Supply Chain Analysis of Soft Drinks (Bottled Water) Market Using SWOT Analysis

This report analyzes the supply chain of the soft drinks (bottled water) market using SWOT analysis. It discusses the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the market and provides recommendations for improvement.

Supply chain analysis using SWOT analysis.
soft drinks(bottled water) .

Executive summary
 The main aim of this report is to give analysis on both external and internal environment for
the bottled water market.
 SWOT analysis uses to determine the strength and weaknesses that exist within the
supplying organization and market as a whole.
 Consumers are the major determiners on the growth of the market.to encourage a
development in the next half a decade there should be an introduction of a fixed market
price so as to increase the market level (Yuan, 2013 p.1-8).
 The market for bottled water supply is among the top market that most of the investor
choose to launch in their business. This because of the availability of ready markets.

Introduction
 The bottled water market (soft drink) has been experiencing a great development in the
market making which has attracted most of the investors.
 Bottled water is non-alcoholic beverage. Examples of non-alcoholic beverages
include; soft drinks, juice, coffee etc. (Yuan, 2013 p.1-8).
 To determine the strength and weaknesses in bottled water markets various analyzing
method can be used such as SWOT analysis and porter's forces.
 In this report, swot analysis is implemented to obtain the strengths and weaknesses of
bottled water markets. The report discusses the supply chain of the bottled water (soft
drinks) by expressing the advantages and challenges faced in the market.
 The report also recommends the action need to improve markets of the product (Yuan,
2013 p.1-8).

Description
 Soft drinks market (bottled water) has obtained great celebrity in Australia with the rate
expected to improve by 3.3% on annual basis.
 Australia obtains 14.4% of its revenue from so drinks markets (bottled water). Australia
bottled water markets involve the following major companies; Evian, Mountain
Franklin, Frantelle, Peat ridge and others.
 The consumers hold the driving power of the market. To absorb the competition power
every company is upgrading on the technology and quality on the services as a way of
attracting more consumers.

Continuation
 The above graph shows the consumption of soft drinks from major companies in
Australia.
 Mountain Franklin as shown it holds the biggest percentage in consumption level.
 This is due to investment and experience the company has in the market over the
competitors.

Daily water use in Australia
compared with other countries

Continuation( graph-discussion)
 From the graph it is observed that Australia is among the top countries where water
consumption rate is high.
 This is one of the major reason why the bottled market recorded as the best in soft
drinks market.
 When the level of the consumption is high ,the market environment is highly profitable.
 with such observation the companies should make their supply chain more effective so
as to take advantage of the consumption rate.

Comparison of sales market of product
between 2017 and 2018

Continuation( graph-discussion)
 From the graph it is showed that the rate of market sales of bottled water have been
experiencing a positive growth.
 During 2017 the sales growth rate was within 3.5% an in 2018 (current year) the rate is
within 4.5%
 The whole supply chain of bottled water can be said to be profitable to the investors
and the government income.

The supply chain of soft drinks
 Before a product of soft drinks (bottled water) reaches the consumers it goes through
various processes.
 A source of raw material is identified.
 The raw material of the bottled water product is row water from rivers, dams and
wells .
 The packaging of the soft drink is determined where bottles are widely used.
 After everything is ready manufacturing process of the product is undertaken.
 The manufactured product is distributed to the retailers who then supply the product to
the consumers for consumption.

Continuation
Supply chain diagram
Company
raw
material(ro
w water)
Bottle Water
manufacturing
process
bottler
distributer
customer
retailer

SWOT Analysis Framework
1. Ready markets
 The market for the soft drinks(bottled water) in the country is readily available as there is no
restriction as compared with other times of beverages such as alcohol. For example, alcohol
drinks are restricted to underage consumption.
 Another issue that has improved the market's availability of bottled water is it do not affect the
human behaviors after consumption. For example, alcoholic drinks tend to affect the normality
of people leading to others conducting shameful action.
 Fair and affordable price has made the market more available .
2. Fantastic marketing strategies
 The marketing strategies that are implemented in this kind of market have really maintained the
strengths of the organization involved in the soft drinks market (Yuan, 2013 p.1-8).
 The companies involved have wisely invested in online marketing advertisements forums which
have massively boosted the marketing environment.
 Also most of the strategies implemented in this kind of market merge with the Government
regulation hence no restriction from the Australia government.

Continuation
Strengths of supply chain
3. Customers' loyalty
 Soft drinks (bottled water) product has gained a lot of loyalty from the consumers not only countrywide but
also globally.
 bottled water have no bad taste as compared to other drinks such as alcohol which has made a lot of people
in Australia prefer taking them over the others.
4. Distribution network
 Bottled water product have a wide and cheap distribution network in the country.
 This one of the major factor that describes the strength of the market environments.
 With a large and cheap distribution network, the organization can extend the services to the majority of the
regions in Australia.
 Another factor that has favored the network strength that the product have won the acceptance from the
majority of the social groups and religious group in Australia. For example, some beverage product such as
alcohol is discouraged by most of the religious groups which affect the distribution of the products

continuation
Strengths of supply chain
5
.
Availability of raw material and cheap production process
 Soft drinks (bottled water) products are manufactured using water which is readily available in the
country (Amin, 2011 p.334-342).
 The strength advantage has not only influenced their availability but also it has made the production
process cheaper.
 With a cheap production process and easy accessibility of raw material, it has made the market
environment more profitable which attracts a number of investors

weaknesses
Weaknesses discussion
1. Shortage of skilled labor
 This one of the major weakness that has influenced the negative marketing environment for the product.
 With the poor supply of skilled labor makes the process more hectic in achieving the product and
organization goals (Amin, 2011 p.334-342).
 The problem has also affected the expansion of the companies to the most region in Australia. Under the
extreme condition, it has forced the organization that is involved to import labor which is discouraged by
the Australian government.
2. Water supply management problem
 Some parts of Australia are experiences drought.
 This has complicated the establishment of soft drink (bottled water ) product companies'. In general, the
government has not completely innovated in the sector of water supply which affects the production of
these bottled water.

