Strategic Management Report: Ananda Food's Business Strategy Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive strategic analysis of Ananda Food, an Australian company specializing in hemp-based products. The report begins with an executive summary and an introduction to strategic management, then identifies Ananda Food as a fiber-focused agribusiness and details its business units, product lines, and revenue streams, highlighting the significance of its largest revenue unit, Ananda Food. It explores various business-level strategies, analyzing Ananda Food's adoption of a cost leadership strategy to reduce costs and offer low prices. The report further examines the company's competitive environment, including competitor analysis and competitive rivalry, and presents an implementation plan and evaluation strategy. Finally, it offers recommendations for the future strategic direction of Ananda Food, concluding with a summary of key findings and insights. The report follows academic writing guidelines and includes Harvard referencing.

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Executive summary
In the current business environment, it becomes essential for the business to form a strategy that
helps them to operate effectively in the market. The purpose of the report is to determine the
corporation that is Ananda food. The discussion of the business units and products and services
of the company has been done which shows that business is offering 100% hemp products in the
market. The findings show that the company can get revenue from its major products, as it is a
subsidiary of Ecofibre Company. The business-level strategy that has been adopted by the
company is cost leadership in which they offer the products at a better process. The major
competitors of the company that are witnessed include. These competitors are giving tough
competition to the company. The opportunities for the company are evaluated according to
which the implementation plan has been formed. The formative strategy is used for evaluating
the plan and its effectiveness. In the end, the recommendations for the future strategic direction
are provided for the Ananda Food.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Identification of fiber focused agribusiness.....................................................................................3
Identification of the business units and products and service lines.................................................4
Identification of business revenue units of the company.............................................................5
Identification of different business level strategies.........................................................................6
Analysis of the agribusiness’ business level strategy..................................................................8
Model of competitive reality...........................................................................................................9
Competitor’s analysis..................................................................................................................9
Drivers of Competitive Behaviour.............................................................................................10
Competitive Rivalry...................................................................................................................11
Analysis of Outcome.................................................................................................................12
Implementation plan......................................................................................................................13
Evaluation strategy....................................................................................................................14
Recommendations for the future strategic direction......................................................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................17
References......................................................................................................................................18

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Introduction
Strategic management is the management of the organization’s resources to attain goals and
objectives. It comprises setting purposes, investigating competitive environment, internal
organization, evaluating strategies and making sure that the management rolls out the strategies
across the company. This report defines the strategic management of Ananda food which is an
Australian based company. Ananda food offers best quality hemp products in the market.
Ananda food is subsidiary of Ecofibre. Ecofibre operates in Australia and USA. The company
drives in hemp-derived nutraceutical segment targeting the health and wellbeing segment
through the Ananda food. Ecofibre is having involvement in the several parts of the value chain
of Ananda food from growing to producing to sales and marketing of the products (Ecofibre,
2016). The company concentrates on hemp-derived food products providing hemp seed foods
through Ananda food. The strategic actions and formulations of Ananda food have been stated in
the report. The report identifies the business units and product lines of Ananda foods. The
business revenue units have been also discussed along with the significance of the largest
revenue units. Further, the report comprises several business level strategies and agribusiness’s
business level strategy has been analyzed. The model of competitive reality has been drawn and
deliberated. An implementation plan has been also identified with the evaluation strategy.
Finally, the recommendations have been made for the future strategic direction of Ananda foods.
Identification of fiber focused agribusiness
Ananda Food is an Australian company with twenty years of experience. The company produces
the safest, finest quality hemp products with the help of the Australian farmers. Hemp is used

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mainly in dietary supplements and wellness products. Hemp is a superfood for the reasons as if it
contains two vital fatty seeds, omega 3, omega 6, plus iron, vitamin E and all the vital amino
acids. The hemp seeds are multipurpose dietary supplement. These seeds are extremely healthy
and considered most nutritionally complete food source globally. The hemp seeds yield a high-
quality protein, required fatty acids, and critical dietary elements perfect for the human and
animal is consumption. Ananda food offers safe and quality nutrition from the source that can be
trusted. The company focuses on enjoying products with the family as it celebrates the
Australian farmer (Ecofibre, 2019).
Ecofibre started growing industrial hemp in the year 1999 in Tasmania with the anticipation that
the law one day will enable the usage of the hemp seeds as food and it finally approved. The
Australian legislation permitted the usage of hemp seed products as food in 2017. This law
enabled the company to offer superior quality hemp seed products to the Australians. So, Ananda
food came in force in 2018. Ananda food is the only commercial-scale manufacturer of premium
food-grade hemp seed oil. The hemp seed oil is made from the industrial hemp developed in
Australia. The company take pride in its products and assures that hemp seeds, hemp seed oil,
and protein powder is wholly grown and processed with no additives. Ananda food aims to assist
Australian farmers through purchasing products that are Australian grown and produced.
Identification of the business units and products and service lines
Ananda food is a wholly owned business unit. As the company came in force in 2018, so at the
initial level it is focusing more on the Australian business. Ananda deals in bulk, retail, and
recipes. Ananda food is a proud leader of the Australian and international industrial hemp
industries. It enables to service extensive variety of customers with traceable and high-quality

