Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy
Why did United Airline's TED and Delta's Song fail while Southwest's similar model for low-cost air travel thrived? According to the author, it all comes down to company culture. Culture is one of those fuzzy terms that makes business analysts roll their eyes, he says, but its true power lies in the fact that, unlike other competitive advantages, it is nearly impossible to copy. He defines culture as 'the things that people in an organization do without thinking, often because of a precedent set by management'. As he shows, the roots of culture go very deep, and they lead companies like Southwest, Costco and IBM to the top of their industries.
Swot Analysis of "Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy" written by Sohrab Vossoughi includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Culture Fuzzy facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Leadership, Strategy and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, wage bills are increasing, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Culture Fuzzy, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Culture Fuzzy 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 Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Culture Fuzzy
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 Culture Fuzzy
Strengths Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Culture Fuzzy in Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Culture Fuzzy 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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Culture Fuzzy is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy 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.
Organizational Resilience of Culture Fuzzy
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Culture Fuzzy does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Culture Fuzzy in the sector have low bargaining power. Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Culture Fuzzy to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Culture Fuzzy digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Culture Fuzzy 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.
Analytics focus
– Culture Fuzzy 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 Sohrab Vossoughi 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Culture Fuzzy has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Culture Fuzzy 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Culture Fuzzy 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Culture Fuzzy is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Culture Fuzzy has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Culture Fuzzy to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Learning organization
- Culture Fuzzy 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 Culture Fuzzy is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Culture Fuzzy is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Culture Fuzzy 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy 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 Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Culture Fuzzy is planning to shift buying processes online.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy, is just above the industry average. Culture Fuzzy 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.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Culture Fuzzy 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy, in the dynamic environment Culture Fuzzy has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Culture Fuzzy has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Culture Fuzzy has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy, it seems that the employees of Culture Fuzzy 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.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Sohrab Vossoughi suggests that, Culture Fuzzy 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Culture Fuzzy products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Culture Fuzzy needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Culture Fuzzy 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 - Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Opportunities Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy | 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 Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Culture Fuzzy to increase its market reach. Culture Fuzzy will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Culture Fuzzy 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.
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 Culture Fuzzy in the consumer business. Now Culture Fuzzy can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Culture Fuzzy 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, Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Manufacturing automation
– Culture Fuzzy 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Culture Fuzzy 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 Culture Fuzzy to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Culture Fuzzy 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Culture Fuzzy has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Culture Fuzzy to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy case study. Culture Fuzzy can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Culture Fuzzy 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Culture Fuzzy 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 Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Culture Fuzzy to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Culture Fuzzy 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.
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. Culture Fuzzy 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. Culture Fuzzy 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Culture Fuzzy 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.
Threats Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy are -
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Culture Fuzzy 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 Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy .
Environmental challenges
– Culture Fuzzy 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. Culture Fuzzy can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry.
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. Culture Fuzzy needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Culture Fuzzy is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Culture Fuzzy.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Culture Fuzzy has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Culture Fuzzy 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Culture Fuzzy 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.
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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Culture Fuzzy 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 wage structure of Culture Fuzzy
– 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 Culture Fuzzy.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Culture Fuzzy with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Culture Fuzzy can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Culture Fuzzy 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy 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 Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy 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 Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy 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 Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy 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 Secret Recipes: The Power of Culture in an Experience Economy 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 Culture Fuzzy needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
