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, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, 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 -
Innovation driven organization
– Candy Chocolate is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Candy Chocolate is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Training and development
– Candy Chocolate has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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.
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.
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.
Learning organization
- Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Chocolate is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Candy Chocolate has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Candy Chocolate 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry, it seems that the employees of Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry, in the dynamic environment Candy Chocolate has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Candy Chocolate has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Candy Chocolate 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. Candy Chocolate 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Candy Chocolate is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Candy Chocolate needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Candy Chocolate to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Laura Heely, Pierre Chandon suggests that, Candy Chocolate 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Candy Chocolate supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Candy Chocolate vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
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.
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 -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Candy Chocolate to increase its market reach. Candy Chocolate 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.
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.
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.
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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Candy Chocolate 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Chocolate 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.
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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Sales & Marketing industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Candy Chocolate 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. Candy Chocolate 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Candy Chocolate is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry 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.
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.
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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Chocolate to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 -
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. Candy Chocolate 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
– 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Candy Chocolate with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Candy Chocolate 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.
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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Candy Chocolate 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 Candy Crush? Aligning Health, Business and Pleasure in the Chocolate Industry .
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.
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.
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 Candy Chocolate business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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.