Swot Analysis of "Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis" written by Anant K. Sundaram, Hans Dau includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Perrier Agnellis facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Perrier Agnellis, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Perrier Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Perrier Agnellis
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 Perrier Agnellis
Strengths Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Perrier Agnellis in Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Perrier Agnellis 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 Perrier Agnellis in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Perrier Agnellis has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Perrier Agnellis 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Perrier Agnellis in the sector have low bargaining power. Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Perrier Agnellis to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Perrier Agnellis is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Perrier Agnellis is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Perrier Agnellis is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Training and development
– Perrier Agnellis has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Perrier Agnellis in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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.
Organizational Resilience of Perrier Agnellis
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Perrier Agnellis 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 Global Business industry
– Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Perrier Agnellis to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Perrier Agnellis to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Perrier Agnellis 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.
Weaknesses Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Perrier Agnellis, firm in the HBR case study Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Perrier Agnellis 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. Perrier Agnellis 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis HBR case study mentions - Perrier Agnellis 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Perrier Agnellis products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Perrier Agnellis needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis, it seems that the employees of Perrier Agnellis 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis, in the dynamic environment Perrier Agnellis has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Perrier Agnellis has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Perrier Agnellis 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 - Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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 Perrier Agnellis has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Need for greater diversity
– Perrier Agnellis 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Global Business 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Perrier Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis | 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Perrier Agnellis 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 Perrier Agnellis to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Developing new processes and practices
– Perrier Agnellis 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Perrier Agnellis 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Perrier Agnellis can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Global Business 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Perrier Agnellis 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Perrier Agnellis can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Buying journey improvements
– Perrier Agnellis can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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.
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. Perrier Agnellis can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Perrier Agnellis can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Perrier Agnellis operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Perrier Agnellis has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Perrier Agnellis to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis case study. Perrier Agnellis can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Perrier Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Perrier Agnellis to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Perrier Agnellis 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 Global Business segment.
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. Perrier Agnellis 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. Perrier Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Perrier Agnellis 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Perrier Agnellis 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.
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. Perrier Agnellis needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Perrier Agnellis.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Perrier Agnellis is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Perrier Agnellis business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Perrier Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis .
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. Perrier Agnellis can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Perrier Agnellis 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.
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. Perrier Agnellis 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 Perrier Agnellis in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Perrier Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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 Perrier, Nestle, and the Agnellis 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 Perrier Agnellis needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
