Swot Analysis of "U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet" written by George S. Yip includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Assignment Coffee facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Demographics, Financial markets, Forecasting, Marketing, Research & development and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Assignment Coffee, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Assignment Coffee 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 U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Assignment Coffee
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 Assignment Coffee
Strengths U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Assignment Coffee in U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Assignment Coffee 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 George S. Yip 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 Assignment Coffee 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Assignment Coffee in the sector have low bargaining power. U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Assignment Coffee to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Assignment Coffee in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Assignment Coffee is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Assignment Coffee 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 Assignment Coffee in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Assignment Coffee 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 Assignment Coffee is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Assignment Coffee 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.
Training and development
– Assignment Coffee has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Assignment Coffee is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Assignment Coffee to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Assignment Coffee to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Assignment Coffee digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Assignment Coffee 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.
Weaknesses U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Assignment Coffee is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Assignment Coffee needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Assignment Coffee to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Assignment Coffee 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Assignment Coffee needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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 U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Assignment Coffee is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Assignment Coffee is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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 Assignment Coffee 's lucrative customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Assignment Coffee 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 - U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Assignment Coffee has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet HBR case study mentions - Assignment Coffee 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Assignment Coffee 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet, in the dynamic environment Assignment Coffee has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Assignment Coffee has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Opportunities U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet | 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 U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Assignment Coffee is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Assignment Coffee 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 Assignment Coffee to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Assignment Coffee can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Assignment Coffee operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
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. Assignment Coffee 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. Assignment Coffee 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.
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. Assignment Coffee can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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 Assignment Coffee in the consumer business. Now Assignment Coffee can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Buying journey improvements
– Assignment Coffee can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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 Assignment Coffee 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Assignment Coffee 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Assignment Coffee can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Assignment Coffee can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Assignment Coffee 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Assignment Coffee 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.
Threats U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Assignment Coffee is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Assignment Coffee with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Assignment Coffee 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.
Increasing wage structure of Assignment Coffee
– 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 Assignment Coffee.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Assignment Coffee 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 U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet .
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 Assignment Coffee in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Assignment Coffee 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet, Assignment Coffee 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 .
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. Assignment Coffee can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Assignment Coffee 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Assignment Coffee has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Assignment Coffee 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Assignment Coffee 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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 U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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 U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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 U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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 U.S. Retail Coffee Market (A): Day 1 of Coffee Series, Assignment Sheet 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 Assignment Coffee needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.