Case Study Description of Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament
This B2B role play case and the six role play supplements describe an account manager's seven month sales process and the customer's buying process that led to a lost order. It is an excellent case to explore organizational buying behaviour, the discipline of the selling process and the management of sales resources (time) as an asset. It can be included in an introductory marketing course at the MBA or undergraduate level. It is equally effective for executive development. It also fits in a B2B marketing course to explore organizational buying behaviour, or in the introduction module in a sales management course.
Swot Analysis of "Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament" written by Michael Taylor includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Buying Behaviour facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, increasing commodity prices, wage bills are increasing, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, competitive advantages are harder to sustain because of technology dispersion, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
increasing energy prices, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Buying Behaviour, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Buying Behaviour 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Buying Behaviour
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 Buying Behaviour
Strengths Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Buying Behaviour in Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament Harvard Business Review case study are -
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Buying Behaviour 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.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Buying Behaviour 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Analytics focus
– Buying Behaviour 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 Michael Taylor 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.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Buying Behaviour 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.
Training and development
– Buying Behaviour has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Buying Behaviour in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Buying Behaviour has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Buying Behaviour 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Buying Behaviour is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Buying Behaviour 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 Buying Behaviour is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Buying Behaviour is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament 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.
Ability to lead change in Leadership & Managing People field
– Buying Behaviour 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 Buying Behaviour in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Weaknesses Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament are -
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Michael Taylor suggests that, Buying Behaviour 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 decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Buying Behaviour 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. Buying Behaviour 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.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Buying Behaviour, firm in the HBR case study Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Buying Behaviour products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Buying Behaviour needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Buying Behaviour is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Buying Behaviour needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Buying Behaviour to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Need for greater diversity
– Buying Behaviour 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Buying Behaviour 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Buying Behaviour 's lucrative customers.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Buying Behaviour 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.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Buying Behaviour 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament, is just above the industry average. Buying Behaviour 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.
Opportunities Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament | 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament are -
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Buying Behaviour 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.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Buying Behaviour 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.
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. Buying Behaviour can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Loyalty marketing
– Buying Behaviour 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.
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. Buying Behaviour can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Manufacturing automation
– Buying Behaviour 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
– Buying Behaviour 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.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Buying Behaviour 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, Buying Behaviour is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament 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.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Buying Behaviour 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, Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament, 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 Buying Behaviour in the consumer business. Now Buying Behaviour can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
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 Buying Behaviour 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.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Buying Behaviour has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Buying Behaviour to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament case study. Buying Behaviour can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Threats Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament are -
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Buying Behaviour 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.
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. Buying Behaviour 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.
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. Buying Behaviour can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Environmental challenges
– Buying Behaviour 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. Buying Behaviour can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Buying Behaviour 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.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Buying Behaviour is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
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 Buying Behaviour business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
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 Buying Behaviour.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Buying Behaviour 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament .
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Buying Behaviour has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Leadership & Managing People industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Buying Behaviour 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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Buying Behaviour 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.
Increasing wage structure of Buying Behaviour
– 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 Buying Behaviour.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Premiere Distributing Inc.: The Popcorn Predicament 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 Buying Behaviour needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.