Whole Foods
1. Prepare a competitor analysis, which should include relevant financials if they are available (refer to Exhibits 5 and 6), and your view on their competitive position in the marketplace and their top four (4) strengths on the corporate innovation radar (a grid view / spreadsheet / diagram or combo of those should help). How would you define Whole Foods industry? Who are Whole Foods competitors and why? 2. How would you describe Whole Foods strategy? What is their own position within the 5-forces versus the industry as a whole / how are they competing? What individual value chain activities (where they create the value) in the case support your point of view? (Be specific.) 3. How attractive is Whole Foods current market position? Is it sustainable, why or why not? (Be specific about their position and why, using financial data to support you viewpoint for or against the case — and “throw the book at me,” when it comes to sustainable competitive advantage, VRIO, innovation radar.) 4. What do the financial ratios in Exhibit 4 tell you about the past performance of Whole Foods? How informative is the historical ratios for Whole Foods prospective performance? (2 pages maximum) 5. Examine Exhibit 7 in detail and answer the questions listed below (use this Exhibit 7 Final Spreadsheet and expand upon the spreadsheet with your own calculations to support your point of view — my clue is: % (percentages): How important are each of the underlying financial assumptions in the ROA and financial forecast? (Look at the trend lines, what do you believe is relevant?) What assumptions play the biggest role in driving the anticipated improvements in ROA? (Assumptions such as: margins, asset turnover, growth, Ebit, stores.) Are the assumptions reasonable, why or why not? Look at files for more instructions. https://www.readyratios.com/sec/industry/5411/ https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/051915/which-industries-tend-have-most-inventory-turnover.asp https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/865436/000086543613000134/wfm10k2013.htm https://www.investopedia.com/articles/company-insights/092816/how-sustainable-whole-foods-competitive-advantage-wfm.asp Please watch this lecture it is crucial to the professors expectations
