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Quenchbliss Case Study: Write a SWOT Analysis SCENARIO: Quenchbliss is a craft soda company based in El Paso, Texas. Craft sodas are more expensive, gourmet sodas, usually from small companies—the soft drink equivalent of “microbrews.” Quenchbliss’s primary business is their sodas, with smaller revenue streams from merchandise. They have an owners group of thirty shareholders but are not yet publicly traded. They have a staff of about 80, most of whom work in the warehouse, distribution, and at a store attached to the warehouse. All operations are at the same location, from research and development, to promotions and sales, to bottling and distribution. Because it began as a small operation and grew quickly, their organizational structure is flat and organic. “Everybody does a little bit of everything,” their founder and CEO says. Indeed, the CEO herself sometimes takes the register at the store or oversees warehouse operations. Quenchbliss’s claim to fame is unusual flavors, like “Bacon and Eggs,” and seasonal offerings like “Thanksgiving Turkey.” They have to constantly release new flavors since their target market is focused on these new and unique flavors. In fact, one of the company’s biggest sellers is their subscription box, which comes out four times a year and contains a four-pack of their newest flavors and seasonal favorites. The unusual and constantly changing flavors are also what bring people into the store. Quenchbliss does produce traditional flavors like cola and lemon-lime, which they distribute through restaurants and grocery stores. These bring in reliable revenue, even if they don’t get the attention on social media of their nontraditional flavors. Several months ago, Quenchbliss went international by opening a distribution center in Juarez, Mexico. This market has little competition for craft soda, so their products have become popular. They’ve done so well, in fact, Quenchbliss is considering expanding into other international markets such as Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Kingston, Jamaica. However, since they have spent time, money, and energy on expansion, Quenchbliss has lost a contract with a local restaurant chain and has also seen a decrease in subscriptions. Because of these setbacks, Quenchbliss has put expansion on hold and gone back to finding exciting new flavors by growing their product development team, a combination of food scientists and creative professionals who brainstorm how to create and market new flavors. This move has caused some internal friction, as many were excited about the continued growth of the brand. Another source of internal friction is that salaries are not keeping pace with the market, so Quenchbliss has a hard time recruiting people for lower-level jobs of production and distribution. These jobs also have high turnover. ASSIGNMENT: For all of the Touchstones in this class, you will take on the role of an Organizational Behavior Consultant to help Quenchbliss understand and address their challenges. For this assignment, you will perform a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). In addition to providing initial analysis of the organization, you will make recommendations based on the tutorials you have read so far. For more information on SWOT analyses, see the tutorial on Internal Organizations and External Environments. You should also review the content throughout Unit 1 on internal and external environments, organizational change, and diversity in the workforce. An example SWOT analysis is provided in Section B below. B. Example This example shows one way to do a SWOT analysis, for the other company we discuss throughout the class, Media4U. Since that company has a different story than Quenchbliss, please use this only as a reference for what a SWOT analysis looks like; do not copy the specific points. Strengths Weaknesses High customer satisfaction and loyalty give Media4U reliable core business. Committed, creative, and diverse employees give Media4U a strong portfolio that attracts new clients. Ethical approach to advertising builds trust and authenticity giving a competitive edge to clients who share our values. Leadership committed to continuous improvement assuring that Media4U will continue to adapt to the changing environment. Structural changes have created instability, which in turn affects employee morale. The Media4U brand is not well known in a highly competitive market, making it harder to attract new clients. While there are new hires who lead social media marketing efforts, the organization still lacks broad or deep technological knowledge making it hard to compete in this area. Staff feels opportunities for advancement are rare and highly competitive, making them less loyal and committed to Media4U in the long term. Opportunities Threats New media marketing is a growth industry (Business Insights Today, 2024) so Media4U could meet this demand. Companies are looking for authenticity and DEI in advertising (Little Black Book) which are strength areas for Media4U. Election years always provide additional work for media companies so Media4U could focus sales in this area. Growth of business in DC area is good opportunity for new client relationships, so Media4U could focus on building relationships with new businesses. AI is threat to conventional media creation (Anderson, 2024) changing the media landscape in ways we can’t anticipate. Other companies have more tech savvy in areas like digital marketing and data analytics so we must catch up if we want to stay relevant. Political clients can lead to blowback from clients (AAF, 2024) so we must be careful about committing to divisive candidates. Advertising companies outpacing other businesses for growth in DC area, meaning more competition for new clients and even maintaining current clients. Impact Media4U is facing some challenges which threaten the stability of the organization. In particular, they lag on technological capacity. They have made some gains in this area by adding a social media marketing department, but still have limited resources in this area and furthermore have trouble recruiting and training staff who have this knowledge. Further change is needed to stay competitive. Media4U is at a crucial stage in the business life cycle, one where organizational decisions can lead to decline or renewal based on willingness to make deep changes (“Organizational Change”, n.d.) In addressing this need, the organization should consider a “bottom-up” approach to making organizational changes, since without employee buy-in there is likely to be continued friction and even resentment. One tried-and-true approach that would be effective for Media4U is a “5-D” process. Following this model, leadership would create a cross-organizational committee to define their goals for the future, discover (do initial learning about the environment), dream and design (create a broad vision for their organization, and identify specific ways to achieve it) and ultimately determine the organization’s destiny (“Appreciative Inquiry”, n.d.). Each member of the committee can also meet with their respective departments, so all points of view are represented and the change has organization-wide commitment. Moreover, it is important to consider all stakeholders in these decisions, especially existing (especially long-term) clients. An open meeting for all stakeholders where a trained facilitator helps them explore ideas for the future would assure that organizational changes are consistent with what other stakeholders (such as clients and the community) want from Media4U and help avoid further instability (“Complex Adaptive Systems”, n.d.). These stakeholders also have ideas and beliefs that need to be part of their vision. References American Advertising Federation (2024, March 6). What’s On the Agenda for US Advertising in 2024? Little Black Book. https://lbbonline.com/news/whats-on-the-agenda-for-us-advertising-in-2024 Anderson, B. (2024, June 4). AI in Digital Marketing: Trends and Best Practices for 2024. ReadWrite. https://readwrite.com/ai-digital-marketing-trends/ Business Insights Today (2024, January 24). “Digital Media Market Size” | Showing Impressive Growth by 2031 [LinkedIn]. LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/digital-media-market-size-showing-impressive-growth-gafic/ Sophia Learning (n.d.) Complex Adaptive Systems. Organizational Behavior [MOOC]. Sophia. https://app.sophia.org/course_preview/organizational-behavior/challenge-1-3/6/14490/complex-adaptive-systems Sophia Learning (n.d.) Appreciative Inquiry. Organizational Behavior [MOOC]. Sophia. https://app.sophia.org/course_preview/organizational-behavior/challenge-1-3/5/14489/appreciative-inquiry Sophia Learning (n.d.) Organizational Change. Organizational Behavior [MOOC]. Sophia. https://app.sophia.org/course_preview/organizational-behavior/challenge-1-3/2/14486/organizational-change-2 C. Requirements All content must be original, created for this assignment, and appropriate for an academic audience. Content should be formatted for professional conventions (12-point font, preferably Times New Roman or another standard-looking font, 1-inch margins, and carefully proofread for errors). Professional documents are usually single-spaced with an extra space between paragraphs. Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited, including the use of AI-generated content. Submission must include your name, the date, and the assignment name. Include all of the assignment components in a single .doc or .docx file. If you are using software other than Microsoft Word, such as Google Docs or Apple Pages, you can export in these formats.
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