Vol. 1 No. 8
December 2007
In This Issue:
Retailer Profile:
Dairy Farm’s
GMA Profile:
Bruce Foods’ Si Brown
Sustainability Summit Draws Speakers, Attendees
VanBibber Named Sales Vice Chair
Participate in IS/LD
Benchmarking Survey
Successful Pilots in “Working Together” Initiative
GMA Studies Holiday Eating Habits
GMA Industry
Affairs Group:
Troy J. Beeler
Senior
Manager
Sales & Sales Promotion
Coordinator
Business Development
Jeanne Iglesias
Director
Supply Chain & Technology
Brian Lynch
Director
Sales & Sales Promotion
Stephen A. Sibert
Senior Vice President
Industry Affairs
Pam Stegeman
Vice President
Supply Chain & Technology
Senior Manager
Industry Performance
Industry Affairs
Review Team:
Natalie Berg
Grocery Retail Manager
Planet Retail Ltd.
IAR Consultant
President & CEO
Singley Associates
IAR Editor
New Dairy Farm CEO Kok to Lead Expansion into New Markets
Dairy Farm: At a Glance
Key Operating Facts
Group Sales (Inc VAT) 2006
U.S. $5.9 Billion
Net Sales (Ex VAT) 2006
U.S. $5.2 Billion
EBT
U.S. $256 Million
No. of Countries
10
Top 3 Market Position
Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia
Key Formats
Giant hypermarkets, Wellcome supermarkets, 7-11 convenience stores, Guardian/Mannings drugstores
Source: Planet Retail Ltd. - www.planetretail.net
On April 1st, 2007, Singaporean Michael Kok was appointed group chief executive of Dairy Farm, replacing American turnaround expert Ron Floto, who left as head of Kmart Corp. in 1997 to take the helm at Dairy Farm. Prior to that Floto had been CEO of Kash N Karry Food Stores Inc. in the USA.
Kok has more than 25 years' experience in retailing in Asia. He is a member of the U.K. Chartered Institute of Marketing and has attended the senior executive program at the London Business School and the advanced management program at Harvard Business School.
Kok joined Dairy Farm in Singapore in 1987, and since 1997 has been the retailer’s regional director for South Asia, responsible for the group's retail businesses in Singapore, Malaysia, India and Indonesia.
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Michael Kok |
In 2006, Dairy Farm’s South Asia division reported sales of U.S. $2,353 million, a rise of 15.4 percent on the previous year and a staggering increase from sales of just U.S. $315 million reported by the division in 1998, shortly after he joined. The region now accounts for 45 percent of group sales, compared to approximately 6 percent at the turn of the decade. Clearly, under Kok’s leadership, Dairy Farm’s South Asia division has enjoyed significant success. |
During Kok’s decade-long management of the South Asian business, Dairy Farm grew substantially in markets such as Malaysia and Indonesia, mainly through the continued expansion of its Giant hypermarket banner. The retailer’s aim is to grow Giant into the leading hypermarket chain in South Asia. The company has made this prediction despite an increasingly difficult operating environment, based on the belief that its local market adaptation, wide variety and low prices will continue to drive customer numbers. The company ended its last financial year with 50 Giant hypermarkets in the region, up from just seven in 2001.
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Giant has helped to underpin Dairy Farm’s growth
in Malaysia and Indonesia. |
In addition, Kok presided over the company during a number of important acquisitions, including stakes in PT Hero (from 1998), Giant in Malaysia (1999), a minority stake in Foodworld in India (1999), the Tops chain in Malaysia (2003) and Shop N Save in Singapore (2003), among others.
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Most recently, Dairy Farm’s South Asia Division has also entered Thailand (in 2005, through its Guardian drugstore chain) and Vietnam (in 2006, by taking control of Citimart stores in Ho Chi Minh City).
Under Kok’s leadership, Dairy Farm is likely to continue its focus on the Giant hypermarket format in Asia, building on its success in South Asia. In addition, the group will continue to expand into new markets. The Philippines has been identified as a potential option, while Dairy Farm's first Giant hypermarket will open in Brunei in 2008. Other key areas of expansion will doubtless include the group’s existing high potential markets of India and Indonesia.
