Swot Analysis of "G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision" written by Stephen A. Greyser, Wendy Schille includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Nightline Heileman facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Marketing and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Nightline Heileman, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Nightline Heileman 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Nightline Heileman
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 Nightline Heileman
Strengths G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Nightline Heileman in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Nightline Heileman is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Innovation driven organization
– Nightline Heileman is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Nightline Heileman 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Nightline Heileman has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Nightline Heileman in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Nightline Heileman has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Nightline Heileman to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Nightline Heileman in the sector have low bargaining power. G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Nightline Heileman to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Nightline Heileman has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Nightline Heileman 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Nightline Heileman is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Nightline Heileman digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Nightline Heileman 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Nightline Heileman to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Nightline Heileman to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Nightline Heileman 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 Nightline Heileman is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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 Nightline Heileman 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Nightline Heileman has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Nightline Heileman 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, Nightline Heileman 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Nightline Heileman is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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 Nightline Heileman has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Nightline Heileman is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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 Nightline Heileman supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Nightline Heileman 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision, in the dynamic environment Nightline Heileman has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Nightline Heileman has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Nightline Heileman 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. Nightline Heileman 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision, it seems that the employees of Nightline Heileman don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Opportunities G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision | 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Nightline Heileman has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Nightline Heileman to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision case study. Nightline Heileman 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 Nightline Heileman 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Nightline Heileman is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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
– Nightline Heileman can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Nightline Heileman 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Nightline Heileman to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Nightline Heileman 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Nightline Heileman to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
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 Nightline Heileman in the consumer business. Now Nightline Heileman can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Nightline Heileman 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Nightline Heileman 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Nightline Heileman can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Nightline Heileman can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Nightline Heileman operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Nightline Heileman 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.
Threats G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision are -
Increasing wage structure of Nightline Heileman
– 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 Nightline Heileman.
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 Nightline Heileman.
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. Nightline Heileman needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Nightline Heileman 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.
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 Nightline Heileman in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Nightline Heileman 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Nightline Heileman has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Nightline Heileman 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Nightline Heileman 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Nightline Heileman 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision .
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 Nightline Heileman business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Nightline Heileman is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision, Nightline Heileman 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision 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 Nightline Heileman needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.