Strategic Management Report: US Nut Industry Theft & Analysis

This report provides a strategic management analysis of the US nut industry, focusing on the significant issue of cargo theft. It begins with an executive summary and table of contents, followed by an introduction that highlights the increasing theft of nut products, particularly walnuts and almonds, and the involvement of organized crime. A case study details specific instances of theft, emphasizing the sophisticated methods used by criminals. The report then delves into a comprehensive market analysis using the PESTLE framework, examining political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors influencing the industry. It also applies Porter's five forces to assess competitive dynamics. The report identifies organizations capable of preventing theft and offers recommendations for improving security. A critical analysis follows, leading to a conclusion that summarizes the key findings and suggests areas for further research. References and an appendix complete the report. The report underscores the socio-economic impacts of theft, the need for improved security measures, and the importance of a thorough market and competitive analysis to address the challenges faced by the US nut industry.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Strategic management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive summary
The purpose of this report is to shed light on a fact that in the recent years the nut industry of
United States America is facing a serious issue and that is theft of the truckload of goods worth
millions of dollars in a regular interval of time. The report further stresses on a detailed analysis
of the market and the market competition analysis along with a recommendation regarding how
to deal with this situation. The report further explores the fact how due to the robbery and theft,
the industry is facing serious socio-economic issues in recent times. In this report it is mentioned
how the management of those victim organizations can improve their security system to prevent
these kinds of activities and detailed market analysis and competitive analysis is done in this
report on the nut industry of America.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Case study........................................................................................................................................4
Market analysis................................................................................................................................7
Political........................................................................................................................................7
Economical..................................................................................................................................8
Social...........................................................................................................................................8
Technological..............................................................................................................................9
Legal............................................................................................................................................9
Environment..............................................................................................................................10
Porter’s five forces.........................................................................................................................10
Supplier power...........................................................................................................................10
Threat of substitution.................................................................................................................11
Buyer’s power............................................................................................................................11
Threat of new entrants...............................................................................................................11
Competitive rivalry....................................................................................................................12
Organizations with capabilities to prevent the theft......................................................................12
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................13
Critical analysis.............................................................................................................................14
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14

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References......................................................................................................................................16
Appendix........................................................................................................................................20

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Introduction
The purpose of this report is to highlight an issue in the land of United States California.
This report deals with the daylight robbery that is going on for a long time and the main purpose
of this report is to investigate this issue as the robbers are stealing the products worth more than a
few million dollars and they are executing the job in a very sophisticated manner using high
technology. It is seen that in October a trailer was carrying loads of walnuts worth more than 50
thousand dollars got stolen in Yuba City. Similar instances were noticed in February where
walnuts worth 2 million dollars got stolen in the same manner in Butte County. According to the
reports found from a reporter who previously served as a cop, he stated that this is an organized
crime done by a group of mafias where Russians and some people from Bronx, America are
involved (de Abreu et al. 2013). After the investigations done by FBI, primarily they came to a
decision that Russian mobsters are behind the Italian-American mafia, but there are no practical
evidence in the hand of FBI so that they can investigate the issue further and personally meet the
suspected people (Nunes et al. 2012). The irony that is prevalent here is that the police did not
have any clue about who are the potential suspects in this case.
Case study
In the land of America from the last few months, various robberies of almonds and
walnuts are seen, and in each case the robbers are looting products worth more than million
dollars, it is reported that the robbers are employing highly technologically rich engineering to
execute the criminal activities. In the place of robbery many a times people noticed people
talking in Russian accents and that is the only thin clue that FBI has in their hand (Hillocks,
Bennett and Mponda 2012). They are trying to get the clues desperately as the robbers are

