Resource and Competitive Position Analysis

Resource and Competitive Position Analysis

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SWOT Analysis of Panera Bread Company

            PANERA Bread Company has been in existence for long period now. During its existence, it has gone through ups and downs. While it has managed to resolve and overcome some challenges, some challenges remain unsolved. This is well shown by the SWOT analysis below:

Strength

            The strengths of Panera Bread Company are that it has solid presence within its niche segment, a powerful rapport with their franchisees; they concentrate on having a specialty bread and vigorous financial performance (Panera Bread, 2015). Panera Bread Company also has an extremely powerful brand image that also play significant role in its success.

Weakness

            The weakness of Panera Bread Company is that it has significantly concentrated geographic operations, implying that the company is restricted to operating in North America. This is a weakness for the reason that suppose a change in state taxes can bring a risk to the market concentration, the company will also lose the chances, which their competitors will have to setup themselves in overseas markets (Panera Bread, 2015). The company has no operations in Asia-Pacific or Europe-Africa, which can be possible markets they can benefit from. Another weakness is the company’s lack of scale.

Opportunities

            Panera Bread Company has the following opportunities: it controls operating cost, expansion to grow top line and development demand for organic products. The company eliminated the Crispani from its products by concentrating its menu majorly with lunch and breakfast. The expansion of the company has developed more geographic presence for top line development (Panera Bread, 2015). The increasing demand for organic products is an enormous opportunity for the company. The already natural ingredients within its Artisan bread render this to be an easy evolution for the company.

Threats

            Panera Bread Company has several major threats. The first threat to the company is the highly competitive restaurant industry. The company has to compete in the specialty food, casual dining retailers, and quick service. The second threat is a disruption in the supply of the company. Suppose there is a poor climatic condition, technical issues, labor difficulties or damage to any vehicles in the fleet, then the company can face shortage problem. Another threat is the famous of vegetarian food (Wahlen, Bradshaw, Baginski & Stickney, 2010). The rise in preference of healthy, natural, and fat free food has developed an extremely successful market hence; Panera Bread Company has to adhere to this trend in the market failure to which could be left behind by its competitors. Another threat is the increase in the minimum wage. The constant increase in minimum wage has augmented costs of labor, which have affected profit of the company.

            According to the analysis, the company is currently in the good situation. This is because it is currently one of the best with powerful brands in the market. Based on its operations and services, it has a good opportunity and chances to grow in now and in future even with a change in the market conditions. Overall, the company is highly attractive as it is well established in spite of several threats. It has many opportunities, which if well utilize, can put it in top line is the world’s leading company (Wahlen, Bradshaw, Baginski & Stickney, 2010). Panera Bread Company possesses core competencies, a fact that has made it successful over the years. For instance, it has highly experienced employee and modern facilities/equipments, which are significant in its operations. It has also majored in specific segment so as to make it more effective and meets demands of its clients well. However, in spite of the success and powerful brand, the company needs to address all threats analyzed above, and utilize all opportunities so as to place itself in a more competitive and strong position.

References

Panera Bread, (2015). Panera bread. Retrieved on December 23, 2015 from https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/home.html   

Wahlen, J. M., Bradshaw, M., Baginski, S. P., & Stickney, C. P. (2010). Financial reporting, financial statement analysis, and valuation. Mason, Ohio: South-Western.