BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study Description of BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director
Accompanied by product #PON054.Bakra Beverage is a two-party, nonscorable negotiation between a beverage manufacturer and a soft drink distributor over the terms of a potential distribution contract. BebsiCo is a multi-billion-dollar, multinational soft drink manufacturer interested in expanding its operations into the Middle Eastern country of Kumar. The distributor that was supposed to handle BebsiCo's new distribution campaign, Kabir Cola, decided suddenly last week to close its Kumari operations and focus on other Middle Eastern countries. BebsiCo is eager to sign a new distribution contract with the Kumar-based Bakra Beverage, a financially troubled but reputable soft drink distributor. Bakra wants this contract, which would put it back on the map, attract additional clients, and give the company confidence and certainty about its future. The simulation includes a range of possible criteria for determining the fee as well as numerous possibilities for value-creating options. This is a role play case.
Swot Analysis of "BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director" written by Dan Vogel, Robert C. Bordone includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bakra Beverage facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Negotiations and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director casestudy better are - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , technology disruption, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, there is backlash against globalization, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bakra Beverage, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bakra Beverage 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bakra Beverage
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 Bakra Beverage
Strengths BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bakra Beverage in BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bakra Beverage 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bakra Beverage 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bakra Beverage is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Bakra Beverage 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 Dan Vogel, Robert C. Bordone 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Bakra Beverage is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bakra Beverage in the sector have low bargaining power. BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bakra Beverage to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Bakra Beverage is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Bakra Beverage in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bakra Beverage is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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
- Bakra Beverage 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 Bakra Beverage is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Bakra Beverage is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Bakra Beverage has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bakra Beverage to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director are -
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bakra Beverage 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bakra Beverage 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. Bakra Beverage 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Bakra Beverage 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director HBR case study mentions - Bakra Beverage 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bakra Beverage is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bakra Beverage is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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 Bakra Beverage, firm in the HBR case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director, is just above the industry average. Bakra Beverage 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 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 Bakra Beverage supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bakra Beverage vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Bakra Beverage 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director, it seems that the employees of Bakra Beverage 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director | 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bakra Beverage has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bakra Beverage to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director case study. Bakra Beverage can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
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. Bakra Beverage can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Developing new processes and practices
– Bakra Beverage can develop new processes and procedures in Strategy & Execution 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bakra Beverage 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bakra Beverage can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Strategy & Execution segment.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bakra Beverage 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Bakra Beverage 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Bakra Beverage to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bakra Beverage is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bakra Beverage to increase its market reach. Bakra Beverage 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. Bakra Beverage 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. Bakra Beverage 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bakra Beverage 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bakra Beverage 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, BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Bakra Beverage 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.
Threats BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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 Bakra Beverage.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bakra Beverage is facing in Strategy & Execution sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Bakra Beverage 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. Bakra Beverage can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Bakra Beverage 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.
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 Bakra Beverage in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director, Bakra Beverage 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 .
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. Bakra Beverage needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Bakra Beverage 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bakra Beverage 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bakra Beverage 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bakra Beverage in the Strategy & Execution industry. The Strategy & Execution 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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bakra Beverage has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bakra Beverage 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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 BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for Bakra Beverage's Sales Director 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 Bakra Beverage needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
