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 - – increasing commodity prices, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion,
technology disruption, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, 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 -
Organizational Resilience of Proliferation Anticompetitive
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Proliferation Anticompetitive does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Proliferation Anticompetitive in the sector have low bargaining power. Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Proliferation Anticompetitive to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Proliferation Anticompetitive has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
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.
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.
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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption - 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
– 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.
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.
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 -
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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Proliferation Anticompetitive has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Proliferation Anticompetitive is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Proliferation Anticompetitive needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Proliferation Anticompetitive to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Proliferation Anticompetitive is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption, in the dynamic environment Proliferation Anticompetitive has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Proliferation Anticompetitive has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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.
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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 - Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Peter J. Coughlan suggests that, Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Proliferation Anticompetitive has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Proliferation Anticompetitive to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption case study. Proliferation Anticompetitive 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. Proliferation Anticompetitive can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Proliferation Anticompetitive can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Proliferation Anticompetitive operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Proliferation Anticompetitive has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Proliferation Anticompetitive 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 Ready-to-Eat Breakfast Cereal Industry: Product Proliferation and Preemption .
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.
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.
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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Proliferation Anticompetitive 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. Proliferation Anticompetitive needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Strategy & Execution industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Proliferation Anticompetitive 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.
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.
