Balance scorecards by Rogers Sugar Inc. (Essay Sample)

Balance scorecards by Rogers Sugar Inc.
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Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Balance scorecard: Case study of Rogers Sugar Inc. PAGEREF _Toc395017196 \h 3Customer perspectives PAGEREF _Toc395017197 \h 3Internal perspectives PAGEREF _Toc395017198 \h 4Innovation and learning perspectives PAGEREF _Toc395017199 \h 6Financial Perspectives PAGEREF _Toc395017200 \h 7Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc395017201 \h 7References PAGEREF _Toc395017202 \h 9APPENDIX A-MESSAGE TO SHAREHOLDERS PAGEREF _Toc395017203 \h 10APPENDIX B-REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CEO PAGEREF _Toc395017204 \h 12
Balance scorecard: Case study of Rogers Sugar Inc.
Rogers Sugar Inc. is located in Western Canada. The company is among the leading in the sugar industry. With a wide coverage of the entire Canada, Rogers sugar has continued to the best following its merging with Rogers sugar income fund. Rogers sugar income fund converted to Rogers sugar Inc. Rogers sugar deals mainly with a wide variety of products including, white sugar, icing sugar, brown/ yellow sugar, liquid sugar, organic sugar, dry blending, by-products, and other specialty products. Rogers sugar measures its overall performance within the industry by the use of the balance scorecard system. The balance scorecard enables top managers of the company to make decisions based on the performance of each sector in the company ("Welcome | Rogers Sugar | lantic.ca | Canada ," n.d.).
This method allows both the management and the entire staff to know where to head to and the major improvements to be carried out. It should be known that for a company to grow in performance and productivity there are four major aspects that needs to be dealt with. These are the financial implications of the company, innovation and learning of new ideas and products, knowing and understanding of what customer to bring and retain, and lastly the internal processes that the company may use to move forward swiftly.
Customer perspectives
Rogers Sugar serves a wide range of customers within its reach. According to the report given by the management, the company has seen an increase of sales volume to 7,700 metric tonnes as regards to the previous financial year. This performance was triggered mainly by the increase in existing and new customers. This is a high sales volume despite reports of export problems.
The company management has a mandate to analyze carefully what type of customers they need to serve, how they are going to get them as well as how to retain them. This can be done through having a look at the customer responses through the after sales services, and their comments whether they are well satisfied with the quality of the company products. When customers are satisfied, the company enjoys an increase in the sales volume and more customers inflate the market as the demand for the products increases (Suntook & Murphy, 2008, p. 32).
However, the company has had a decreased export opportunities by 35, 400 metric tonnes. This is a good measure of performance as the company management will strongly advice the entire staff on what to do. Many customers at Rogers Sugar Inc. recognize the effectiveness of the company products. For instance, more customers have increased globally due to the satisfaction they receive from the company products.
Rogers Sugar Inc. ensures quality of their products is safe by meeting the food and safety requirements in order to assure its customers demands are well catered for. It is through the above measures that the company will retain and gain more customers.
Rogers Sugar Inc. had the worst year of operation in 2012 due to the competitive market in the sugar industry. Therefore, management should not sleep unless they carry more inspection to identify other areas where improvement needs to be implemented to increase the company earnings.
Internal perspectives
Delivering value to customers is one of the Rogers Sugar Inc. policies. Value cannot be delivered to customers without necessarily having put down critical business processes into practice. This will greatly help the management in carrying out the company services effectively.
One of the critical processes to be dealt with here is the issue of competition. In every market, unless and otherwise it is a monopoly, there has to be competition. For instance, in the case for Rogers Sugar Inc. there were no benefits accruing from refined sugar in the first quarter of 2013 as compared to previous years. In Mexico and U.S market, there was a surplus increase in inventories. This led to a decrease of prices in the market. This also triggered the reduction in export of the sugar to different destinations. Therefore, Rogers Sugar Inc. management has to make decisions that will be viable for the overall competitive position of the company.
