Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership
In this supplement to Maple Leaf Foods (A): The Listeriosis Crisis, product #9B11C001, describes what the company and its chief executive officer did to cope with this crisis in the days and months following.
Authors :: Jeffrey Gandz
Topics :: Leadership & Managing People
Tags :: International business, Leadership, Public relations, Risk management, SWOT Analysis, SWOT Matrix, TOWS, Weighted SWOT Analysis
Swot Analysis of "Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership" written by Jeffrey Gandz includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Leaf Maple facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, International business, Leadership, Public relations, Risk management and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership casestudy better are - – geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, increasing energy prices, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation,
talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Leaf Maple, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Leaf Maple 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 Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Leaf Maple
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 Leaf Maple
Strengths Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Leaf Maple in Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Leaf Maple is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Leaf Maple is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Leaf Maple in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Leaf Maple in the sector have low bargaining power. Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Leaf Maple to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
High brand equity
– Leaf Maple has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Leaf Maple to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Leaf Maple is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Leaf Maple to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Leaf Maple to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Diverse revenue streams
– Leaf Maple is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership 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.
Organizational Resilience of Leaf Maple
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Leaf Maple does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Leaf Maple 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 Leaf Maple in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Learning organization
- Leaf Maple 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 Leaf Maple is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Leaf Maple 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.
Weaknesses Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership are -
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 Leaf Maple supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Leaf Maple vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Leaf Maple, firm in the HBR case study Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Leaf Maple 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.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership, is just above the industry average. Leaf Maple 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.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership 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 Leaf Maple has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership 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 Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Leaf Maple is planning to shift buying processes online.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Leaf Maple 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 - Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Leaf Maple 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.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Leaf Maple is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Leaf Maple needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Leaf Maple to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership HBR case study mentions - Leaf Maple 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Leaf Maple 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.
Opportunities Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership | 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 Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Leaf Maple 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Leaf Maple 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Leaf Maple has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Leaf Maple to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership case study. Leaf Maple can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Leaf Maple 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Leaf Maple can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
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 Leaf Maple in the consumer business. Now Leaf Maple can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Leaf Maple 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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Leaf Maple to increase its market reach. Leaf Maple 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.
Buying journey improvements
– Leaf Maple can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership 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.
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. Leaf Maple 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. Leaf Maple 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.
Developing new processes and practices
– Leaf Maple 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Leaf Maple can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
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. Leaf Maple can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Threats Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership are -
Environmental challenges
– Leaf Maple 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. Leaf Maple can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
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 Leaf Maple business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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. Leaf Maple 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 Leaf Maple 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.
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 Leaf Maple.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Leaf Maple 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.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Leaf Maple 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. Leaf Maple 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.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Leaf Maple has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Leaf Maple 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.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Leaf Maple with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Leaf Maple in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Leaf Maple is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Regulatory challenges
– Leaf Maple 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 Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership 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 Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership 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 Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership 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 Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership 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 Maple Leaf Foods, Inc. (B): Crisis Leadership 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 Leaf Maple needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.