Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry
Chocolate candy marketers like Mars, Nestle, Hershey and Ferrero are under pressure to respond to the stricter nutritional targets set by governments, changing consumer tastes, and competition from healthier brands like Kind or Cliff. Should traditional chocolate makers reformulate their products with less sugar content (and if so, should they announce it)? Should they reduce portion or package sizes (and if so, should they reduce prices)? More generally, is obesity their responsibility? Is collaboration with competitors, researchers and advocacy groups the solution? How can they grow their business without contributing to the obesity epidemic? Please visit the https://cases.insead.edu/candy-crush/ dedicated case website to access supplementary material.
Swot Analysis of "Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry" written by Laura Heely, Pierre Chandon includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Candy Chocolate facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Health, Innovation, Regulation, Sustainability and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry casestudy better are - – technology disruption, wage bills are increasing, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Candy Chocolate, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Candy Chocolate
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 Candy Chocolate
Strengths Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Candy Chocolate in Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry Harvard Business Review case study are -
Analytics focus
– Candy Chocolate 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 Laura Heely, Pierre Chandon 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Candy Chocolate 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Diverse revenue streams
– Candy Chocolate is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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.
High brand equity
– Candy Chocolate has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Candy Chocolate to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Candy Chocolate to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Candy Chocolate to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Digital Transformation in Sales & Marketing segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Candy Chocolate digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Candy Chocolate 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Candy Chocolate is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Candy Chocolate 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.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Chocolate in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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 Candy Chocolate has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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 Candy Chocolate 's lucrative customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Candy Chocolate products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Candy Chocolate needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Candy Chocolate 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry, is just above the industry average. Candy Chocolate 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Candy Chocolate is planning to shift buying processes online.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Candy Chocolate needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry HBR case study mentions - Candy Chocolate 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Candy Chocolate 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Candy Chocolate, firm in the HBR case study Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Candy Chocolate 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.
Opportunities Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry | 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Candy Chocolate 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Candy Chocolate 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, Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Candy Chocolate 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Candy Chocolate 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Candy Chocolate can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Candy Chocolate can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Candy Chocolate operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Candy Chocolate 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.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Candy Chocolate in the consumer business. Now Candy Chocolate can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Candy Chocolate can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Candy Chocolate has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Candy Chocolate to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry case study. Candy Chocolate can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Candy Chocolate 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Candy Chocolate 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
– Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Candy Chocolate to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Candy Chocolate 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.
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 Candy Chocolate in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Candy Chocolate has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Candy Chocolate 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Candy Chocolate 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.
Environmental challenges
– Candy Chocolate 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. Candy Chocolate can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Candy Chocolate in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing 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.
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. Candy Chocolate 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry, Candy Chocolate may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Sales & Marketing .
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. Candy Chocolate needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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.
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 Candy Chocolate.
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 wage structure of Candy Chocolate
– 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 Candy Chocolate.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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 Candy Chocolate needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
