Greggs Business Environment Analysis: SWOT Framework Report

This report presents a comprehensive SWOT analysis of Greggs, a prominent food bakery chain in the UK. The analysis examines Greggs' internal and external business environment, identifying its strengths, such as its extensive distribution network, cost-effective structure, strong financial position, and brand awareness. The report also highlights weaknesses, including financial planning issues, workforce diversification challenges, and limitations in technological advancements. Furthermore, it explores opportunities like online presence, e-commerce, and globalization, while also considering threats such as technological developments from competitors, increasing competition, and changing consumer behaviors. The report concludes with strategic recommendations based on the SWOT analysis, suggesting approaches to capitalize on strengths and opportunities while mitigating weaknesses and threats.

Running head: ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS OF GREGGS USING SWOT FRAMEWORK
Environment Analysis of Greggs Using Swot Framework
Name of the Student
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1ENVIRONMNET ANALYSIS OF GREGGS USING SWOT FRAMEWORK
Table of Contents
PART- A....................................................................................................................................2
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Overview................................................................................................................................2
SWOT Analysis.....................................................................................................................2
Conclusion and Recommendation..............................................................................................5
PART- B.....................................................................................................................................5
Self-Assessment.........................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7

2ENVIRONMNET ANALYSIS OF GREGGS USING SWOT FRAMEWORK
PART- A
Introduction
Business needs to analyse its internal and external business environment to sustain in
this competitive era. The more effectively they analyse their environmental aspects, the more
efficiently the business has to take initiative measures if needed (Leary, Bell and Thomson
2017). The report aims to examine the internal and external environment of Greggs that
works as a food bakery chain in the UK. The tool used to analyse so is a SWOT framework
that assesses its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to find out the current
business situation. The reports conclude with some appropriate recommendation as per the
SWOT analysis and at last, self-assessment is done as per the learning experience.
Discussion
Overview
Greggs of Gosforth started its first bakery in the year 1951, and currently, it has about
2000 shops with 20,000 employees working under it. It is growing steadily for years, even
after most of the customers unnoticed it due to their preference for other outlets like
Starbucks (Cooke 2019). The company has taken several initiatives to market its products
well. Greggs has a plan for the next five years. The company tends to open 100 stores per
year, which will employ 1000 new people annually.
SWOT Analysis
The SWOT analysis of Greggs will help the company to introduce with their present
external and internal business environment (Gurel and Tat 2017). The objective of SWOT
analysis helps to identify the strategy that the company may use to form its strengths,
removes its weaknesses while making the opportunities, and countering its threats.

3ENVIRONMNET ANALYSIS OF GREGGS USING SWOT FRAMEWORK
STRENGTHS
 Distribution Network and Reach
 Cost Structure
 Financial Position
 Social Media and Website
 Product Innovation
 Brand Awareness
WEAKNESSES
 Financial Planning
 Workforce Diversification
 Performance Appraisal
 New Technology
 Product Range
OPPORTUNITIES
 Internet and Social Media
 E-Commerce
 Technological Developments
 Market development
 Globalization
THREATS
 Technological Development
 New Entrants
 Consumer Buying Behaviour
 Increasing Competition
 Substitute Products
 Government Regulations
Strength: The Company has a more extensive distribution network. It has a good
number of outlets in almost every state that makes sure by its distribution network to make
their products easily available to a number of people timely. Greggs generally do not charge
high cost with its products. Therefore, its cost structure is something that can be affordable to
the people (Malackanicova 2016). The year 2013 has not been financially a successful year
for the company. However, the company has a strong financial position that is profiting
consecutively from the last five years. Greggs has its strong presence in Social Media with
having millions of followers on different platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
and has well-functioning and interactive websites (Petrusha, Daschynska and Shulika 2018).
It always prefers to include new kinds of products that generally liked by the customers or
expects to be like. Therefore, the company has a successful record of product innovation that
is developing of new products in its brand. Greggs has invested much in creating a strong

