Robin SelfCollege of Business AdministrationAlabama State UniversityIn Partial FulfillmentOf the Requirements of the CourseMGT 462ByQuincy P. Minor, Senior CIS MajorE-mail: qminor@mindspring.comSummer Semester 1999Analysis of company history development & growthArthur W. Perdues quest for excellence in the poultry business began in 1917. Perdue started his company as a table-egg poultry farm. He slowly expanded his egg market by adding a new chicken coop every year. Arthurs son Frank joined the family business in 1939 after leaving school at the end of his the second year. In 1950 Frank took over leadership of Perdue Farms, which had over 40 employees at the time.During the 1970s Perdue entered into new markets in Boston and Philadelphia and also opened a new processing plant in North Carolina. Shortly after this, in 1977 Arthur Perdue died, leaving behind a business whos annual growth rate was 17 percent compared to the industry average of 1 percent. Arthurs son Frank was left behind to take over the business. Frank Perdue without a hint of self-deprecation stated that I am a B-minus student. I know how smart I am. I know a B-minus is not as good as an A-said of his father simply, I learned everything from him (Hill & Jones, 208).During the 1980s and 1990s Perdue Farms diversified and expanded its market further down to other eastern coast states and southern states. By 1994, revenues were around 1.5 Billion a year. To add to this number Perdue purchased the twelfth largest poultry producer in the United States with about 8,000 employees and revenues of approximately $550,000 a year.Internal analysis of strengths and weaknessesStrengths- Practice small economies- Sells only fresh young broilers- Maintain an environmentally friendly workplace- Represent the total quality management slogan- Leads the industry in quality- Largest poultry producer in the northeast - Second largest producer in the United States- Owns its own tr...
