Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India
In 2009, a former engineering student set out with some like-minded friends to create a unique fast food service in Bangalore. Hungry Hogs Private Limited adapted a classic western favourite - hot dogs - to the local palate. The company went on to experience substantial success with revenues in excess of INR 7 million in 2013. The founding partner who set the business in motion must decide between expanding his successful business through franchising options or through the continued establishment of company-owned stores. He is concerned about maintaining the integrity of his products, keeping control over his business and maintaining the brand's favourable image. Sonia Mehrotra is affiliated with Prin. L.N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research.
Swot Analysis of "Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India" written by Sonia Mehrotra, V RamLakhan Annavarpu, Mansi Soni, Surbhi Bafna includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Hogs Dogs facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Economy, Entrepreneurship, Growth strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India casestudy better are - – supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing energy prices, geopolitical disruptions, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google,
increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Hogs Dogs, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Hogs Dogs 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Hogs Dogs
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 Hogs Dogs
Strengths Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Hogs Dogs in Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India Harvard Business Review case study are -
Learning organization
- Hogs Dogs 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 Hogs Dogs is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Hogs Dogs has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Hogs Dogs 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Hogs Dogs 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 Hogs Dogs in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Training and development
– Hogs Dogs has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Hogs Dogs 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.
Organizational Resilience of Hogs Dogs
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Hogs Dogs does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Hogs Dogs 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Hogs Dogs is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Analytics focus
– Hogs Dogs 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 Sonia Mehrotra, V RamLakhan Annavarpu, Mansi Soni, Surbhi Bafna 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
– Hogs Dogs is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Hogs Dogs 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Hogs Dogs is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Weaknesses Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India 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 Hogs Dogs has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India, 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India, is just above the industry average. Hogs Dogs 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 Hogs Dogs 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 cash cycle compare to competitors
Hogs Dogs 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Hogs Dogs is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Hogs Dogs needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Hogs Dogs to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Hogs Dogs 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.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Hogs Dogs is planning to shift buying processes online.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Sonia Mehrotra, V RamLakhan Annavarpu, Mansi Soni, Surbhi Bafna suggests that, Hogs Dogs 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Hogs Dogs 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.
Lack of clear differentiation of Hogs Dogs products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Hogs Dogs needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Opportunities Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India | 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Hogs Dogs in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Developing new processes and practices
– Hogs Dogs 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
– Hogs Dogs 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.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Hogs Dogs 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Hogs Dogs to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Loyalty marketing
– Hogs Dogs 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Hogs Dogs can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Hogs Dogs operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Hogs Dogs has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Hogs Dogs to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India case study. Hogs Dogs can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Hogs Dogs 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Hogs Dogs is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Hogs Dogs can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Hogs Dogs 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. Hogs Dogs can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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 Hogs Dogs in the consumer business. Now Hogs Dogs can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Threats Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India are -
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. Hogs Dogs 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Hogs Dogs 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India .
Environmental challenges
– Hogs Dogs 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. Hogs Dogs can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing wage structure of Hogs Dogs
– 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 Hogs Dogs.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Hogs Dogs is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Hogs Dogs in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Hogs Dogs 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Hogs Dogs with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
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. Hogs Dogs can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
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. Hogs Dogs needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Hogs Dogs business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India, Hogs Dogs 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 .
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Hogs Dogs 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India 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 Hungry Hogs: The Hot Dogs from India 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 Hogs Dogs needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
