As you research General Mills, you may want to compare and contrast that company with the other food service retailers - such as Kraft Foods, Nestle, Tyson Foods, ConAgra, and Kellogg.

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Like any other food service retailers, General Mills has come up with its mission and vision statement to set the stage for its strategic direction in the market. The company's mission statement is to nourish communities, lives, and the future, as well as making lives healthier, easier, and richer.

Its mission statement is very common and overbearing at the same time; very common because any other food retailers can declare that the products they offer are quality products, and overbearing because its products alone cannot guarantee healthier, easier, and richer living. The company has been in food business for 150 years of making food with fashion and treating the world with care (General Mills Homepage).

Its competitors such as Kellogg's, Tyson Foods, Kraft Foods, ConAgra, and Nestle share the same thought process and concepts about their respective products, the fact that they all have quality products to offer to their customers, as well as make their customers happy, healthy, and satisfied.

Kraft Foods, ConAgra, and Nestle talk about providing fun and healthy food for people to enjoy and have a good life, while Kellogg's talks about long-term growth in volume and profit while providing nutritious food products of superior value. On the other hand, Tyson Foods talks about grooming, rewarding, and retaining its employees while providing, of course, trusted quality food products that fit today's changing lifestyles (Tyson Foods Homepage).

General Mills' vision statement states that it will reinforce the lives of its customers through its brands, employees, performance, and innovation. This is a broad vision statement and at the same time very simple and modest as it concentrates all its assets and resources to serve its customers. Unlike Nestle, Tyson Foods, and Kellogg, whose visions are to lead the market and be the world's first choice for their products-it's all about being world's number one.

General Mills engages and collaborates with its internal and external stakeholders to improve and speed-up its progress in dealing with social and environmental initiatives (General Mills Homepage). The company uses its stakeholders such as nongovernmental organizations, industry associations, customers, and leaders and experts from the company, to its advantage through collaboration and reporting.

Major issues pertaining to the company are collaborated and discussed with the stakeholders for possible solutions and approach. Some of these issues range from food safety and costs to commodity pricing and availability. This action shows transparency, as well, to the stakeholders, which is essential in building trust and achieving meaningful progress.