Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition
Bob Holland takes over as CEO of this iconoclastic ice cream company in February 1995 when it faces a major crisis. Holland must now develop a strategy that both adapts to the external environment and is consistent with the company's unique heritage.
Swot Analysis of "Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition" written by David J. Collis, Melinda B. Conrad includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Holland Cream facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Organizational culture and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Holland Cream, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Holland Cream 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Holland Cream
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Strategy & Execution field.
4. Making a Strategy & Execution topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Holland Cream
Strengths Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Holland Cream in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Holland Cream has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Holland Cream to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Holland Cream 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Holland Cream 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 David J. Collis, Melinda B. Conrad 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Holland Cream 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Holland Cream 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition 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 Holland Cream in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Holland Cream in the sector have low bargaining power. Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Holland Cream to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Holland Cream has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Holland Cream 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.
Training and development
– Holland Cream has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Holland Cream is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition 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.
Learning organization
- Holland Cream 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 Holland Cream is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition are -
Need for greater diversity
– Holland Cream 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition, it seems that the employees of Holland Cream 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Holland Cream 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. Holland Cream 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Holland Cream is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Holland Cream 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Holland Cream 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Holland Cream is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Holland Cream needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Holland Cream to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition, is just above the industry average. Holland Cream 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Holland Cream 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Holland Cream is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Holland Cream 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 - Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition | 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition are -
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Holland Cream can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Loyalty marketing
– Holland Cream 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Holland Cream can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Holland Cream to increase its market reach. Holland Cream 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.
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 Holland Cream 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Holland Cream 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 Holland Cream to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Strategy & Execution industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Holland Cream 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. Holland Cream 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Holland Cream 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Holland Cream 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Holland Cream to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Holland Cream 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, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Holland Cream in the consumer business. Now Holland Cream can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Holland Cream has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Holland Cream to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition case study. Holland Cream can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Holland Cream can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Holland Cream operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Threats Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition, Holland Cream may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Strategy & Execution .
Consumer confidence and its impact on Holland Cream 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.
Increasing wage structure of Holland Cream
– 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 Holland Cream.
Environmental challenges
– Holland Cream 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. Holland Cream can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
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 Holland Cream.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Holland Cream 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Holland Cream is facing in Strategy & Execution 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 Holland Cream with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Holland Cream needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Strategy & Execution field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Holland Cream can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Holland Cream 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.
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.
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 Holland Cream in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition 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 Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Inc.: A Period of Transition 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 Holland Cream needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
