Chick-Fil-A Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Introduction

An American fast food restaurant, Chick-fil-a was founded was founded in the year 1946 and has spread its wings to more than 1850 restaurants in the United States. Truett Cathy was the founder of Chick-fil-a which was previously known as Dwarf House. The mission of the company is to become the quick service restaurant in the whole America. The company was the first to introduce the trend for opening restaurants in malls in the year 1967 to target families. The company has generated revenue of $5 billion for the year 2013 from the total of 1850 restaurants.

The paper attempts to identify the problems faced by Chick-fil-a and performs a constructive internal analysis through the application of SWOT and VRIO analysis. The paper also provides different alternative along with their pros and cons to address the problems faced by the company. Furthermore, the paper also illustrates corporate level strategy and the business level strategy for Chick-fil-a. Moreover, the paper provides comprehensive recommendations to the management of Chick-fil-a for making changes in their business processes so that the business operations may run smoothly and the company can sustain competitive advantage.

Problem Identification

The religious Southern Baptist beliefs of the founder Truett Cathy have a major influence in the managerial practices of the company. The high investments against the promotion of anti-gay movements have hurt the sentiments of same-sex couples around the country which has greatly affected the goodwill of the company. The problem highlights the ethical and social issues which were raised with the voicing of the CEO of Chick-fil-a against gay marriages (Kass & Stafford, 2013).

Internal Analysis

SWOT Analysis

Strengths

Chick-fil-a has earned a reputation of being the second largest quick serving restaurants in the United States with over 1084 chains of restaurants after KFC. The company is best known for its advertising campaign and slogans while featuring a cow in their banner advertisements. The company has a strong presence in online marketing while targeting families and a set of millennial groups that spends a larger portion of their time using internet. Chick-fil-a has a history of increased revenue growth since its inception which makes the company strong in terms of financial strength. Due to its product quality, it is rated the second most liked chicken brand by the people of US.

Weaknesses

Chick-fil-a has weak international presence as it has never set foot outside the US market. The owners of the company have weaknesses for presenting their personal views and statements which are unethical and socially unacceptable in the US regions. While comparing the company’s location of stores in the American region with its competitors, the company has little or no presence in the western and mid-western regions but has strong presence in the South region. Therefore, this shows an imbalance strategy while targeting its customers. The company is yet to go public due to which the company may be missing a chance to earn more investments and funds to make international presence. Chick-fil-a is closed on Sundays which allows the company to be closed on 52 days in a year. The company is losing the chances to earn more through opening its stores on Sundays.

Opportunities

Franchising opportunities are available to the company which can increase the international presence and as well as earning good returns on royalties. Opening the stores on Sundays would help Chick-fil-a to earn more profits. This could increase the earning of 52 days for the company. Moreover, the company can increase its brand acceptance and target new customers through its core competency in providing quality products. A successful addition of spicy chicken sandwich in its menu, the company has the opportunity to expand even further while introducing new chicken dishes in the country. As the company advertises the college school football, the company could have many other opportunities in targeting college football teams and players.

Threats

The anti-gay comments and investments to promote the anti-gay movements have resulted in the decrease of sales for the company, huge protest against Cathy, the CEO of Chick-fil-a, the decline in permit of buildings by the government, and the harassment of employees (Forbes, 2014). The company also faces a strong competition in the domestic market from KFC and Popeyes amongst which KFC is the international market leader.......................

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