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looting goods worth millions of dollars in broad day light and the way they are employing
tactics, it is evident that the criminals are backed up by a rich organization and these cases are
true example of organized crime (Hernandez-Montoya et al. 2012).
International crime associations are targeting the California’s booming agriculture
industry, which are increasingly stealing truck loaded of nuts, making establishment and the
firms falling victim to the efforts to break the spree costing millions of dollars. These
sophisticated organizations in many cases used hi-tech technologies and tactics, like hacking into
trucking company’s websites to steal their identity (Pitt, Taniwaki and Cole 2013). Armed with
false shipping papers, the crime organizations pose as legitimate truckers, driving off with loads
of nuts such as almonds, walnuts and pistachios valued at $150,000 and some worth $500,000
each goods. After a few days, when a shipment fails to reach to its intended destination, the
nuts might already be in another state or on a ship sailed for the market of Europe or Asia, where
they get top dollars in the black market, according to the experts (Grain 2012).
Last year, nut thefts hit an all-time high in United States– with losses a totalling $8.47
million from 33 reported cases, more than the three previous years combined, as according to
Cargo Nut, an agreement of cargo shipping organizations and law enforcement agencies aimed at
preventing losses. Losses for all four years combined were nearly 11.7 million dollars according
to the group reports. Todd Croswell, the general manager of Caro Nut Company said that it has
made his life miserable and Caro was victimized almost six times in the last year for a total loss
of 1.2 million dollars (Ioris 2015). In each case, the thieves stole cashews imported from
Vietnam and Africa that were roasted, salted and packaged in Fresno (de Abreu et al. 2013).

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The value of the nuts grown and processed in California, the nation’s leading agricultural
state, have soared in the recent years as global demand for the health-food snack grows in places
such as China and rising economies. California State produces more almonds, walnuts and
pistachios than any other states with an estimated value of 9.7 billion dollars in 2014. Only the
Almonds alone were valued at 6.1 billion dollars, according to the US Department of Agriculture
(Hernandez-Montoya et al. 2012).
The high price of nuts attracted the attention of various criminal organizations, which are
exploiting the weaknesses in the cargo shipping industry to harvest large profits, according to
Dan Bryant, a supervisory special agent of the violent and organized crimes programs of the
FBI’s Sacramento bureau (Müller et al. 2013).
Bryant denied identifying any specific organizations under suspicion, citing an ongoing
criminal investigation he said, the robbers not just some teenage kids ripping off nuts, he further
said, the looters are sophisticated people (Ioris 2015). The local authorities are also taking
actions. One state lawmaker has introduced a bill to fund a state-wide taskforce targeting all
types of cargo thefts. The Law enforcement officials and the nut processors were arranging
meetings to share information to help prevent more nut thefts (Hillocks, Bennett and Mponda
2012).
Alarmed by a sudden increase in large-scale nut robbery, Tulare County sheriff Mike
Boudreaux last year geared up his agriculture crime’s unit from two to six detectives. Back in
2013, his office investigated a $193750 pistachio theft. No such cases were reported in the next
year, but in 2015, six trucks of almonds and pistachios were stolen at a combined loss of 2.7
million dollars. The investigators successfully tailed at least one truck Los Angeles and made

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one arrest (GRAIN 2012). The officials denied to disclose the name of the suspect due to the in
progress investigation.
The criminals do tend to have some overseas connections, said Scott Cornell, who is an
investigator for Travellers’ Insurance and an expert on cargo thefts. Croswell said he has put in
place new safeguards hoping that he doesn’t fall victim again, after taking photographs and
fingerprints of the roughly 25 truck drivers each day who to the shipping docks. Despite this
effort, Croswell said that he fears that the criminals will strike back again in no time (Müller et
al. 2013).
Whoever they might is, they’re most possibly watching, as stated by Crosswell. He
further said that they’ll try to do it again. They’ll eventually figure out how to beat the system
and the individuals just have to stay one step ahead of them in order to stop them and get them
(de Abreu et al. 2013).
Market analysis
For over a decade producing nut and selling them used to be a very lucrative business in the land
of America and especially in the state of California. In this section of this report, a thorough
market research is done for the rich nut industry which is nowadays under a huge threat of
robbery where international mafia is involved (Olife, Jolaoso and Onwualu 2013). Thus in this
section a thorough PESTLE analysis is shown regarding the nut industry of America.
Political
In the land of United States America, as it is seen that producing nuts and selling them is a very
lucrative business and federal government earns a lot of revenue from the taxes generated from
this business (Olife, Jolaoso and Onwualu 2013). Thus government backs up the businessmen

