Case Study Description of Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A)
In the spring of 2008, the marketing manager of Wheaties was getting ready for a meeting to discuss ideas about how to reinvigorate one of the most iconic and well-known cereal brands in America, which over the preceding few years had experienced a steady decline in market share. The only limitation the manager would impose was that any new product could not replace the original Wheaties. Otherwise, she was open to any opportunity to differentiate Wheaties from the orange box and yet fully embody the brand equity.
Swot Analysis of "Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A)" written by Marian Moore, Adam Weinberg includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Wheaties Iconic facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing commodity prices, technology disruption, increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Wheaties Iconic, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Wheaties Iconic 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 Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Wheaties Iconic
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 Wheaties Iconic
Strengths Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Wheaties Iconic in Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Wheaties Iconic 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Wheaties Iconic in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Wheaties Iconic are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Wheaties Iconic 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 Wheaties Iconic in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Wheaties Iconic has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Wheaties Iconic is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) 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
- Wheaties Iconic 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 Wheaties Iconic is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Wheaties Iconic to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Wheaties Iconic to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Wheaties Iconic is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Wheaties Iconic has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Wheaties Iconic to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Wheaties Iconic in the sector have low bargaining power. Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Wheaties Iconic to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Diverse revenue streams
– Wheaties Iconic is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) 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.
Weaknesses Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) are -
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 Wheaties Iconic supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Wheaties Iconic vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A), 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A), is just above the industry average. Wheaties Iconic 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Wheaties Iconic, firm in the HBR case study Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Wheaties Iconic is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Wheaties Iconic needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Wheaties Iconic to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Wheaties Iconic has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Wheaties Iconic 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (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 Wheaties Iconic 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A), in the dynamic environment Wheaties Iconic has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Wheaties Iconic has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Wheaties Iconic 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (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 Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Wheaties Iconic is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (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 Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Wheaties Iconic 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Wheaties Iconic 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 Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Wheaties Iconic to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Wheaties Iconic 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. Wheaties Iconic 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Wheaties Iconic 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Wheaties Iconic 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 Wheaties Iconic in the consumer business. Now Wheaties Iconic can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Wheaties Iconic has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Wheaties Iconic to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) case study. Wheaties Iconic 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. Wheaties Iconic can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Wheaties Iconic 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 Wheaties Iconic to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Wheaties Iconic can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Wheaties Iconic operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Wheaties Iconic 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Wheaties Iconic 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Wheaties Iconic 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, Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (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.
Threats Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Wheaties Iconic with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Wheaties Iconic is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Wheaties Iconic 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. Wheaties Iconic can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Wheaties Iconic 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Wheaties Iconic 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Wheaties Iconic can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Wheaties Iconic 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 Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (A) .
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 Wheaties Iconic.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Wheaties Iconic in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Wheaties Iconic 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.
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 Wheaties Iconic business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Wheaties Iconic 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (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 Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (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 Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (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 Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (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 Wheaties: Reinvigorating an Iconic Brand (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 Wheaties Iconic needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
