Growth at Hubbard's Foods?
ABSTRACT Dick Hubbard is the founder of Hubbard's Foods Limited. The company is a cereal manufacturer located in Mangere, Auckland. This case highlights the entrepreneurial flair that Dick has, as well as his stance on social responsibility. Hubbard's has grown from a micro-business into a large business with 120 staff, while maintaining a family based culture. It is this question of whether the business should grow further that is the focus of the case. INTRODUCTION Dick Hubbard paused for a minute from the notes he was writing for his company newsletter to reflect on the recent changes he had initiated in the company. He thought back to the early days of the business, when he did everything in the company single-handedly, including making the breakfast cereals. He looked out into the company car park and saw that it was almost full. He suddenly realised he was responsible for the livelihoods of many people other than himself. Should he take the next step and expand the company further? Dick contemplated the various scenarios and considered what they would mean for his business... BACKGROUND Hubbard's produce a range of 23 breakfast cereals that are targeted towards the mid-high price ranges in the cereal market. A recent extension to the product range was an organic muesli that is in the very high price range. Hubbard's cereals are distinctive due to their use of New Zealand and tropical fruits and using fruit flavouring to bake the cereals in. Products Hubbard's products are aimed at both the high price range and low end of the cereal market. The high end products have such innovative names as "Berry Berry Nice" and "Bugs 'n Mud" (refer to Figure 1 opposite for a description of two popular products in the range and their ingredients). While the main output from the operation is high quality cereals under the Hubbard's brand, the company also manufactures some product lines for a range of supermarket private labels. These private labels are typically at the lower end of the price range for cereal, such as rice puffs and cornflakes. Demand for breakfast cereal products has a slight seasonal variation. In summer months, consumption is approximately 10% higher than in winter months. The breakfast cereal industry has been undergoing rapid change in the past two or three years, including an increase in the mueslistyle cereals that Hubbard's popularized and an increase supermarket own brands. In addition, there had been huge growth in cereal bars, muesli bars, and breakfast drinks (Hubbard's does not produce any of these). Exact growth figures are not available as the cereal industry is highly competitive. In 2000-2001, Hubbard's exported 14.4% of its production, mainly to Australia, but a small amount was exported to the United Kingdom, Singapore and Hong Kong. In this respect, the company is potentially vulnerable to the fluctuating New Zealand dollar. Financial information for the company is shown in Figure 2, opposite. Competitors In 2001, Hubbard's had an 18.5% share of the cereal market in New Zealand, which makes them the third largest player in the market (exact market share for the competitors is not known). There are three strong direct competitors to Hubbard's in the New Zealand market - Sanatarium, Uncle Toby's and Kelloggs. Sanitarium is a New Zealand owned company that is located in a nearby suburb of Auckland. If either Sanatarium or Hubbard's runs out of an ingredient, the other will supply it if they have it available. A Seventh Day Adventist baker, whose philosophies were strong on healthy living and vegetarianism, started Sanatarium Health Foods over 100 years ago. Sanatarium continues to market their cereals using these philosophies, and has quite a strong focus on sponsoring events and charities, as well as promoting healthy living. Sanatarium's main breakfast cereal products are Weetbix and Cornflakes, and they have entered the cereal bar market as well as the breakfast drink market. …
The purpose of the picnic: using Burke’s dramatistic pentad to analyse a company event
Uses Kenneth Burke’s “dramatistic pentad” as an analytical framework to analyse a company event that in New Zealand became symbolic of social responsibility in action. Presents the event in which the staff of an Auckland food processing operation was flown to Western Samoa for a weekend “picnic”. Explores the act – what happened; the scene the physical, geographic and cultural milieu of the action; the agent – managing director Dick Hubbard’s individual identity and the role he played out in terms of the action; the agency – the means by which Hubbard was enabled to accomplish this action, and his role in initiating, approving and funding the staff picnic; and finally, the purpose – the intended effect of the action and a consideration of perceived outcomes. Considers the usefulness of the dramatistic pentad to other organisational contexts. Concludes that it provides a useful model to guide the analysis of diverse organisational texts.
Mode of action of bredinin with guanylic acid on L5178Y mouse leukemia cells.
Moderate concentrations of bredinin (1.2 X 10(-5) M) strongly inhibited growth of L5178Y cells, with the effect being reversed by guanylic acid (GMP). However, at higher concentrations of breeding the inhibition was not reversed completely by GMP added in excess. Bredinin was cytocidal at concentrations above 2 X 10(-5) M, but 5 X 10(-5) M bredinin in the presence of excess GMP, bredinin was cytostatic. Bredinin inhibited nucleic acid synthesis of L5178Y cells, but bredinin itself was not incorporated into the nucleic acid. Inhibition of nucleic acid synthesis was clearly reversed by GMP. Similarly chromosomal aberrations in L5178Y cells caused by bredinin were reversed by GMP. In contrast, the effect of ahigh concentration of bredinin on cell multiplication was not reversed by GMP. The modal volume of L5178Y cells increased during incubation in the presence of bredinin and GMP for 24 hours, 5 X 10(-5) M bredinin with GMP causing a 70% increase in cell volume. This increase in cell volume was mainly due to an increase in the protein content of the cells. The cytostatic effect of bredinin with GMP was reversed completely by adenosine-3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP). Other cyclic nucleotides and nucleotides were ineffective. The reversing effect of cyclic AMP on cell survival depended upon the concentration of GMP, and was not seen in the absence of GMP. It was concluded that cyclic AMP influences the secondary cytostatic effect of bredinin, and not the primary cytotoxic effect reversed by GMP.