Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
SWOT analysis in strategic management
Strategic management process
Strategic management process
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: SWOT analysis in strategic management
Strategic Planning
Kudler Fine Foods is committed to providing its customers with the finest selection of the very best foods and wines. Kudler has enjoyed successful growth by standing behind this commitment, but would now like to expand its services, and improve the efficiency of its operation (University of Phoenix, 2006). This requires flexible market strategies that are developed based on analysis of current internal and external forces affecting the company. Proper analysis and implementation will provide a successful strategy resulting in a sustainable competitive advantage (Gomez-Mejia & Balkin, 2002).
Changes in technology have helped Kudler to create new business opportunities. The development of a strategic information system is helping Kudler change the way it does business. The system is outwardly focused, aiming at direct competition, with the introduction of organic fruits and vegetables, and a catering service to beat the competition with offerings. The system is also inwardly focused through the improvement of the efficiency of the operation (Turban, Rainer, & Potter, 2003).
The use of the internet has given Kudler a window into its competition as will as a portal to its customers. Competitive intelligence is critical for strategic planning. The internet allows monitoring of competitor sites, gathering information on current products or trends, doing market research on the company website, accessing research done by others, and much more. This information is what can help put Kudler ahead of its competition. With the use of IT systems, Kudler can perform a SWOT analysis to help develop its marketing strategies.
Competition is the key to any company's success or failure. Using Porters competitive forces model, Kudler is able to recognize the five major forces that can challenge Kudler's position in the industry.
Kudler's possible competitors are identified by using the internet and locating the businesses having similar offerings to Kudler. This will confirm what Kudler already knows, but may identify potential competition unknown to Kudler. Kathy spends a great deal of time watching her competition. The advances in IT can help her do it more efficiently.
Suppliers for Kudler know once they are approved, there is not a great deal of competition for their product offering. IT improvements allow Kudler and suppliers to have an efficient and profitable relationship with improved inventory control and delivery systems.
Kudler's customers shop for the experience, not necessarily the price. IT systems have helped Kudler to be able to identify strong selling items quickly, allowing Kudler to take advantage of added sales by quicker shelf replenishment.
As strategy consultants of McCormick & Associates, we use Porters Five Forces Model as a framework when making a qualitative evaluation of a firm's strategic position (Appendix 1.2). These five forces determine the competitive intensity and therefore attractiveness of a market. These forces affect the ability of a company to serve its customers and make a profit. A change in any of the forces normally requires a company to re-assess the market place.
Kudler Fine Foods is a store unlike any in the grocery industry. Kudler Fine Foods represents a store that could possibly spark a new era within the grocery world. The owner of Kudler Fine Foods, Kathy Kudler, has watched her dream of owning and operating a grocery store that specializes in fine quality food grow within a short period of time. The success of Kudler Fine Foods can be attributed to the innovative ideas, effective leadership, and organizational structure. The overall mission of Kudler Fine Food's "is to provide our customers the finest in selected foodstuffs, wines, and related needs in an unparallel consumer environment. Our selections coupled with our experienced, helpful and knowledgeable staff, merge to offer each customer a delightful and pleasing shopping outing" (Apollo Group, 2003). Kudler has managed to maintain its mission statement by providing its customers with the best and as a result the company has flourished. "Kathy considers one of her key responsibilities to be that of identification of new gourmet items that can be offered in her stores (Apollo Group, 2003)." Therefore, Kathy is considering plans to contract with local growers of organic produce to yet obtain the best in quality products for her consumers and take her business to the next step. If Kathy makes the decision to contract with local growers then changes could be introduced into the company's overall structural organization. Each aspect of Kudler Fine Food's organizational structure from basic business process to the supply chain and quality control process will be affected by the formation of a contractual relationship with local organic growers.
Founded in 1986, Pret A Manger is a fast food chain, which produces freshly prepared, natural food with over 250 stores throughout the United Kingdom, France, Hong-Kong and the United States. Unlike most fast-food chains, Pret is a private company; they do not face the same pressure to grow as a public company does. However there are many factors that affect Pret A Manger’s marketplace such as economy, competition, technology, political environment, and the standard of living. This report evaluates major internal and external factors affecting Pret A Manger using various analytical techniques.
This allows them to purchase high volume for a lower cost. Bringing over 20,000 products into one convenient location and with over 450 brands they provide a large selection.
Kudler Fine Foods is also a fierce competitor in their industry, with several locations in the San Diego Metropolitan area of California. Although their competitors, including Whole Foods, a large fine food box store, and other local fresh food markets, Kudler also has to work at staying innovative and maintain their capability to cater to each individual consumers’ wants and
The company has a very good information systems support in being able to make strategic and routine decisions. They research and look into every available option prior to committing to purchasing or contracting with the companies in making sure that they are able to make the best quality product at the lowest costs.
Competitive rivalry examines how intense the competition currently is in the marketplace, which is determined by the number of existing competitors and what each is capable of doing. (Arline, 2015).
Rivalry among established firms is fierce. There are several factors that illustrate this: established market players (6.1). The product is highly standardized and the switching costs of the customers are low. Players are aggressive (6.2)
It has also established a distinguishable name among its competitors with a reputation for leading customer service. However, even as an established venture, the company needs to maximize its profits in order to stay in business and expand into new territories beyond its conquered boundaries. A strategic analysis was carried out by our team to establish the company’s current situation. A SWOT analysis was performed to come up with three referenced, strategic alternatives. These alternatives are meant to act as strategic guidance to the company in order to enhance growth.
The Porter five forces model (see Appendix 1) as an external analysis tool was established by Michael E. Porter and firstly announced in his book “Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors” in 1980 . The main idea of the Porter five forces concept is that the attractiveness of a market depends on the characteristic of the five competitive forces that have an impact on a company (see Appendix 2).
This work will determine the baseline of the current market situation for the company, which is essential for any further exercise and analysis. To understand how the business model correlates with the product marketing, need to see if there is any evident cause-effect relationship between product characteristics and the nature of the product company. If such correlation exists, it will be important to see the transition of such characteristics into the company marketing strategy. It can show how company’s strategies can be successfully addressed in a real-world scenario. Both internal and external analysis, SWOT matrix will help to determine the company’s current market position.
Threats of new entrants: In order for competitors hurting your business you must create a defense barrier, establish customer loyalty, protecting your work (copyright, patent), creating branding (logo), and choosing a great location, up-to-date with technology, and have unique products
We analyzed the competitive forces in an industry to help define an appropriate overall business strategy. It basically helps to determine which of the forces pose a major threat to the future success of the business and in what way.
Porter’s five forces is a framework for analyzing an industry and business strategy development. It looks at forces that determine the competitive intensity of an industry and hence the overall attractiveness of that industry. The configuration of the five forces differs by industry. Understanding the competitive forces and their underlying causes reveals the roots of an industry’s current profitability while providing a framework for anticipating and influencing competition over time.
This case describes how Heineken USA's in order to gain market share, it needed to achieve a better responsive to the market demand utilizing an internet-based system called HOPS (Heineken Operational Planning System) to allow the parent company to produce the beer closer to the time when they need to deliver it, so the customer receives a fresher product. The implantation of this new system enables Heineken USA to achieve 50% reduction in the lead-time from order to delivery and 10% increase in sales, part of the major success was the good use of IS, which can dramatically improve customer relationships and cut costs.