The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A)
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.At the end of 2009, The Dannon Company was considering pro actively communicating its CSR efforts to consumers. With the strong connection between Dannon's production of health foods and its commitment to health and nutrition-based CSR activities, communicating these activities to consumers could enhance the company's success, but risked tainting its deeply ingrained CSR as a marketing ploy. Dannon wanted to maintain its holistic approach to social responsibility and commitment to social values. Dannon's CSR focused on three areas: Nutrition and Health, People and Nature. The case follows the perspectives of various stakeholders within the organization, including members of the Marketing, Human Resources and Corporate Affairs departments. Some of the specific questions examined are: Should we communicate Dannon's CSR activities? What would be the best means to do so? Should it be a corporate or brand level campaign? How would the parent company, Danone, respond? Can CSR remain sincere when being leveraged for PR purposes?
Authors :: Christopher Marquis, Pooja Shah, Amanda Tolleson, Bobbi Thomason
Swot Analysis of "The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A)" written by Christopher Marquis, Pooja Shah, Amanda Tolleson, Bobbi Thomason includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Csr Dannon facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Social responsibility and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Csr Dannon, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Csr Dannon 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Csr Dannon
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 Csr Dannon
Strengths The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Csr Dannon in The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Csr Dannon is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Csr Dannon 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.
Organizational Resilience of Csr Dannon
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Csr Dannon does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Csr Dannon has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Csr Dannon to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Organizational Development industry
– The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Csr Dannon to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Csr Dannon to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Csr Dannon 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Csr Dannon is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Organizational Development segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Csr Dannon digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Csr Dannon has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Csr Dannon 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Csr Dannon is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Csr Dannon is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Csr Dannon has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Csr Dannon 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.
Weaknesses The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Csr Dannon is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Csr Dannon needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Csr Dannon to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) HBR case study mentions - Csr Dannon 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Csr Dannon products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Csr Dannon needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Csr Dannon 's lucrative customers.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Csr Dannon needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A), in the dynamic environment Csr Dannon has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Csr Dannon 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 Csr Dannon 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A), it seems that the employees of Csr Dannon 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A), is just above the industry average. Csr Dannon needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Csr Dannon has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Csr Dannon is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) | 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Csr Dannon can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Csr Dannon has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Csr Dannon to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Csr Dannon 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 Csr Dannon in the consumer business. Now Csr Dannon 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, Csr Dannon 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, The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Csr Dannon 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 Csr Dannon to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Csr Dannon 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Csr Dannon in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Organizational Development segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
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. Csr Dannon 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. Csr Dannon 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Csr Dannon 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Csr Dannon can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Csr Dannon has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Csr Dannon to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) case study. Csr Dannon can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Csr Dannon is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) 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.
Threats The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A), Csr Dannon may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Organizational Development .
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Csr Dannon 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. Csr Dannon can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Csr Dannon 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Csr Dannon has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Organizational Development industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Csr Dannon needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Organizational Development sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Increasing wage structure of Csr Dannon
– 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 Csr Dannon.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Csr Dannon with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Csr Dannon can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Environmental challenges
– Csr Dannon 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. Csr Dannon can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Organizational Development industry.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Csr Dannon is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Csr Dannon 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) 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 The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A) 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 Csr Dannon needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
