Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead
In 2015, Britannia Industries - India's most recognized biscuit brand - had overtaken Parle as the market leader in the biscuit (cookie) category and faced stiff competition from Parle, ITC's Sunfeast, and many regional competitors. Britannia had to devise a strategy that would allow it to further consolidate its leadership position without losing market share; increasing the price alone was not an option in this highly competitive market. What could Britannia do to remain India's number-one biscuit maker? How could it stay ahead of its rivals in the area of product innovation? In a market swamped with near-identical product packaging, it had to devise a strategy that would help it avoid an identity crisis and make it the consumer's first choice. The company's senior management needed to chart a clear roadmap for the future. Sandeep Puri is affiliated with Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad.
Swot Analysis of "Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead" written by Sandeep Puri, Siddhant Chhabra, Kunal Peshin includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Britannia Biscuit facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Manufacturing, Strategy and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead casestudy better are - – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , geopolitical disruptions,
digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Britannia Biscuit, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Britannia Biscuit 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Britannia Biscuit
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 Britannia Biscuit
Strengths Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Britannia Biscuit in Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead Harvard Business Review case study are -
Ability to recruit top talent
– Britannia Biscuit is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Diverse revenue streams
– Britannia Biscuit is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
High brand equity
– Britannia Biscuit has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Britannia Biscuit to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Britannia Biscuit is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Britannia Biscuit digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Britannia Biscuit 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Britannia Biscuit are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Organizational Resilience of Britannia Biscuit
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Britannia Biscuit does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Training and development
– Britannia Biscuit has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Britannia Biscuit 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Britannia Biscuit 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 Sandeep Puri, Siddhant Chhabra, Kunal Peshin 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
– Britannia Biscuit has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Britannia Biscuit 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.
Weaknesses Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Britannia Biscuit is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead, is just above the industry average. Britannia Biscuit 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Britannia Biscuit, firm in the HBR case study Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Britannia Biscuit products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Britannia Biscuit needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Britannia Biscuit supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Britannia Biscuit vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Britannia Biscuit 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Britannia Biscuit 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead, it seems that the employees of Britannia Biscuit 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.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead HBR case study mentions - Britannia Biscuit takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Britannia Biscuit 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Britannia Biscuit is planning to shift buying processes online.
Opportunities Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead | 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Britannia Biscuit 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Britannia Biscuit can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Britannia Biscuit operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Britannia Biscuit can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Britannia Biscuit is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead 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.
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 Britannia Biscuit 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Britannia Biscuit 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Britannia Biscuit 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.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Britannia Biscuit 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 Britannia Biscuit to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Britannia Biscuit 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.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Britannia Biscuit can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Britannia Biscuit 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Britannia Biscuit has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Britannia Biscuit to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead case study. Britannia Biscuit can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Britannia Biscuit 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Britannia Biscuit to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Threats Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead are -
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Britannia Biscuit 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Britannia Biscuit is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Britannia Biscuit 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.
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 Britannia Biscuit.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Britannia Biscuit 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Britannia Biscuit 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.
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. Britannia Biscuit 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.
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. Britannia Biscuit 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 Britannia Biscuit 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead, Britannia Biscuit 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 .
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 Britannia Biscuit in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Britannia Biscuit has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Britannia Biscuit 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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead 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 Britannia Industries: Maintaining a Market Lead 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 Britannia Biscuit needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.