Business Analysis : Assignment

Running head: BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Business Analysis
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BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Executive Summary
The paper aims to deal with the company Mars as the recipient of Bronze Effie awards 2017.
The key areas of focus would be to on internal and external environmental analysis of Mars,
identifying the threats and opportunities intricately associated with the production process.
The paper will then provide with feasible recommendations in response to the key problem
areas and present them in an informative manner. In this way this way the entire market
scenario of the company would be identified.

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BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Introduction
Snickers Hungerithm, from the parent company Mars has won the bronze Effie award
in Australia which has gained huge popularity especially after its famous advertising
campaign Hungerithm. The Australians have brought the concept of snickers chocolate bar as
a potent solution for hunger, as the advertisement explicitly makes it clear. What has
accounted for Snickers’ popularity in Australia is the well-reputed act surrounded with the
chocolate bar helpful for reducing stress and hunger. Snickers media campaign of hungerithm
has witnessed a massive 1740% proliferation of social traffic accompanied by a 67% increase
of the sales rate proving them one of the best advertisements (Hudson et al 2015). The
hungerithm is responsible for assessing the prevalent mood of the internet which helps in the
adjustment of its price. In a nutshell if the prediction of mood verges on the contemptuous
side, the price would tend to get cheaper. Hungerithm is responsible for fathoming around
14,000 social posts in a single day. What makes Snickers a breakthrough company is the fact
that it has already started planning strategies to introduce the feature outside Commonwealth.
Their advertisement campaign have been held responsible for adequately conveying the idea
that hunger can have a huge impact on a person’s mood. The performance of Snickers have
been exceptional with their media campaigns and tag lines that have promoted to their sales.
In its operation Snickers have adopte to technology and innovation that have achieved
improvement in cacao yields and establishment of 17 cocoa development centers (Brennan,
Nguyen and Parker 2017). In its operation it has also strove to eradicate Greenhouse Gas
emissions and sustainable packaging. As a result of their operations and advertising
strategies, the sales rate of Snickers have increased by 15.9% gaining entry to 58-58 new
markets.
Swot analysis

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BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Strengths
Best selling Candy Bar- snickers has already gained the position of best-selling candy bar
which has further gained a better market penetration with the usage of social media
campaign. Apart from being rich in tastes, unlike many chocolate it is to be the healthy
alternative as it mentally manipulates the consumers to consume the bars in steep hunger
(Bowen 2015).
Strong Brand Image- Snickers’ brand image centers round its reputation of a healthy
substitute with the ingredients such as nougat, nuts and caramels therefore it is on a pedestal
higher than being a simple candy bar. It has maintained a consistent quality is being the most
innovative and tasty candy bar of all times.
Healthy Ingredients- its ingredients have given it a good market position especially more so
because of the changing market trends that focus more on health and cholesterol before
buying any product. Snickers is rich in vitamin and calcium that positions it in a strong
competitive advantage than the other products.
Loyal Customer Base- over the entire world it has built a loyal customer base with a market
share of 7.7% and a rating of 9.4% (Bowen 2015). The customer is largely fitness-oriented. it
strives to engage with the customers on an emotional level identifying with the their mood.
Many consumers have downloaded the coupon into their smartphones to get hold of snickers
at a reduced price.
Weaknesses
Lack of product differentiation- the healthy ingredients that snickers use are easily imitable
along with the fact there are number of chocolate bars in the market with the same marketing

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BUSINESS ANALYSIS
strategy of being healthy for instance Mounds, PayDay and Cherry Ripe. It can subsequently
lead to a loss of product value and sale in the market.
Lack of cultural Acceptance- snickers can face barriers in many new markets that view
consumption of nuts profane. Snickers has developed no strategy to address this immediate
threat that can ultimately lead to its expulsion from a number of markets.
Opportunities
Market Penetration- Snickers has target number of new market with its brand available in
more than forty countries (Mete, Davies and Whelan 2018). It can also expand its market by
better advertising strategies and introduction of new flavors.
Variety of Flavors- it can introduce a variety of flavors in order to gain better distribution in
market.
Threats
Easily Replaceable-owing to the fact that it has huge competition from Nestle and Cadbury,
it can be considered as a threat. Other brands can easily imitate Snickers parading on the
nutritional aspects of the chocolate bar.
Labor Costs- the labor costs in the manufacturing industry can be responsible for stunting
the revenue growth.
Pestle Analysis

