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 - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions,
wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, 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 -
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.
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.
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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Nightline Heileman 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Nightline Heileman is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Nightline Heileman 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
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.
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 -
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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision, 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision HBR case study mentions - Nightline Heileman 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Nightline Heileman 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.
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 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.
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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Nightline Heileman, firm in the HBR case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Nightline Heileman products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Nightline Heileman needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Nightline Heileman has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
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 -
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.
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. Nightline Heileman can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Nightline Heileman to increase its market reach. Nightline Heileman 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.
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.
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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Nightline Heileman 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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Nightline Heileman 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.
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. Nightline Heileman 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. Nightline Heileman 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.
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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Nightline Heileman can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, G. Heileman Brewing Co. (B): The "Nightline" Decision, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 -
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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Nightline Heileman 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
– 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Nightline Heileman needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Nightline Heileman can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
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. Nightline Heileman 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.
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 .
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 .
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.
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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Nightline Heileman 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 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.