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who are controlling the nut industry in many ways. Thus, it can be said that, nut industry
nowadays is a rich industry with lots of governmental helps and bankrolled by big business
tycoons and government aids. As in recent years the industry is facing serious issues regarding
uncontrolled theft of the goods, the businessmen of this particular sector are incurring losses over
millions of dollars and that is in a way affecting the general economy of the state as well as it is
disturbing the pillars of the business operations (Olife, Jolaoso and Onwualu 2013).
Economical
To judge the nut industry economically, it can be said that the industry is a growing one
and hold a lot of opportunities to flourish even more than ever as in the market, the demand of
processed nuts are very high and in some regions of America, the land is appropriate for growing
nuts and all other weather parameters suits the criterion that is needed to grow nuts in industrial
quantity (Dana and Mallet 2014). For the last decade, the nut industry has been a huge generator
of taxes for the government of America and this industry is arranging the living of almost
thousands of families nowadays. Thus it is a fact that nut industry of America has deep influence
in the economy of the nation and can be considered as an influential industry in the market of
America (Coslovsky 2014).
Social
The nut industry of America is a growing industry and in the last decade, it is seen that
some big corporations came forward with the intention to make a monopoly in the business and
thus it is seen that there are two or three corporations who are controlling the industry. From this
business the common farmers are not getting benefitted as in most cases they are working under

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big corporations and all the profits are getting accounted to those companies (Chang, Sreedharan
and Schneider 2013). Thus there are a bit of agitation among the commoners regarding the pay
issues. It was thus evident that this agitation led to a heated conversation with the management of
those organizations and the union of the farmers. Thus from the activities of the farmer’s union,
it is evident that the majority population is not happy with the actions taken by the privileged
class in this context.
Technological
After looking at the brighter side of the business, the management of the organizations
who are the leading growers of nuts in the land of America is trying to introduce some higher
technologies to increase the productivity. It is seen that the organizations are nowadays investing
a lot of money to increase the technological advancements for this field of business along with it
they are trying to improve some technological devices so that they can track how the robbers are
looting their goods in the broad daylight. These are the main issues those are worth mentioning
in this section of this report.
Legal
Currently the nut industry is facing some real issues in the legal sector due to excessive
usage of water for the processing of the goods (Dana and Mallet 2014). Various petitions were
signed against the organizations that are controlling the nut industry as the nuts need excess
water to grow that any other crops and while processing gallons of fresh water gets wasted
(Coslovsky 2014). This is the primary reason behind the legal issues the organizations are facing
in this field. The organizations are also facing some minor problems due to the activities of the
farmer’s union, as the members of the union thinks that the organizations are depriving the

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farmers who are doing all the hard work and they are not getting the amount of money they
should be given (Chang, Sreedharan and Schneider 2013).
Environment
It is a well known statement that nuts are the crop of the poor commoners and the food of
the elite society. Many farmers of America are nowadays engaged in producing nut in industrial
quantity under the supervision of large corporations which are operating the business in the large
scale (Branco et al. 2015). The processing of these nuts are in every possible way a threat to the
environment as it emits irritable odor that disturbs the neighboring individuals and at the time of
processing the nuts a huge amount of water gets wasted. These are the hazards that environment
faces on a daily basis for the processing of nuts (Dana and Mallet 2014). Looking at all the
negative factors, the government still backs up the business as the negative factors are very
minimal in respect of the profitability this business generates each financial year in the market of
America (Coslovsky 2014). The nut industry requires a lot of water for the irrigation and while
processing too the industry needs gallons of water that eventually gets wasted and that is a matter
of concern in today’s world.
Porter’s five forces
In this section of this report a detailed analysis regarding the five forces of the market is
shown for the detailed analysis of the industry in the recent years.
Supplier power
In the market of America, the power of the suppliers is not at all a matter of concern at
least in the nut industry, as in most cases the organizations take help from the common farmers
and make them work for them by offering them some monetary rewards (Khir et al. 2013). In

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this context if the management of those organizations keeps the farmers happy by using the
method of reward and recognition, they will be content and the industry would not face many
issues from them (Chang, Sreedharan and Schneider 2013).
Threat of substitution
The nut industry is a lucrative business in the land of America, and it is seen that looking
at the profitability of this business, many business leaders can come forward with the intention of
getting engaged in this business. Then the organizations who are trying to monopolize the
business can face some serious threats as the profitability would get shared between the
organizations that will join the business (Bryson 2015). If these new organizations can sell the
goods in comparative lesser prices, then they can potentially substitute the organizations that
were running the business and gaining the majority of the profit percentage for so long (Branco
et al. 2015).
Buyer’s power
As the demand of the nuts is very high in the market of America and abroad, the industry
is very much dependent on the intention of the buyers. If the clients see that the organizations are
making huge profit by selling the goods keeping a higher margin of profit, they can demand to
reduce the prices of the goods and that can potentially affect the profitability of those
organizations (Belasco 2014).
Threat of new entrants
Looking at the immense profitability in the business of growing and selling nuts in the
market of America and also in overseas market, many business organizations of different
commercial sectors might get interested in investing money in the nut industry. If big

