Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
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Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market
For the co-founder and CEO of Booster Juice, Canada's largest chain of juice and smoothie bars, international expansion was integral to the firm's strategy, especially as the Canadian market matured. However, working with business cultures and practices in different countries was a major challenge. Booster Juice had been opening three stores per month through the end of 2013, and the CEO was re-examining Booster Juice's international operations, including those in India, where Booster Juice had 18 stores. The CEO was contemplating considerable expansion in the Indian market, which had great potential but presented many challenges. He wanted to open many more stores in India, but existing stores showed merely average performance. Could India provide the sustained market growth that the CEO desired? What would be the perfect approach to India's complex market? Makarand Gulawani is affiliated with MacEwan University. Kimberley Howard is affiliated with Grant MacEwan University. Mike Henry is affiliated with MacEwan University.
Authors :: Makarand Gulawani, Kimberley Howard, Mike Henry
Swot Analysis of "Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market" written by Makarand Gulawani, Kimberley Howard, Mike Henry includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Booster Juice facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Global Business.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, wage bills are increasing, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, geopolitical disruptions, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Booster Juice, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Booster Juice 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Booster Juice
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 Booster Juice
Strengths Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Booster Juice in Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Booster Juice 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Booster Juice is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Booster Juice in the sector have low bargaining power. Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Booster Juice to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Strong track record of project management
– Booster Juice 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
– Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Booster Juice to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Global Business industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Booster Juice to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
High brand equity
– Booster Juice has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Booster Juice to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Ability to lead change in Global Business field
– Booster Juice 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 Booster Juice in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Analytics focus
– Booster Juice 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 Makarand Gulawani, Kimberley Howard, Mike Henry can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Learning organization
- Booster Juice 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 Booster Juice is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market 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.
Digital Transformation in Global Business segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Booster Juice digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Booster Juice 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Booster Juice 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Booster Juice, firm in the HBR case study Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market 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 Booster Juice 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Booster Juice 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Booster Juice is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Booster Juice needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Booster Juice to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Booster Juice is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market, is just above the industry average. Booster Juice 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Booster Juice is planning to shift buying processes online.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Booster Juice 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. Booster Juice 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 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 Booster Juice supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Booster Juice vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Makarand Gulawani, Kimberley Howard, Mike Henry suggests that, Booster Juice 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Booster Juice needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Opportunities Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market | 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Booster Juice to increase its market reach. Booster Juice 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.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Booster Juice to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Booster Juice can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Booster Juice 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Booster Juice 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Booster Juice to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Booster Juice has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Booster Juice to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market case study. Booster Juice can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Booster Juice 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, Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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. Booster Juice can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Booster Juice in the consumer business. Now Booster Juice can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Booster Juice can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Booster Juice operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Global Business sector.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Booster Juice is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Booster Juice 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Booster Juice 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.
Threats Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Booster Juice 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Booster Juice 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market .
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. Booster Juice 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
– Booster Juice 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.
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 Booster Juice.
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 Booster Juice business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Booster Juice
– 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 Booster Juice.
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. Booster Juice needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Global Business industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Booster Juice 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.
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 Booster Juice in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Booster Juice has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Booster Juice 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.
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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market 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 Booster Juice: Bringing Canadian Smoothies to the Indian Market 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 Booster Juice needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.