Case Study Description of Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction
The product manager and the market research director for a new line of snacking nuts are reviewing options concerning the upcoming roll-out of the product. These options include changes in pricing, promotional plans, and salesforce incentives intended to build support for the products across the various distribution and trade channels required for targeted sales goals.
Swot Analysis of "Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction" written by Frank V. Cespedes, Laura Goode includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Handy Snacking facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Product development, Sales and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Handy Snacking, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Handy Snacking 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Handy Snacking
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 Handy Snacking
Strengths Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Handy Snacking in Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Handy Snacking 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Handy Snacking has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Handy Snacking 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Handy Snacking 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 Handy Snacking in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Handy Snacking 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 Frank V. Cespedes, Laura Goode 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Handy Snacking is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Handy Snacking is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Handy Snacking is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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 brand equity
– Handy Snacking has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Handy Snacking to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Handy Snacking
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Handy Snacking does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Handy Snacking 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Handy Snacking digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Handy Snacking 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Handy Snacking to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Handy Snacking to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Handy Snacking is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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 Handy Snacking 's lucrative customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction, in the dynamic environment Handy Snacking has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Handy Snacking has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Handy Snacking products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Handy Snacking needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Handy Snacking 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, Frank V. Cespedes, Laura Goode suggests that, Handy Snacking 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
Handy Snacking 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Handy Snacking 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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 Handy Snacking has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction, is just above the industry average. Handy Snacking 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Handy Snacking 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.
Opportunities Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction | 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Handy Snacking is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Handy Snacking 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 Handy Snacking to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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. Handy Snacking 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. Handy Snacking 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Handy Snacking 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
– Handy Snacking 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Handy Snacking 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Handy Snacking can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Handy Snacking 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Handy Snacking to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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 Handy Snacking in the consumer business. Now Handy Snacking can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Handy Snacking 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Handy Snacking 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Handy Snacking 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
– Handy Snacking 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction are -
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 Handy Snacking in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Handy Snacking.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Handy Snacking with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Handy Snacking 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 Handy Snacking 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.
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. Handy Snacking can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction, Handy Snacking 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 .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Handy Snacking is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Handy Snacking business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Handy Snacking 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Handy Snacking 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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 Packaged Products Co.: Handy-Pak Introduction 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 Handy Snacking needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
