Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Strategy & Execution
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen
Atera Restaurant, New York City, February 2015. Jodi Richard closed the door behind her with a ton of questions. She had just come out of the final meeting with Matthew Lightner, the executive chef of her two-Michelin-star restaurant in lower Manhattan. Matthew had just announced he was quitting to "pursue new opportunities." This was the final straw in a long string of events that had unfolded before her eyes. The departure of the multi-starred chef would leave a huge vacuum in the restaurant's organization. Worse, they has agreed that Matthew's departure would be effective very rapidly, by end of March. The situation was critical: finding a new star chef for a fashionable restaurant in the competitive lower-Manhattan food scene was going to be a huge challenge. Several other crucial questions preoccupied Jodi. Should she just close down the restaurant and rent the space out to somebody else? Should she change the restaurant concept completely, moving to something easier like a sushi restaurant? Was a trip to Japan to find a young ambitious chef an option in that respect? How would the staff feel about the chef's departure? Would they follow the exit sign as well? Learning objective: Hospitality management, culture, secure-based leadership, incentives, crisis management, entrepreneurship, restaurant management, service marketing, social networks, public relations.
Authors :: Benoit Leleux, George Kohlrieser, Ole Borregaard
Swot Analysis of "Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen" written by Benoit Leleux, George Kohlrieser, Ole Borregaard includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Restaurant Chef facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Leading teams, Marketing, Strategy and Strategy & Execution.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Restaurant Chef, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Restaurant Chef 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Restaurant Chef
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 Restaurant Chef
Strengths Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Restaurant Chef in Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Strategy & Execution industry
– Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Restaurant Chef to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Restaurant Chef to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Restaurant Chef 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Restaurant Chef is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Restaurant Chef 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Strategy & Execution field
– Restaurant Chef 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 Restaurant Chef in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Restaurant Chef is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High brand equity
– Restaurant Chef has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Restaurant Chef to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Restaurant Chef 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 Restaurant Chef is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Training and development
– Restaurant Chef has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Restaurant Chef is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Organizational Resilience of Restaurant Chef
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Restaurant Chef does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Restaurant Chef is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen 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.
Weaknesses Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen are -
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Restaurant Chef is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Strategy & Execution segment. Restaurant Chef needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Restaurant Chef to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen 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 Restaurant Chef has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Lack of clear differentiation of Restaurant Chef products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Restaurant Chef 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, Benoit Leleux, George Kohlrieser, Ole Borregaard suggests that, Restaurant Chef 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Restaurant Chef 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 - Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen, is just above the industry average. Restaurant Chef 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Restaurant Chef 's lucrative customers.
Need for greater diversity
– Restaurant Chef 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Restaurant Chef has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen, 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen, it seems that the employees of Restaurant Chef 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen | 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Restaurant Chef in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Strategy & Execution segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Restaurant Chef 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Restaurant Chef to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Buying journey improvements
– Restaurant Chef can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Restaurant Chef to increase its market reach. Restaurant Chef 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Restaurant Chef 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 Restaurant Chef to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Restaurant Chef is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen 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.
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. Restaurant Chef 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. Restaurant Chef 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Restaurant Chef can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Restaurant Chef can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Restaurant Chef operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Strategy & Execution sector.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Restaurant Chef 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, Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Restaurant Chef can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Restaurant Chef 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.
Threats Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen are -
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. Restaurant Chef can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Regulatory challenges
– Restaurant Chef 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen, Restaurant Chef 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 .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Restaurant Chef with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Restaurant Chef 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Restaurant Chef has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Strategy & Execution industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Restaurant Chef 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.
Environmental challenges
– Restaurant Chef 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. Restaurant Chef can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Strategy & Execution industry.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Restaurant Chef 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Restaurant Chef 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Restaurant Chef 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Restaurant Chef 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Restaurant Chef 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.
Increasing wage structure of Restaurant Chef
– 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 Restaurant Chef.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen 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 Atera NYC (A): Turbulent Times in the Kitchen 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 Restaurant Chef needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