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multinational organizations come forward to expand their business in this field, then the
companies who are currently running the nut industry would have to face major issues as
multinational organizations with huge brand value would take away all the important clients of
the nut industry (Bryson 2015).
Competitive rivalry
The business of growing nuts and selling those raw or processed in the market of
America and in overseas market is a lucrative business and there are three or four major
organizations those rule the industry (Belasco 2014). It is seen that the competition is tough
between the companies and the recent cases of robbery and theft of goods worth millions of
dollars raises the question that whether the rival organizations are hiring someone to do the job
or not. Experts are suspecting that these cases may be due to the conspiracy of the rival
companies (Pitt, Taniwaki and Cole 2013). Companies like America nut INC or Best American
Nut Co are strong rivals in this business and they might face some issues if a single organization
takes away the majority of the profit percentage. In some cases, police reported that they
suspected that Russian mafias are working behind the criminal operations along with the
organized crime associations of Italian-Americans, and one of the owners of those rival
organizations is a Russian business tycoon (Aculey et al. 2012).
Organizations with capabilities to prevent the theft
There are not many organizations that are currently doing business in the nut industry of
America and the way the companies are losing money due to uncontrolled robbery and theft of
goods in the broad daylight, the organizations need to come up with plans to prevent these types
of activities (Barkdull 2012). The organizations like Cargo Nut are improving their technological

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capabilities to prevent the theft according to the management of the organization. They are trying
to hire experts from Belgium in order to look after the technical aspects of the situation and they
are trying to work on the loop holes of their policies to improve the security issues both in the
virtual world and in real time situations. The robbers are hacking the websites to get the
information and on the other hand they are continuously trying to build up a team to look after
the trucks which are delivering the goods to the store house or to the markets. In the storehouse
they have started employing professional security guards who are armed and well trained to
prevent these kinds of unwanted situations (Barkdull 2012). It is seen that if these organizations
strengthens their own structure of doing business then it would be easy for the police department
or the social authorities to reach the bottom of the crime in an easier way.
Recommendation
In this section of this report it can be said that it is the duty of the management of the
organizations to look after their own goods in the first place.
 The organizations must try to improve their security issues and also be aware of the fact
that there might be someone in their organization who can potentially be engaged with
the criminal association and they might be disclosing the important information to the
criminals (Aculey et al. 2012).
 The management of those organizations must improve the security of their websites and
also they must dictate their security personnel to improve their work rate in an effective
way to prevent this sort of unwanted situations.
 Government and police department would do their job, but in this case, the victim
organizations must show some enthusiasm to stop these kinds of situations and they

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should not have the laid back attitudes depending on the schemes of insurance policies
(Anagnostakis 2012).
Critical analysis
In this section of this report a critical analysis of the whole situation is done as the
problem is getting worse day by day and the victim organizations have a very little hope to get
out of this situation. It is a matter of fact that the nut industry is a growing industry and possesses
a lot of opportunities for the investors in this field of business. Thus the organized crime
associations would get naturally interested to make a few million dollars by looting the truck
load goods. The situation is grave for the business organizations that are running the nut industry
as they are losing money in a continuous process and there is not a single ray of hope left for the
management of those organizations. The police department stated that the organizations did not
have much compact security system and that made it easier for the criminals to loot the trucks.
The management of those victim organizations are thus improving their general security system
to prevent these kinds of unwanted activities.
Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be said that, the current situation is not in favor of the business
organizations who are doing business in the nut industry of America as loads of goods worth
more than millions are getting robbed many a times and it is seen how the organizations are
losing money on a recurring basis and they are losing millions of dollars. The organizations must
look into these matters and act accordingly. FBI is putting in great effort to trail down the bottom
of the issue and they have already arrested one suspect, but according to the experts, there must

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be a huge gang operating behind these activities and according to them, not only Italian-
American mafia, but Russian gangsters are also behind these kinds of operations.

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Appendix
Fig 1 Porters 5 forces model
(Coslovsky 2014)