Case Study Description of Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment
The purchasing manager was wondering how many bottles he should purchase in the coming year. Last year, the market had levelled off and sales predictions were difficult. On the one hand he wanted to be sure sufficient bottles were available to supply this year's sales levels, yet he also wanted to minimize year-end inventories as covered storage space for empty bottles was tight and a bottle change-over seemed possible in the next two years.
Authors :: James A. Erskine, Michiel R. Leenders, Chris J. Piper
Swot Analysis of "Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment" written by James A. Erskine, Michiel R. Leenders, Chris J. Piper includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bottles Bottle facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Operations management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment casestudy better are - – increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing transportation and logistics costs, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , 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%, wage bills are increasing, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bottles Bottle, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bottles Bottle 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bottles Bottle
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 Bottles Bottle
Strengths Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bottles Bottle in Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment Harvard Business Review case study are -
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bottles Bottle 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.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Bottles Bottle 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
High brand equity
– Bottles Bottle has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bottles Bottle to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Innovation driven organization
– Bottles Bottle is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Organizational Resilience of Bottles Bottle
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Bottles Bottle does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bottles Bottle digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bottles Bottle 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.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Bottles Bottle to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Bottles Bottle to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Bottles Bottle is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bottles Bottle has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bottles Bottle 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.
Strong track record of project management
– Bottles Bottle is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Bottles Bottle is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Bottles Bottle 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 Bottles Bottle in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment are -
Lack of clear differentiation of Bottles Bottle products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Bottles Bottle needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bottles Bottle 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 dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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 Bottles Bottle has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Bottles Bottle 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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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 Bottles Bottle 's lucrative customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bottles Bottle is planning to shift buying processes online.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment, is just above the industry average. Bottles Bottle 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.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bottles Bottle is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, James A. Erskine, Michiel R. Leenders, Chris J. Piper suggests that, Bottles Bottle 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bottles Bottle 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 - Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Bottles Bottle 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. Bottles Bottle 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.
Opportunities Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment | 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment are -
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Bottles Bottle 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 Bottles Bottle to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Bottles Bottle has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bottles Bottle to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment case study. Bottles Bottle can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Loyalty marketing
– Bottles Bottle 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, Bottles Bottle can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Bottles Bottle operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Bottles Bottle 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.
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. Bottles Bottle can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bottles Bottle is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Leadership & Managing People industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Bottles Bottle 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. Bottles Bottle 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.
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. Bottles Bottle can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bottles Bottle to increase its market reach. Bottles Bottle 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.
Manufacturing automation
– Bottles Bottle 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bottles Bottle 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.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bottles Bottle 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.
Threats Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment are -
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bottles Bottle is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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.
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 Bottles Bottle business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bottles Bottle 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment .
Increasing wage structure of Bottles Bottle
– 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 Bottles Bottle.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment, Bottles Bottle 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 .
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bottles Bottle high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Bottles Bottle.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bottles Bottle 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.
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. Bottles Bottle 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.
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 Bottles Bottle in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Bottles Bottle can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bottles Bottle 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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 Greaves Brewery: Bottle Replenishment 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 Bottles Bottle needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
