Case Study Description of PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign
A year and a half after calling off its campaign against fast-food giant McDonald's, the vegan campaign coordinator of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) contacted Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) to warn the company that it would be the next target. He pointed out in his letter that whereas many of KFC's competitors had convened advisory panels to help investigate the welfare of animals raised and slaughtered for their businesses, KFC appeared completely uninterested in the issue. PETA would rather not engage KFC in a campaign, but if the company refused to put together an animal welfare panel to begin to look into the issue of how to raise and slaughter its chickens more humanely, all the leaflets, action alerts, posters, billboards, T-shirts, and press releases PETA was now preparing would be dedicated to KFC and its cruel treatment of chickens. In January 2003, PETA, fed up with what it saw as KFC's lack of open communication, public misinformation, and outright stonewalling on change, announced a campaign against the company to the media in a news event replete with bloody descriptions of the cruelties of KFC's animal factories. Now it was time for KFC to respond.
Swot Analysis of "PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign" written by Gerard Seijts, Michael Sider includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Kfc Peta facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate communications, Crisis management, Ethics, Social responsibility and Communication.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign casestudy better are - – technology disruption, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs, there is backlash against globalization,
there is increasing trade war between United States & China, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Kfc Peta, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Kfc Peta 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Kfc Peta
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Communication field.
4. Making a Communication topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Kfc Peta
Strengths PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Kfc Peta in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign Harvard Business Review case study are -
Highly skilled collaborators
– Kfc Peta 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Kfc Peta 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
- Kfc Peta 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 Kfc Peta is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Kfc Peta 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Innovation driven organization
– Kfc Peta is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Communication segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Kfc Peta digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Kfc Peta 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Communication industry
– PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Kfc Peta to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Communication industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Kfc Peta to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Kfc Peta 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.
High brand equity
– Kfc Peta has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Kfc Peta to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Kfc Peta is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Kfc Peta in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to lead change in Communication field
– Kfc Peta 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 Kfc Peta in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Kfc Peta has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Kfc Peta 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign, it seems that the employees of Kfc Peta 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 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 Kfc Peta supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Kfc Peta vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Kfc Peta 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. Kfc Peta 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Kfc Peta 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign HBR case study mentions - Kfc Peta 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Kfc Peta 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 - PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign, in the dynamic environment Kfc Peta has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Kfc Peta has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Kfc Peta is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Communication segment. Kfc Peta needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Kfc Peta to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Kfc Peta is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign | 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Kfc Peta 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Kfc Peta 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.
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 Kfc Peta in the consumer business. Now Kfc Peta can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Kfc Peta can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Kfc Peta can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Kfc Peta 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Kfc Peta 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Kfc Peta in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Communication segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Kfc Peta 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Kfc Peta 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 Kfc Peta to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Communication industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Kfc Peta 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. Kfc Peta 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Kfc Peta can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Kfc Peta operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Communication sector.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Communication industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Kfc Peta can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign are -
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign, Kfc Peta may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Communication .
Increasing wage structure of Kfc Peta
– 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 Kfc Peta.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Kfc Peta with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Kfc Peta 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Kfc Peta 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 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. Kfc Peta 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Kfc Peta is facing in Communication sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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. Kfc Peta needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Communication industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Kfc Peta 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign .
Regulatory challenges
– Kfc Peta 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 Communication industry regulations.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Kfc Peta in the Communication industry. The Communication 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.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Kfc Peta 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 PETA's "Kentucky-Fried Cruelty, Inc." Campaign 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 Kfc Peta needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
