Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che
Tyler Wilson and Joseph Pitruzzelli are young entrepreneurs who find rapid success opening a restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles during the height of the 2008 economic recession, when many experienced restaurateurs were forced to close their businesses. The company's emphasis on branding and customer service allows them to pursue a successful second location in Venice, California. When Wilson and Pitruzzelli expand to Denver, Colorado, however, they unexpectedly struggle with operational complications and organizational culture problems across disparate locations.
Swot Analysis of "Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che" written by Thomas Knapp, Jacqueline Orr includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Pitruzzelli Wilson facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Developing employees, Managing uncertainty and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, geopolitical disruptions, there is backlash against globalization,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Pitruzzelli Wilson, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Pitruzzelli Wilson 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 Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Pitruzzelli Wilson
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Pitruzzelli Wilson
Strengths Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Pitruzzelli Wilson in Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Pitruzzelli Wilson has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Pitruzzelli Wilson 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 Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Pitruzzelli Wilson digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Pitruzzelli Wilson 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Pitruzzelli Wilson 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Pitruzzelli Wilson 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.
Analytics focus
– Pitruzzelli Wilson 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 Thomas Knapp, Jacqueline Orr 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Pitruzzelli Wilson in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Innovation driven organization
– Pitruzzelli Wilson is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Pitruzzelli Wilson is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Pitruzzelli Wilson has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Pitruzzelli Wilson 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Pitruzzelli Wilson is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Pitruzzelli Wilson is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Pitruzzelli Wilson 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Pitruzzelli Wilson has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Pitruzzelli Wilson even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Thomas Knapp, Jacqueline Orr suggests that, Pitruzzelli Wilson 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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 Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Pitruzzelli Wilson is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Pitruzzelli Wilson supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Pitruzzelli Wilson vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Pitruzzelli Wilson products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Pitruzzelli Wilson needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Pitruzzelli Wilson, firm in the HBR case study Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Pitruzzelli Wilson 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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 Pitruzzelli Wilson 's lucrative customers.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Pitruzzelli Wilson is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Pitruzzelli Wilson needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Pitruzzelli Wilson to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che | 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 Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che are -
Developing new processes and practices
– Pitruzzelli Wilson can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Pitruzzelli Wilson is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Pitruzzelli Wilson can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Pitruzzelli Wilson 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 Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Pitruzzelli Wilson to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Pitruzzelli Wilson can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Pitruzzelli Wilson can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Pitruzzelli Wilson operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Pitruzzelli Wilson 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 Pitruzzelli Wilson in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Pitruzzelli Wilson 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Pitruzzelli Wilson 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Pitruzzelli Wilson to increase its market reach. Pitruzzelli Wilson 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Pitruzzelli Wilson 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 Leadership & Managing People segment.
Buying journey improvements
– Pitruzzelli Wilson can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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.
Threats Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Pitruzzelli Wilson 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.
Environmental challenges
– Pitruzzelli Wilson 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. Pitruzzelli Wilson can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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. Pitruzzelli Wilson needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Pitruzzelli Wilson
– 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 Pitruzzelli Wilson.
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 Pitruzzelli Wilson in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che, Pitruzzelli Wilson may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Pitruzzelli Wilson 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
– Pitruzzelli Wilson has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Pitruzzelli Wilson needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Pitruzzelli Wilson in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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 Pitruzzelli Wilson business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Pitruzzelli Wilson is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Pitruzzelli Wilson can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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 Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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 Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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 Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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 Bratwurst, Beer and Business: Planning for Growth at WurstkA?che 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 Pitruzzelli Wilson needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