Industry Affairs News
Environmental
Sustainability
First-Ever Sustainability Summit Draws Wide
Spectrum
of Speakers, Attendees
A wide variety of leaders from business, government and non-governmental
organizations are slated as speakers and registered as
attendees at the industry’s first sustainability summit, sponsored by GMA
January 17-18 in Washington, D.C.
If you have not already done so, register today by clicking here for this unprecedented conference that delves into industry leadership in environmental sustainability business practices. The deadline for securing a hotel reservation at the reduced GMA rate is Dec. 27. After this date, reservations at the reduced rate will be accepted only on a space-available basis.
A partial list of the outstanding speakers
slated for the conference include:
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Watch next month’s Industry Affairs Review for listings of additional speakers.
The conference will be
held at The Ritz Carlton in Washington. Sponsors include CHEP, IBM and Monsanto.
Contact:
Liz Cookson (registration/hotel),
Jonathan
Downey (sponsors)
Sales and Sales Promotion
Dial’s Tracy VanBibber Named Vice Chair, GMA Sales
Committee
The GMA recently announced that Tracy VanBibber, senior vice president of sales for The Dial Corporation, has been named the new GMA Sales Committee vice chair.
“I am delighted to welcome Tracy to this leadership role,” said Brian Lynch,
GMA director of sales and sales promotion. “Her demonstrated leadership,
wealth of sales expertise and passion for the business will be instrumental
in moving the Sales Committee agenda forward.”
She replaces Skip Aldridge, executive vice president and chief customer officer of Pharmavite LLC, in the vice chair role. Aldridge will continue on the committee.
VanBibber has served on GMA’s MSM planning committee and co-chaired the past two MSM Conferences. A veteran of four years on the committee, she spearheaded the Sales Committee’s efforts to further industry understanding of shopper marketing. Progressive Grocer magazine recently honored her as one of the top women in the industry.
Contact: Brain Lynch
Supply Chain and Technology
Sponsors Sought, Speakers Named for Annual IS/LD
Conference
More than 300 of the industry’s movers and shakers in information systems
and logistics will attend the 2008 IS/LD Conference Mar. 30-Apr. 2 in Palm
Springs, Calif. According to GMA Industry Affairs Director Jeanne Iglesias,
the conference presents a great opportunity for companies to partner with
GMA in reaching these IT, operations, consulting, logistics, supply chain
management, e-commerce, transportation, service and support executives.
Contact Jonathan Downey today if you are interested in becoming a sponsor for this event. Sponsorship opportunities will be reserved on a first-come basis.
Several speakers have been announced for the event, including Ronald Volpe,
customer vice president, global supply chain, Kraft Foods North America;
George Davis, vice president and CIO, The Hershey Company; and Mark Rhodes,
KC Virtual Reality Team Lead, Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
Online registration is now available
here.
Contact: Jeanne Iglesias (conference program), Jonathan Downey (sponsors)
Company Participation Sought in IT and in Logistics/Distribution Surveys
Member companies are urged to participate in the research on which the 2008 GMA Information Technology Investment and Effectiveness Survey Report and the 2008 Logistics Survey are based. The reports continue a long tradition of GMA studies to trace trends and investment strategies in the industry and will be released at the Information Systems and Logistics Distribution Conference in the spring.
Participants in all surveys can submit their responses through January 25. All answers are confidential, and data will be aggregated so that no individual or company responses are revealed.
“The surveys provide excellent trending and benchmarking tools for individual companies and for the entire industry,” Industry Affairs Director Jeanne Iglesias said. “Our every-two-year report serves as a budgetary advisory, a strategy tool, a performance benchmarking instrument that our companies cannot find anywhere else.”
