All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing?
America's preference for homogeneous, bland-tasting beer may have been largely derived not from an efficient, market-clearing equilibrium, but from a series of interesting historical processes and events. Argues that the U.S. market may have become locked in a suboptimal equilibrium in which most consumers are no longer familiar with the full range of what beer is and can be. As a result, most competition in this market centers around advertising campaigns designed to differentiate between increasingly generic beers. Although the concepts of path dependency, switching costs, and lock-in have been employed principally in studies discussing technology standards, these ideas may be usefully extended to consumer branded products, including foods and beverages.
Authors :: David Y., David Y. Choi, Martin H. Stack
Swot Analysis of "All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing?" written by David Y., David Y. Choi, Martin H. Stack includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Beer Equilibrium facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competition, Customers and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing commodity prices, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, geopolitical disruptions,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing?
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Beer Equilibrium, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Beer Equilibrium 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Beer Equilibrium
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 Beer Equilibrium
Strengths All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Beer Equilibrium in All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? Harvard Business Review case study are -
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Beer Equilibrium digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Beer Equilibrium 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.
Organizational Resilience of Beer Equilibrium
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Beer Equilibrium does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Beer Equilibrium in the sector have low bargaining power. All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Beer Equilibrium to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Beer Equilibrium is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Beer Equilibrium is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Beer Equilibrium 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Beer Equilibrium 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Beer Equilibrium has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Beer Equilibrium 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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.
Training and development
– Beer Equilibrium has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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 lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Beer Equilibrium 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 Beer Equilibrium in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Beer Equilibrium 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 David Y., David Y. Choi, Martin H. Stack 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.
Weaknesses All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? are -
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Beer Equilibrium 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Beer Equilibrium, firm in the HBR case study All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Beer Equilibrium has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Beer Equilibrium is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing?, in the dynamic environment Beer Equilibrium has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Beer Equilibrium has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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 Beer Equilibrium has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing?, 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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 Beer Equilibrium 's lucrative customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, David Y., David Y. Choi, Martin H. Stack suggests that, Beer Equilibrium 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Beer Equilibrium 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Beer Equilibrium has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Opportunities All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? | 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Beer Equilibrium 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Beer Equilibrium can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Beer Equilibrium 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.
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. Beer Equilibrium can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Beer Equilibrium to increase its market reach. Beer Equilibrium 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Beer Equilibrium 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Beer Equilibrium is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Beer Equilibrium can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Beer Equilibrium has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Beer Equilibrium to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? case study. Beer Equilibrium can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 Beer Equilibrium 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Beer Equilibrium 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Beer Equilibrium 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 Beer Equilibrium 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 Beer Equilibrium to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Loyalty marketing
– Beer Equilibrium 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.
Threats All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? are -
Increasing wage structure of Beer Equilibrium
– 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 Beer Equilibrium.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Beer Equilibrium 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Beer Equilibrium with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Beer Equilibrium 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.
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 Beer Equilibrium business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Beer Equilibrium 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.
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 Beer Equilibrium in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Beer Equilibrium is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Beer Equilibrium has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Beer Equilibrium 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Beer Equilibrium 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Beer Equilibrium 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? .
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. Beer Equilibrium needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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 All-American Beer: A Case of Inferior Standard (Taste) Prevailing? 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 Beer Equilibrium needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
