Mission and Vision Statement
The mission statement of the company Whole Foods Market is to appropriately address a various important factors that are pertinent in the operations of the business. The mission statement of the company states that the company is a vibrant leader in essentially quality for food business. The company is necessarily a mission-driven firm that intends to set excellence standards for mainly food retailers. The company is also developing a business operation in which superior standards pervade different aspects of the functionalities of the business. Essentially, superior quality can be considered to be a state of mind at the company.

In this regard, it can be said that the mission statement reflects what the company Whole Foods is carrying out or intends to do to attain industry leadership. The important points that can be noted from the company’s mission statement are as follows:

1.    Overall quality of output
2.    Striving for higher standards of excellence for mainly the food retailers
3.    Superior standards in different aspects of the operations of the business
4.    Superiority of mind state

Whole Foods stresses superior quality in various points mentioned in the mission statement. Essentially, the firm delivers superior quality of food products. It itself, the “standards of excellence for food retailers” element of the mission statement reflects that Whole Foods Market intends to be the industry leader in particularly maintenance of excellent standards. Furthermore, in this mission declaration, the corporation infuses necessarily a quality frame of mind, that pertains to mindset of employees in the culture of the organization, and particularly the food preferences of the consumers of the firm. Therefore, the mission statement of the firm Whole Foods accounts for output of the organization (quality of the product), positioning in both industry as well as market (this refers to excellence levels as well as quality), culture of the organization and company’s focus on health of customers (quality mindset).

Vision Statement
It can be hereby said that the company Whole Foods does not necessarily have an official vision account. Nevertheless, a study of the official website of the firm reflects that vision statement tantamount to company’s motto that is:“Whole Foods, Whole People, Whole Planet”.
In long-drawn-out form, the vision statement of the company is: “Our motto – ‘Whole Foods, Whole People and Whole Planet’ – stresses that vision of the company reaches far ahead of just becoming a food retailer. Essentially, the success of the company in satisfying vision is enumerated by satisfaction of the customer, excellence as well as happiness of team member, return earned on capital investment, enhancement in the state of business environment and regional and wider community support.

Milestone
Profile of the company Whole Foods
Whole Foods can be considered to be the largest natural foods grocery series in the world. Established in the year 1980, the company pioneered the supermarket notion in natural as well as organic foods retailing. In addition to this, the company carries out operation in over and above 470 stores across areas such as US, Canada, as well as the UK. The company also stresses on organic fragile as well as prepared products. Furthermore, the company also markets private-label items by means of 365 Organic Everyday Value as well as Allegro Coffee lines. In addition to this, the company also delivers a wide assortment of non-GMO, vegan as well as gluten-free foods. During the year 2017, the firm Amazon.com obtained Whole Foods, which creates sales mainly in US, for approximately $13.7 billion.

Milestones
Milestones are somewhat similar to check points for various entrepreneurs, indicating that a business enterprise is struggling and at the same time developing. Milestones of the firm expressed in terms of short as well as long term goals of the company Whole Foods are as mentioned below:

1.    The revenue of the company has risen consistently over the past 5 years, nonetheless enhancing accessibility of fresh foods and novel channels of distribution throughout the industry. In essence, this had a negative impact on comparable store sales.  

2.    Taking into consideration technology, the company Whole Foods has the intention to execute a specific category management program across different stores across US by the end of the year 2018 together with additional robust data analytics and a combined purchasing framework. The company also intends to realize approximately $300 million in supplementary cost savings by 2020 with enhancements in various in-store procedures as well as labour allocation, higher effectiveness of different support function, and optimization of supply chain.

3.    As regards health-aware clientele, the management of the company Whole Foods has also assured that by the year 2018 different products in the stores of the company operating in North America need to be labelled to point out in case if they include GMOs.

4.    The company Whole Foods Market 365 store was instituted on May 25 in Los Angeles’ Silver.

5.    The company upholds the augmentation of standards of Global Animal Partnership’s (GAP) in order to call for slower-growing breeds of chicken by the year 2024 for the purpose of certification.

6.    The company declares Lifesaving Scheme that is The Whole Foods Diet that is initiated for maintenance of Health as well as Longevity.

7.    The company attains approximately $20 million in terms of loans to diverse growing businesses countrywide by means of the Local Producer Loan Program.

8.    The company has acquired “Best of the Best” award during the 2015-2016 for the Green Chill Partnership of particularly the Environmental Protection Agency.

9.    Value eggs marketed by Whole Foods Market satisfy new, highly developed standards and the company accepts the Cage-Free Award from particularly the Compassion in World Farming.

10.    The company declares novel policy of sourcing for maintenance of sustainable, noticeable canned tuna and canned tuna of the company sourcing helps in earning top results from Greenpeace.

