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Cadbury, a renowned player in global confectionary, has fascinated the hearts and buds of its
consumers for over two centuries. Established as a family-run business in 1824, it has evolved into a
global chocolate powerhouse. Cadbury's remarkable journey from its humble beginning to now as a
market leader is a testament to its successful strategies towards changing market dynamics and
consumer preference while being aligned to its core values. Since the advent, Cadbury has
emphasized on social consciousness and employee welfare. Cadbury created the Bourneville village
in the 19th century, providing semi-detached houses, a swimming pool, and tennis courts, that not
only reflected the people's welfare approach but proved to be a great branding strategy. This
establishment formed a narrative to community and value which still resonates in their brand identity.
Cadbury has maintained its dominance in the market by adapting the changing industry circumstances
through continuous product innovations. Since the acquisition by Kraft, Cadbury has launched over
100 new products, expanding its product portfolio to 630 products. The introduction of Creme Egg
bars and nutty praline Dairy Milk has proved to be a driving factor for its growth and mitigating
different challenges. As in the UK, the changes in the regulation, which restrict putting high fat, salt
and sugar (HFSS) products from placement in the checkout counters and store entrances, hampered
their crucial sales stream. The use of a healthier ingredient-mix of Fruits and Nuts in their product
enabled them to retain their strategic product placement in the superstores. Moreover, the marketing
strategies adapted by Cadbury particularly focus on consumer hotspots. They incentivize shop owners
with rewards such free cases of chocolates or discounts to create "walls of purple" to ensure they
implant and create a brand image in their consumer's mind. These strategies play a crucial role in
impulse buying scenarios. However, Cadbury has faced ethical challenges, mainly concerning
exploitation of labor who were paid 74p per day in 2019, according to Fairtrade. Reports highlight
that farmer, mainly from western Africa life in extreme poverty, moreover climate change and high
cost of fertilizers and pesticides have financially burdened the farmers causing cocoa prices to rise.
Cadbury was also recently labelled as "brand to avoid" by the ethical consumers. As brand image has
been the core value of company, Mondelez (originally Kraft foods) announced $600 million
sustainable sourcing plan, this showed brand commitment towards their social welfare, by supporting
farmers and improving agricultural practices most importantly a sustainable step towards cocoa
sourcing. Cadbury implemented several strategies to tackle soaring Cocoa prices. They explored
replacing cocoa butter with alternatives such as palm oil and vegetable oil. This way they manage cost
while keeping up to the quality of their product. Moreover, they have engaged in practices like
shrinkflation – where product quantity is reduced without changing product price. For example, the
dairy milk bars size was reduced to 180g from 200g without any changes in the price. Cadbury has
faced several health-related issues in several years. One the major issue was concerning the high
levels of sugar which have been heavily criticized. In order curb this problem Mondelez developed a
dairy milk which contained 30% less sugar level. With sugar content reduced, they intend on using
ingredients like caramel and nougat paired with plant fibers. These ventures have shown creativity,
customer welfare, and steady product development. Cadbury's strategic maneuvers over the history
and innovations and marketing genius has covered its position in the confectionery industry. The
companies' ability to consume standard tough milestones without changing its brand identity has kept
its growth curve intact over the time period. The company still is the chieftain in their marketplace
because of its innovation and focuses around their Environmental, Social and Governance policies. As
the company projects forward, it must concentrate on its innovative ability, adaptability to consumers'
choices and embrace the issue of sustainable supply chain.
1b.
Being so innovative in the confectionery industry, Cadbury encounters different challenges that range
from immediate to medium and long-term, respectively strategic and immediate response must be
observed to preserve competitiveness and to lead the market. Maybe one of the most acute challenges
that at the moment, Cadbury is facing, is the UK regulatory policy targeting the fight the product that
is high in fat, salt, and sugar at the same time. This regulation has also restricted the visibility of such
products at the stores, so the goods became underrepresented and, therefore, the impulse buying,
which usually used to make a major part of the profits for Cadbury, has declined. Inherently, the level
of health issues that consumers are aware of has risen, now demanding a reduction of the amount of
fat and sugar without compromising the taste that is expected from the bar produced by the UK
favorite chocolate company. To make it possible for Cadbury to take the grind, the staff is focused on
the product innovation program, which aims to produce and bring healthier options for the good that
are in compliance with the newly introduced regulations and the consumer preferences. Another
approach that Cadbury is implementing through the marketing function is focusing on the health
benefits of both the new and the old products to meet the needs of the health-conscious consumers
who have made their value shift towards healthier life decisions. Medium-term challenges While
Cadbury is facing the issue of the volatile price of cocoa on world markets, which will surely increase
the costs of production and, eventually the prices of the product or even the profit margins,. Then
there is the moral question of how cocoa is sourced and sustainably, as intense scrutiny on farmers in
West Africa who produce the bulk of the world's cocoa beans is becoming generally critical. One of
these sustainability issues can affect the brand's reputation is by failing to take relevant measures, the
consumers may rebel. To the response plan Cadbury is giving more emphasis on sustainable sourcing
initiatives, which will consequently raise the standards of cocoa farmers living and has the ethical
integrity of the supply chain. In addition, working with different global partners is another initiative to
