Case Study Description of Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts
This case outlines the turnaround efforts Snow Brand undertook to address its grave missteps: shifting to a consumer-oriented, integrity-focused management style; providing greater transparency and communication; establishing a corporate ethics committee and a Snow Brands Code of Conduct. In June 2002, after much consideration and reflection on Snow Brand's issues (as outlined in the A case), consumer activist Nobuko Hiwasa joined its new board as its sole outside director, serving as the impetus for the changes the company made. Her appointment indicated Snow Brand Milk Products was indeed serious about reform and revitalization.
Authors :: Jenny Mead, Regina Wolfe, Akira Saito, Daryl Koehn
Topics :: Global Business
Tags :: Crisis management, Ethics, International business, Leadership, Public relations, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts" written by Jenny Mead, Regina Wolfe, Akira Saito, Daryl Koehn includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Snow Revitalization facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Ethics, International business, Leadership, Public relations, Social responsibility and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts casestudy better are - – digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing transportation and logistics costs, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic ,
banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Snow Revitalization, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Snow Revitalization 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Snow Revitalization
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 Snow Revitalization
Strengths Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Snow Revitalization in Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts Harvard Business Review case study are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Global Business industry
– Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Snow Revitalization to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Snow Revitalization to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Innovation driven organization
– Snow Revitalization is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Snow Revitalization has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Snow Revitalization to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Snow Revitalization 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
– Snow Revitalization 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 Jenny Mead, Regina Wolfe, Akira Saito, Daryl Koehn can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Snow Revitalization in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Snow Revitalization 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 Snow Revitalization in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Snow Revitalization 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Snow Revitalization 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts - 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 Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Snow Revitalization digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Snow Revitalization 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Snow Revitalization are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Snow Revitalization 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 Snow Revitalization is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Weaknesses Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Snow Revitalization is planning to shift buying processes online.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Snow Revitalization has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Snow Revitalization 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts 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 Snow Revitalization 's lucrative customers.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts, it seems that the employees of Snow Revitalization 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts, 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Snow Revitalization products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Snow Revitalization needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts, is just above the industry average. Snow Revitalization 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts 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 Snow Revitalization has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Snow Revitalization, firm in the HBR case study Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Snow Revitalization 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.
Opportunities Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts | 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Snow Revitalization to increase its market reach. Snow Revitalization 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Snow Revitalization 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Snow Revitalization can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts 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.
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. Snow Revitalization 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. Snow Revitalization 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Snow Revitalization 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Snow Revitalization to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Snow Revitalization 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Global Business industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Snow Revitalization can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Snow Revitalization 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 Snow Revitalization has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Snow Revitalization to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts case study. Snow Revitalization can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Snow Revitalization 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Snow Revitalization 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Snow Revitalization 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, Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Snow Revitalization can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Threats Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Snow Revitalization is facing in Global Business sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Environmental challenges
– Snow Revitalization 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. Snow Revitalization can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.
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.
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. Snow Revitalization needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Snow Revitalization in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Snow Revitalization can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Snow Revitalization 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts .
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. Snow Revitalization 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Snow Revitalization 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.
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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Snow Revitalization 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Snow Revitalization 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Snow Revitalization 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts 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 Snow Brand Milk Products (B): Reform and Revitalization Efforts 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 Snow Revitalization needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.