Azalea Seafood Gumbo Shoppe is in a stage when development of a complex business strategy is needed because of insufficient use of production capabilities, need for a bigger market share and financial results that cannot satisfy owners needs. Current strategy of the company is primarily focused on increasing the market share in the United States in order to increase the amount of sales. This is done by direct marketing activities and collaboration with the food brokers. The first mentioned is very hard to do from the position of a small producer because of large corporations on the other side of the table and the second one was not successful because of insufficient attention from the brokers side. Also the reason for getting larger market share is to use free production capacities which are now at approximately 60 %.
Competitive forces in the seafood industry
The current situation (year 2000) in the value added seafood industry is influenced by four competitive forces: competitors, suppliers, buyers or customers and firms offering substitutes.
Jitney Jungle
Azaleas
Azaleas and RosesEveryone in the seafood industry could be described as a competitor for the Azalea Company. The competitors are trying to get the competitive advantage by creating the biggest number of accounts (larger market share) with customers and getting the best shelf locations in the stores. However, in the same product line the Azalea Seafood Gumbo product does not have a real competitor because of the good taste which comes from long tradition and only few producers of gumbo which were not able to stay on the market for a longer period of time. The competition from suppliers of substitutes is relatively weak because these substitutes (as for example raw fish or shrimps) are more time consuming and require other ingredients to prepare. Also if we look at the picture 3...