Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon
Souk el Tayeb, the farmers' market, and Tawlet, the farmers' kitchen are two legal entities, the former adopting the legal structure of an NGO and the latter, an income generating company, joined by one vision namely to "celebrate food and traditions that unite communities and support small-scale farmers and producers and a culture of sustainable agriculture." Souk el Tayeb founder, Kamal Mouzawak, first launched Souk el Tayeb, a farmer's market, in May 2004 in Beirut, Lebanon. The idea was to create a communal space for farmers across the country to sell their organic produce and products. The over-arching vision was to create a platform that joined different people celebrating food, culture and traditions and in parallel promoting and supporting the agricultural sector in Lebanon. Mouzawak and his business partner were in the process of brainstorming ways to scale the impact of their social business while not compromising quality standards and meeting the ever looming challenge of financial sustainability.
Swot Analysis of "Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon" written by Dima Jamali, Haitham Khoury includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Souk Tayeb facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Growth strategy, International business, Leadership, Organizational culture, Sustainability and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon casestudy better are - – there is backlash against globalization, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing commodity prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies,
increasing energy prices, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Souk Tayeb, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Souk Tayeb 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Souk Tayeb
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 Souk Tayeb
Strengths Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Souk Tayeb in Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon Harvard Business Review case study are -
Training and development
– Souk Tayeb has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Souk Tayeb to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Souk Tayeb to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Learning organization
- Souk Tayeb 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 Souk Tayeb is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Souk Tayeb is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Souk Tayeb in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Souk Tayeb is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Souk Tayeb 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Organizational Resilience of Souk Tayeb
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Souk Tayeb does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Analytics focus
– Souk Tayeb 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 Dima Jamali, Haitham Khoury can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Souk Tayeb has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Souk Tayeb 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Souk Tayeb 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Souk Tayeb 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 Souk Tayeb in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon are -
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Souk Tayeb 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Souk Tayeb is planning to shift buying processes online.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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 Souk Tayeb has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon, it seems that the employees of Souk Tayeb 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Souk Tayeb is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Souk Tayeb needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Souk Tayeb to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Lack of clear differentiation of Souk Tayeb products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Souk Tayeb needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Souk Tayeb needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Souk Tayeb 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Souk Tayeb 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Souk Tayeb 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Souk Tayeb is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon | 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon are -
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. Souk Tayeb can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Souk Tayeb 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, Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Developing new processes and practices
– Souk Tayeb 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.
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. Souk Tayeb 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. Souk Tayeb 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Souk Tayeb can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Souk Tayeb 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 Souk Tayeb 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Souk Tayeb 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Souk Tayeb to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Souk Tayeb can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Souk Tayeb operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Souk Tayeb 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Souk Tayeb 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 Souk Tayeb to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Souk Tayeb 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.
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 Souk Tayeb in the consumer business. Now Souk Tayeb can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon are -
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Souk Tayeb has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Souk Tayeb 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.
Regulatory challenges
– Souk Tayeb 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Souk Tayeb in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
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. Souk Tayeb 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 Souk Tayeb 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
– Souk Tayeb 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
– Souk Tayeb 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. Souk Tayeb 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
– Souk Tayeb 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.
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 Souk Tayeb.
Increasing wage structure of Souk Tayeb
– 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 Souk Tayeb.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Souk Tayeb 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon .
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Souk Tayeb with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon, Souk Tayeb 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 .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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 Souk El Tayeb: The Good Food Market in Lebanon 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 Souk Tayeb needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
