Business Analysis of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Dissertation

Business Analysis of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream - Dissertation Example 4. Critical review of the existing strategy: position, alternatives and options as well as 5. Recommendations on how the existing strategy can be improved. In attaining the objectives above, the paper will undertake a review of the case study of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. This will provide a primary source of information and ideas. There will also be an evaluation of secondary sources to identify relevant theories and concepts that define the landscape and set the scope for the cases at hand. Question 1 What makes Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream a Successful company? In order to assess the reasons for the success of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, there is the need to conduct a SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis involves the examination of the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organisation in order to make inferences about the components of the business (Bailey, 2004 p17). Ben and Jerry's successes can be attributed primarily with how they utilised their strengths to take advantag e of opportunities. Also, they minimized their weaknesses and threats in order to navigate through tough times to be able to attain their current status. Strengths 1. A clear vision and an efficient effort to attain the vision: This led to the creation of a successful business model for Ben and Jerry's. The business model of Ben and Jerry's is so strong that it can enable the company to create numerous brands and also expand its operations to different parts of the world. The main operations in USA, Europe and Asia provide high turnover that enables the company to attain extremely high results. 2. Focus on healthy products and brands to build a strong customer base: The company has managed to build a reputation for the production of healthy products. This has caused the company to become popular amongst major customers around the globe. These brands can thus be well promoted and marketed throughout the world. 3. A strong corporate social responsibility system and environmentalism: B en and Jerry's have a strong reputation for being socially responsible. In consolidating the company, they had a policy of spending up to 7.5% of their profit before tax on corporate social responsibility (Greenfield and Cohen, 1997: Hopkins, 2004). This amounted to as much as $1.1 million annually. With such a commitment to giving back to society, Ben and Jerry's created a reputation of being a socially responsible organisation. With this feat, they could convince customers that they were more interested in the development of the society with their money than the profit motive. This boosted Ben and Jerry's Ice Creams' image and enabled them to gain a solid reputation. 4. A heavily diversified range of ice creams: Although Ben and Jerry's specialized in ice creams, they have a wide range of ice cream, frozen yoghurt and ice-cream novelties. This way, they were able to serve different customers with different brand requirements. This enabled them to continue generating revenue in all situations. This is because their range seemed to fit all potential ice cream demand. Hence, they managed to capture a large share of the market. 5. A strong network of shops: Ben and Jerry's have a strong network of shops throughout the world. They have maintained a powerful system of franchising that enables them to get entrepreneurs to invest capital in their