September 24, 2011 BUSORGA

Panera Bread Company 1. Environmental Condition: Socio-Cultural Conditions Panera Bread company has a socio-cultural environment in the way they manage their business. They look at the social norms and customs of their customers in order to make them stay loyal. They have come up with different strategies that appeals to their customers, such as: a. Organic and all natural foods; b. Panera Kids; c. Freed their products from trans fats; d. Fast lane for coffee; e. Free Wi-Fi access; etc. These strategies were formulated and well thought of to keep their customers interested. They think of long-term trends and orient the company towards innovation. These changes have kept Panera successful for the past 2 decades. They have been a very strong competitor against Starbucks. Because of the capability of this bread and coffee business to adapt to modern trends/diets, it has a very strong future ahead of it. 2. Key Stake Holders Stakeholders are the persons, groups and institutions that are directly affected by an organization. In this case, the stakeholders can be considered as their customers. They are able to satisfy their customers desires by following the social norms and customs. Also, their competitors can be considered as stakeholders. Starbucks is probably their biggest competitor among the caf-bakery shops. Unfortunately, Starbucks can possibly be seen as a big threat to them because of the loyal market that Starbucks caters to. It is possible that a lot of people may prefer Starbucks over Panera. 3. Competitive Advantage The companys ability to predict long-term trends Newly developed products to adapt to the desires of their customers organic and all natural foods, kids menu, healthy products, coffee crazed fast lane and free Wi-Fi access Quality of the bread is always fresh bread doughs are manufactured off-site in the companys 17 manufacturing plants; these are delivered daily by trucks to their respective outlets for shaping and baking Invested in labor and quality of their food

Paneras way of management is indeed sustainable. They have managed to grow their business in such a high and successful rate. They have managed to expand their store locations all around the world. They were able to adapt to the innovations present now, to satisfy their customers and keep them loyal. Their advantage in the market is that they can predict long-term trends, which is probably done through intensive research. 4. Panera During the U.S. Recession In 2007, the U.S. went in recession, fortunately for the Panera Bread Company, they have boosted their revenue 24% and added 191 caf-bakeries. They also increased its workforce by hiring an extra 4,661 workers. The best time to grow is in a recession. The worst time to grow is in the boom days. says Executive Chairman and founder, Ronald Shaich. They have kept their old ways of cooking bread and also modernized it by adding new products and new entres. According to Shaich, The quality of food came not just from how cheap it was, and not just how fast it was served. It was food defined by the quality of the ingredients, the taste, the flavors, how fresh it was. The environment in stores was part of that, and the people who work there were part of that. This company has presented its strengths throughout its lifetime. As mentioned above, they have strategies that they have mastered and perfected. This would be taking into consideration the long-term trends that can be foreseen by the company and using it to its advantage in making new products and trends. http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/nov2010/pi2010118_183529.htm