Continuation
Weaknesses discussion
3. Competition in the market.
 The market environment has become more competitive which has affected the profit level of the whole
supply chain.
 To maintain the production process of the bottled water ,the market price has been increased by the many
investors. Such an action has resulted in a reduction in a number of consumers.
 To also absorb the competition power the companies have been forced to improve the quality of the
product which goes in hand with price increment (Ebonzo, A.D.M. and Liu, X., 2013 p.2671-2685).
4. High taxation
 The Australian government has been introducing strategies which increase the taxation percentage of the
product.
 This has led to a total increase in the product which has resulted in a decline in consumer number (Amin,
2011 p.334-342).

continuation
Weaknesses discussion
5. The absence of healthy bottled water
 The supply of the product has involved the use of toxic chemicals which has future affection
in consumers' health.
 For example, bottled water product requires clean water in the manufacturing process, the
companies have been using a chemical to purify dirty water of which some of the chemical
used affects the human health (Helms & Nixon, 2010 p.215-251).

continuation
Macro-environmental factors affecting the supply chain
1. Economic factors
 The economic factor has a major impact on the supply of bottled water product.
 Under the poor economic condition, the supply of the product is low due to a decline in the number of
consumers.
 To improve the supply the government should always monitor the economy of the country and providing proper
strategies to curb poor economic environmental conditions (Sarkis et al 2011 p.1-15).
2. Technological factors
 This another macro-environmental factor that affects the supply of the soft drink (bottled water) product.
 During supply and production, some companies find it expensive in implementing current technology in their
supply which affects the quality of the product and the whole supply chain.
 This makes the supply chain of soft drinks unreliable to the consumers (Van Weele, 2010 p.67).

Continuation
Macro-environmental factors affecting the supply chain
3. Political and legal forces
 The sound decision of marketing and supply chain should always take into account political
developments.
 Political can either improve or decrease the chain of supply. In many cases, during the election
periods when the political field is strong poor supply chain of the product is always expected
(Flynn et al 2010 p.58-71).
4. Social and cultural forces
 Before the supply of the product is made, the strategic marketing process must be taken to check
whether the product meets the requirements of the community.
 Some of the communities discourage the use of soft drink (bottled water ) due to their cultural
beliefs (Cohen & Roussel, 2013 p.50). They prefer using natural water.

Conclusion
 The supply chain determines the market growth of the bottled water.
 To achieve high profits and development in the market proper strategies need to be
formulated and researched before a supply is made.
 This helps the supplier determines his/her strengths and weaknesses and where
necessary decide the best remedy.

Recommendation
 In marketing, all the organization and individuals involved have both strengths and weaknesses
which influences the marketing condition.
 For marketers to obtain their goals in marketing they should balance both their strengths and
weaknesses.
 In most of the strengths of the case should always reduce the weaknesses.
 Both the skilled and the unskilled individual should be grouped together .this will improve the
skill level of the unskilled personnel.
 This will boost the labor provision in the supply chain.
 The bottled water companies should be located in a region where the accessibility of the raw
materials is cheap to reduce the supply chain cost.

References
 Cohen, S. and Roussel, J., 2013. Strategic Supply Chain Management: The Five Core Disciplines for Top Performance,
Second Editon. McGraw-Hill.pp.50
 Flynn, B.B., Huo, B. and Zhao, X., 2010. The impact of supply chain integration on performance: A contingency and
configuration approach. Journal of operations management, 28(1), pp.58-71.
 Van Weele, A.J., 2010. Purchasing & supply chain management: analysis, strategy, planning and practice. Cengage Learning
EMEA.pp.67
 Sarkis, J., Zhu, Q. and Lai, K.H., 2011. An organizational theoretic review of green supply chain management
literature. International Journal of Production Economics, 130(1), pp.1-15.
 Helms, M.M. and Nixon, J., 2010. Exploring SWOT analysis–where are we now? A review of academic research from the
last decade. Journal of strategy and management, 3(3), pp.215-251.
 Amin, S.H., Razmi, J. and Zhang, G., 2011. Supplier selection and order allocation based on fuzzy SWOT analysis and fuzzy
linear programming. Expert Systems with Applications, 38(1), pp.334-342.
 Ebonzo, A.D.M. and Liu, X., 2013. The use of axiomatic fuzzy set theory in AHP and TOPSIS methodology to determine
strategies priorities by SWOT analysis. Quality & Quantity, 47(5), pp.2671-2685.
 Yuan, H., 2013. A SWOT analysis of successful construction waste management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 39, pp.1-8.

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