Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits (MBWS) SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / MBA Resources
Beverages (Alcoholic)
Strategy / MBA Resources
Introduction to SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix for Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits (France)
Based on various researches at Oak Spring University , Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is operating in a macro-environment that has been destablized by – challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, wage bills are increasing, increasing government debt because of Covid-19 spendings, increasing commodity prices, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, geopolitical disruptions,
central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University, we believe that Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits
2. Improving business portfolio management of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in France
4. Making a Beverages (Alcoholic) sector specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits
Strengths of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits are -
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Beverages (Alcoholic) industry
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive Beverages (Alcoholic) industry. Secondly the value chain collaborators of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the Beverages (Alcoholic) 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.
Learning organization
- Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders at Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Ability to lead change in Beverages (Alcoholic)
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is one of the leading players in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry in France. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry in France but also across the existing markets. The ability to lead change has enabled Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
Diverse revenue streams
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is present in almost all the verticals within the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry. This has provided Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits in the Consumer/Non-Cyclical sector have low bargaining power. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is one of the leading players in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry in France. It is in a position to attract the best talent available in France. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Innovation driven organization
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is one of the most innovative firm in Beverages (Alcoholic) sector.
High brand equity
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Weaknesses of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication can help Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits to provide better information regarding Beverages (Alcoholic) products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is one of the leading players in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry, it takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry in last five years.
Lack of clear differentiation of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Skills based hiring in Beverages (Alcoholic) industry
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 dependence on Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits ‘s star products
– The top 2 products and services of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in Beverages (Alcoholic) industry has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of France, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry over the last five years. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Employees’ less understanding of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits strategy
– From the outside it seems that the employees of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits Opportunities | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits are -
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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– consumer behavior has changed in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Beverages (Alcoholic) industry.
Buying journey improvements
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits can improve the customer journey of consumers in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. It 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.
Loyalty marketing
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits to increase its market reach. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Beverages (Alcoholic) sector.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions in Beverages (Alcoholic) industry
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry. Now Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits can utilize new technology in the field of Beverages (Alcoholic) industry to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Threats Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits are -
Environmental challenges
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry.
Increasing wage structure of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits
– 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits.
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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits.
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. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits prominent markets.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits is facing in Beverages (Alcoholic) sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Beverages (Alcoholic) 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.
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. Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits needs to understand the core reasons impacting the Beverages (Alcoholic) industry. This will help it in building a better workplace.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Beverages (Alcoholic) industry.
Consumer confidence and its impact on Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Beverages (Alcoholic) industry and other sectors.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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.
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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits in the Beverages (Alcoholic) sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers at Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits 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 Marie Brizard Wine & Spirits needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.