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Business Strategy Analysis Critique: “The Lodge Barna Mustards”
Abstract: This assignment aims to provide an analysis of “The Lodge Barna Mustards”, from a strategic business critique perspective. It is the fast-growing mustard company in Galway, Ireland. This study aims to find out the strategy of this company in developing its business. This research is a qualitative descriptive study of this company. The critique builds on the empirical research about the business model and strategy of the company. Owners of the food business have been given a set of well-framed questionnaires and calls, interviews helped in analyzing the business strategy of Barna Mustards. After presenting the profile of the company, the assignment focuses on the internal and external environment, also giving attention to the factors that affect the business as well as the sources of its competitive advantages.
Introduction:
The Lodge Barna Mustards is a business that serves a variety of handmade quality mustards. This company is producing a unique range of gourmet mustards that have quirkiness and originality. These qualities make them different from the competition. The high competition and innovations carried out by competitors should make Barna Mustards think about the right strategy, by giving attention to internal and external conditions to be able to compete. Barna mustards don’t have a specific strategy that they are following. They should have a business strategy and no longer just run a traditional business without following a strategy to anticipate competitors and achieve an advantage in their business. And to achieve a competitive advantage and formulate the right competitive strategy one must be looked at the condition of the company by analyzing its internal and external factors of the company.
SWOT Analysis
The environment faced by any company is divided into two segments, namely the environment within the company (internal) and the environment outside the company (external), (Pardede, 2010). SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat. SWOT analysis contains an evaluation of the company's internal and external factors.
Internal factors in the form of strengths and weaknesses and the company's external factors in the form of opportunities and challenges of the company are based on the results of questionnaires and interviews with internal respondents. SWOT analysis is used to establish and grow a home business strategy to achieve goals and achieve a competitive advantage over competitors in similar businesses. Strengths: Product uniqueness and innovation Product heavily associated with the area Good and quality products The selling price of the product is low Recipes shared on the website
Weakness: No proper business strategy Management is not optimal Lack of marketing ability No new product development category Lack of capital
Opportunities: Expanding business all over Ireland by tying up with big restaurant chains By sharing more “easy to cook” recipes as because of the pandemic more people are cooking food at home
Threats: New competitors Unable to maintain quality Increase in price of raw material Financing issues Unable to innovate new products
Porter’s Five Forces
Bargaining power of buyers
The bargaining power of buyers is low in terms of mustard as a product. Because of the uniqueness of the mustards, it’s not available everywhere. Not every mustard company has all these flavors and homemade quality which Barna mustards are offering.
status, family, nationality, and religion. As per the analyses they focus on 20-90 years old buying mustard for their household use and for buying a present for loved ones. And also, restaurants and catering are their upcoming targets. They have also started taking orders for customized mustard for wedding and corporate gifts. Markets do have product comparison knowledge and also It is very important for product placing. New stores find it difficult to compete with firms that are following a focused differentiation strategy. This type of strategy is only for businesses with niche markets and that also have sufficient demand. The market is very small for Barna mustards and they are also not expanding their market. They are happy with their retailers so they are not going to supermarkets or bigger stores in Ireland. One new product of mustard is into R&D and also, they don’t have any plans of increasing their product range. Their competition is limited but there are chances of some big companies can overtake this market by launching a similar product range. The demands are limited and so is the production, with lesser chances of growth. If any new competitors enter the market with similar kinds of products, the first thing to do is to continue following the differentiation strategy along with focusing on the different nature of the products they offer. Should continue focused on quality production. According to this strategy, the company will offer a variety of handmade mustards that consumers perceive as unique.
The Four P’s of Marketing
The four Ps of marketing is Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. These are the main factors that are involved in marketing a product. Varying any one P can have a direct impact on the sales and profits. Marketing of “The Lodge Barna Mustards” is integral to the success of the company. Analyzing the marketing mix of the Barna Mustards defines the strategies and tactics that a company uses to reach its target customers.
Product: Barna Mustards delivers a variety of mustards. One of their best sellers and highest- selling products is Buckie Mustard, flavored with Buckfast wine and the second high-selling product is Dingle gin, Juniper and lime mustard which is flavored with gin and has the freshness of west of Ireland.
Pricing: In terms of pricing Barna Mustards are keeping their price low as possible to be in the market. Pricing can vary by time, especially in festive seasons and they also give offers. Price is an effective tool and customers responds to the value. The relationship of the price to the quality is a part of the value.
Place: Barna Mustards are available at multiple stores and restaurants all over Galway. Some good and famous hotels like Galmont hotel, the twelve hotel in Barna. They are not moving their product to supermarkets as handmade mustards are not scalable. They are also available on online orders.
Promotion: This is the sales and advertising part of the marketing. This shows how Barna Mustards are communicating with their customers. Barna Mustards using these platforms:
Advertising at a small level Sale promotions Public relations Direct marketing Sharing recipes online
9 | P a g e
4. VALUE-CHAIN
SOURCES OF
They can expand into other categories Can start B2C Open their stores Brand placing Increase the production Advertising more Innovation in the range
Questionnaire
Answers were received from the owner of the company which helped me write this critique.
Malachy Buggans (owner): We are a very small business just starting out so here are my answers to your questions as they apply.
Q. What are your target customers? A. 20-90 years olds buying a present for loved ones who like food and like the craic
Q. Are you into B2B and B2C only? Which one is more profitable to the company?
A. B2B primarily with a B2B Christmas market. B2C is more profitable but much more time consuming
Q. What value do customers segments require?
A. Quality mustard and craic
Q. Are there any plans for increasing the product range in the future?
A. One additional flavor is being developed
Q. Why are you not into supermarkets like Tesco, Aldi?
A. Handmade mustard is not scalable for supermarkets. handmade is one of our USPs
Q. Who are your biggest competitors?
A. Blue sea swimming concentrating on our own product
Q. How does your firm create value for these customers?
A. By keeping our costs as low as possible without being busy fools
Q. Do your company do marketing for products, if yes which kind of marketing strategy you are using?
A. No Strategy just having fun with the product and business
Q. You have a unique product range, are you planning to expand production or increase the sales, any strategy for that?
A. Very happy with the retailers we have and if an opportunity arises we take it if we can
References:
Malachy Buggans. The Lodge Barna Galway Mustards http://thelodgebarnamustards.com/about Pardede, Pontas M. (2010). Strategic Management & Corporate Policy. 7th edition. Medan: Mitra Wacana Media Taste the Nation: The Galway family who took over a mustard company in lockdown : Irish Examiner. https://www.irishexaminer.com/food/arid-40752213.html https://www.foodbevg.com/IE/Galway/1519587091694618/The-Lodge-Barna-Mustards
