Meakin Enterprises. Case report. Business & Marketing Coursework

Meakin Enterprises
Every organization involves decision-making, which is based on an assessment of the industry. This would enable the company to evaluate all the pros and cons and make further decisions for its success. Evaluating the company’s capacity, weighing risks and benefits, and analyzing all the factors affecting the input and output of the organization is crucial in the survival of the business.
Meakin Enterprise is a company in Saskatchewan established by Daved Meakin, which is involved in the agricultural business. Just like any organization, the agricultural industry involves various factors in the process of gaining profits and compensating for the loss at the same time. An entrepreneurial approach is coupled with logistical planning as well as effective management. For Meakin Enterprise to have a competitive edge among others, key issues should be identified, strengths and weaknesses, as well as financial statements, should be analyzed, and solutions should be formulated.
Key issues
Before making any decisions in the agricultural business, the first step is identifying the root cause of the problem. By knowing the key issues, the company would then know where and how to start addressing the problems. Meakin Enterprises faces the dilemma between expanding the farm size or the trucking business. Key issues to consider are the following.
With the purchase of additional acres of land, Meakin Enterprises is left with the decision of leasing other acres as he was offered government-owned farmland. Leased land may result in the reduction of risks of land purchases but with limited capital appreciation. Determining the rates for the leased land can also be troublesome for both the landlords and the farmers. The land prices vary depending on the location of the land that will be bought or leased. Other factors that affect the pricing of the land include the income of farmer’s crop and its cash position, the condition of the land due to farm expansion as it was passed down from generation to generation, its distance from the city, investments, and neighboring pressures from farm expansion. In addition to this, a large amount of money is required for the maintenance of the land base.
Another issue is the trucking industry. Due to the offer of the large industrial bin manufacturer, Meakin Enterprise considered expanding its trucking business. Management of time is important since requiring permits for hauling of bins along with the coordination of deliveries and arrangements for the power lines to be lifted will take a lot of effort. Moreover, the drivers that will be needed for the delivery should possess a Class 1 license, which requires another specialized training. Drivers who possessed this kind of license are in high demand, especially during peak seasons, and hiring one can be difficult due to the scarcity of skilled labor and the fluctuation of its demand due to the unpredictable weather and season conditions. Another factor to consider in the expansion of trucking operations of Meakin is the cost of financing of the equipment required for its operation. Financed through bank debt, the interest rate is relatively high.
With these factors in mind, the management time of Meakin Enterprise was divided between running the farm and operating the trucking business.
SWOT analysis
To evaluate past operations and make further decisions about the existing problems of the company, a SWOT analysis is conducted. This includes strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis will be utilized to have a better understanding of Meakin’s agricultural business environment and identifying the company’s potential for profitability. Moreover, this model will also be used in identifying the factors that contribute to the company’s competitiveness.
Suppliers – Farmers in Saskatchewan mostly bought their crop inputs from various multiple independent retailers across their region. Crop inputs that are purchased include the seed, chemicals, and fertilizers. These retailers are supplied by large agrochemical and biotechnology companies. These companies include Bayer Inc., Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta Canada Inc., Dow AgroSciences LLC, and BASF SE. The farmers have the freedom to choose the retailers who offer low-cost products. However, the price differences between retailers are insignificant. Farmers focus more on establishing a lasting relationship with their respective local retailers to be able to reduce transport costs and gain access to new techniques and products related to their agricultural business. As a result, farmers have become price-takers due to the variation in the price of crop inputs.
Buyers – The agricultural sector markets its products to major sets of customers. Modern farmers possess the skill of marketing commodities. Various efforts were undertaken by farmers for their product to appear appealing to both final consumers and processing intermediaries. Despite the cooperatives co-owned by the farmers and other independent intermediaries, large agriculture corporations such as Viterra Inc., and Cargill Inc., held the majority of processing pulse crops such as lentils and peas. There is a variation of the final market of commodities each year. In the case of canola, consumers used this product locally in creating canola oil and meal. However, 90% of the produced canola nationwide are exported by Canada to key canola markets for biodiesel development such as in the United States, Mexico, and the European Union; for edible oil in Japan and China.
Rivalry – Agricultural industries are highly competitive. Meakin Farms produced crops like most farms in Saskatchewan. These crops include wheat, field peas, and canola. However, due to the higher demand for canola, both locally and internationally, Meakin Farms had shifted towards the production of canola. To gain a competitive edge, among others, Meakin Enterprise provides trucking operations, which include hauling services such as bins hauling, grain hauling, and seed, fertilizer, and chemical hauling. Due to a backlog of railcar grain deliveries, there is a need for onsite grain storage, thus increasing the demand for bin hauling.
Substitute Goods – Substitution of products shoul...