PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A)
Plumrose Latinoamericana, a subsidiary of the Danish Group, The East Asiatic Company Ltd A/S (EAC), better known in Venezuela as Plumrose, is the country's largest player within the processed meat industry. Bent Porsborg, CEO of Plumrose, was concerned that despite repeated marketing efforts, Plumrose's share in the deviled ham category had been stagnating, at less than 10% over the last 10 years, while the market leader Underwood, a General Mills brand, enjoyed close to 90% market share. To add insult to injury, the general manager of General Mills Venezuela told Porsborg, at a meeting in 2004, that he did not really consider Plumrose as a competitor. Following that meeting, Porsborg immediately created a special task force to launch an aggressive attack in the deviled ham category. Learning objectives: How to write a marketing plan and develop a marketing strategy.
Swot Analysis of "PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A)" written by Dominique Turpin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Plumrose Porsborg facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Marketing and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, geopolitical disruptions, wage bills are increasing,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Plumrose Porsborg, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Plumrose Porsborg 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 PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Plumrose Porsborg
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 Plumrose Porsborg
Strengths PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Plumrose Porsborg in PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Plumrose Porsborg in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Plumrose Porsborg has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Plumrose Porsborg is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Learning organization
- Plumrose Porsborg 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 Plumrose Porsborg is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Analytics focus
– Plumrose Porsborg 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 Dominique Turpin 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Plumrose Porsborg is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Diverse revenue streams
– Plumrose Porsborg is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
High brand equity
– Plumrose Porsborg has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Plumrose Porsborg to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) 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.
Organizational Resilience of Plumrose Porsborg
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Plumrose Porsborg does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Weaknesses PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) 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 PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Plumrose Porsborg is planning to shift buying processes online.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Plumrose Porsborg 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A), 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) HBR case study mentions - Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Plumrose Porsborg 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Plumrose Porsborg 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. Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Plumrose Porsborg is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Lack of clear differentiation of Plumrose Porsborg products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Plumrose Porsborg 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 Plumrose Porsborg supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A), it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Plumrose Porsborg vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A), it seems that the employees of Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Plumrose Porsborg 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 PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) | 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 PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) are -
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Plumrose Porsborg to increase its market reach. Plumrose Porsborg 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.
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. Plumrose Porsborg 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. Plumrose Porsborg can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Developing new processes and practices
– Plumrose Porsborg can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Manufacturing automation
– Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Plumrose Porsborg can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Leadership & Managing People segment.
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. Plumrose Porsborg 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. Plumrose Porsborg 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.
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 Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Plumrose Porsborg can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Loyalty marketing
– Plumrose Porsborg has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Threats PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Plumrose Porsborg is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Plumrose Porsborg 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 PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Plumrose Porsborg with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A), Plumrose Porsborg 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 .
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. Plumrose Porsborg can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Environmental challenges
– Plumrose Porsborg 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. Plumrose Porsborg can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Plumrose Porsborg 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) 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 PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) 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 PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) 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 PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) 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 PLUMROSE LATINOAMERICANA: RELAUNCHING DEVILED HAM IN VENEZUELA (A) 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 Plumrose Porsborg needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.