Conclusion

//**__Things I have learned about General Mills, Inc.__:**//
__**Overall:**__
 * It has a strong, trusted brand behind it, which helps it maintain high profits and a consistent stock price.
 * It's Yoplait acquisition helps its U.S. net sales positively.
 * It's consistent and high dividend payout attracts many consumers and puts the company at top of the "best dividends" lists.
 * It is a company that is trying to sustain itself in an environmentally-friendly way, which is seen positively by its' consumers.
 * Exceeded expectations for latest quarter reports.
 * Is expected to lead other competitive companies within the industry in sales in the next year.
 * Ken Powell is the CEO, but overall General Mills is organized under democratic leadership and encourages inputs from employees.
 * The rising food (grains) commodities are taking a toll on the company, but since people must eat, the company still has consumers buying their products, since no matter what, people need to eat.
 * Trying to improve make its products healthier and nutritious. (ex. Lucky Charms went from 15 grams of sugar to 10 grams).
 * Meeting the consumers needs and wants by providing healthier options to those consumers' lifestyles by providing nutritious and fun to eat food.
 * Becomes involved in many charity and community events that give the company good press and allows for its' stock prices/volumes to go up.
 * Health conscious company that is concerned about corporate responsibility as well.

**__Management:__**  All these points are the main things that stood out to me during this whole process of tracking General Mills, Inc. I learned things that I never thought about before. I realized how detailed and intricate it is to run a business successfully. There are many areas to worry about; there are the consumers, the finance, the marketing, the management, etc.  I now know way more about General Mills, Inc., when before I knew nothing besides the fact that they produce cereals. I realized General Mills, Inc. is responsible for a lot more products that one thinks. There is a lot of factors that influence the investments from stakeholders, such as dividends, company publicity, operations, reported earnings, etc. <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Now that this tracking is over, I still find myself looking at Yahoo! Finance and watching GIS stock; after following it for so long, I remain interested in knowing how the company is doing, which is something I have never done or thought about before. I really enjoyed this experience of following a well-known company and learning so many new terms and trends in the stock market.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Uses a numerous amount of quality controls to make sure its manufacturing and production process runs smoothly.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">There is a lot of detail to actually producing all its' products.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Makes employees aware of the Code of Ethics and offers a hotline where employees can always report information anonymously.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Democratic leadership style. Much of the manufacturing, aside from rules, codes, and controls, allows the engineers on the plant floor contribute and design new ideas for its machines.
 * <span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">Operations management encourages employees to speak up about what is not working in the manufacturing process, where there could be improvements, or where they see that the process is slowing down. This represents employee empowerment.