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 - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, there is backlash against globalization, geopolitical disruptions, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, 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 -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Munchiez Semester 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Munchiez Semester is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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.
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.
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.
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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Munchiez Semester has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Munchiez Semester 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Strong track record of project management
– Munchiez Semester is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
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 -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Munchiez Semester 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
– Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Semester 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 - Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Munchiez Semester is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Munchiez Semester needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Munchiez Semester to focus more on services rather than just following the product 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.
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.
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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability 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 Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Munchiez Semester is planning to shift buying processes online.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Munchiez Semester, firm in the HBR case study Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Munchiez Food Truck: Entrepreneurship, Strategic Decision Making, and Sustainability, in the dynamic environment Munchiez Semester has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Munchiez Semester has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Munchiez Semester 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 Munchiez Semester can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
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.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Munchiez Semester can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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.
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.
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.
Loyalty marketing
– Munchiez Semester 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Munchiez Semester to increase its market reach. Munchiez Semester 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.
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 -
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. Munchiez Semester 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.
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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Munchiez Semester 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. Munchiez Semester can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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 Munchiez Semester business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Munchiez Semester 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.
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 .
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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