How Smucker’s Advances God’s Redemptive Plan

How Smucker’s Advances God’s Redemptive Plan

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Mr. Anthony Brewer

Regent University

MBA 600

How Smucker’s Advances God’s Redemptive Plan

Introduction

The significant aim of this paper is to analyze the company's mission, strategy and organizational components (structure, systems, employee’s and culture) vital to God’s redemptive plan". Business and spiritual excellence will be is the central focus.  Christian business owner’s perspective is to maintain a biblical perspective in the operation of there company.  J. M. Smucker built a great business on the foundation of God’s sovereign grace that required a true understanding of servant leadership, covenantal relationships and sanctified stewardship.  In this paper we will explore his “belief system that has reflected greatly in actions and behavior within the company as well as personal life.  

What do it mean for a business to participate in God’s redemptive plan for creation.

Christians are the salt of the earth. Jesus said "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savior, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 5:13-16)

 For more than 115 years, The J.M. Smucker Company has been committed to offering consumers quality products that bring families together to share memorable meals and moments. Today, Smucker’s is a leading marketer and manufacturer of fruit spreads, retail packaged coffee, peanut butter, shortening and oils, ice cream toppings, sweetened condensed milk, and health and natural foods beverages in North America. Its family of brands includes Smucker’s®, Folgers®, Dunkin’Donuts®, Jif®, Crisco®, Pillsbury®, Eagle Brand®, R.W. Knudsen Family®, Hungry Jack®, Café Bustelo®, Café Pilon®, White Lily® and Martha White® in the United States, along with Robin Hood®, Five Roses®, Carnation® and Bick’s® in Canada.

The J. M. Smucker Company. Believe that Christians are to act like Christians at all times, he created a where the supervisors set the example and show leadership.  It was also the culture to let his employees have the freedom to do a good job seeing himself as superior to no one.  J. M. Smucker believed it was satisfying and rewarding when people work together in harmony with a common goal of community.  Reconcile. Redeem. Restore. Recover. Return. Renew. Regenerate and Resurrect which I feel is in direct alignment with God’s Plan. Mr. Timothy P. Smucker, J. M. Smucker Board Chairman stated, “The J.M. Smucker Company still and always will remains greatly rooted in the basic beliefs of Quality, People, Ethics, Growth and Independence established by its founder and namesake more than a century ago”.

A History of The J.M. Smucker Company

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          In the early 19th century, John Chapman, or “Johnny Appleseed,” wandered the Ohio countryside, sowing apple seeds and securing a place in American history. It was from the fruit of Johnny Appleseed's trees that Orrville, Ohio, resident Jerome Monroe Smucker created his butter.  In 1897, Jerome Monroe Smucker decided to construct a cider mill in the heart of Orrville, Ohio about 45 minutes south of Cleveland.  He applied his education from a two-year business course at a nearby academy to the management of four farms and a creamery that shipped butter as far as New York City. The success of his businesses allowed him to expand [pic 4]

 where he began producing apple cider as well as apple butters.  Smucker's steam-powered press and secret method for capturing the vapors usually lost in cooking gave the spread a unique flavor that soon drew more customers than the cider mill and creamery.

 In 1900, Smucker and his son, Willard, began to travel across northeastern Ohio, selling their products. Willard began delivering the 25-cent, half gallon tubs in a wagon at the age of ten. By 1915, the first year for which records are available, the business was bringing in nearly $60,000 and netting almost $3,000 annually. And by the time it was incorporated in 1921, Smucker's offered a full line of preserves (generally made from whole fruit or large pieces of fruit) and jellies (made from strained, pure fruit juice). Sales topped $147,000 the year The J.M. Smucker Company, Inc. was capitalized at $100,000. J.M. Smucker owned 94 percent of the private company’s stock; his sons and daughters split the remainder. The company had grown to such a scale that in 1928 the Pennsylvania Railroad built a special siding to the Smucker plant, as the company's products were distributed in ever-increasing volume throughout Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana.

In 1923, the company began to produce additional jams and jellies besides the apple butter.  By 1935, the J.M. Smucker Company's products were in great demand across the Midwest. Hoping to increase its market, that same year, the company expanded its operations, including opening a fruit-processing facility in the state of Washington. In 1942, the J.M. Smucker Company began to ship its products nationwide. During World War II, the company even provided apple butter to American soldiers serving overseas.

During the 1960s, the J.M. Smucker Company began to diversify its product line. In 1963, the company began to sell ketchup, and in the following year, Kellogg's began to use Smucker's jam in its Pop-Tarts. In 1965, the J.M. Smucker Company also began to manufacture peanut butter. To help promote their products, in 1962, the company created a new slogan, "With a name like Smucker's, it has to be good."  The J. M. Smucker Company has been headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, since its founding, and has been family-run for five generations. (Company History, 2014).