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Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning


The soup division at Brannigan Foods contributes over 40% of the firm's revenue. The general manager is concerned that the soup industry is declining and that the soup division shows declining profits and market share, especially among the important baby boomer segment. Hoping to reverse these trends, he asks four key managers to review a consultant's analysis of the soup industry and recommend a turnaround strategy. Each manager presents a different plan, from investing in core market segments and products to acquiring new product lines and customers. Students must perform a quantitative analysis of each proposal while considering the feasibility and risks associated with each option before making a final recommendation.

Authors :: John A. Quelch, James Kindley

Topics :: Sales & Marketing

Tags :: Budgeting, Customers, Decision making, Forecasting, Government, Mergers & acquisitions, Product development, Risk management, Strategic planning, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning" written by John A. Quelch, James Kindley includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Soup Brannigan facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Budgeting, Customers, Decision making, Forecasting, Government, Mergers & acquisitions, Product development, Risk management, Strategic planning and Sales & Marketing.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Soup Brannigan, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Soup Brannigan 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 Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Soup Brannigan
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Soup Brannigan




Strengths Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Soup Brannigan in Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning Harvard Business Review case study are -

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Soup Brannigan in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Soup Brannigan is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Analytics focus

– Soup Brannigan 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 A. Quelch, James Kindley 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Soup Brannigan 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.

Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Soup Brannigan digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Soup Brannigan 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

– Soup Brannigan 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 Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Soup Brannigan is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry

– Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Soup Brannigan to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Soup Brannigan to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Innovation driven organization

– Soup Brannigan is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Soup Brannigan in the sector have low bargaining power. Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Soup Brannigan to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Organizational Resilience of Soup Brannigan

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Soup Brannigan does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.






Weaknesses Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning are -

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning, in the dynamic environment Soup Brannigan has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Soup Brannigan has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Soup Brannigan is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Soup Brannigan needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Soup Brannigan to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Soup Brannigan has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy

– From the instances in the HBR case study Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning, it seems that the employees of Soup Brannigan 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 cash cycle compare to competitors

Soup Brannigan 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, John A. Quelch, James Kindley suggests that, Soup Brannigan is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Soup Brannigan, firm in the HBR case study Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Lack of clear differentiation of Soup Brannigan products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Soup Brannigan needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Soup Brannigan has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Soup Brannigan 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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.




Opportunities Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning | 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 Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning are -

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Soup Brannigan 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.

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. Soup Brannigan can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Buying journey improvements

– Soup Brannigan can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning 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.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Soup Brannigan to increase its market reach. Soup Brannigan 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.

Reforming the budgeting process

- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Soup Brannigan can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.

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 Soup Brannigan 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Soup Brannigan 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, Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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 Soup Brannigan in the consumer business. Now Soup Brannigan can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Soup Brannigan in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Developing new processes and practices

– Soup Brannigan can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Soup Brannigan 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. Soup Brannigan 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Soup Brannigan 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 Soup Brannigan to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Manufacturing automation

– Soup Brannigan can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing 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.




Threats Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning are -

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Soup Brannigan 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.

Increasing wage structure of Soup Brannigan

– 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 Soup Brannigan.

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.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Soup Brannigan 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

– Soup Brannigan has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Soup Brannigan needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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.

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.

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 Soup Brannigan.

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. Soup Brannigan needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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 Soup Brannigan business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning, Soup Brannigan may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .

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 Soup Brannigan in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Soup Brannigan 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 Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning .

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. Soup Brannigan 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.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning 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 Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning 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 Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning 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 Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning 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 Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning 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 Soup Brannigan needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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