Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization

This three-case series, set internationally (Japan) explores corporate responsibility and brand rebuilding in the face of a serious crisis. Suitable for MBA, executive education, and undergraduate students, it depicts a consumer advocate's decision-making process as she considers whether to help the company restore its reputation. In spring 2002, leading consumer activist Nobuko Hiwasa was invited to join the Japanese company Snow Brand Milk Products' board of directors. The CEO wanted her to assist in SBM's revitalization efforts, which were being implemented in the wake of two recent scandals-contaminated milk and beef mislabeling-that had almost brought down the venerable company. Hiwasa had to decide whether to take on this Herculean task. Was the company sincere in wanting to reform and revitalize? Would she be accepted as an equal among the board members, and would her views and suggestions be given serious consideration? Was the request publicity-driven? How would fellow consumer advocates view her if she accepted the position? This case details the history of Snow Brand Milk Products and the missteps and scandals that plagued it in the 1990s and early part of the decade that followed, and includes Nobuko Hiwasa's decision making process as she considers whether to join the board of a company that has been badly tainted by scandal.

Authors :: Jenny Mead, Regina Wolfe, Paul R. Lawrence, Akira Saito

Topics :: Global Business

Tags :: Crisis management, Ethics, Health, International business, Leadership, Manufacturing, Public relations, Social responsibility, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization" written by Jenny Mead, Regina Wolfe, Paul R. Lawrence, Akira Saito includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Milk Snow facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Crisis management, Ethics, Health, International business, Leadership, Manufacturing, Public relations, Social responsibility and Global Business.

Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization casestudy better are - – talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing energy prices, etc

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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization

SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Milk Snow, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Milk Snow 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.

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SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix

SWOT analysis of Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Milk Snow
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 Milk Snow

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Strengths Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Milk Snow in Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization Harvard Business Review case study are -

Analytics focus

– Milk Snow 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, Paul R. Lawrence, Akira Saito 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.

Low bargaining power of suppliers

– Suppliers of Milk Snow in the sector have low bargaining power. Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Milk Snow to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.

Training and development

– Milk Snow has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization 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.

Organizational Resilience of Milk Snow

– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Milk Snow does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Milk Snow 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Milk Snow 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.

High switching costs

– The high switching costs that Milk Snow 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.

Ability to lead change in Global Business field

– Milk Snow 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 Milk Snow in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.

Strong track record of project management

– Milk Snow is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.

Innovation driven organization

– Milk Snow is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.

Superior customer experience

– The customer experience strategy of Milk Snow in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.

High brand equity

– Milk Snow has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Milk Snow to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.

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Weaknesses Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization are -

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Milk Snow 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.

Ability to respond to the competition

– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization, in the dynamic environment Milk Snow has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Milk Snow has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.

High operating costs

– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization 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 Milk Snow 's lucrative customers.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

– The organizational structure of Milk Snow is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Global Business segment. Milk Snow needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Milk Snow to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.

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 Milk Snow supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Milk Snow vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.

Compensation and incentives

– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization, is just above the industry average. Milk Snow 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.

Lack of clear differentiation of Milk Snow products

– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Milk Snow needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Milk Snow, firm in the HBR case study Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.

Skills based hiring

– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Milk Snow 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Milk Snow has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Jenny Mead, Regina Wolfe, Paul R. Lawrence, Akira Saito suggests that, Milk Snow 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.

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Opportunities Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization | 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization are -

Increase in government spending

– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Milk Snow can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Milk Snow 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. Milk Snow can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.

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. Milk Snow 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. Milk Snow 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.

Learning at scale

– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Milk Snow 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.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Milk Snow in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Global Business segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

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. Milk Snow can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Milk Snow 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 Milk Snow to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.

Using analytics as competitive advantage

– Milk Snow 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Milk Snow to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.

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 Milk Snow in the consumer business. Now Milk Snow can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Milk Snow 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.

Leveraging digital technologies

– Milk Snow 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.

Loyalty marketing

– Milk Snow 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.

Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains

– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Milk Snow 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.

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Threats Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization are -

Environmental challenges

– Milk Snow 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. Milk Snow can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Global Business industry.

Consumer confidence and its impact on Milk Snow 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.

Trade war between China and United States

– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Milk Snow 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

– Milk Snow 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.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Milk Snow has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Global Business industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Milk Snow 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.

Increasing wage structure of Milk Snow

– 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 Milk Snow.

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.

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 Milk Snow business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.

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 Milk Snow in the Global Business sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Milk Snow 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization .

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 Milk Snow.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Milk Snow 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.

Learning curve for new practices

– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization, Milk Snow may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Global Business .

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Weighted SWOT Analysis of Snow Brand Milk Products (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization 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 (A): Assessing the Possibility for Revitalization 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 Milk Snow needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.

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