Case Study Description of United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge
The case, set within the European organization of a giant multinational breakfast foods company, describes a launch decision for a new cereal product. As the case evolves, the decision has major strategic and organizational implications for Lora Brill, European VP. The case focuses especially on two important decisions facing Brill: Should Healthy Berry Crunch become the company's first Eurobrand and be introduced in a coordinated manner Europewide? And, from an organizational perspective, should she create Eurobrand Teams to implement her proposed Eurobrand concept?
Authors :: Christopher A. Bartlett, Carole Carlson
Swot Analysis of "United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge" written by Christopher A. Bartlett, Carole Carlson includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Eurobrand Brill facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing, Organizational structure, Strategy and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing commodity prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, wage bills are increasing,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Eurobrand Brill, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Eurobrand Brill 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Eurobrand Brill
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Global Business field.
4. Making a Global Business topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Eurobrand Brill
Strengths United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Eurobrand Brill in United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Eurobrand Brill has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Eurobrand Brill digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Eurobrand Brill 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Eurobrand Brill 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge - 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
– Eurobrand Brill is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Eurobrand Brill has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Eurobrand Brill has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Strong track record of project management
– Eurobrand Brill is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Eurobrand Brill to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Eurobrand Brill to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Eurobrand Brill 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 Eurobrand Brill in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Eurobrand Brill in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Analytics focus
– Eurobrand Brill 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 Christopher A. Bartlett, Carole Carlson 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Eurobrand Brill 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.
Learning organization
- Eurobrand Brill 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 Eurobrand Brill is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge are -
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge, it seems that the employees of Eurobrand Brill 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 harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Eurobrand Brill is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Eurobrand Brill is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge HBR case study mentions - Eurobrand Brill 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Eurobrand Brill, firm in the HBR case study United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Eurobrand Brill 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 - United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Eurobrand Brill 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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 Eurobrand Brill 's lucrative customers.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Eurobrand Brill 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. Eurobrand Brill 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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 Eurobrand Brill has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Eurobrand Brill 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.
Opportunities United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge | 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge are -
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Global Business industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Eurobrand Brill 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. Eurobrand Brill 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Eurobrand Brill 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Eurobrand Brill to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Eurobrand Brill to increase its market reach. Eurobrand Brill 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.
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 Eurobrand Brill in the consumer business. Now Eurobrand Brill can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Eurobrand Brill 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Eurobrand Brill can develop new processes and procedures in Global Business 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Eurobrand Brill 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, United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Eurobrand Brill can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Eurobrand Brill operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
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. Eurobrand Brill can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Eurobrand Brill 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Eurobrand Brill to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Eurobrand Brill can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Eurobrand Brill is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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.
Threats United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Eurobrand Brill in the Global Business industry. The Global Business 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.
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. Eurobrand Brill needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing wage structure of Eurobrand Brill
– 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 Eurobrand Brill.
Regulatory challenges
– Eurobrand Brill 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 Global Business industry regulations.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Eurobrand Brill 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Eurobrand Brill 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge .
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 Eurobrand Brill.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Eurobrand Brill is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Eurobrand Brill has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Eurobrand Brill needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Global Business 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.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Global Business field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Eurobrand Brill can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Eurobrand Brill 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. Eurobrand Brill can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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 United Cereal: Lora Brill's Eurobrand Challenge 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 Eurobrand Brill needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.