BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations
Accompanied by product #PON053Bakra 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 multibillion-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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations" 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations casestudy better are - – increasing commodity prices, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations
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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations | 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations Harvard Business Review case study are -
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bakra Beverage in the sector have low bargaining power. BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Bakra Beverage is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Bakra Beverage in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bakra Beverage 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bakra Beverage to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bakra Beverage to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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.
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.
Digital Transformation in Strategy & Execution segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bakra Beverage digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bakra Beverage 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.
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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations are -
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.
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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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 Bakra Beverage has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations, 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Bakra Beverage, firm in the HBR case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations, 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bakra Beverage 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, Dan Vogel, Robert C. Bordone suggests that, Bakra Beverage 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations, in the dynamic environment Bakra Beverage has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bakra Beverage has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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.
Opportunities BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations | 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Bakra Beverage can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bakra Beverage operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations case study. Bakra Beverage can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Bakra Beverage in the consumer business. Now Bakra Beverage can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations - 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Bakra Beverage can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Bakra Beverage can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Bakra Beverage 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.
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.
Threats BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations are -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Bakra Beverage business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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.
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 wage structure of Bakra Beverage
– 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 Bakra Beverage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bakra Beverage 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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 BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations 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.
Feel free to connect with us if you need business research.
You can download Excel Template of Case Study Solution & Analysis of BAKRA BEVERAGE - Confidential Instructions for BebsiCo's Director of Middle East Operations