Swot Analysis of "G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster" written by Stephen A. Greyser, Wendy Schille includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Powermaster Heileman facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Powermaster Heileman, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Powermaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Powermaster 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 Powermaster Heileman
Strengths G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Powermaster Heileman in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster Harvard Business Review case study are -
Successful track record of launching new products
– Powermaster Heileman has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Powermaster 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Powermaster Heileman is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Powermaster Heileman in the sector have low bargaining power. G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Powermaster Heileman to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Powermaster Heileman 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Powermaster 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Powermaster Heileman is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Powermaster Heileman to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Powermaster Heileman to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Powermaster 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Powermaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Diverse revenue streams
– Powermaster Heileman is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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.
High brand equity
– Powermaster Heileman has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Powermaster Heileman to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster are -
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 Powermaster Heileman supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Powermaster Heileman vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Stephen A. Greyser, Wendy Schille suggests that, Powermaster Heileman 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Powermaster Heileman products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Powermaster Heileman needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Powermaster Heileman is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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 Powermaster Heileman 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster HBR case study mentions - Powermaster 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Powermaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Powermaster 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. Powermaster 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Powermaster Heileman, firm in the HBR case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Powermaster Heileman 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 - G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster, is just above the industry average. Powermaster Heileman 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 G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster | 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster are -
Buying journey improvements
– Powermaster Heileman can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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.
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 Powermaster Heileman in the consumer business. Now Powermaster Heileman can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Powermaster 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Powermaster 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Powermaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Powermaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Powermaster Heileman to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Powermaster Heileman has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Powermaster Heileman to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster case study. Powermaster Heileman can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Powermaster Heileman 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 Powermaster Heileman to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Powermaster 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Powermaster Heileman 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Powermaster 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Powermaster Heileman is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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.
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 Powermaster 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.
Threats G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Powermaster Heileman is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Powermaster 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.
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 Powermaster Heileman business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Powermaster Heileman.
Increasing wage structure of Powermaster 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 Powermaster Heileman.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Powermaster 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Powermaster Heileman with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Powermaster 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Powermaster 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Powermaster 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 acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Powermaster Heileman has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Powermaster 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.
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. Powermaster Heileman needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Environmental challenges
– Powermaster 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. Powermaster Heileman can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of G. Heileman Brewing Co. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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. (C): Public Controversy Over PowerMaster 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 Powermaster Heileman needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
