Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
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.
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 - – increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
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 -
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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Burger King to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Burger King to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Burger King is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Burger King 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 Burger King is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Burger King 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 Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Burger King has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Burger King 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
– 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.
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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Burger King 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.
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 -
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.
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 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.
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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth, in the dynamic environment Burger King has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Burger King has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth, is just above the industry average. Burger King 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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 Burger King 's lucrative customers.
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Burger King: Developing a Marketing Mix for Growth 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 Burger King has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Burger King 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.
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 -
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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Burger King 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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Burger King to increase its market reach. Burger King 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.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Burger King 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.
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.
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.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Burger King 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Burger King 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 Burger King to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 -
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.
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 Burger King in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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.
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.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Burger King 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.
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 .
Increasing wage structure of Burger King
– 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 Burger King.
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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Burger King 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.
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.
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.
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.
