Antillean Baking Company produces and sells a variety of baked products such as bread, biscuits and buns on the local market. In recent years it has lost market share and management has decided to do a SWOT Analysis of the following areas-: (1) Customers, (2) Suppliers, (3) Competitors and (4) Intermediaries.
(a) What does the term SWOT Analysis mean? (4 marks)
(b) Identify and outline the impact on the company’s operations of the TWO trends in EACH of the four areas identified above. (21 marks)
(a) In order to develop a marketing plan or strategy which can identify preferred and likely directions, the firm can conduct a SWOT Analysis which is a general and quick examination of a business’s current position. The SWOT Analysis will identify strengths and weaknesses of the business and external opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis can be used to explore a range of situations such as existing marketing strategies, consumer perception of products, effectiveness of distribution and brand image. For example in the case of Antillean Baking Company, the firm may be able to assess their strengths and weaknesses and the strengths and weaknesses of its competitors which would be the threats and opportunities to the firm. This information may help Antillean formulate the reason for the lost market share.
(b) In preparing a strategic plan to regain its lost market share Antillean Baking Company must first find out what factors caused the decline in market share. With this information the company can take corrective actions to stop the decrease and increase its market share. To be able to identify the trends in the market Antillean Baking Co ...