Tootsie Roll Industries Essays

Tootsie Roll Industries Essays Tootsie Roll Industries Paper Tootsie Roll Industries Paper The report given is about a Chicago based company called Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. Tootsie Roll Industries is an old company that has been manufacturing and selling candy for more than 110 years and has come a long way after a number of merger and acquisitions to add to the brands’ product line. The company currently operates in 30 countries. However, it is imperative that the company operations should be extended to other countries to make Tootsie Rolls a household name in every country. As an International Business Development Manager of this company, I have suggested expanding the company operations to Pakistan where the consumers look for newer products. And even though the local competition provides candies at lower prices, the lack of quantity and quality of the local candies has made them undesirable for the brand conscious middle and upper class of the country. Moreover, the imported chocolates of the companies Hershey’s, Cadbury, Nestle and Mars can not be afforded often by the lower middle and the middle class who also have desire to consume high quality sweets and chocolates. The report discusses the company operations, target market, brands and core competencies. Then the report presents recommendations about the target country and comprehensively analyses and discusses how and why this country is suitable for expanding the company operations. II. COMPANY ANALYSIS Tootsie Roll Industries is a manufacturer of confectionery in the United States. Its best known products / brands have been Tootsie Rolls which are â€Å"chewy chocolate -flavoured candies† and Tootsie Pops, â€Å"hard candy lollipops filled with chewy chocolate-flavoured Tootsie Rolls†. Along with these, the company has added to its brands by acquiring other confectioners. The company was established in 1896 by an Austriant immigrant called Leo Hirshfield who brought his own recipe when he came to America. He first started to produce Tootsie Rolls in a small store in New York City. In 1917, the company was called The Sweets Company of America, and in 1966, adopted its current name of Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. Since its inception, the company has expanded by acquiring several famous brands of confections such as Mason Division from Candy Corporation of America, Cellas Confections, The Charms Company, The Warner-Lambert Company (excluding gum mints), Andes Candies, and Concord Confections. â€Å"Tootsie Roll Industries currently markets its brands internationally in Canada, Mexico, and over 30 other countries. The companys heaquarters are located in Chicago. † The company has been operating successfully under the auspices of the married team of 87-year-old chairman and CEO Melvin Gordon and 75-year-old president and COO Ellen Gordon who control 80% of the companys voting power. The company has been known to use the same formula for over 100 years. Its Charms and Tootsie Pops brands make it one of the largest lollipop producers in the world. According to Hoover’s Fact Sheet, Tootsie Roll Industries, Inc. has total of 26 competitors in the confectionary and candy industry in the countries in which it is operating. However, the most important ones are Hershey, Mars and Nestle. Mars is considered to be the industry leader manufacturing high quality and high energy brands such as Twix, Mars, Snickers, Milky Way, MMs, etc. that not only cater to the children but adults of all ages as well. Customers/ Target Market The company mostly targets the children and to some extent the younger population (teenagers) up to the age of 18. However, Tootsie also targets the adults as well for using its products in the offices, meetings, social gatherings, parties, and special occasions so that they become a family product rather than a child’s. Even though, candies and sweets are products that are primarily for the children, the products are used by and popular among all ages both young and old. During the Korean War, Tootsie Rolls was very famous among the armed forces. According to them, Tootsie Rolls reminded them of their country America, and gave them hope and kept them alive during the war. US military has since been a major part of the loyal customers of Tootsie products. Tootsie Rolls has been a nostalgic reminder of home bringing them good memories about their country. Also, the brands such as Charms Family Fun and Child’s Play specifically cater to family occasions such as Halloween and birthday parties. Moreover, they do not cater to any specific income class; hence they are affordable and liked by affluent as well as the middle class. Products and Services The company is basically into manufacturing candies and confectionery industry. Tootsie’s core products are candies and confectionery items such as chocolates, toffees, caramel sweets, bubble gums, lollipops, jellies, cotton candy, etc. It has added to its original brand of Tootsie Rolls by mergers and acquisitions and has extended its product line and customer base since its inception. Some famous brands manufactured and sold by the company are as follows: 1. Tootsie Rolls Tootsie Rolls was the first product that was produced and sold by Leo Hirshfield in his small shop that brought the company fames. â€Å"Hirshfield hand rolled and wrapped his chewy, chocolate flavored creation and named the candy after his 5-year-old daughter, Clara, whose nickname was Tootsie. Tootsie Roll was the first wrapped penny candy in America. † Today, Tootsie Rolls are produced using the same basic recipe that was used by its creator over a century ago. About 62 million Tootsie Rolls are produced every day. Tootsie Rolls now come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Causes of the Great Migration (1910-1970)

