BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND
Peer Swinkels (36) took a moment in 2011 to reflect on the achievements and the challenges that lay ahead for the 330-year-old family brewery. Peer was responsible for the commercial activities of the company. Together with his fellow board members, he was quite aware that his predecessors had left behind a beer company that excelled in manufacturing but lacked the brand traction to really hit the big league. The challenge for the seventh generation was clearly to leverage its exceptional brewing skills to create an equally strong brand using the unique family values and culture nurtured since the company was created back in 1680. Bavaria stood for fierce independence and a high degree of entrepreneurship, mixing legacy with innovation. Despite its long history, Bavaria regarded itself as a fresh young company, as epitomized by its internal motto ("Let's try") and the branding pay-off of the Bavaria brand ("Done!"). In the last few years, Bavaria had made significant progress in (re-)positioning the brand. It had successfully revitalized it in its Dutch home market with a new brand design, and was now rolling it out on a global scale. It launched award-winning innovations such as alcohol-free white beers. Its innovative guerilla marketing activities at the World Soccer Championships in South Africa won applauses and recognition all over the world. Should the company roll out the same aggressive product and marketing tactics in its 120 markets? Would it be possible to pull off a new guerilla marketing campaign around the 2012 European Soccer Championships in Poland and Ukraine? What other channels should it consider to reinforce the brand and match its product innovation prowess? Learning objectives: Guerilla marketing, growth management, family business.
Swot Analysis of "BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND" written by Benoit Leleux, Jan Van Der Kaaij includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Bavaria Guerilla facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Succession planning and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND casestudy better are - – increasing transportation and logistics costs, geopolitical disruptions, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, wage bills are increasing, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies,
technology disruption, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Bavaria Guerilla, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Bavaria Guerilla 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 BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Bavaria Guerilla
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 Bavaria Guerilla
Strengths BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Bavaria Guerilla in BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Bavaria Guerilla is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Bavaria Guerilla digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Bavaria Guerilla 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Bavaria Guerilla in the sector have low bargaining power. BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Bavaria Guerilla to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Bavaria Guerilla has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Learning organization
- Bavaria Guerilla 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 Bavaria Guerilla is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Bavaria Guerilla 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 Bavaria Guerilla in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
High brand equity
– Bavaria Guerilla has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Bavaria Guerilla to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Strong track record of project management
– Bavaria Guerilla 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
– Bavaria Guerilla is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Weaknesses BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND are -
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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 BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Bavaria Guerilla is planning to shift buying processes online.
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 Bavaria Guerilla supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Bavaria Guerilla vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Ability to respond to the competition
– As the decision making is very deliberative, highlighted in the case study BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND, in the dynamic environment Bavaria Guerilla has struggled to respond to the nimble upstart competition. Bavaria Guerilla has reasonably good record with similar level competitors but it has struggled with new entrants taking away niches of its business.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Bavaria Guerilla is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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, Benoit Leleux, Jan Van Der Kaaij suggests that, Bavaria Guerilla is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND HBR case study mentions - Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Bavaria Guerilla 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 - BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Need for greater diversity
– Bavaria Guerilla has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Bavaria Guerilla, firm in the HBR case study BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Bavaria Guerilla 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
Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Opportunities BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND | 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 BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND are -
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Bavaria Guerilla 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.
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. Bavaria Guerilla 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. Bavaria Guerilla 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.
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. Bavaria Guerilla can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
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. Bavaria Guerilla can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Manufacturing automation
– Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Bavaria Guerilla is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Bavaria Guerilla 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 Bavaria Guerilla has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Bavaria Guerilla to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND case study. Bavaria Guerilla can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Bavaria Guerilla to increase its market reach. Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Bavaria Guerilla 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.
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 Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Bavaria Guerilla 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, BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Threats BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND are -
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. Bavaria Guerilla needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Leadership & Managing People industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
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 Bavaria Guerilla.
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 Bavaria Guerilla in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Bavaria Guerilla has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Bavaria Guerilla 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.
Increasing wage structure of Bavaria Guerilla
– 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 Bavaria Guerilla.
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 Bavaria Guerilla business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Bavaria Guerilla is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Bavaria Guerilla 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 BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND .
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. Bavaria Guerilla can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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 BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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 BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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 BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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 BAVARIA AND THE SWINKELS FAMILY: BREWING A STICKY BRAND 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 Bavaria Guerilla needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