Among the decisions to make could be having a well reputable strategy and vision. For instance, Rogers Sugar Inc. moved forward to designing a corporate goal that will see them take advantage over the others by producing products with value added in them. This was done through retail products and new packaging.
Moreover, the company has also continued to improve the blending operations. This has lead to the company to achieve certification for packaging line which later improved the blending volume for the year.
Competition can also be reduced by having a well known brand name. Lantic Inc. uses Rogers Sugar Inc. as the brand name for all of its products in the market. Lantic Inc. works with Rogers Sugar Inc. as one consolidated company. A company using a brand that has a good reputation is deemed to be among those selling huge volumes of inventories.
In any company set up, there has to be employees working. An employee of a company is deemed to be the best asset that it can never lose. Therefore, Rogers Sugar Inc. has to by all means ensure their employees are well motivated by issuing them with proper pension plans and incentives (Smith & Smith, 2014, p. 80).
Innovation and learning perspectives
Rogers Sugar Inc. must acknowledge the ever changing technology by acquiring new skills and products. Also, it should strategize on the ways to improve its employees and value to their customers. With the increase in technology, the sugar company has attained a number of facilities to speed its processes. These facilities include, Montreal cane refinery, blending operations, Vancouver cane refinery, and Taber sugar beet factory.
Rogers Sugar Inc. offers dry blending services at 65,000 sq. foot facility. Technologically, this is equipped with blenders each with various applications and capabilities. There are blending rooms that serve as a security measure. Moreover, standard tests are undertaken to meet the required principles. Improvements in the blending procedures ensure that customer food safety and product quality is achieved (Rasmussen, 2003, p. 150).
In Montreal, the company has a refined cane plant which continuously is being upgraded and expanded. This refinery alone nets over 600,000 tonnes. It is this Montreal refinery that produces granulated sugar of different types. Another cane refinery is that of Vancouver which produces 240,000 tonnes of sugar per annum. It also produces granulated sugar in different types. By- products could include molasses.
On the other hand, Taber sugar beet factory can produce 150,000 tonnes of sugar from sugar beets. Additionally, the plant produces granulated sugar in different grist sizes. The Toronto centre serves as a distribution and sales point for the company products. The company achieves all this through the use of technology. Therefore, Rogers Sugar Inc. should be steered towards producing new technologies and expanding its available facilities to newer ones.
Financial Perspectives
The financial implications of Rogers Sugar Inc. should be closely mastered by the management. This is in line with the driven performance of the company in the future and its competitive position in the sugar industry. Having a closer look at the financial statements of the company and the overall company position, all the above should reflect to other avenues that needs to be corrected.
The earnings before interest and income tax (EBIT) in 2013 for Rogers Sugar Inc. reflected $56.9 M. This was a reduction from the previous year which was $74.9. This shows a negative of $18M which implies that the company sales have reduced a clear indication that something needs to be done (Garrison, Noreen, & Brewer, 2008, p. 120). The earnings before interest and tax for the company has shown its significant performance in the sugar industry.
On the other hand, Rogers Sugar Inc. recorded a tremendous positive increase in sales volume of approximately 7,700 metric tonnes in 2013. The projection for year 2014 could, however, be lower than the current one. With this in mind, the overall performance of the company is in dire need of more strategies to be able to compete favorably in the sugar market.
Recommendations
Every company in any industry has a corporate goal designed to level it to the top among the best competitors. Competition should be the key to any company management. Therefore, Rogers Sugar Inc. should be able to understand their competitors and how well to counter them. This can be done by the implementation of the above mentioned balance scorecard system.
The balance scorecard system will greatly assist Rogers Sugar Inc. with effective communication strategies. Bear in mind that the company’s size is large which makes it effective to apply the above method. This method works best when the company is big.
References
::: Welcome | Rogers Sugar | lantic.ca | Canada :::. (n.d.). Retrieved from
Garrison, R. H., Noreen, E. W., & Brewer, P. C. (2008). Managerial accou...