Case Study Description of Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product
Bakeys Cutlery was launched in India in 2010, after the founder had spent years researching how edible cutlery could counteract the damaging effects of plastics on our health and the environment. In 2017, the challenges the founder faced in the domestic market included the high prices of the cutlery, compared with plastic cutlery, and low environmental awareness. Response to the company was positive in international markets, but how could the founder become successful in his home country? Rambalak Yadav is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Hyderabad.
Swot Analysis of "Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product" written by Rambalak Yadav, Pallavi Pandey includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cutlery Bakeys facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Sustainability and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing energy prices, technology disruption, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing commodity prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cutlery Bakeys, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cutlery Bakeys 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 Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cutlery Bakeys
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 Cutlery Bakeys
Strengths Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cutlery Bakeys in Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product Harvard Business Review case study are -
Strong track record of project management
– Cutlery Bakeys is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cutlery Bakeys has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cutlery Bakeys is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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.
Training and development
– Cutlery Bakeys has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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
– Cutlery Bakeys is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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
– Cutlery Bakeys 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 Cutlery Bakeys in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Cutlery Bakeys has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cutlery Bakeys to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Cutlery Bakeys is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Cutlery Bakeys 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 Cutlery Bakeys is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cutlery Bakeys 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 Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cutlery Bakeys to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cutlery Bakeys to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product are -
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 Cutlery Bakeys supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Cutlery Bakeys vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cutlery Bakeys products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cutlery Bakeys needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Cutlery Bakeys 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. Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cutlery Bakeys 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 - Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Cutlery Bakeys 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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 Cutlery Bakeys has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product HBR case study mentions - Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cutlery Bakeys, firm in the HBR case study Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Sales & Marketing strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Opportunities Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product | 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 Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cutlery Bakeys 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 Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cutlery Bakeys to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Buying journey improvements
– Cutlery Bakeys can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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.
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. Cutlery Bakeys 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. Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Cutlery Bakeys to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cutlery Bakeys to increase its market reach. Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cutlery Bakeys is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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 Cutlery Bakeys in the consumer business. Now Cutlery Bakeys 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. Cutlery Bakeys 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 Cutlery Bakeys has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cutlery Bakeys to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product case study. Cutlery Bakeys can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cutlery Bakeys 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 Cutlery Bakeys to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Threats Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product are -
Environmental challenges
– Cutlery Bakeys 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. Cutlery Bakeys 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 Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product, Cutlery Bakeys 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 .
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 Cutlery Bakeys in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Regulatory challenges
– Cutlery Bakeys 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cutlery Bakeys 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.
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 Cutlery Bakeys.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cutlery Bakeys is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Cutlery Bakeys
– 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 Cutlery Bakeys.
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. Cutlery Bakeys 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.
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.
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. Cutlery Bakeys needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Sales & Marketing industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cutlery Bakeys 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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 Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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 Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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 Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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 Bakeys Cutlery: An Innovative Sustainable Product 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 Cutlery Bakeys needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
