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 - – increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, geopolitical disruptions, 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 -
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.
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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Carbon Footprint in the sector have low bargaining power. Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Carbon Footprint to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
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.
Training and development
– Carbon Footprint has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Carbon Footprint 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.
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.
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.
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Carbon Footprint is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Ability to 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.
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.
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 -
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip, is just above the industry average. Carbon Footprint 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 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Carbon Footprint 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
– Carbon Footprint 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip, it seems that the employees of Carbon Footprint 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 Frito-Lay North America: The Making of a Net Zero Snack Chip HBR case study mentions - Carbon Footprint 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Andrea Larson, William Teichman suggests that, Carbon Footprint 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.
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 -
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Carbon Footprint 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.
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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Carbon Footprint can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Carbon Footprint operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Carbon Footprint can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Carbon Footprint can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Finance & Accounting segment.
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 -
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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Carbon Footprint demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Carbon Footprint in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
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.
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 Carbon Footprint in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Carbon Footprint 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.
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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Carbon Footprint can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 .
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.
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.