Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip
Implementing a sustainability strategy requires firms to consider economic, strategic, environmental, and community perspectives. Suitable for MBA, undergraduate, and executive learners, this sustainability case covers innovation, intrapreneurship, and strategy. An Excel carbon footprint analysis exercise (UVA-S-ENT-0112) accompanies the case; a technical note entitled, "Corporate Greenhouse Accounting: Carbon Footprint Analysis" (UV2027) is an effective complement. Frito-Lay's Arizona facility pilots a program to take its snack chip manufacturing off the grid. Decision makers discuss operating, financial, marketing, and corporate strategy as the facility calculates its carbon footprint, converts to non-fossil-fuel energy sources, and stops relying on the scarce local water supply.
Swot Analysis of "Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip" written by Andrea Larson, William Teichman includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Carbon Footprint facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management, Strategy, Sustainability and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, there is backlash against globalization, increasing energy prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Carbon Footprint, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Carbon Footprint 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Carbon Footprint
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Carbon Footprint
Strengths Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Carbon Footprint in Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Carbon Footprint is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Carbon Footprint 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 Carbon Footprint is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Carbon Footprint 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Carbon Footprint
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Carbon Footprint does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Carbon Footprint to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Carbon Footprint to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Carbon Footprint has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Carbon Footprint to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Analytics focus
– Carbon Footprint 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 Andrea Larson, William Teichman 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Carbon Footprint in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Carbon Footprint digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Carbon Footprint 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Carbon Footprint is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Carbon Footprint 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Carbon Footprint 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 Carbon Footprint in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Carbon Footprint 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 - Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Lack of clear differentiation of Carbon Footprint products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Carbon Footprint needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Carbon Footprint is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Carbon Footprint needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Carbon Footprint to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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.
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 Carbon Footprint supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Carbon Footprint vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Carbon Footprint is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Carbon Footprint 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. Carbon Footprint 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip 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 Carbon Footprint 's lucrative customers.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Carbon Footprint, firm in the HBR case study Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Carbon Footprint 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Carbon Footprint 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.
Opportunities Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip | 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Carbon Footprint 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Carbon Footprint can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Carbon Footprint 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 Carbon Footprint to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Carbon Footprint 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Carbon Footprint to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Carbon Footprint has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Carbon Footprint in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Buying journey improvements
– Carbon Footprint can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip 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.
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 Carbon Footprint in the consumer business. Now Carbon Footprint can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Carbon Footprint has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Carbon Footprint to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip case study. Carbon Footprint can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Carbon Footprint 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, Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Carbon Footprint to increase its market reach. Carbon Footprint 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.
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. Carbon Footprint can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Carbon Footprint 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. Carbon Footprint 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.
Threats Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip are -
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.
Increasing wage structure of Carbon Footprint
– 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 Carbon Footprint.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Carbon Footprint 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.
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. Carbon Footprint 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.
Environmental challenges
– Carbon Footprint 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. Carbon Footprint can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Carbon Footprint has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Finance & Accounting industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Carbon Footprint needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Finance & Accounting 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip, Carbon Footprint may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Carbon Footprint 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip .
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. Carbon Footprint needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Carbon Footprint 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
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 Carbon Footprint business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Carbon Footprint with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip 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 Carbon Footprint needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.