elBulli: The Taste of Innovation SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of elBulli: The Taste of Innovation
Ferran AdriA?, chef at elBulli, the highest-ranked restaurant in the world for two consecutive years, faces two related decisions. First, AdriA? and his team must continue to develop new and different dishes for the ground-breaking cuisine at elBulli to guarantee a continuous stream of innovation, the cornerstone of the restaurant's success. In addition, they are also faced with the challenge of growing the business, exploring whether the core concepts from elBulli - this "taste of innovation" - can be applied to domains ranging from consulting to fast food. The case walks readers through an evening at elBulli, by using the rave reviews of former patrons to capture the full experience, from the long trip required to get to the restaurant, to the tour, to descriptions of the meal itself.
Authors :: Michael I. Norton, Julian Villanueva, Luc Wathieu
Swot Analysis of "elBulli: The Taste of Innovation" written by Michael I. Norton, Julian Villanueva, Luc Wathieu includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Elbulli Adria facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in elBulli: The Taste of Innovation case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Product development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the elBulli: The Taste of Innovation casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of elBulli: The Taste of Innovation
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in elBulli: The Taste of Innovation case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Elbulli Adria, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Elbulli Adria 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in elBulli: The Taste of Innovation case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Elbulli Adria
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 Elbulli Adria
Strengths elBulli: The Taste of Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Elbulli Adria in elBulli: The Taste of Innovation Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Elbulli Adria is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in elBulli: The Taste of Innovation Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Elbulli Adria digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Elbulli Adria 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.
High brand equity
– Elbulli Adria has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Elbulli Adria to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Elbulli Adria is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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.
Learning organization
- Elbulli Adria 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 Elbulli Adria is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in elBulli: The Taste of Innovation Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Elbulli Adria is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the elBulli: The Taste of Innovation are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Elbulli Adria has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Elbulli Adria 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.
Analytics focus
– Elbulli Adria 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 Michael I. Norton, Julian Villanueva, Luc Wathieu 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Elbulli Adria 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Elbulli Adria 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Elbulli Adria in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses elBulli: The Taste of Innovation | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of elBulli: The Taste of Innovation are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study elBulli: The Taste of Innovation, in the dynamic environment Elbulli Adria has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Elbulli Adria has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Need for greater diversity
– Elbulli Adria 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Elbulli Adria 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study elBulli: The Taste of Innovation, 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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 Elbulli Adria has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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 Elbulli Adria 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Elbulli Adria is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Elbulli Adria needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Elbulli Adria to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Elbulli Adria is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Elbulli Adria has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Elbulli Adria even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
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 Elbulli Adria supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - elBulli: The Taste of Innovation, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Elbulli Adria vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study elBulli: The Taste of Innovation, is just above the industry average. Elbulli Adria 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation | 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Elbulli Adria to increase its market reach. Elbulli Adria 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Elbulli Adria 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, elBulli: The Taste of Innovation, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Elbulli Adria can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Elbulli Adria 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Elbulli Adria 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Elbulli Adria 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Elbulli Adria 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.
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. Elbulli Adria 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. Elbulli Adria 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Elbulli Adria 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Elbulli Adria can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Sales & Marketing segment.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Elbulli Adria can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Elbulli Adria operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Elbulli Adria in the consumer business. Now Elbulli Adria can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Elbulli Adria 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Elbulli Adria to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats elBulli: The Taste of Innovation External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study elBulli: The Taste of Innovation are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Elbulli Adria 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Elbulli Adria 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Elbulli Adria 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation .
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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Elbulli Adria is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study elBulli: The Taste of Innovation, Elbulli Adria may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
Increasing wage structure of Elbulli Adria
– 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 Elbulli Adria.
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 Elbulli Adria business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Elbulli Adria in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Elbulli Adria 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. Elbulli Adria can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Elbulli Adria 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Elbulli Adria 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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 elBulli: The Taste of Innovation 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 Elbulli Adria needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