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BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Political- Snickers come from the parent company Mars which has received ample amount
of criticisms in Australia due to its sourcing chocolate from the African countries. Politicians
claims that Mars has failed to adopt a sustainable technique in using cocoa. Mars and
Snickers both can be avoided by many due to its American origin.
Economic- The soaring price of its ingredients like cocoa and nuts can be threatening as well
as other factors like infestation.
Social- some of the hindering social factors for Mars in the industry is the ethical questions
that consumers are posing. However, snickers has continued to sale at a growing rate since it
targets the young adults, children and professionals as grabbing something nutritious on their
way.
Technology- Snickers’ growth rate has been increased due to the technological
advancements that Mars has adopted that can produce more yields at a shorter span of time.
Legal- Legal factors in Australia like the banning of chocolate bars in order to reduce the
ever-increasing health issues like cholesterol, fat and diabetes. These legal health warnings
can have a potential impact on the growth rate of Snickers. Food safety and Regulations have
imposed a number of policies on the rampant sale and consumptions of chocolate bar.
Environmental- Snickers’ packaging and manufacturing amounts to a huge pile up of waste
and although Mars has taken a number of strategies to reduce landfill by 90% it is still a
threatening factor for Snickers (Mete, Davies and Whelan 2018). The amount of plastic
produced has also fetched the attention of environmentalists. CSR activities can help in an
increased sale and awareness of Snickers.
Problem and Opportunities

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BUSINESS ANALYSIS
i. Without product innovation snickers can get easily swept by strong competition from
the rival companies like Hershey’s (Mete, Davies and Whelan 2018).
ii. It can lose its favor amongst overtly health conscious people due to the recent legal
changes and laws in Australia
iii. The rising labor costs can increase the expenses of the parent company of snickers,
Mars and decrease the productivity rate unless and until it switches to cheaper
technological alternatives.
Opportunities
i. Snickers has immense opportunities due to its status as a nutritional health bar filled
with nuts that has created a reputation amongst consumers of all age for satisfying
hunger. Owing to this factor it has gained new market penetration (Zhang 2015).
ii. Mars has achieved a global market since it has adopted more sustainable ways of
conducting the business like sparing attention to its plastic waste or combustion.
iii. Snickers has the best advertising strategies especially Hungerithumm that had
previously managed to forge a real-life connection with the product that had kept
everyone’s attention glued to the simplicity of the nutritional health bar. It naturally
increased the sales growth to 67% in Australia (Vanwesenbeeck, Ponnet, and Walrave
2017).
iv. Social media has given Mars especially Snickers a huge platform to the young vibrant
generation. Snickers had always made it a point to use innovative strategies to engage
with their customers in an unique manner as well as capture consumers’ attention for
a longer span of time, sometime for a month at a stretch. This “cracked sense of
humor” that the brand has infused has and can work in favor (Zhang 2015).

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BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Recommendations
i. Concerning its issue with the nutrition status of health effects of a Snickers’ bar, it
can generate more popularity within the mass with careful segmentation. It can
start with the younger generation by sponsoring social events at schools, likewise
can do the same for the middle aged generation by focusing on supermarkets and
malls.
ii. Mars can start thinking about coming up with new variety of products high on
quality and nutritional value to accept the stiff competition that has plagued the
market. They can do so by introducing chocolate flavored business high on
proteins.
iii. Creating a platform for consumer to consumer interaction regarding the product
experience, their advertising campaign or the benefits of chocolate bars on health.
This would foster in the creation of a loyal community base for Snickers and Mars
can achieve brand advocacy in this manner. The phenomenon will give the
company the opportunity to build a huge customer following that would nourish
them to sustain in the market (Vanwesenbeeck, Ponnet, and Walrave 2017).

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BUSINESS ANALYSIS
Reference List:
Bowen, M., 2015. Snickers Workwear–Why You Should Go for It.
Brennan, L., Nguyen, D. and Parker, L., 2017. Digital advertising and the new world of
‘viral’advertising. In Global Advertising Practice in a Borderless World (pp. 42-58).
Routledge.
Hudson, S., Roth, M.S., Madden, T.J. and Hudson, R., 2015. The effects of social media
on emotions, brand relationship quality, and word of mouth: An empirical study of music
festival attendees. Tourism Management, 47, pp.68-76.
Machado, R., Cant, M.C. and Seaborne, H., 2014. Experiential marketing on brand
advocacy: a mixed-method approach on global apple product users. The International
Business & Economics Research Journal (Online), 13(5), p.955.
Mete, M., Davies, G. and Whelan, S., 2018. Employer Brand Image and Employee
Engagement: An Exploratory Study in Britain. World Academy of Science, Engineering
and Technology, International Journal of Economics and Management Engineering, 5(2).
Miazga-Bedrick, A. and Miller, J., 2017. Satisfied: An enduring platform for an enduring
bar. Journal of Brand Strategy, 6(1), pp.55-66.
Pai, D.C., Lai, C.S., Chiu, C.J. and Yang, C.F., 2015. Corporate social responsibility and
brand advocacy in business-to-business market: The mediated moderating effect of
attribution. Journal of Business Ethics, 126(4), pp.685-696.
Vanwesenbeeck, I., Ponnet, K. and Walrave, M., 2017. Young adolescents' advertising
literacy and purchase intention in social network games: Influence of perspective taking
and need for cognition. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 16(1), pp.23-33.

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Yuzhakova, I., Belch, M.A. and Belch, G.E., 2015. A Content Analysis of Prime Time
Television Commercials Reflecting Advertising Appeals used in Russia. In Global
Perspectives in Marketing for the 21st Century (pp. 125-130). Springer, Cham.
Zhang, Y., 2015. The impact of brand image on consumer behavior: a literature
review. Open journal of business and management, 3(1).