Case Study Description of Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption
To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.Describes a simplified economic model that serves as a vehicle for understanding the strategic and possibly anticompetitive aspects of product proliferation.
Swot Analysis of "Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption" written by Peter J. Coughlan includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Proliferation Anticompetitive facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economy, Government, Marketing and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Proliferation Anticompetitive, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Proliferation Anticompetitive
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 Proliferation Anticompetitive
Strengths Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Proliferation Anticompetitive in Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Proliferation Anticompetitive is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Proliferation Anticompetitive to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Proliferation Anticompetitive to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Proliferation Anticompetitive is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Training and development
– Proliferation Anticompetitive has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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.
High brand equity
– Proliferation Anticompetitive has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Proliferation Anticompetitive to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Proliferation Anticompetitive is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Proliferation Anticompetitive digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Analytics focus
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 Peter J. Coughlan 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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 Proliferation Anticompetitive in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 Proliferation Anticompetitive in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption are -
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Proliferation Anticompetitive 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. Proliferation Anticompetitive even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High 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 Proliferation Anticompetitive supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Proliferation Anticompetitive vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Proliferation Anticompetitive is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption, is just above the industry average. Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption HBR case study mentions - Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Proliferation Anticompetitive products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Proliferation Anticompetitive needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Strategy & Execution strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption, it seems that the employees of Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption | 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Proliferation Anticompetitive to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Proliferation Anticompetitive to increase its market reach. Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Proliferation Anticompetitive 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, Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Proliferation Anticompetitive can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
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. Proliferation Anticompetitive can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
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. Proliferation Anticompetitive 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. Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 Proliferation Anticompetitive to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Proliferation Anticompetitive is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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.
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. Proliferation Anticompetitive can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Threats Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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 Proliferation Anticompetitive.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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. Proliferation Anticompetitive can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
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 Proliferation Anticompetitive in the Strategy & Execution sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Proliferation Anticompetitive needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
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. Proliferation Anticompetitive can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing wage structure of Proliferation Anticompetitive
– 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 Proliferation Anticompetitive.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption, Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption 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 Proliferation Anticompetitive needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.