Case Study Description of C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams
This case is accompanied by a Video Short that can be shown in class or included in a digital coursepack. Instructors should consider the timing of making the video available to students, as it may reveal key case details.Rick Cohen, president and CEO of C&S Wholesale Grocers, is trying to decide whether and how to implement the self-managed teams concept in his warehouse. Eight months earlier, C&S had begun to act as principal wholesaler to A&P throughout New England, a decision that was consistent with the firm's growth strategy, but that also represented a significant increase in daily throughput. Cohen was concerned about whether the company's existing operations would be able to meet the needs of all its customers and maintain the high levels of customer satisfaction for which the company was known throughout New England. When implemented successfully, the self-managed teams concept had been credited with enhancing an organization's productivity and competitiveness. Cohen wondered how such a concept could be implemented in the context of a labor-intensive, unionized warehouse environment.
Authors :: Thomas J. DeLong, David L. Ager, Tejal Mody
Topics :: Organizational Development
Tags :: Human resource management, Leading teams, Operations management, Organizational structure, Workspaces, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams" written by Thomas J. DeLong, David L. Ager, Tejal Mody includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cohen Grocers facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Human resource management, Leading teams, Operations management, Organizational structure, Workspaces and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cohen Grocers, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cohen Grocers operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cohen Grocers
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Organizational Development field.
4. Making a Organizational Development topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cohen Grocers
Strengths C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cohen Grocers in C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cohen Grocers has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Cohen Grocers is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cohen Grocers has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cohen Grocers has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cohen Grocers has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Cohen Grocers has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Cohen Grocers is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cohen Grocers in the sector have low bargaining power. C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cohen Grocers to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cohen Grocers is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Cohen Grocers is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Cohen Grocers in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Cohen Grocers are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cohen Grocers is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Weaknesses C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cohen Grocers has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Cohen Grocers is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Cohen Grocers needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Cohen Grocers to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams, it seems that the employees of Cohen Grocers don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cohen Grocers is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Cohen Grocers supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cohen Grocers vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams HBR case study mentions - Cohen Grocers takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams, in the dynamic environment Cohen Grocers has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Cohen Grocers has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cohen Grocers has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Cohen Grocers has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cohen Grocers, firm in the HBR case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cohen Grocers has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cohen Grocers can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Organizational Development segment.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Organizational Development industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Cohen Grocers can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Cohen Grocers to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cohen Grocers is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cohen Grocers can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cohen Grocers operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Cohen Grocers to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Organizational Development industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cohen Grocers can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Cohen Grocers can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Cohen Grocers can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cohen Grocers to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Cohen Grocers to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Cohen Grocers has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cohen Grocers in the consumer business. Now Cohen Grocers can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cohen Grocers can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Buying journey improvements
– Cohen Grocers can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Threats C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams are -
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Cohen Grocers will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cohen Grocers high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Cohen Grocers business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Cohen Grocers in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Cohen Grocers needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Cohen Grocers can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Cohen Grocers needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Organizational Development industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Organizational Development field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cohen Grocers can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cohen Grocers can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams .
Increasing wage structure of Cohen Grocers
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Cohen Grocers.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cohen Grocers demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cohen Grocers in the Organizational Development industry. The Organizational Development industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of C&S Wholesale Grocers: Self-Managed Teams is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Cohen Grocers needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
