MARYLAND & VIRGINIA CASE REPORT Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

MARYLAND & VIRGINIA CASE REPORT Case Solution

Introduction

This report attempts to highlight the importance of crisis preparedness, crisis communications planning, crisis management planning and the risk management strategies for Maryland and Virginia Milk Producers and Cooperative (Maryland & Virginia). The crisis preparedness is of immense importance in the US dairy industry for the business continuity of most the milk businesses. The Dairy production is one of the biggest and the risky business of US (Cessna, 2010).

The entire supply chain is interconnected and a disruption at any stage can cause the disruption of the complete business operations and cause business liquidation. Therefore, in this report we attempt to identify and then prioritize the significant potential risks faced by the US agricultural and the dairy industry and formulate specific strategies for overcoming those potential risks which could lead towards crisis situations (Karelakis, 2012). This would form the basis for the creation of the crisis communications planning and crisis management plan.

Background

Over the past decade, the global agricultural and the dairy industry of the world has faced many risks ranging from radiological incidents to hurricanes to melamine contamination. Many researchers have evaluated and assessed the potential impact of the intentional placement of the toxins in milk supplies (Putro, 2015). Along with this, the foot and mouth diseases also remain as one of the significant risks in the livestock animals around the world.

The environment in which we live in today has changed significantly and the concerns of the people over food safety along with the instant spreading of misinformation over the social media has led to the dairy industry to be more vulnerable to the potential crisis in the consumer confidence. Therefore, specific programs and plans for crisis preparedness occupy a significant portion of the investments of the dairy industry today in most of the countries of the world especially US (Cannon, 2012). The reports from the crisis response analysts show that those organizations which prepare themselves for crisis are 2 to 3 times more likely to survive as compared to companies which do nothing and sit back and watch (Cannon, 2012). This case emphasized on the crisis preparedness plan for Maryland and Virginia Company.

Case Analysis

Synopsis of Case

Maryland & Virginia is a 92 year old company which produces milk with the help of the operations of the 1500 dairy families which are attached with the company. Maryland & Virginia produces an average milk of 1.3 billion kilos per year. The annual revenues of the company were high in 2011 as a result of the increase in the member mil production and the higher raw milk prices. This case defines the entire supply chain and the operations of the Maryland & Virginia Company and provides information about the US dairy industry. Recently, the numbers of the crisis situations faced by the agricultural companies have increased in US and other countries such as Netherlands, Canada and UK.

This case highlights the emphasis of the Maryland & Virginia Company’s management on formulating a plan for crisis preparedness if the company is faced by any of the crisis management situations. The importance of crisis management programs has become more importance given the statistics of the dairy industry of US where the number of milk cows has decreased by the production of milk per cow has been increased since 1950s. This case highlights the key risk factors which might impact upon the future operations of the dairy companies in US such as Maryland & Virginia and thus focuses on developing strategies for mitigating all such potential risks.......................

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