11.    Whole Foods 365 establishes first Texas location.

EFE Matrix

External Key Factors	Weight	Rating	Weighted Score
Opportunities
1.     Expansion  of the business	0.25	4	1.0
2.     Provision of health benefits by means of media	0.20	2	0.40
3.     Stress on particularly organic farming	0.15	3	0.45
Threats
1.     Supermarkets are instituting various organic products as their offers	0.15	4	0.60
2.     Enhancing inflation	0.15	3	0.45
3.     Low expend for every trip owing to increased process of the firm’s products	0.10	2	0.20
TOTAL	1.00		3.1

There are several corporate success factors. Essentially ratings can be implemented to reach one of the factors stated in this case.

-Major instability is reflected by the number 1
-Major instability is reflected by the number 2
-Major stability is reflected using the number 3
-Major stability is reflected using the number 4

Sum of stated weighted scores is primarily equal to total weighted score. In essence, in final value of particularly total weighted score has the need to range between low values (1) and the highest value (4). Particularly, the total weighted score explains and reflects the extent of importance of various factors, as regards whether the identified factors can help in whether it will lead to success of the corporation. Again, the average weighted score for the external factor evaluation matrix is seen to be (3.1). In addition to this, in case if a corporation’s weighted score is beneath the level of (2.5), then it can be said to be weak. Again, in case if a company’s total weighted score is greater than (2.5), then it can be regarded to be a business operation that is a having a strong standing.

Business Expansion:
As per the above presented matrix, it can be hereby mentioned that the most important key factor is essentially expansion of business. Starting during the year 1984, the company expanded its operations out of Austin and went to function in Houston, Dallas and thereafter to New Orleans. The firm also established supplementary acquirements and continued its expansion in different parts of North America. It can be hereby mentioned that the expansion of the company has enhanced the overall need for various products along with processing plants.

 

Emphasis on organic food:
The company stresses on the organic food sector and roughly 20,000 diverse food as well as non-food product categories is offered by the company at each one of the store locations.  As per the regulatory obligation, the organic food products that are marketed in the US necessarily have the need to satisfy the strict standards of the USDA Organic.

The company strives relentlessly to meet the requisite standards as they believe in maintaining good health, superior quality as well as sustainability. The organic standards that the company maintains include the following:
 
Provision of health advantages:
The company maintained various health disciplines and earned returns that stand at $1.4 billion in particularly EBITDA, roughly $1.1 billion in particularly flow of cash from operations and 13% of return earned on particularly firm’s invested capital. It can be hereby mentioned in this regard that value matters a lot and the company’s Whole Cities Foundation dedicated to health of both individual along with that of the community by means of collaborative partnerships, improved education and wider accessibility to various nutritious food products in diverse underserved communities. Again, it has invested particularly in partnerships in mainly Englewood, New Orleans, Detroit and many other cities. Furthermore, the Local Producer Program also has distributed roughly $21 million in terms of loan to approximately 260 regional producers. Analysis of the annual report of the firm also reveals the fact that the company concentrates on several metrics that can be regarded to be long term health of the business, and company’s outlook include growth of sales of the firm from 2.5% to around 4.5%, increase in EBITDA to 8.2%, diluted earnings per share of $1.42 and 11% ROIC. The report announced by the firm also asserts that the management embrace accountability for the purpose of nourishing overall health as well as well being of population. The company operating as the leading natural as well as organic supermarkets for food is exclusively placed as the Healthiest Grocery Store of America. The company delivers personal wellness dollars as health reimbursement form or else health savings account. Founded on hours of service, members of the team can accept around $1,800 every year in order to help cover deductibles cost as well as other permissible out of pocket care expends that are also not covered by insurance.

Lower expenditure for every trip owing to increased process of the firm’s products can be regarded as threat with the lowest weight while various supermarkets offering organic products generate substitutes and have the highest weight. As the total weighted score is equal to 3.1, it can be said that it is said to be significant. 

Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix (IFE)

Internal Key Factors	Weight	Rating	Weighted Score
Strengths
1.     Recognition of the brand equity of the firm Whole Foods	0.12	4	0.48
2.  Superior quality of the company’s products	0.15	4	0.60
3.   Huge selection or else variety of products	0.10	4	0.40
4. Positive work environment of the employees	0.08	3	0.24
5. Large and at the same time customizes stores	0.10	4	0.40
6. The company ranks number 16 on particularly Fortune’s World’s Most Admired List of companies	0.05	3	0.15
Weaknesses
1. Concentrated mainly on the market of US	0.15	1	0.15
2. Comparative slow rate of growth	.05	2	0.10
3. Limited/Inadequate number of company’s suppliers	0.10	1	0.10
4. Advertising budget of the corporation is very less	0.10	2	0.20
TOTAL	1.00		2.82

 

SWOT Analysis

Strength –Recognition of value of brand of the firm -Superior quality -Positive work environment -Large modified stores -Regarded as Fortune’s World’s Most Admired List of Companies	Weakness -Focussed on the US market -Comparatively slower rate of growth -Restricted number of company’s suppliers -Lower levels of advertising budget
Opportunity –Extensive expansion -Health Benefits by means of media -Greater stress on organic farming	Threats –Different supermarkets presenting various products -Enhancing inflation -Low expenditure for every trip owing to higher level of prices