France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall
This case describes a major food fraud scandal that resulted in a much-publicized product recall. The episode was dubbed "Horsegate" by the national and international press. In early 2013, a scandal broke out in Ireland and the UK when horsemeat was found in frozen prepared meals sold as containing 100% beef. Findus Nordic, the company involved in the scandal, sold the same products in France. The press launched an investigation, and there were numerous media reports. A French company, Picard SurgelA?s, was found to have two products tainted with horsemeat. Both companies had to recall their products. Politicians got involved and carefully followed the crisis. Organizations in the supply chain implicated in the scandal struggled to defend themselves and blamed each other. French consumers reacted, and sales of frozen meat products dropped sharply. Findus Nordic and Picard SurgelA?s's brands were the most heavily impacted in France. This case focuses on Picard SurgelA?s, an integrated food processor that sells its store brand (private label) products in a company-owned chain of retail stores. The company needs help, and brand managers and marketing communications specialists must assess the situation and make recommendations to address the aftermath of the food fraud/product recall.
Authors :: Normand Turgeon, JoAnne LaBrecque, Philippe Lefevre
Swot Analysis of "France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall" written by Normand Turgeon, JoAnne LaBrecque, Philippe Lefevre includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Surgela Scandal facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Ethics, Public relations and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, technology disruption, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Surgela Scandal, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Surgela Scandal 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Surgela Scandal
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Surgela Scandal
Strengths France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Surgela Scandal in France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Surgela Scandal 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 Normand Turgeon, JoAnne LaBrecque, Philippe Lefevre 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
– Surgela Scandal 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Surgela Scandal 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 Surgela Scandal is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Surgela Scandal
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Surgela Scandal does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Surgela Scandal 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Surgela Scandal 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Surgela Scandal 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 Surgela Scandal in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Surgela Scandal in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Strong track record of project management
– Surgela Scandal 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 recruit top talent
– Surgela Scandal is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall 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 Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Surgela Scandal digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Surgela Scandal 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.
High brand equity
– Surgela Scandal has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Surgela Scandal to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall are -
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall 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 Surgela Scandal 's lucrative customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall, is just above the industry average. Surgela Scandal 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall HBR case study mentions - Surgela Scandal 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall 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 Surgela Scandal has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Surgela Scandal is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Surgela Scandal needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Surgela Scandal to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall, it seems that the employees of Surgela Scandal 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Surgela Scandal products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Surgela Scandal needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Surgela Scandal 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Surgela Scandal 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Surgela Scandal is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall | 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Surgela Scandal 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Surgela Scandal can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Surgela Scandal operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Surgela Scandal can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Surgela Scandal 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, France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Loyalty marketing
– Surgela Scandal 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Surgela Scandal in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Sales & Marketing segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Manufacturing automation
– Surgela Scandal can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing 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 Surgela Scandal has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Surgela Scandal to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall case study. Surgela Scandal can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Surgela Scandal 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 Surgela Scandal to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Surgela Scandal 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Surgela Scandal to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Surgela Scandal 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Surgela Scandal is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Surgela Scandal 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 Sales & Marketing segment.
Threats France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall are -
Regulatory challenges
– Surgela Scandal 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 Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Surgela Scandal is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, 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 Surgela Scandal.
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. Surgela Scandal needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Surgela Scandal 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 Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Surgela Scandal can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Surgela Scandal 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. Surgela Scandal can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Surgela Scandal with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Surgela Scandal 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Surgela Scandal has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Surgela Scandal needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing 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.
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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Surgela Scandal 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall 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 France's "Horsegate" Scandal: Marketing Communications Addressing the Aftermath of a Food Fraud/Product Recall 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 Surgela Scandal needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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