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products (Ananda Food, 2019). The company can help the small or global organization having
need for hemp food. The company offers products safe and high-quality products at affordable
prices. The products of Ananda food comprise hemp seed, hemp seed oil, protein powder, hemp
flour. These products are offered in different sizes and packs. The company helps with the 100%
Australian grown hemp food requirements. The recipes are also offered by the company
including nori and hemp rolls, hemp basil pesto, chocolate hemp granola, raw rainbow salad,
avocado and hemp on ciabatta, hemp milk, lemon and hemp pepita balls, hemp seed hummus
and yellow hemp smoothie (Ananda Food, 2019). There are 44 stores of Ananda food. The hemp
seeds are just one of the types of superfoods, which are actually worthy of its reputation. The
hemp seeds can be incorporated into any meal and the taste can be enhanced.
Identification of business revenue units of the company
Ananda food is an Australian company with twenty years of experience. The company works
with the Australian farmers to produce safe and best quality hemp products. The products of
Ananda food are used for the health and wellbeing by the customers. The company is
concentrated on offering customers with the premium, complaint, and high quality products.
Ananda is developing an innovative business to offer the best of hemp to more customers
globally. The business revenue units of Ananda food identified are Ananda food, Ananda hemp,
Ananda professional and hemp black (Ecofibre, 2019).
Ananda food offers high quality protein, vital fatty acids and more essential dietary components
produced through the hemp seeds. Ananda food offers hemp seeds, hemp oil, and hemp flour and
hemp protein powder. The hemp seeds can even be used in the food through the recipes
addressed by the company on the website like raw rainbow salad, hemp seeds hummus and
more. Other business revenue unit of Ananda, Ananda hemp processes hemp materials into the

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nutraceutical products that are wholly natural made and encourage to the health and wellness.
This segment works with the Kentucky farmers for the creation of a healthy and viable crop.
This crop is grown in Kentucky soil (Ecofibre, 2019). Ananda professional is an elite line of
hemp-linked products accessible through independent pharmacies only. The hemp flowers are
used as the main source in the products. The products offered by the company certify full-
spectrum benefits. The company is bind by all the prevalent law regarding hemp excerpts and
by-products. It also follows to the cGMP conventions. Hemp Black makes use of innovative
technology in the industry of textiles and materials. The hemp black’s technologies are leading in
the field of smart and functional performance apparel, footwear and fashion (Ecofibre, 2019).
The carbonization of the hemp bio-product unlocks advanced technologies that are intellectual
and adaptive. Out of these, Ananda food is the largest revenue unit. It generates revenue of 6.8
M.
Identification of different business level strategies
The business level strategies are used by the organizations to attain a competitive advantage over
the competitors. There are several business level strategies:
Cost leadership: The organizations chase cost leadership to attain competitive advantage. This
strategy is totally focused on the price as a competing element. It is relied on having internal
efficiency in order to have above-average margins to be sustainable. The cost leadership strategy
is employed by decreasing operating costs below the industry average. The companies pass these
savings to the customers by offering low priced products or by maintaining average pricing in
order to increase the profit margin. The cost leadership strategy deliberates the cost to produce
the goods, transport and distributes them to the customers (Nair, Nicolae, and Dreyfus, 2018).

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Differentiation: The differentiation is employed by the companies to grab the maximum market
share. The aim of this strategy is to offer products with unique features over the cost aspect. The
differentiation is also used by defending higher pricing and providing higher quality products
that are appraised by the customers. The way of differentiation is used when the products are not
expensive in the market. The features offered by the company make it the most worthful and
differentiated (Schulze, et al. 2016). The differentiation includes factors like innovation, product-
level differentiation, price level differentiation, branding, and packaging, offering pre-sale and
post-sale services, variety of the products and point of customer interaction.
Focused differentiation: The focus differentiation is the advanced move of a differentiation
strategy. It discovers the benefit of the products and targets to the small market niche. It believes
in serving special segment of the customers in an efficient manner. This strategy is useful to state
a niche where it is beneficial and not competing only based on price. The focused differentiation
strategy is used by the organizations to outperform competitors by providing products which are
alleged to be superior by the customers even if the price is higher. This strategy helps in
appealing to the small and specialized section.
Integrated low-cost strategy: This strategy combines both low cost and differentiation. This
strategy has become more popular in the international market as it enables flexibility in both
price and benefit. This strategy has been used more by the multinational companies enabled by
learning innovative technology and leveraging on the core capabilities to offer differentiated
products at a low cost (Wang, et al. 2019). It mainly offers differentiated products at the low
prices including margin little above the average costs.