lessen dependency on a particular source, protecting the business from the impact of global raw
material price fluctuations. In the ongoing battle, Cadbury has the responsibility to retain the legacy of
his brand and the clients' confidence after its sale to the foreign company Kraft, now Mondelez
International. The confectionery market is now facing increasing competition from new entrants in the
field and introducing new products and ideas as well. The challenge for Cadbury is that it needs to
strengthen its brand identity by designing marketing plan that focuses on brand heritage, values, and
sentimentality that bind customers to the brand and build their loyalty via assurance and past
experiences. Apart from that, Cadbury also taps into and penetrates the emerging markets by
localizing the products, adapting the range to the taste buds and the preferences of the people, to
increase its global recognition and competitiveness. To break the barriers in the way of Cadbury, they
will have to bring in sharp managerial decision making, through in-depth analysis of the dynamic
business environment. Cadbury's management has to ensure that the changes which it will face will
require an innovative approach to decision making that will be guided by a better understanding of
different industry settings. The managers at Cadbury will have to ensure a balance between tradition
and innovation, conducive to converging the marketing objectives for the fresh generation of products
with the supply chain management to ensure enacting the consequential regulations and responding to
any consumer trend. Determined management, who pay special attention to agility and foresight, are
primarily working towards the introduction of sustainable and ethical practices that must comply with
the global requirements and thus make the company stand out competitively in a changing
environment. By targeting the goals in all four dimensions of the environment like the social,
political, legal, and economics the company can hopes to tackle an industry which is very volatile to
changes. Through the careful regulation monitoring, the management of economic risks, and the
adjustment to cultural peculiarities in new markets the brand's management would be ready to cope
with both current difficulties and emerging opportunities that will solidify the fact that the Cadbury's
brand will always be associated with high quality and innovation in the global confectionery market
won't be questionable.
Q3.
To understand or to contrast between the two political systems one has to first define what they entail.
Democracy is a system that is characterized by an electoral process whilst provide accountability to its
voters. This system operates one important aspect, being the rule of law where from the citizen to the
leader both are subject to that law and are accountable for their actions. To expand, in the system
market dynamics are designed in such a way to ensure that there is competition and freedom
regarding its practices. In contrast, in Authoritarianism, there is an aspect of centralized control and
limited transparency. In simple terms, the decision-making process is within a few or a few
individuals. In this system, political freedom is minimal and the government has power over society
in many ways such as it has less accountability and political polarization is limited due to the control
being central. In this system, the state has majority control over economic activities where control
over the economy comprises Soe state-owned enterprises. The question however arises that what are
the consequences of expanding from a democratic to an authoritarian country. The first thing that is
important is that authoritarian regimes are very hard to navigate because of less transparency in the
system. There can be aspects of corruption, and local dealings that can be harmful to the business
atmosphere. An example is China, with a page 21 form of democracy, i.e., variety of democracy, with
political freedom being at a minimum (V-Dem, 2023). Therefore, it will be difficult to buy
accountability through justice since, first, the state will control and monitor the activities and
obviously promote an SOE over a privately-owned organization. Second, the level of political
instability in an authoritarian setup poses an operational risk. In terms of policy changes, it is
important to understand that authoritarian regimes do not have an independent judiciary. On the other
hand, in a democratic regime, even the president can be subject to a court of law, as happened, for
example, in the case of Watergate. Therefore, it is difficult to establish a business when one cannot
rely upon the existence of legal rights and protection. The case of Russia is an example where one can
take this from. The state used laws such as the foreign agent law to close down private media and
organizations that strived for human rights. Furthermore, authoritarian regimes can often manipulate
their current circumstances to appear friendly. However, the reality can be manipulated economic data
to show more growth than it actually is. In fact, it is found that "atrocious overestimate of their GDP
figure of 35% on average". However, businesses can take some factors into consideration before
developing a preset business into such regions. First, it is important to understand the political
landscape. Second, form an understanding of the already present institutions. It is important that one
needs to understand the dynamics of the state and even its bureaucratic setup so that operations can
run smoothly. Third is to understand the basic customs and legal norms, and fourth, diversify
investments so that if any policy change affects one financial institution, the other can be safeguarded
for a rainy day. It is important to look at China case study to understand another of authoritarian
regimes China has achieved a significant amount of economic growth. Moreover, [variety of
democracy page 21] (V-Dem, 2023) secondly, China has implemented a long-term economic strategy
to provide stability to their state. [variety of democracy page 29] (V-dem, 2023) by and large, China
can be considered one of the exceptions, and even in the case of China, coming as a third party, a
business can always fall behind from SOE, which can ultimately give them loses in the longer term, as
the state will favor their own enterprises lastly, to conclude, businesses need to be developed in an
environment that can provide them with a sense of protection if policies are changing, and
accountability is not present either at the horizontal or vertical level one may not guarantee securing
their business interest or growth.