H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B)
Summarizes the investigation conducted by outside legal and accounting firms under the Heinz audit committee. Improper practices were found at three of the five Heinz domestic divisions and at a number of foreign operations. Presents restated financial data for the period, filed by Heinz with the SEC. Summarizes the committee's assessment of contributing factors and its conclusions.
Swot Analysis of "H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B)" written by Kenneth E. Goodpaster, Richard J. Post includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Heinz Summarizes facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Boards, Ethics, Government, Motivating people, Organizational structure, Social responsibility and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) casestudy better are - – wage bills are increasing, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Heinz Summarizes, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Heinz Summarizes 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Heinz Summarizes
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Heinz Summarizes
Strengths H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Heinz Summarizes in H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Heinz Summarizes has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Heinz Summarizes to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Heinz Summarizes has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Heinz Summarizes has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Heinz Summarizes 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Heinz Summarizes to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Heinz Summarizes to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Heinz Summarizes 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Learning organization
- Heinz Summarizes 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 Heinz Summarizes is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Heinz Summarizes
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Heinz Summarizes does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Heinz Summarizes in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Heinz Summarizes 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Heinz Summarizes 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Heinz Summarizes 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) are -
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Heinz Summarizes, firm in the HBR case study H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Heinz Summarizes is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Heinz Summarizes needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Heinz Summarizes to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Heinz Summarizes 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. Heinz Summarizes even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) 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 Heinz Summarizes has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Heinz Summarizes 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 to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Heinz Summarizes is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B), is just above the industry average. Heinz Summarizes 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Leadership & Managing People 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Heinz Summarizes products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Heinz Summarizes needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
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 Heinz Summarizes supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Heinz Summarizes vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Heinz Summarizes 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.
Opportunities H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) | 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Heinz Summarizes 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 Heinz Summarizes to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Manufacturing automation
– Heinz Summarizes can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Leadership & Managing People 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Heinz Summarizes 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
– Heinz Summarizes can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Heinz Summarizes 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Heinz Summarizes to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Heinz Summarizes 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 Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Heinz Summarizes 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. Heinz Summarizes 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Heinz Summarizes can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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 Heinz Summarizes 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.
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. Heinz Summarizes can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Heinz Summarizes can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Heinz Summarizes is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Heinz Summarizes can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Heinz Summarizes operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Threats H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) are -
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. Heinz Summarizes needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Heinz Summarizes 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.
Environmental challenges
– Heinz Summarizes 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. Heinz Summarizes can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Heinz Summarizes has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Heinz Summarizes needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Leadership & Managing People 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.
Increasing wage structure of Heinz Summarizes
– 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 Heinz Summarizes.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B), Heinz Summarizes may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Leadership & Managing People .
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 Heinz Summarizes business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Heinz Summarizes is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Heinz Summarizes 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Heinz Summarizes can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Heinz Summarizes in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) 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 H.J. Heinz Co.: The Administration of Policy (B) 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 Heinz Summarizes needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
