Case Study Description of Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged)
In 1984, the SEC accused Paul Thayer and eight others of insider trading. Some of Thayer's inside information came from his position on the board of Anheuser-Busch, where he had learned about Busch's 1982 merger with Campbell Taggart before the merger was publicly announced. The case deals with Busch's reaction after learning about the SEC suit. In considering possible actions by Busch, students may explore the workings of capital markets and attempt to estimate the amount of financial damage done to Busch by the insider trading. Other issues involve ethics, the allocation of management resources on costly legal battles, and the differing objectives of board members and managers.
Swot Analysis of "Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged)" written by Erik Sirri includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Busch Taggart facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Ethics, Financial markets, Mergers & acquisitions, Regulation and Finance & Accounting.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) casestudy better are - – technology disruption, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing energy prices, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged)
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Busch Taggart, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Busch Taggart 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 Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Busch Taggart
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 Busch Taggart
Strengths Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Busch Taggart in Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) Harvard Business Review case study are -
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Busch Taggart 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 Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Analytics focus
– Busch Taggart 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 Erik Sirri 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Busch Taggart is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Busch Taggart in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
High brand equity
– Busch Taggart has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Busch Taggart to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Busch Taggart 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 Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Digital Transformation in Finance & Accounting segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Busch Taggart digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Busch Taggart 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Busch Taggart is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Busch Taggart 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Busch Taggart has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Busch Taggart 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Busch Taggart 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Finance & Accounting industry
– Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Busch Taggart to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Busch Taggart to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Weaknesses Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Erik Sirri suggests that, Busch Taggart is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Busch Taggart is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Busch Taggart 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.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged), in the dynamic environment Busch Taggart has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Busch Taggart has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Lack of clear differentiation of Busch Taggart products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Busch Taggart needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Need for greater diversity
– Busch Taggart 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Busch Taggart, firm in the HBR case study Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Busch Taggart 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged), it seems that the employees of Busch Taggart 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Busch Taggart has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged), is just above the industry average. Busch Taggart 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.
Opportunities Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) | 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 Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Busch Taggart 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.
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 Busch Taggart in the consumer business. Now Busch Taggart can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Busch Taggart 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 Busch Taggart to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Busch Taggart in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Finance & Accounting segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Finance & Accounting industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Busch Taggart can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Busch Taggart 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.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Busch Taggart 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Busch Taggart 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.
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. Busch Taggart can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Busch Taggart 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. Busch Taggart 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 Busch Taggart 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Busch Taggart can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Busch Taggart to increase its market reach. Busch Taggart 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.
Threats Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) are -
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 Busch Taggart.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Busch Taggart 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 Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) .
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Busch Taggart is facing in Finance & Accounting sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Busch Taggart
– 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 Busch Taggart.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Finance & Accounting field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Busch Taggart can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Busch Taggart 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Busch Taggart 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.
Environmental challenges
– Busch Taggart 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. Busch Taggart can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Finance & Accounting industry.
Regulatory challenges
– Busch Taggart 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.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged), Busch Taggart may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Finance & Accounting .
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. Busch Taggart 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.
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.
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 Busch Taggart in the Finance & Accounting sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) 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 Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) 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 Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) 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 Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) 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 Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged) 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 Busch Taggart needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