Causes of the Great Migration (1910-1970) Between 1910 and 1970, an estimated six million African-Americans migrated from southern states to northern and Midwestern cities. Attempting to escape racism and  Jim Crow  laws of the South, African-Americans found work in northern and western steel mills, tanneries, and railroad companies.   During the first wave of the Great Migration, African-Americans settled in urban areas such as New York, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Detroit. However, by the onset of World War II, African-Americans were also migrating to cities in California such as Los Angeles, Oakland and San Francisco as well as Washingtons Portland and Seattle. Harlem Renaissance leader Alain Leroy Locke  argued in his essay, â€Å"The New Negro,† that â€Å"the wash and rush of this human tide on the beach line of the Northern city centers is to be explained primarily in terms of a new vision of opportunity, of social and economic freedom, of a spirit to seize, even in the face of an extortionate and heavy toll, a chance for the improvement of conditions. With each successive wave of it, the movement of the Negro becomes more and more a mass movement toward the larger and the more democratic chance - in the Negros case a deliberate flight not only form countryside to city, but from medieval America to modern. Disenfranchisement and Jim Crow Laws African-American men were granted the right to vote through the Fifteenth Amendment. However, white Southerners passed legislation that prevented African-American men from exercising this right. By 1908, ten Southern states had rewritten their constitutions restrict voting rights through literacy tests, poll taxes and Grandfather clauses. These state laws would not be overturned until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was established, granting all Americans the right to vote. In addition to not having the right to vote, African-Americans were relegated to segregation as well. The 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case made it legal to enforce separate but equal public facilities including public transportation, public schools, restroom facilities and water fountains. Racial Violence African-Americans were subjected to various acts of terror by white Southerners. In particular, the Ku Klux Klan emerged, arguing that only white Christians were entitled to civil rights in the United States. As a result, this group, along with other white supremacist groups murdered African-American men and women by lynching, bombing churches, and also setting fire to homes and property. The Boll Weevil Following the end of slavery in 1865, African-Americans in the South faced an uncertain future. Although the Freedmens Bureau helped to rebuild the South during the Reconstruction period, African-Americans soon found themselves reliant on the same people who were once their owners. African-Americans became sharecroppers, a system in which small farmers rented farm space, supplies and tools to harvest a crop. However, an insect known as the boll weevil damaged crops throughout the south between 1910 and 1920. As a result of the boll weevil’s work, there was less of a demand for agricultural workers, leaving many African-Americans unemployed. World War I and the Demand for Workers When the United States decided to enter World War I, factories in northern and Midwestern cities faced extreme labor shortages for several reasons. First, more than five million men enlisted in the army. Secondly, the United States government halted immigration from European countries. Since many African-Americans in the South had been severely affected by the shortage of agricultural work, they responded to the call of employment agents from cities in the North and Midwest. Agents from various industrial sectors arrived in the South, enticing African-American men and women to migrate north by paying their travel expenses. The demand for workers, incentives from industry agents, better educational and housing options, as well as higher pay, brought many African-Americans from the South. For instance, in Chicago, a man could earn $2.50 per day in a meat packing house or $5.00 per day on an assembly line in Detroit The Black Press Northern African-American newspapers played an important role in the Great Migration. Publications such as the Chicago Defender published train schedules and employment listings to persuade Southern African-Americans to migrate north. News publications such as the Pittsburgh Courier and the Amsterdam News published editorials and cartoons showing the promise of moving from the South to the North. These promises included better education for children, the right to vote, access to various types of employment and improved housing conditions. By reading these incentives along with train schedules and job listings, African-Americans understood the importance of leaving the South.