Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals
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.Sam Huttenbauer is trying to get two companies, in high-pressure food preservation and in nutraceuticals, off the ground. This case covers strategic, marketing, and financing challenges. It also looks at innovative technologies in the food industry and the role of the entrepreneur in commercializing them.
Authors :: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Stacey Bell
Swot Analysis of "Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals" written by Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Stacey Bell includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Entrepreneurial management and Innovation & Entrepreneurship.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals casestudy better are - – technology disruption, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
there is backlash against globalization, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals
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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals
Strengths Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals in Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Learning organization
- Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
High brand equity
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Analytics focus
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Stacey Bell 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Digital Transformation in Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Weaknesses Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Stacey Bell suggests that, Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 - Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals HBR case study mentions - Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals 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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship segment. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Opportunities Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals | 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 Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals are -
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals case study. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
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. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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, Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals 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.
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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals in the consumer business. Now Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Threats Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals are -
Regulatory challenges
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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.
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. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals is facing in Innovation & Entrepreneurship sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Innovation & Entrepreneurship industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals 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 Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals 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 Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals 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 Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals 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 Sam Huttenbauer: Entrepreneurship in Food Preservation and Nutraceuticals 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 Huttenbauer Nutraceuticals needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.