Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate?
Andrea Torres, director of new product development at a high-end chocolate confectionery company, leads her team through a carefully sequenced program of market research to support the development and launch of a new product, healthy dark chocolate with fruit. This is the first time Montreaux USA, an offshoot of a Swiss confectioner, has created a product specifically for U.S. chocolate consumers. The case explains the steps Torres and her NPD team have completed and describes the decisions that lie ahead, a few months in advance of the anticipated launch. A challenging situation is intensified by a competitor also having tested a dark-chocolate-with-fruit product that was likely to be introduced into the U.S. marketplace in the near future. Students must perform a quantitative analysis as part of their work.
Swot Analysis of "Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate?" written by John A. Quelch, Diane Badame includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Chocolate Dark facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competition, Customers, Forecasting, Market research, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? casestudy better are - – cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Chocolate Dark, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Chocolate Dark 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Chocolate Dark
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 Chocolate Dark
Strengths Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Chocolate Dark in Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Chocolate Dark to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Chocolate Dark to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Chocolate Dark is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Chocolate Dark 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 Chocolate Dark in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Chocolate Dark is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Chocolate Dark 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 Chocolate Dark is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Chocolate Dark 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Innovation driven organization
– Chocolate Dark is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Chocolate Dark
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Chocolate Dark does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Chocolate Dark 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Chocolate Dark has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Chocolate Dark 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Chocolate Dark 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate?, it seems that the employees of Chocolate Dark 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Chocolate Dark is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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 Chocolate Dark 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Chocolate Dark 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 - Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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 Chocolate Dark has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Chocolate Dark 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, John A. Quelch, Diane Badame suggests that, Chocolate Dark 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Chocolate Dark 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Chocolate Dark 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. Chocolate Dark 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Chocolate Dark is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Chocolate Dark needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Chocolate Dark to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate?, 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? | 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? are -
Leveraging digital technologies
– Chocolate Dark can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Chocolate Dark 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Chocolate Dark can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Chocolate Dark operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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 Chocolate Dark in the consumer business. Now Chocolate Dark can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Chocolate Dark can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Chocolate Dark has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Chocolate Dark to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? case study. Chocolate Dark can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Chocolate Dark can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Chocolate Dark 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Chocolate Dark 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Chocolate Dark to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Chocolate Dark 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 Chocolate Dark to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Chocolate Dark 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Chocolate Dark 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Chocolate Dark is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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. Chocolate Dark 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.
Environmental challenges
– Chocolate Dark 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. Chocolate Dark can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate?, Chocolate Dark 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 .
Increasing wage structure of Chocolate Dark
– 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 Chocolate Dark.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Chocolate Dark 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
– Chocolate Dark 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.
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Chocolate Dark is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Chocolate Dark needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Chocolate Dark has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Chocolate Dark 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Chocolate Dark in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Chocolate Dark 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Chocolate Dark 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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 Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate? 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 Chocolate Dark needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.