Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens
The case illustrates the challenges of growing sustainably by tracking the 30-year journey of a quintessentially Canadian chef, environmental champion, and strong advocate of slow food, seasonality, local sourcing and artisan food production. Set in mid May 2007, the case decision has Toronto-based Jamie Kennedy pondering several expansion options for Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, a corporation with three main ventures. Jamie Kennedy Kitchens' annual revenues were more than $7 million and earnings before taxes of 6.7 per cent in an industry typically averaging 3.2 per cent were testimony of the growing appeal of organic food and wine pairings. With influential cook-books, global accolades, rave reviews by acclaimed food critics, and a fast growing base of satisfied customers, Jamie Kennedy was well positioned for growth. Yet Jamie Kennedy grappled with the implications of growth for the core pillars of his business. The case explores the trade-offs between financially profitable growth and Jamie Kennedy's determination to stay true to local sourcing and cooking with seasonal ingredients and his environmental values. The case asks students to anticipate growth alternatives and articulate their points of leverage or disconnect with Jamie Kennedy Kitchens current business model, as well as Jamie Kennedy's cuisine and personal values.
Swot Analysis of "Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens" written by Oana Branzei, Melissa Leithwood includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Jamie Kennedy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy, Sustainability and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens casestudy better are - – increasing energy prices, technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, geopolitical disruptions,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing commodity prices, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Jamie Kennedy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Jamie 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 Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Jamie 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 Jamie Kennedy
Strengths Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Jamie Kennedy in Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Jamie Kennedy in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry
– Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Jamie Kennedy to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Jamie Kennedy to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Jamie Kennedy is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens 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.
High brand equity
– Jamie Kennedy has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Jamie Kennedy to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Diverse revenue streams
– Jamie Kennedy is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Jamie Kennedy in the sector have low bargaining power. Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Jamie Kennedy to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Jamie 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 Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Jamie Kennedy has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Jamie 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.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Jamie Kennedy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Jamie Kennedy 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Jamie Kennedy is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Jamie 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 Jamie Kennedy in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens are -
Products dominated business model
– Even though Jamie 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 - Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, it seems that the employees of Jamie Kennedy 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Jamie Kennedy is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Jamie Kennedy needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Jamie Kennedy to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Jamie 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Oana Branzei, Melissa Leithwood suggests that, Jamie 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Jamie Kennedy 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. Jamie Kennedy 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 Jamie Kennedy supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Jamie Kennedy vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Jamie Kennedy 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Jamie Kennedy products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Jamie Kennedy needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Jamie Kennedy 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens 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 Jamie Kennedy has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Opportunities Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens | 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 Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens are -
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Jamie Kennedy 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Jamie Kennedy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Jamie Kennedy to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens case study. Jamie Kennedy can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Jamie Kennedy is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens 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.
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. Jamie Kennedy can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Jamie Kennedy can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Jamie 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.
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. Jamie 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. Jamie 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.
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 Jamie 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Jamie Kennedy can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Jamie 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Jamie Kennedy can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Jamie Kennedy operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Jamie 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 Jamie Kennedy to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Jamie Kennedy can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Innovation & Entrepreneurship 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.
Threats Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens are -
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. Jamie 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Jamie 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Jamie Kennedy is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing wage structure of Jamie 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 Jamie Kennedy.
Regulatory challenges
– Jamie 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.
Environmental challenges
– Jamie Kennedy 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. Jamie Kennedy can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Jamie 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.
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 Jamie Kennedy.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Jamie Kennedy 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Jamie 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 Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Jamie Kennedy with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens 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 Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens 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 Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens 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 Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens 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 Make Green Delicious: Sustainability at Jamie Kennedy Kitchens 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 Jamie Kennedy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
