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Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth


In 2015, Burger King, one of America's oldest fast-food chains, continues to face fierce competition from McDonald's, Wendy's and the emerging fast-casual restaurant chains. As a result, Burger King needs to develop a marketing mix that will distance it from its competitors and narrow the gap with McDonald's, the industry leader. The marketing mix will also influence Burger King's allocation of resources between domestic and international markets. Fabrizio Di Muro is affiliated with University of Winnipeg.

Authors :: Fabrizio Di Muro

Topics :: Sales & Marketing

Tags :: Marketing, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth" written by Fabrizio Di Muro includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Burger King facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth casestudy better are - – technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Burger King, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Burger King 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Burger King
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 Burger King




Strengths Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Burger King in Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth Harvard Business Review case study are -

Successful track record of launching new products

– Burger King has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Burger King 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Burger King is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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.

Strong track record of project management

– Burger King is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

High brand equity

– Burger King has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Burger King to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Burger King in the sector have low bargaining power. Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Burger King to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Burger King in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Burger King 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Analytics focus

– Burger King 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 Fabrizio Di Muro 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.

Organizational Resilience of Burger King

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Burger King does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Innovation driven organization

– Burger King is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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 Burger King digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Burger King 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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.






Weaknesses Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth are -

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth, 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Burger King has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Lack of clear differentiation of Burger King products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Burger King needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

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 Burger King supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Burger King vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Burger King is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Burger King 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. Burger King 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 bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Fabrizio Di Muro suggests that, Burger King 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.

Capital Spending Reduction

– Even during the low interest decade, Burger King 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Burger King is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Burger King needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Burger King to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Burger King, firm in the HBR case study Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth HBR case study mentions - Burger King 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.




Opportunities Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth | 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth are -

Developing new processes and practices

– Burger King 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.

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Burger King 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.

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. Burger King can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

Redefining models of collaboration and team work

– As explained in the weaknesses section, Burger King is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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. Burger King can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Burger King in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Burger King 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Burger King 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, Burger King can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Burger King operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Burger King 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Burger King 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, Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Burger King 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Burger King has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Burger King to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth case study. Burger King can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Buying journey improvements

– Burger King can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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.




Threats Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth are -

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Burger King has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Burger King 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.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Burger King is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Burger King 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth .

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Burger King 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.

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. Burger King 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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Burger King with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

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. Burger King needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

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. Burger King can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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 Burger King.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Burger King 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.

Stagnating economy with rate increase

– Burger King 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth, Burger King 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 .




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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 Burger King needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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