Companies taking the IT investment survey can go online (Select “start a new survey” and use the authorization code “GMAITSpend”.) or download the survey and fax it to 845.559.6713. For the IT effectiveness portion of the survey, you can complete the questionnaire online (Use the same “start a new survey,” but the authorization code is “GMAITEffect”.) or you may download the survey and fax it to the same number as above.
Those who wish to participate in the logistics survey may also go online (Select the “select a new survey” and use the authorization code “GMALogistics2008”.) or download the survey and fax it to 817.490.0092.
IBM is conducting the studies with a North American focus, coupled with global trending. AMR Research Inc. is joining IBM as a partner this year on the Information Technology Investment and Effectiveness Survey Report.
All companies will receive an IBM memory stick in appreciation for their survey participation.
Contact: Jeanne Iglesias, Alexis Larkin
Chairman’s Advisory Committee (CAC)
CAC Fall Meeting
Roundup
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At the recent CAC meeting David Wenner, president and CEO, B&G Foods Inc. (L to R); Brian O'Malley, president and CEO, Domino Foods Inc.; Chip O'Hare, president and CEO, Johnson, O'Hare Company Inc. |
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Charles Martin, president, consumer products group, ACH Food Companies Inc. (L) meets with CAC Chair Si Brown, president and CEO, Bruce Foods Corporation. |
Association Update
Beeler and Weizmann Named GMA Senior
Managers/Industry Affairs
Senior Vice President for Industry Affairs Stephen Sibert announced the
appointment of Brooke Weizmann to the position of senior manager in charge
of financial and industry performance issues and the promotion of Troy
Beeler to senior manager working on sales and sales promotion issues.
Beeler
has been with the GMA Industry Affairs Department for almost four years, working
on couponing issues, on unsaleables projects and conferences, on GMA’s
financial performance project, on the Industry Affairs sponsorship programs
and, most recently, as GMA coordinator of the Industry Affairs Review.
“Troy has shown outstanding leadership in building the Review from a small start-up six months ago to a growing 4,000 opt-in-subscriber publication that is becoming extremely popular with executives in our industry,” Sibert said.
Weizmann
joins GMA from the Washington, D.C. office of Goldman, Sachs & Company,
where she covered and reported on federal regulatory and legislative policy.
She also has served as assistant director of SCORE! Educational Centers in
northern Virginia, and as staff assistant in the State of Florida’s
Washington, D.C. office under Governor Jeb Bush.
“In
addition to overseeing the annual financial performance project, Brooke will
build a new engagement platform for member companies’ chief financial
officers and other financial executives within and allied to our industry,”
Sibert added. “She also will launch our new financial conference for small-
and mid-cap food and CPG companies in 2009.”
Contact:
Stephen Sibert
GMA Research
New Way of Working Together Initiative Records
Successful Pilot Tests
A
summary of the first pilot studies of the New Ways of Working Together
initiative has been released, offering results, recommended best practices
and a step-by-step guide for food, beverage and consumer packaged goods
manufacturers and their trading partners.
New Ways of Working Together (formerly called the New Generation Sales Call) is a pan-industry initiative begun at the 2006 GMA Executive Conference. Wegmans Food Stores, The J. M. Smucker Company and The Procter & Gamble Company comprise the first pilot team designed to show how trading partners can grow their businesses while eliminating supply chain disruptions. Oracle also participated in the project.
Although the pilot was short in duration, encouraging qualitative results included:
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“This is not just a technology project or a scorecarding endeavor but an initiative that can help improve our companies’ focus on the consumer and on their own efficiencies,” said GMA Industry Affairs Group Vice President Stephen Sibert. “Trading partners with a willingness to enhance the growth of their companies can learn from this publication how to begin a New Ways of Working Together partnership. As more and more companies join the effort and momentum builds, the cumulative best practices and the development of scale-driven standards will pave a smoother path for the entire industry.”
The original pilot partners are continuing their projects and are expanding their partner base. Also, The Kroger Company, Safeway Inc. and the Coca-Cola Company have kicked off their own customized New Ways of Working Together project, and early results are overwhelmingly positive.
