This case study, "Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning," focuses on the soup division at Brannigan Foods, which adds to more than 40% of the company's income. However, such revenue has been showing a decline lately. With proposals from four key managers, the general manager must make recommendations in the hope of reversing these losses.
John A. Quelch; James T. Kindley
Harvard Business Review (913545-PDF-ENG)
February 12, 2013
Case questions answered:
Case study questions answered in the first solution:
- Which of the four managers’ proposals should Clark favor? Which do you think is the most viable? Which is the second-best strategy?
- What effects is the change in the strengths and weaknesses of the competition having on the division of Brannigan Foods? How does this impact the investment decision?
- Given the information in the case, what strategic course do you think the division should pursue? Consider the options with a short-term view and a long-term view. Analyze the process Clark is using to determine his best investment bets for allocating resources.
Case study questions answered in the second solution:
- Which proposal is viable and would lead to the most profit?
- SWOT analysis for Brannigan Foods.
- Implement the proposal as a marketing plan.
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Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning Case Answers
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Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning
Brannigan Foods is a food products company that had experienced a decrease in profit in its soup division. The problem was that their soup division brought in about 40% of their total sales.
With the soup industry experiencing some challenges, this division needed to brainstorm strategic initiatives to move the division’s growth back positively. Bert Clark, the Vice president and Manager of the soup division, asks four key managers to recommend a strategy.
Proposal 1 Investing in growing sectors
-Srikant Tipha, Director of Simple Meal Units
Having purchased the Fast & Simple meal-in-a-pouch product line from Annabelle years ago seemed to be the right move finally. This line speaks to the consumers who want a fast but nutritious meal.
It targets the new segments of low-sodium healthy soups. Dry soups are another segment that is growing. The advantage here is that two dry mix packs can take up the space of 1 can and increase the sales potential of Brannigan Foods by 180%.
This strategy abandons the cash cow that is “ready to eat soups.” It relies too heavily on these new product lines, and if it fails, the company would have spent all that money on advertising for no reason.
Table 4 projects what this would mean after 5 years. It definitely seems as if the US divisions won’t reach their goal of a 3-4% increase. Instead, the $18M advertising expense wouldn’t yield a high enough return on investment.
Proposal 2 Acquire product lines to complement the core growing sectors.
-Claire Mackey, Director of Finance and Planning
As companies geared toward the new consumer trend of health entered the soup market. Brannigan Foods has a seemingly simple fix to their problem by acquiring these lines, specifically the Red Dragon line.
Although these product lines correlate to the growing market share, their futures are also uncertain. It seems like a stellar investment since Brannigan wouldn’t have to spend too much on R&D.
But it’s still a major investment that requires a lot of analysis and thought. In the past, the acquisition of Annabelle wasn’t beneficial, so another purchase may seem like the company had no idea what they were doing.
Another concern that Brannigan Foods should take into account is the…
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