Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Organizational Development
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive
Ben & Jerry's is an anti-establishment, values-driven company that has become a successful venture. The dominant founder, Ben Cohen, is not an effective manager, but he brings creative marketing and product skills that have been important to the company's success. He also is controlling shareholder and the force behind the company's socially-minded culture. One of the many policies that have reflected Ben's values but which has created difficulty in managing the organization is the 5 to 1 compensation differential between the top and the bottom of the organization. Up to mid 1990, the company was operating in an explosive growth business with relatively weak competitors; this has changed by the time of the case in September 1990. The case opens as Chuck Lacy is taking over as president. He needs to decide what to do about the 5 to 1 rule and the related issues of Ben's role, and the value of the company's counterculture style. Students must consider the difficulty and importance of the general manager's responsibility in reconciling company values with commercial imperatives and to consider the effect of compensation policy on morale and organizational effectiveness.
Swot Analysis of "Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive" written by John Theroux includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ben Ben's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial management, Motivating people, Organizational culture, Organizational structure, Social responsibility and Organizational Development.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, technology disruption,
there is backlash against globalization, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ben Ben's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ben Ben's 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ben Ben's
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 Ben Ben's
Strengths Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ben Ben's in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ben Ben's 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.
Analytics focus
– Ben Ben's is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by John Theroux can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Ben Ben's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Organizational Resilience of Ben Ben's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ben Ben's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Innovation driven organization
– Ben Ben's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Ben Ben's is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ben Ben's 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Ben Ben's 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Ben Ben's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Ben Ben's 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
– Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ben Ben's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Organizational Development industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ben Ben's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Organizational Development field
– Ben Ben's 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 Ben Ben's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Ben Ben's in the sector have low bargaining power. Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Ben Ben's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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 Ben Ben's has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ben Ben's is planning to shift buying processes online.
Lack of clear differentiation of Ben Ben's products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Ben Ben's needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive, in the dynamic environment Ben Ben's has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ben Ben's has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Organizational Development strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
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 Ben Ben's supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ben Ben's vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Ben Ben's has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Ben Ben's even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive, it seems that the employees of Ben Ben's 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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 Ben Ben's 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive, is just above the industry average. Ben Ben's 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Ben Ben's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Organizational Development segment. Ben Ben's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Ben Ben's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive | 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ben Ben's can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ben Ben's 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 Ben Ben's to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ben Ben's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Ben Ben's 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ben Ben's can develop new processes and procedures in Organizational Development industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
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 Ben Ben's 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Ben Ben's to increase its market reach. Ben Ben's will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Loyalty marketing
– Ben Ben's 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Ben Ben's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Organizational Development segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ben Ben's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ben Ben's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Organizational Development sector.
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. Ben Ben's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ben Ben's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ben Ben's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive case study. Ben Ben's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ben Ben's 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.
Threats Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive are -
High level of anxiety and lack of motivation
– the Great Resignation in United States is the sign of broader dissatisfaction among the workforce in United States. Ben Ben's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Organizational Development industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Ben Ben's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Ben Ben's 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ben Ben's 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.
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 Ben Ben's in the Organizational Development sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Ben Ben's is facing in Organizational Development sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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. Ben Ben's can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Ben Ben's business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Ben Ben's.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ben Ben's 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive, Ben Ben's 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Ben Ben's 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: Keeping the Mission(s) Alive 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 Ben Ben's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.