Case Study Description of PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign
A year and a half after calling off its campaign against fast-food giant McDonald's, the vegan campaign coordinator of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) contacted Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) to warn the company that it would be the next target. He pointed out in his letter that whereas many of KFC's competitors had convened advisory panels to help investigate the welfare of animals raised and slaughtered for their businesses, KFC appeared completely uninterested in the issue. PETA would rather not engage KFC in a campaign, but if the company refused to put together an animal welfare panel to begin to look into the issue of how to raise and slaughter its chickens more humanely, all the leaflets, action alerts, posters, billboards, T-shirts, and press releases PETA was now preparing would be dedicated to KFC and its cruel treatment of chickens. In January 2003, PETA, fed up with what it saw as KFC's lack of open communication, public misinformation, and outright stonewalling on change, announced a campaign against the company to the media in a news event replete with bloody descriptions of the cruelties of KFC's animal factories. Now it was time for KFC to respond.
Swot Analysis of "PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign" written by Gerard Seijts, Michael Sider includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kfc Peta facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate communications, Crisis management, Ethics, Social responsibility and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, technology disruption,
increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kfc Peta, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kfc Peta 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kfc Peta
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Communication field.
4. Making a Communication topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Kfc Peta
Strengths PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kfc Peta in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Kfc Peta 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.
Analytics focus
– Kfc Peta 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 Gerard Seijts, Michael Sider 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communication industry
– PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kfc Peta to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communication industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kfc Peta to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Training and development
– Kfc Peta has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Kfc Peta is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kfc Peta 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Kfc Peta is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 Kfc Peta in the sector have low bargaining power. PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Kfc Peta to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to lead change in Communication field
– Kfc Peta 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 Kfc Peta in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Kfc Peta is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kfc Peta 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Weaknesses PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign are -
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign, in the dynamic environment Kfc Peta has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kfc Peta 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 Kfc Peta products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Kfc Peta needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Kfc Peta 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 bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Gerard Seijts, Michael Sider suggests that, Kfc Peta 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.
Need for greater diversity
– Kfc Peta 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Kfc Peta has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kfc Peta 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 - PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Kfc Peta is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
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 Kfc Peta supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kfc Peta vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Kfc Peta, firm in the HBR case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign, is just above the industry average. Kfc Peta 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.
Opportunities PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign | 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign are -
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Kfc Peta is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Kfc Peta can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Manufacturing automation
– Kfc Peta can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Communication 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Kfc Peta 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Kfc Peta has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Kfc Peta to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign case study. Kfc Peta can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kfc Peta in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Communication segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Kfc Peta 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, PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Communication industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Kfc Peta 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
– Kfc Peta can develop new processes and procedures in Communication 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kfc Peta 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Kfc Peta 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 Kfc Peta to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Buying journey improvements
– Kfc Peta can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Kfc Peta 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 Communication segment.
Threats PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign are -
Environmental challenges
– Kfc Peta 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. Kfc Peta can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Communication industry.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Communication field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Kfc Peta 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
– Kfc Peta 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Kfc Peta has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Communication industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Kfc Peta needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Communication sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kfc Peta 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign .
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign, Kfc Peta may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communication .
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kfc Peta in the Communication industry. The Communication 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.
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.
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 Kfc Peta in the Communication sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Kfc Peta.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Kfc Peta 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.
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. Kfc Peta 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.
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 Kfc Peta needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
