Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade
By 2006, Phillips Food Inc. had grown into one of the largest seafood businesses in the United States and was the number one U.S. brand for crab meat. The company comprised a restaurant division, a foodservice products division that sold to restaurants, and a retail products division that sold to grocery stores. In August, 2006, Phillips' product manager was responsible for defining the communication strategy decisions required to launch its new product: first-to-market pasteurized king crab. The product manager had already spent half of his advertising budget promoting the product to buyers in the foodservice and restaurant channels. He had to decide how to spend the remaining portion of his budget to best reach seafood buyers in the consumer retail channel. He had an opportunity to showcase the product at an upcoming major industry food show; however, he had already planned to spend his budget on advertising in a trade publication for the retail grocery channel. He had to examine the relative merits of each option and present an overall recommendation on how to best launch and sell the product. Qualitative, quantitative and financial aspects were to be considered; as well, the product manager had to determine the costs, returns and qualitative benefits that each option provided.
Swot Analysis of "Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade" written by Frederic Brunel, Deborah Utter includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Crab Phillips facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade casestudy better are - – competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Crab Phillips, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Crab Phillips 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Crab Phillips
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 Crab Phillips
Strengths Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Crab Phillips in Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Crab Phillips 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade - 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
– Crab Phillips 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 Frederic Brunel, Deborah Utter 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 lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Crab Phillips 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 Crab Phillips in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Strong track record of project management
– Crab Phillips is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Crab Phillips 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Crab Phillips 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.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Crab Phillips digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Crab Phillips 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Crab Phillips 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.
Learning organization
- Crab Phillips 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 Crab Phillips is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Crab Phillips in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Crab Phillips has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Crab Phillips in the sector have low bargaining power. Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Crab Phillips to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Weaknesses Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade are -
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade HBR case study mentions - Crab Phillips 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.
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 Crab Phillips supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Crab Phillips vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Crab Phillips, firm in the HBR case study Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Frederic Brunel, Deborah Utter suggests that, Crab Phillips 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Crab Phillips is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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 star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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 Crab Phillips has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Crab Phillips is planning to shift buying processes online.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade, in the dynamic environment Crab Phillips has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Crab Phillips has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Crab Phillips is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Crab Phillips needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Crab Phillips to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Crab Phillips products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Crab Phillips needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade, is just above the industry average. Crab Phillips 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade | 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Crab Phillips has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Crab Phillips to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade case study. Crab Phillips can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Crab Phillips 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Crab Phillips 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Crab Phillips to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Crab Phillips 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.
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. Crab Phillips 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 Crab Phillips 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
– Crab Phillips 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Crab Phillips can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Crab Phillips is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Crab Phillips can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Crab Phillips 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Crab Phillips to increase its market reach. Crab Phillips 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.
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 Crab Phillips in the consumer business. Now Crab Phillips can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade are -
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Crab Phillips with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Crab Phillips in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Crab Phillips is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Crab Phillips 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.
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 Crab Phillips business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Crab Phillips
– 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 Crab Phillips.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Crab Phillips has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Crab Phillips 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade, Crab Phillips 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Crab Phillips 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade .
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 Crab Phillips.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Crab Phillips high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Crab Phillips in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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 Phillips Foods, Inc. - Introducing King Crab to the Trade 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 Crab Phillips needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
