining the organization charts of the company the structure shows where