Case Study Description of Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A)
Well suited for MBA and undergraduate marketing programs, this case uses product positioning and placement during the early growth stages of a start-up's brand in the food industry to unfold circumstances that allow for an analysis of the firm's positioning and food marketing decisions. All products are plant-based foods distributed nationally in the United States. Seeking to target mainstream tastes and low price, tensions among the three pillars of the brand's marketing strategy, which are quality, accessibility, and sustainability, leave the case open to explore uncertainty, positioning, marketing mix, and consumer behavior. The A case opens with Josh Tetrick, Just's founder and CEO, facing an obstacle to the brand around accessibility. Target delisted all Just products in its stores after receiving an unverified, anonymous letter claiming that some of the products were unsafe and mislabeled. Although it only accounted for a small percentage of sales, losing Target affected Just's ability to meet its distribution goal to reach price-conscious consumers where they shopped and its greater goal to build a food system where everyone could eat well.
Swot Analysis of "Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A)" written by Luca Cian, Gerry Yemen, Jeff Boichuk includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Just's Accessibility facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Customers, Entrepreneurship, Health and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing transportation and logistics costs, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Just's Accessibility, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Just's Accessibility 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Just's Accessibility
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 Just's Accessibility
Strengths Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Just's Accessibility in Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Just's Accessibility is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Just's Accessibility 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Just's Accessibility 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 Just's Accessibility is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Just's Accessibility has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Just's Accessibility to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Just's Accessibility is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to lead change in Sales & Marketing field
– Just's Accessibility 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 Just's Accessibility in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Just's Accessibility 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Just's Accessibility is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Just's Accessibility in the sector have low bargaining power. Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Just's Accessibility to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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
– Just's Accessibility has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Just's Accessibility 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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 Just's Accessibility supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Just's Accessibility vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Just's Accessibility, firm in the HBR case study Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Just's Accessibility 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.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Just's Accessibility 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Just's Accessibility is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Sales & Marketing segment. Just's Accessibility needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Just's Accessibility to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Luca Cian, Gerry Yemen, Jeff Boichuk suggests that, Just's Accessibility 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, Just's Accessibility 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A), in the dynamic environment Just's Accessibility has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Just's Accessibility has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Just's Accessibility products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Just's Accessibility needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Just's Accessibility is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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 Just's Accessibility 's lucrative customers.
Opportunities Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) | 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) are -
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Just's Accessibility 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, Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Just's Accessibility has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Just's Accessibility to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) case study. Just's Accessibility can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Just's Accessibility can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Just's Accessibility 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Just's Accessibility 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Just's Accessibility can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Just's Accessibility operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Manufacturing automation
– Just's Accessibility 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Just's Accessibility is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Just's Accessibility 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 Just's Accessibility to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Just's Accessibility 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Just's Accessibility to increase its market reach. Just's Accessibility 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Just's Accessibility 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Just's Accessibility to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Just's Accessibility 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.
Threats Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) are -
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 Just's Accessibility business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Just's Accessibility can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Just's Accessibility 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.
Increasing wage structure of Just's Accessibility
– 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 Just's Accessibility.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Just's Accessibility 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Just's Accessibility 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.
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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Just's Accessibility with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Just's Accessibility in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Just's Accessibility 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A), Just's Accessibility 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 .
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.
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. Just's Accessibility 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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 Just: Positioned to Target Mainstream Tastes? (A) 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 Just's Accessibility needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.