There is a love affair between the global community and ice cream. For a long time, people have been used to ice creams since the stint the Greeks ruled the world. The Greeks, Jews and the romans were majorly known for preparing fruit juices and wines. Fruit ices evolved throughout the world leading to cream mixtures and frozen milk. Emperor Nero sent his personnel to harvest snow that could make concoctions that had honey and fruit flavors. Until the 19th century, production of ice cream was still cumbersome. By the 20th century, agricultural schools began offering ice cream production courses. With time the industry has developed and in the 21st century most restaurants produce ice creams. Some are produced locally in homes (Varela, Pintor, & Fiszman, 2014)
Resources
There are different resources that are accompanied the ice cream industry. the industries in general own different resources in terms production machines, human resources and raw materials used to produce the commodity. All the groups of resources are joined together to establish an effective industry capable of starting and maintaining production. Human resources assist in operations by managing the requisite procedures. The production resources are important as well. Machines form a pivotal resource combination in the production process. They keep the ice cream industry operating at faster speeds. Production ingredients are as well essential and will be discussed in totality.
Ingredients
The ice cream industry is characterized with a vast coverage of resources. There are different resources associated with ice cream depending on the particular manufacture. However, there are common ingredients that most manufactures use to prepare ice creams. Creams, butter fat and condensed milk play a pivotal part in the production of ice creams. Most ice cream manufactures use butter fat, creams and condensed milk to produce their delicacies. Depending on the most relevant ingredient, the manufacturer primarily establishes the method of production. Sugars forms a key ingredient too in ice cream production. Sugar additives are included in the production recipe to increase the level of sweetness. Some manufactures include flavorings alongside additives that are federally allowed. Some of the flavorings include eggs particularly for French vanilla (Patel, Lakherab, & Sarda, 2013).
The guidelines for ice cream production are broad, enabling the manufactures to utilize a wide variety of ingredients from nonfat dry milk to sweet cream. Some use cane sugar, corn syrup powdered eggs and fresh eggs. Federal regulations commands at least 10% butterfat per package of ice cream. Guar gum among other regulator additives are also added to during the production process. The additives act as stabilizers and emulsifiers in the event they prevent crystallization of the ice. The ice cream production process is delicate and needs to be handled carefully to avoid mistakes. The production recipe should be followed critically not assuming any ingredient such as the additives (Patel, Jana, Aparnathi, & Pinto, 2010).
Ice creams are flavored using different flavors depending on the demand of customers. The flavors have varied amongst different manufactures. The major ones include; vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. However, by the year 1970, the International Association of Ice Cream Manufactures recorded a massive increase in the number of ice cream flavors. Over 400 flavors had been registered by that time. Different blends have been formulated over time. Air is added to increase stability and improve ability to absorb flavorings.
Capabilities
The ice cream industry has different capabilities from its products. Over the years, the consumption of the product globally has increased due to the concentration given to it by the key players in the factors. The SWOT model can be used to analyses the capabilities of the ice cream industry. based on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the product, we can establish a clear insight of its capabilities (Silva, Bezerra, Santos, & Correia, 2015).
Strengths
The ice cream industry possesses a very strong supply chain. The industry has invested in the supply of its products in time to places of demand. The ability supply a finished product properly paves way for increased profitability because sales increase.
The ice cream industry has an innovative culture that enables it to withstand dynamics of the market. With over 400 flavors of ice cream, the industries innovative and is adding to its ingredients so as to attract more customers.
Customer loyalty is also a strength that ice cream industry possesses in the market. Most ice cream customers are loyal to the product even in the availability of alternative products. The customers continue buying ice cream products giving the industry a strong customer base.
Opportunities
The advancement of technology gives the ice cream industry a chance of increasing their production base as well as their sales base. Technology can be used for marketing such as in online marketing. New production techniques can be adopted.
International expansion can also be done to exploit effectively the untouched areas of the industry. there are certain regions that have not embraced to required level the consumption of ice creams. Such areas can be entered to pave way for more profits.
Weakness
The ice cream industry is facing a weakness due the emergence of low quality products that discourage customers. Some manufactures manufacture products with a lot of air in them reducing the content.
Threats
Introduction of alternative products is a threat to the consumption of ice creams. The ice cream industry faces a great threat considering the evident introduction of alternative products. The industry should use this opportunity to improve their products above the others.
The increasing health effect of dairy products on some consumers also pose a challenge to the ice cream industry. there is increased complain from a section of people regarding the use of dairy products and their health. Obese people do not prefer consumption of the products. Hypertensive people do not prefer their consumption too.
Profit
The global ice cream industry revenue is increasing an evident rate. By the year 2018, the analysts estimate the profit to sum up to $74 billion. There are favorable demographic factors. With constant population increase in the world, the consumption of the product is set to increase too. Population increase is a major cause of global advancement in the profit level of the ice cream industry. the ice cream industry has also developed its profit level due to adoption of fresh production techniques boosted by the emerging technological inventions.
Using Return on assets to establish ice crème profits
The analysis of the of the profits includes retail an approximation of retail sales. The sales include classic normal and special ice creams. Special ice creams are either nonfat or low fat. The return of assists is calculated by dividing the net income with the total number of assets. The return of assets indicates how a company develops based on their total assets. The approximate profit as a result of sales from ice cream can be estimated to about 60 billion US dollars by the end of the financial year 2016/2017. The industry is flourishing based on the advancement in profit levels expressed. Local industries are also increasing in production and sales. The increase in assets has been highly linked to the increase in production as well. Production increase boosts the profits level when sales are boosted. The Return on assets is thus, boosted considering the expressible development on assets (Jones & Miskell, 2007; Ndoye & Alvarez, 2015).
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