Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day
India has traditionally been a tea drinking nation. The association of youth culture and coffee drinking opened up exciting avenues for the cafe market that earlier used to have lower priced offerings from udupi (small restaurants) cafes. The organized cafe market-which was branded and professionally run in terms of its marketing efforts-in India, it was worth INR 93100 million and was growing at 25-30% annually. Sensorial experience was vital to a cafA? brand. Cafe Coffee Day had a striking lead in terms of pioneering the cafes in India. With brands such as Barista Lavazza, Gloria Jean's Coffees, and Au Bon Pain in the fray, the challenge for Cafe Coffee Day was to strengthen its strategic brand associations, taking several considerations into account. In categories such as beverages, brands need to build themselves on both symbolic and hedonic appeals besides offering good attributes and benefits. With cafes being associated with the urban youngsters, the challenge for brands is to ensure strong brand associations as they are a logical outcome of attributes, benefits, symbolism, and hedonism. With competitive brands of cafes offering quality of coffee that would no longer be a differentiator, Cafe Coffee Day had to establish itself on brand associations that would nurture its associations and give it a sustainable edge over the competitors. Such an approach proposes a few challenging questions : How should the brand differentiate itself from its competitors? What were the dominant associations of the brand, and how could it use these associations? How did loyal consumers of the brand perceive the brand? How could the brand develop unique associations and communicate these to its consumers? The case study emphasizes the importance of brand associations in a dynamic environment that is affected by competitive brands and changing lifestyles of consumers.
Swot Analysis of "Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day" written by S. Ramesh Kumar, Eric Minj includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Associations Cafe facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Emerging markets, Strategy and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, wage bills are increasing, increasing energy prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Associations Cafe, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Associations Cafe 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Associations Cafe
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 Associations Cafe
Strengths Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Associations Cafe in Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Associations Cafe has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Associations Cafe 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Associations Cafe is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Associations Cafe 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Associations Cafe 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 S. Ramesh Kumar, Eric Minj 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Associations Cafe is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Associations Cafe is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Associations Cafe in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Associations Cafe in the sector have low bargaining power. Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Associations Cafe to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Associations Cafe has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Associations Cafe to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Associations Cafe is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Associations Cafe 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.
Weaknesses Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Associations Cafe 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, S. Ramesh Kumar, Eric Minj suggests that, Associations Cafe 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day, 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day, it seems that the employees of Associations Cafe 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Associations Cafe is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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 Associations Cafe has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Associations Cafe 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Associations Cafe is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Associations Cafe needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Associations Cafe to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Associations Cafe 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day HBR case study mentions - Associations Cafe takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day, is just above the industry average. Associations Cafe 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.
Opportunities Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day | 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Associations Cafe has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Associations Cafe to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day case study. Associations Cafe can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Associations Cafe 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.
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 Associations Cafe in the consumer business. Now Associations Cafe can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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. Associations Cafe 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. Associations Cafe 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Associations Cafe can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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.
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 Associations Cafe 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.
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. Associations Cafe can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Associations Cafe 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Associations Cafe to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Associations Cafe can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Associations Cafe operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Associations Cafe 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Associations Cafe is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Associations Cafe 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Associations Cafe to increase its market reach. Associations Cafe 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.
Threats Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day are -
Environmental challenges
– Associations Cafe 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. Associations Cafe can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Associations Cafe has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Associations Cafe 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Associations Cafe 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Associations Cafe 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.
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.
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 Associations Cafe.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Associations Cafe 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.
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 Associations Cafe in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Associations Cafe with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Increasing wage structure of Associations Cafe
– 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 Associations Cafe.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Associations Cafe 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day .
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. Associations Cafe 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Associations Cafe is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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 Exploring Brand Associations in the Indian Context: Cafe Coffee Day 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 Associations Cafe needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.