Case Study Description of Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability
The semester-long small business management class at Southern New Hampshire University had incorporated into the course a food truck under the brand name "Munchiez" as a catalyst for students to integrate and apply the concepts they learned about in various business classes. As such, Munchiez was a vital teaching tool at the school. However, with an 80 per cent turnover rate each semester, knowledge transfer and financial stability quickly became critical issues for the Munchiez team to assess. As of December 2016, Munchiez was operating at a deficit. Some team members suggested that Munchiez may need a general manager. In order to continue receiving financial support from the university, Munchiez's management had to answer some difficult questions: How should Munchiez increase the transfer of knowledge from semester to semester? What strategies should be used in order to break even? Would the business benefit from a general manager? If so, how could the team find the right person for this position? The authors Susan Losapio and Sophia Koustas are affiliated with Southern New Hampshire University.
Swot Analysis of "Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability" written by Susan Losapio, Sophia Koustas includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Munchiez Semester facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, wage bills are increasing, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Munchiez Semester, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Munchiez Semester
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Munchiez Semester
Strengths Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Munchiez Semester in Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability Harvard Business Review case study are -
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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
– Munchiez Semester has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Munchiez Semester in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Munchiez Semester 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 Susan Losapio, Sophia Koustas 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Munchiez Semester in the sector have low bargaining power. Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Munchiez Semester to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Munchiez Semester 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Munchiez Semester digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Munchiez Semester 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.
High brand equity
– Munchiez Semester has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Munchiez Semester to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Munchiez Semester is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Semester in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Organizational Resilience of Munchiez Semester
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Munchiez Semester does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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 Munchiez Semester supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Munchiez Semester vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability, is just above the industry average. Munchiez Semester 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Susan Losapio, Sophia Koustas suggests that, Munchiez Semester 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Munchiez Semester has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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 Munchiez Semester 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Munchiez Semester has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Munchiez Semester 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability, it seems that the employees of Munchiez Semester 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability HBR case study mentions - Munchiez Semester 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Munchiez Semester has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability | 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability are -
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 Munchiez Semester 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Munchiez Semester can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Munchiez Semester to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Munchiez Semester is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Munchiez Semester can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Munchiez Semester can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Munchiez Semester operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Developing new processes and practices
– Munchiez Semester can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Munchiez Semester in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Munchiez Semester 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Semester to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Munchiez Semester 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Munchiez Semester 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. Munchiez Semester 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Munchiez Semester 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, Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability are -
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.
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 Munchiez Semester in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability, Munchiez Semester may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Munchiez Semester in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Munchiez Semester has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Munchiez Semester needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Munchiez Semester 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
– Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Semester.
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. Munchiez Semester needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Munchiez Semester is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Munchiez Semester 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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 Munchiez Semester needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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