Case Study Description of Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B)
Supplement to case TB0499. Two Australian entrepreneurs, Anna Amphlett and Andrew Ferris decided to start a new venture to produce, market and distribute high quality premium wine in Tasmania, an island off the southern coast of Australia. Amphlett and Ferris developed a business plan for a winery business based on a new brand to be called Kangaroo Tail. Amphlett and Ferris were retired executives each with more than twenty years of experience at Constellation Brands Inc. and Treasury Wine Estates. After a year of experimentation, Amphlett and Ferris finally settled upon a blend that yielded wines with the right aroma, taste, and color. They negotiated a loan requiring them to provide the bank with a business plan and projected financial statements. They are unsure whether the wine operation will be a profitable use of their capital.
Swot Analysis of "Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B)" written by Graeme Rankine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Ferris Amphlett facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Performance measurement and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Ferris Amphlett, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Ferris Amphlett 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Ferris Amphlett
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Ferris Amphlett
Strengths Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Ferris Amphlett in Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Ferris Amphlett has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Ferris Amphlett has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Ferris Amphlett 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.
Learning organization
- Ferris Amphlett 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 Ferris Amphlett is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Ferris Amphlett is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Ferris Amphlett 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 Ferris Amphlett in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Ferris Amphlett 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.
Organizational Resilience of Ferris Amphlett
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Ferris Amphlett does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Ferris Amphlett to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Ferris Amphlett to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Ferris Amphlett 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Training and development
– Ferris Amphlett has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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.
Analytics focus
– Ferris Amphlett 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 Graeme Rankine 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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.
Weaknesses Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Ferris Amphlett is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Ferris Amphlett is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Ferris Amphlett 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Ferris Amphlett 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 - Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B), it seems that the employees of Ferris Amphlett 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B), in the dynamic environment Ferris Amphlett has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Ferris Amphlett has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Ferris Amphlett, firm in the HBR case study Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Graeme Rankine suggests that, Ferris Amphlett 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.
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 Ferris Amphlett supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Ferris Amphlett vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B), is just above the industry average. Ferris Amphlett 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.
Opportunities Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) | 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Ferris Amphlett 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 Ferris Amphlett to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Ferris Amphlett can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Ferris Amphlett 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, Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Ferris Amphlett is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Ferris Amphlett can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Ferris Amphlett operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Ferris Amphlett can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Ferris Amphlett 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Ferris Amphlett can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Ferris Amphlett 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Ferris Amphlett 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Ferris Amphlett has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Ferris Amphlett to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) case study. Ferris Amphlett can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Ferris Amphlett 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. Ferris Amphlett 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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Ferris Amphlett can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) are -
Increasing wage structure of Ferris Amphlett
– 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 Ferris Amphlett.
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. Ferris Amphlett 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Ferris Amphlett has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Ferris Amphlett needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B), Ferris Amphlett may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
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 Ferris Amphlett in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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 Ferris Amphlett.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Ferris Amphlett 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Ferris Amphlett 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) .
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. Ferris Amphlett needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Ferris Amphlett in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Ferris Amphlett 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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 Kangaroo Tail Winery Limited (B) 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 Ferris Amphlett needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.