Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf
A school teacher has decided to open a taqueria in a small, historic New England city. He works with a faculty/student team from the local business school to prepare his business plan, but cannot provide all the necessary information and is reluctant to listen to advice. The case ends with a go/no-go decision and determination of next steps to take.
Swot Analysis of "Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf" written by Gina Vega, Miranda Lam includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Taqueria Wolf facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, geopolitical disruptions, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings,
increasing household debt because of falling income levels, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Taqueria Wolf, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Taqueria Wolf 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 Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Taqueria Wolf
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 Taqueria Wolf
Strengths Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Taqueria Wolf in Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to lead change in Innovation & Entrepreneurship field
– Taqueria Wolf 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 Taqueria Wolf in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Taqueria Wolf in the sector have low bargaining power. Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Taqueria Wolf to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Taqueria Wolf 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.
Organizational Resilience of Taqueria Wolf
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Taqueria Wolf does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Diverse revenue streams
– Taqueria Wolf is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf 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.
High brand equity
– Taqueria Wolf has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Taqueria Wolf to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Taqueria Wolf is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Taqueria Wolf has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Taqueria Wolf 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf 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 switching costs
– The high switching costs that Taqueria Wolf 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.
Learning organization
- Taqueria Wolf 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 Taqueria Wolf is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Taqueria Wolf in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Weaknesses Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Taqueria Wolf products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Taqueria Wolf needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Taqueria Wolf 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 - Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Taqueria Wolf 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Taqueria Wolf is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Taqueria Wolf needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Taqueria Wolf to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Taqueria Wolf 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.
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 Taqueria Wolf supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Taqueria Wolf vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf, it seems that the employees of Taqueria Wolf 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf 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 Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Taqueria Wolf is planning to shift buying processes online.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf 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 Taqueria Wolf 's lucrative customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf HBR case study mentions - Taqueria Wolf 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Taqueria Wolf is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Opportunities Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf | 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 Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf are -
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Taqueria Wolf has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Taqueria Wolf to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf case study. Taqueria Wolf can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Taqueria Wolf to increase its market reach. Taqueria Wolf 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Taqueria Wolf 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 Taqueria Wolf 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Taqueria Wolf 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.
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. Taqueria Wolf can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Taqueria Wolf 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 Taqueria Wolf to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Taqueria Wolf in the consumer business. Now Taqueria Wolf can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Taqueria Wolf 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Taqueria Wolf 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Taqueria Wolf 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, Taqueria Wolf can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Taqueria Wolf operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector.
Loyalty marketing
– Taqueria Wolf 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.
Threats Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf are -
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.
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. Taqueria Wolf 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.
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 Taqueria Wolf
– 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 Taqueria Wolf.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Taqueria Wolf is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf, Taqueria Wolf may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Innovation & Entrepreneurship .
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 Taqueria Wolf business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Taqueria Wolf 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.
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. Taqueria Wolf needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Taqueria Wolf in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Taqueria Wolf 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, Taqueria Wolf 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 Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf .
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. Taqueria Wolf can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf 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 Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf 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 Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf 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 Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf 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 Howling Wolf Taqueria: Feeding the Good Wolf 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 Taqueria Wolf needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.