Charley's Family Steak House (C) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Finance & Accounting
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Charley's Family Steak House (C)
In this, the third of a three-case series, Alex Pearson, Charley's Family Steak House No. 2 manager, continues to prepare for his upcoming meeting with steak house owner Charley Turner. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the restaurant's 2009 results, review how they compared with budget, and assess how Pearson performed during his second year as restaurant manager. He is hopeful that this year's meeting will go as well as last year's meeting and that Turner will decide to award him a bonus again this year.
Swot Analysis of "Charley's Family Steak House (C)" written by E. Richard Brownlee II includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Steak Charley's facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Charley's Family Steak House (C) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Corporate governance, Costs, Financial analysis and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Charley's Family Steak House (C) casestudy better are - – customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions, increasing transportation and logistics costs, increasing commodity prices,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Charley's Family Steak House (C)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Charley's Family Steak House (C) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Steak Charley's, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Steak Charley's 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Charley's Family Steak House (C) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Steak Charley's
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Finance & Accounting field.
4. Making a Finance & Accounting topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Steak Charley's
Strengths Charley's Family Steak House (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Steak Charley's in Charley's Family Steak House (C) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Steak Charley's is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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
– Steak Charley's 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to lead change in Finance & Accounting field
– Steak Charley's 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 Steak Charley's in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Innovation driven organization
– Steak Charley's is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Charley's Family Steak House (C) Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Steak Charley's in the sector have low bargaining power. Charley's Family Steak House (C) has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Steak Charley's to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Organizational Resilience of Steak Charley's
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Steak Charley's does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
High brand equity
– Steak Charley's has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Steak Charley's to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Steak Charley's has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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
– Steak Charley's has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Steak Charley's 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 Finance & Accounting industry
– Charley's Family Steak House (C) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Steak Charley's to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Steak Charley's to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Steak Charley's 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Steak Charley's digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Steak Charley's 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.
Weaknesses Charley's Family Steak House (C) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Charley's Family Steak House (C) are -
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Steak Charley's 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Steak Charley's is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Finance & Accounting segment. Steak Charley's needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Steak Charley's to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Steak Charley's, firm in the HBR case study Charley's Family Steak House (C) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Need for greater diversity
– Steak Charley's has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Charley's Family Steak House (C), is just above the industry average. Steak Charley's 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.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Steak Charley's 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.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Charley's Family Steak House (C), it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Finance & Accounting 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Steak Charley's 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. Steak Charley's 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Charley's Family Steak House (C), it seems that the employees of Steak Charley's 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 operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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 Steak Charley's 's lucrative customers.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Steak Charley's is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) | 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) are -
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Steak Charley's 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Steak Charley's to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
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. Steak Charley's can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Steak Charley's can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Finance & Accounting 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Steak Charley's has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Steak Charley's to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Charley's Family Steak House (C) case study. Steak Charley's can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Developing new processes and practices
– Steak Charley's can develop new processes and procedures in Finance & Accounting 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Steak Charley's is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Steak Charley's to increase its market reach. Steak Charley's 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Steak Charley's 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Steak Charley's 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, Charley's Family Steak House (C), to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Finance & Accounting industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Steak Charley's 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. Steak Charley's 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, Steak Charley's can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Steak Charley's operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Finance & Accounting sector.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Steak Charley's 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.
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 Steak Charley's 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.
Threats Charley's Family Steak House (C) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Charley's Family Steak House (C) are -
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Steak Charley's 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Steak Charley's in the Finance & Accounting industry. The Finance & Accounting 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.
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.
Environmental challenges
– Steak Charley's 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. Steak Charley's can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
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 wage structure of Steak Charley's
– 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 Steak Charley's.
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. Steak Charley's needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Finance & Accounting industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Regulatory challenges
– Steak Charley's 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 Finance & Accounting industry regulations.
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 Steak Charley's.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Steak Charley's with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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 Steak Charley's in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Steak Charley's 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Steak Charley's 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) .
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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 Charley's Family Steak House (C) 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 Steak Charley's needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.