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Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A)


Describes the pet food industry in the mid-eighties prior to the breakout of a major competitive battle as manufacturers fight for share. Illustrates how when there are benefits to play in multiple markets, competitors will take action in one market to preserve their position in other markets. An example of multimarket competitive interaction. Covers competitor analysis and prediction, and economies of scope.

Authors :: David J. Collis, Toby Stuart

Topics :: Strategy & Execution

Tags :: Competitive strategy, Financial analysis, Financial markets, Forecasting, Marketing, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A)" written by David J. Collis, Toby Stuart includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pet Fight facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competitive strategy, Financial analysis, Financial markets, Forecasting, Marketing and Strategy & Execution.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A)


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pet Fight, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pet Fight 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 Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pet Fight
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 Pet Fight




Strengths Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Pet Fight in Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Training and development

– Pet Fight has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Pet Fight is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Pet Fight 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 Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment

- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pet Fight digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pet Fight 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.

Operational resilience

– The operational resilience strategy in the Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Pet Fight 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.

Diverse revenue streams

– Pet Fight is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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.

Successful track record of launching new products

– Pet Fight has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Pet Fight 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.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Pet Fight 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 Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Pet Fight in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

Learning organization

- Pet Fight 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 Pet Fight is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Pet Fight in the sector have low bargaining power. Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Pet Fight to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.






Weaknesses Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) are -

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Pet Fight 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.

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 Pet Fight supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Pet Fight vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Slow decision making process

– As mentioned earlier in the report, Pet Fight 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. Pet Fight 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Pet Fight is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Pet Fight, firm in the HBR case study Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) HBR case study mentions - Pet Fight 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.

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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 Pet Fight has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A), in the dynamic environment Pet Fight has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Pet Fight has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Pet Fight 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 - Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

Workers concerns about automation

– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Pet Fight 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.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, David J. Collis, Toby Stuart suggests that, Pet Fight 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.




Opportunities Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) | 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 Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) are -

Leveraging digital technologies

– Pet Fight 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Pet Fight has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Pet Fight to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) case study. Pet Fight can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pet Fight to increase its market reach. Pet Fight 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.

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. Pet Fight 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. Pet Fight 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.

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 Pet Fight 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.

Manufacturing automation

– Pet Fight can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Strategy & Execution 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.

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 Pet Fight in the consumer business. Now Pet Fight can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pet Fight 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Pet Fight in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Pet Fight 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, Pet Fight is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Strategy & Execution industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Pet Fight can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Pet Fight can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pet Fight operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.




Threats Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) are -

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 Pet Fight in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Environmental challenges

– Pet Fight 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. Pet Fight can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution 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. Pet Fight 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Pet Fight 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 Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) .

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.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Pet Fight 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. Pet Fight needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Pet Fight is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Pet Fight has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pet Fight needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Strategy & Execution 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.

Increasing wage structure of Pet Fight

– 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 Pet Fight.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A), Pet Fight 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 .

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 Pet Fight.

Regulatory challenges

– Pet Fight 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 Strategy & Execution industry regulations.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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 Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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 Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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 Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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 Cat Fight in the Pet Food Industry (A) 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 Pet Fight needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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