Sponsors of the New Ways of Working Together project are GMA, FMI, GCI, GS1, NACDS and VICS.
To read the entire Wegman/Smuckers/P&G pilot study,
click here.
Contact:
Jeanne Iglesias
New Research Says 80 Percent of Americans Prepare and Eat
Holiday Meals at Home
How CPG manufacturers can boost sales from the 80 percent of Americans who
prepare and eat holiday meals at home is the subject of new research for GMA by The NPD Group and Ernst & Young LLP.
“The research shows that manufacturers should focus on product development and other areas of the specific needs consumers have during the holiday periods to maximize sales, including concentrating on seasonal flavors, special packaging and convenience across all food categories,” GMA Industry Affairs Senior Vice President Stephen Sibert said. He added that, capitalizing on health trends, food and beverage manufacturers also will promote healthy products and ingredient substitutions during the holidays.
Ernst & Young Consumer Products practice predicts a 5.5 percent growth in the retail food sector for the 2007 holiday season (November 2007 through January 2008) – compared with 4.5 growth for all-sector retail sales during the same time period.
The NPD Group pointed out
another holiday opportunity up for grabs for food and beverage manufacturers
– New Year’s Eve. NPD found that nearly 30 percent of Americans taking part
in their survey had not made New Year’s Eve plans.
Contact:
Stephen Sibert
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Leadership Profile: Bruce Foods’ CEO Si Brown
Bruce Foods: At a Glance:
Current Position President and CEO, Bruce Foods, 40 years
Leadership GMA: Chairman – Chairman’s Advisory Council John Folse Culinary Institute: Chairman – Board of Advisors Pennington Foundation, Baton Rouge: Board Member Louisiana Ports and Waterways: Board Member Boy Scouts of America: Evangeline Area Council Vice President
Career Highlights Honorary Council General of Brazil for Louisiana Industry Sector Advisory Committee U.S. Trade Policy, Washington, D.C. – three terms Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee Processed Foods, Washington, D.C. – two terms Chairman, Louisiana Export Council – three terms Director on Four Bank Boards Recipient, National “E” and “E Star” Awards for exporting excellence Eagle Scout and Silver Beaver Outstanding Citizen, New Iberia, LA.
Personal “Born in New Iberia, LA. and attended local elementary and high schools. Graduated from Tulane University with a BBA Degree, commissioned Ensign U.S. Navy, and was promoted to Lieutenant (J.G.) before honorable discharge. Currently married to same wife of 40 years. Proud father of five children – Virginia Forestier, Patrick Brown, Robin Young of Lafayette, LA. (who work for the family business), plus Leslie Singer of Glen Cove, NY and Alison Loren of Marietta, GA. Served as den leader in Cub Scouts and as a peewee football coach. Love squash and golf, but don’t play enough. Main passion is hunting and fishing – especially for big game."
Education Elementary: St. Peter’s College – New Iberia, Louisiana High School: Catholic High School – New Iberia, Louisiana College: Tulane University – New Orleans, Louisiana
First Job “Working in my father’s warehouse loading trucks. In junior and senior high, I went out for all sports teams to get out of work but found that they were an important preparation for life in business.".”
Most Memorable Events “Receiving the “E” Award for exporting excellence from President Reagan in the White House’s Rose Garden and then receiving the “E Star” Award from President H.W. Bush, also in ceremonies in the Rose Garden.”
How did you reach where you are today?
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Jan. 17 - 18 |
Environmental Sustainability Summit
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Mar. 30- |
Information Systems and Logistics Distribution (IS/LD) Conference Rancho Mirage (Palm Springs), Calif. Contact: Jeanne Iglesias, Liz Cookson
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June 6 - 8 |
GMA Executive Conference The Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs, WV Contact: Mary Olsen
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@ Copyright 2007 by GMA/FPA, 1350 I Street N.W. #300, Washington, D.C. 20005. All rights reserved. Some content and copyright for specific information are provided and owned by Planet Retail, a leading provider of grocery retail intelligence— www.planetretail.net.
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