4ENVIRONMNET ANALYSIS OF GREGGS USING SWOT FRAMEWORK
brand portfolio. One of the strengths that are underlined is its high brand awareness in the
market. It is in market for several years so it is well known amongst the consumers.
Weaknesses: The Company used to open several shops in different regional areas.
Sometimes, it has a problem regarding cash flow. There is a lack of financial planning in the
cash flow. These can result in certain circumstances where the company is not having enough
cash flow as needed to an unnecessary unplanned borrowing (Leary, Bell and Thomson
2017). Greggs mostly focused on the local workers and a lesser amount of workers is
available from the other racial background. Therefore, it is difficult for the employees from
different racial backgrounds so that to adjust to the workplace that results in loss of talent.
The company much focused on investing in marketing but the performance appraisal is not
done systematically. The company does not take the initiative for often appraise for their
performance (Phadermrod, Crowder and Wills 2019). This leads to lesser work morale and a
lack of promotion opportunities for the employees. Greggs does not tend to spend much in its
research and development also having the new technology as compared to its competitors. In
such a condition, it is a lack of new technology. Further, it also has a gap in the product
strange that the company used to sell. The lack of choice can give rise to a new competitor in
the market.
Opportunities: Internet users are increasing all over the world. It brings an
opportunity for the Greggs to increase its presence online with the help of the internet by
reaching to its customers. A wider network can be spread to the people through using social
media; Nowadays; most of the people know to make purchasing online. Opening online
stores can increase the revenue of the company (Gonzalez Nebot 2018). Technology is an
essential part of the business as it comes with several benefits to the departments. It can be
used for better data collection and improve marketing efforts (Haleem and Jehangir 2017.). It

5ENVIRONMNET ANALYSIS OF GREGGS USING SWOT FRAMEWORK
is an era of globalization and Greggs has a great opportunity to expand its business to other
countries.
Threats: The new technology developed by competitors can be a threat that can
influence the business in the future. There can be seen an intense competition in the market
that can be a pressure for its profitability and entire sales. In the last few years, there is a
number of new players that have entered the market and they are gaining market share. The
increasing number of entrants can be a threat to the company to lose its existing customers.
The taste and preference of the customers are changing every day (Mbiriri 2018). Therefore,
this is a pressure upon the company to meet the needs of the customers.
Conclusion and Recommendation
The company is having a good financial position and well known amongst the local
public. However, there is the pressure of the new entrant as well as the customer’s
preferences. The Strength-Opportunity strategy, as per the swot analysis, can recommend the
company to increase its marketing so that it can attract more customers. It can use its
presence on social media for marketing as well as can attracts new customers through its
website. The Weakness-Opportunity strategy can recommend increasing the morale of its
employees through increasing payrolls, incentives and different work benefits. The Strength-
Threat strategy can recommend the company to use its innovative teams to find beneficial
alternatives and to invest in intellectual property rights that can help in competing in the
market. The swot analysis Weakness-Threat strategy can recommend to the company that
they can spend more on research and development to enable the company to compete in the
competitive market scenario.

6ENVIRONMNET ANALYSIS OF GREGGS USING SWOT FRAMEWORK
PART- B
Self-Assessment
The Swot analysis of Greggs helps me to understand different aspect that is needed
while examining the business environment of any company. While doing the SWOT analysis
of Greggs, I learn that the company has its most significant strength in its wider acceptability
over social media and its strong financial position. However, I found that the company is not
highly developed and needs to invest over its technological development as this comes as a
threat from its competitors. The company has an opportunity to expand its business at a
global level. Swot analysis makes me learn about the company’s internal and external
environmental conditions. The company can utilize its profit reserves for future capital
expenditure that can be beneficial for them to sustain in this competitive business
environment.

7ENVIRONMNET ANALYSIS OF GREGGS USING SWOT FRAMEWORK
References
Cooke, R. 2019 On a (vegan) roll: why we can’t get enough of Greggs, the Guardian.
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/08/greggs-is-on-a-vegan-roll-
baker-thriving-social-media Accessed: 20 March 2020.
González Nebot, P., 2018. Marketing plan of Quin Cafe.
Gürel, E. and Tat, M., 2017. SWOT analysis: a theoretical review. Journal of International
Social Research, 10(51).
Haleem, F. and Jehangir, M., 2017. Strategic Management Practices by Morrison PLC, UK.
Analysis, Lessons and Implications. Middle East Journal of Business, 55(4182), pp.1-7.
Leary, P.A., Bell, G.A. and Thomson, E.M., 2017, June. Exploring aspects of strategic
management for a small plant bakery. In British Academy of Management 2016 Conference.
London South Bank University.
Malackanicova, B., 2016. Increasing the competitiveness and profitability of a small and
medium-sized enterprise.
Mbiriri, V.W., 2018. Factors Influencing Organizational Development; a Study of Artcaffe
Coffee & Bakery Ltd (Doctoral dissertation, United States International University-Africa).
Petrusha, O., Daschynska, O. and Shulika, A., 2018. Development of the measurement
method of porosity of bakery products by analysis of digital image. Technology audit and
production reserves, 2(3 (40)), pp.61-66.
Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R.M. and Wills, G.B., 2019. Importance-performance analysis
based SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management, 44, pp.194-203.