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Noodles & Co. (Abridged) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution

Case Study Description of Noodles & Co. (Abridged)


To maximize their effectiveness, color cases should be printed in color.Aaron Kennedy has successfully grown Noodles & Co. from a single global noodle shop to a chain of 58 restaurants spanning six states in seven years. In the face of increasing competition, Kennedy has plans to roll out 240 new stores in the next four years. He must develop a growth strategy that will allow Noodles & Co. to achieve these aggressive objectives as well as maintain the company's unique culture. Kennedy must decide among several alternative growth strategies, with a particular emphasis on the decision of whether to franchise. Includes color exhibits. This case is available in only hard copy format (HBP does not have digital distribution rights to the content). As a result, a digital Educator Copy of the case is not available through this web site.

Authors :: Linda A. Cyr

Topics :: Innovation & Entrepreneurship

Tags :: Competition, Decision making, Entrepreneurial finance, Growth strategy, Organizational culture, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis

Swot Analysis of "Noodles & Co. (Abridged)" written by Linda A. Cyr includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Noodles Kennedy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Noodles & Co. (Abridged) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Competition, Decision making, Entrepreneurial finance, Growth strategy, Organizational culture and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.


Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Noodles & Co. (Abridged) casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, technology disruption, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing energy prices, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, wage bills are increasing, etc



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Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Noodles & Co. (Abridged)


SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Noodles & Co. (Abridged) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Noodles Kennedy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Noodles Kennedy 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 Noodles & Co. (Abridged) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Noodles & Co. (Abridged) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Noodles Kennedy
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field.
4. Making a Innovation & Entrepreneurship topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Noodles Kennedy




Strengths Noodles & Co. (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The strengths of Noodles Kennedy in Noodles & Co. (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study are -

Strong track record of project management

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

Successful track record of launching new products

– Noodles Kennedy has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Noodles Kennedy 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.

Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry

– Noodles & Co. (Abridged) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Noodles Kennedy to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Noodles Kennedy to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.

Ability to recruit top talent

– Noodles Kennedy is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Noodles & Co. (Abridged) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.

Highly skilled collaborators

– Noodles Kennedy 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 Noodles & Co. (Abridged) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.

High brand equity

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

Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field

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

Cross disciplinary teams

– Horizontal connected teams at the Noodles Kennedy 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.

Superior customer experience

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

Effective Research and Development (R&D)

– Noodles Kennedy 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 Noodles & Co. (Abridged) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.

Training and development

– Noodles Kennedy has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Noodles & Co. (Abridged) 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.

Learning organization

- Noodles Kennedy 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 Noodles Kennedy is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Noodles & Co. (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.






Weaknesses Noodles & Co. (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis

The weaknesses of Noodles & Co. (Abridged) are -

High dependence on star products

– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Noodles & Co. (Abridged) 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 Noodles Kennedy has relatively successful track record of launching new products.

Slow to strategic competitive environment developments

– As Noodles & Co. (Abridged) HBR case study mentions - Noodles Kennedy 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.

No frontier risks strategy

– After analyzing the HBR case study Noodles & Co. (Abridged), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.

Products dominated business model

– Even though Noodles Kennedy 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 - Noodles & Co. (Abridged) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.

High cash cycle compare to competitors

Noodles Kennedy 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.

Interest costs

– Compare to the competition, Noodles Kennedy 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.

Slow to harness new channels of communication

– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Noodles Kennedy is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Noodles & Co. (Abridged) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.

Need for greater diversity

– Noodles Kennedy 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.

Increasing silos among functional specialists

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

High bargaining power of channel partners

– Because of the regulatory requirements, Linda A. Cyr suggests that, Noodles Kennedy 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.

Low market penetration in new markets

– Outside its home market of Noodles Kennedy, firm in the HBR case study Noodles & Co. (Abridged) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.




Opportunities Noodles & Co. (Abridged) | 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 Noodles & Co. (Abridged) are -

Leveraging digital technologies

– Noodles Kennedy 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.

Developing new processes and practices

– Noodles Kennedy can develop new processes and procedures in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.

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. Noodles Kennedy 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, Noodles Kennedy can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Noodles Kennedy operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.

Better consumer reach

– The expansion of the 5G network will help Noodles Kennedy to increase its market reach. Noodles Kennedy 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.

Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities

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

Building a culture of innovation

– managers at Noodles Kennedy 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment.

Finding new ways to collaborate

– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Noodles Kennedy can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.

Lowering marketing communication costs

– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Noodles Kennedy in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.

Low interest rates

– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Noodles Kennedy 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.

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 Noodles Kennedy 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.

Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19

– Consumer behavior has changed in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Noodles Kennedy 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. Noodles Kennedy 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.

Creating value in data economy

– The success of analytics program of Noodles Kennedy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Noodles Kennedy to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Noodles & Co. (Abridged) case study. Noodles Kennedy can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.




Threats Noodles & Co. (Abridged) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis


The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Noodles & Co. (Abridged) are -

Aging population

– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.

Shortening product life cycle

– it is one of the major threat that Noodles Kennedy is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.

Barriers of entry lowering

– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Noodles Kennedy with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.

High dependence on third party suppliers

– Noodles Kennedy 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 wage structure of Noodles Kennedy

– 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 Noodles Kennedy.

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. Noodles Kennedy needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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 Noodles Kennedy in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.

Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins

– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Noodles Kennedy 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 Noodles & Co. (Abridged) .

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 Noodles Kennedy in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.

Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution

– Noodles Kennedy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Noodles Kennedy needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.

Easy access to finance

– Easy access to finance in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Noodles Kennedy can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.

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. Noodles Kennedy 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.

Regulatory challenges

– Noodles Kennedy 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 Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry regulations.




Weighted SWOT Analysis of Noodles & Co. (Abridged) 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 Noodles & Co. (Abridged) 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 Noodles & Co. (Abridged) 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 Noodles & Co. (Abridged) 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 Noodles & Co. (Abridged) 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 Noodles Kennedy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.



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