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Analysis of the agribusiness’ business level strategy
Ananda food makes use of a cost leadership strategy. The company believes in offering high
quality product at low prices. The cost leadership strategy is used by Ananda food to reduce
costs and manufacture the least expensive products in the market of US and Australia to grab
market share. The current business environment is compound and sophisticated when it comes to
customers. The customers are aware of the choices offered to them. The company uses this
strategy to differentiate through competitive pricing (Ananda Food, 2019). Ananda food has the
least manufacturing costs and offers the same level of quality as compared to the rivalries like
Elixinol Global Limited. The customers regularly see to enhance their purchasing power that is
not possible with the increment of the income. Therefore, Ananada food grabs the prospect to
offer lower prices as the next best alternative. The company cuts the operational costs through
unnecessary measures and offers the least prices to the customers. The management of Ananda
food consistently works for reducing costs at every level in order to remain competitive. The cost
leadership is given more importance by the company as it is a part of the marketing strategy. It
helps company in not only gaining market share but drawing attention of the customers (Güntert,
2015). The management does not just focus on one product but the whole product range of
portfolio is consistently reviewed. In order to deploy this strategy, Ananda food produces
products that are of appropriate quality and specific for the specific segment of the customers
and is lower than the competitors are. This strategy has been practiced by Ananda food in the
market segment of US and Australia. The massive buying power is also enabled by the company
in order to become more capable and selling products at low prices. This strategy has been
successful for the company to maintain profits and enhance market share. Once Ananda food
grabs the large market share, it will soon move to the differentiated strategy in order to attain

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advance profits. The company can easily enable the differentiated strategy, as the offerings of the
company are unique and innovative. The production and usage of the hemp seeds are rare in the
market.
Model of competitive reality
This section of the report includes the discussion of the model of competitive reality that can
contribute effectively in predicting the behaviour of the competitors and to bring the decline in
the uncertainty that can occur in the Ananda food. The analysis that has been conducted is
related to the domestic competitors present in the market as the company operates in the market
of Australia only.
The given above is the model of the competitive reality based on which the discussion will be
done for the company.
Competitor’s analysis
It has been found that the local as well as the international market of the Hemp industry is
growing and developing. The major competitors of the Ananada Food that are present in the
market include Elixinol and Charlotte's Web Hemp Australia. Ananda Food is a new
Competitors
Analysis
Market
Commonality
Resource
similarity
Drivers of
competitive
behaviour
Awareness,
Motivation,
Ability
Competitive Rivalry
 Likelihood of Attack
First mover benefits, size
of organisation, Quality
 Likelihood of
Response
Type of competitive
action, Actor’s reputation,
Market dependence
Outcomes
Financial
performance,
Market
position

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agribusiness company who is working with the farmers of the country to offer the 100% hemp
that is used by them in the food products (Bernberg, 2019).
Market Commonalities
Ananda Food is only familiar with the Australian market as they are offering the products in the
market of Australia only. The company has 44 stores in the market of Australia due to which it is
aware of the entire environment of Australia. On the other hand, it competitor Elixinol Global
has the global presence as well as they have the three business units which include USA,
Australia and Nunyara Pharma due to which they are aware of the market of USA and Australia.
Charlotte's Web Hemp is a competitor of the company who is again dealing in the market of
Australia and USA due to which they are common within both the market.
Resource Similarity
The resource similarity that is present within the competitors of the company includes the
production of Hemp (Slattery, O'Connell, Rhoades, Tiernan and Warnock-Smith, 2016). The
company as well as its competitors are competing and providing the fibre as well as its related
products in the market. In addition to this, company and its competitors dealing with the farmers
for producing the hemp for producing the food products like protein powder, oil, seeds and many
other which are used for making the food-related products.
Drivers of Competitive Behaviour
The major drivers of competitive behaviour include awareness, motivation, and ability that can
influence the working of the company (Salavou, 2015). Ecofibre the parent company of the
Ananada food is aware of the action that will be taken by their competitors that include Elixinol
and Charlotte's Web Hemp Australia. This is the reason the Ecofibre got motivated to bring their

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subsidiary in existence with Ananada Food that can contribute in offering the hemp as fibre in
food products. The resources, as well as market commonalities, provide the ability to the
Ananada Food to deal in the market (Rua, França and Fernández Ortiz, 2018).
Competitive Rivalry
The competitive rivalry in the agribusiness is increasing day by day with the rise in the
awareness among the market for being healthy (Finch, Peacock, Levallet and Foster, 2016). The
hemp is used as the dietary supplements and for health and wellness that is increasing day by
day. The rivalries among the companies are getting intense (Finch, Peacock, Levallet and Foster,
2016). The competitive rivalry is evaluated on the basis “Likelihood of Attack” factors and
“likelihood of Response” factors related to the Ananda food.
Likelihood of Attack
In the market of Australia, many companies are producing hemp due to which the company
cannot avail the benefit of the first-mover advantage in the market. The size of the Ananda Food
organisation is small currently because they do not have the operations in the international
market. The company is operating in the domestic market and with this; they want to deliver the
quality services in the market. The competitors of the company have large operations as every
company in the competitive market work to expand the business (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart and
Wright, 2017). The competitors include Elixinol and Charlotte's Web Hemp Australia has
contact with the farmers due to which they provide the quality products.
Likelihood of Response
The response includes the actions, reputation, and market dependence in the market of Australia.
It has been found that Ecofibre Company who is the parent company of Ananda food can react