Black Canyon Coffee: A Leading Coffee And Food Retail Business In Asia

About Black Canyon Coffee

Coffee is something which has always made people to fall in love with its aroma and the idea of having it in different ways. Black Canyon Coffee is that brand of Thailand which was established to serve quality coffee to its customers with some Thai food at the side. It was found in 1993 and since then it has been successfully running and loved by all the people (Blackconyonthai, 2014). They expanded their horizons in Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines and Myanmar as well. The vision of the company was to be the leading coffee and food retail business in Asia. It has 200 branches all over the globe now with exceeding itself in 40 total locations of the world. Majorly Thailand till now depends on the tourism industry. 

The General Environmental Analysis consists of these trends. They are:

1. Technological Trends: New technologies arrives everyday in the market. If someone wants to buy a product, there is a lot of competition in brands as well as the specifications one is looking for. Hence, a company should always be aware of the new technology.
2. Demographic Trends: A company should always know who the target people in the market are. For Black Canyon, coffee lovers can be young children, middle aged people or even old people. Demographic study defines the age, size, populations of the humans and this drives the target market.
3. Economic Trends: Economic trends help the company study about the places they should operate or exports their goods at. It helps in knowing the GDP rate, inflation, import duty and Vat etc for the market.
4. Political Trends: Politics majorly comes from the government. Marketing decisions are influenced by pressure groups and agencies and government laws.
5. Socio- Cultural Trends: Culture of the country where the brand is serving should be studied by the company. If they understand the culture, half of the marketing is done then and there only.
6. Global Trends: In order to keep the business growing, competitor analysis should be done deeply. How well is the competitor company doing defines the business of the self company sometimes.
7. Physical Trends: Natural forces are very significant in order to do the marketing activities(Claessens, 2015).  

A company should always look for the sustainable growth in the market. To help the organization in maintaining the growth are the Porter’s Five Forces. A well establish and attractive company is the one which is not affected by these five factors. They are:

1. Supplier Power: If there are fewer substitutes in the market, the suppliers sometimes, raise their prices for the raw materials. An organization should know how to deal with this obstacle.
2. Buyer’s Power: As it is known that the customer comes first, a customer if has many options to buy from. The bargain power will help the company which provides fewer prices on products.
3. New Entrants: There are always new comers for every brand. A company which is at the profitable side will always attract new comers.
4. Substitution: There are always products being launched in the market which are the substitutes of some other products. These new products are a big threat to the company.
5. Rivals: An organization always will have a rival company or companies. All the information about the rival companies should be known(Usman Ali Khan, 2015). 

Competitor analysis means to know about the threats and the opportunities of the company. Black Canyon though has established itself in the market and that is why it obviously has a few competitors as well. One of the main competitors is Starbucks. It has about 21,000 outlets in 65 countries worldwide. It has involvement in all over the world and this brand is loved by almost everyone. It is a threat because it is globally known for its quality products and services. Another competitor is Au Bon Pain. It was established in 1978 and it has only grown ever since (Aubonpain, 2018). It has 300 bakeries all over the world including India and Thailand. Its strategy is to attract huge number of customers as it is located near high traffic areas. It also brings bold and innovative flavors for their customers. Found in 1977, Coffee World also is one of the bug competitors of Black Canyon Coffee (coffeeworld, 2015). It is located in 7 countries. It has obtained multi domestic international strategy to attract the customers. Varieties of products like waffles, muffins and cookies are found in the menu of Coffee World (scribd, 2018).

The internal analysis of the company is also very important as it makes the company come across the important problems which can hamper its growth. This can be done by SWOT analysis and knowing about the strengths and weaknesses of the company.

• Black Canyon is at the positive side when the competition is considered because it provides low prices on its products. If an organization sis providing quality products with low prices than its competitors, then it is a huge plus for the company.
• It provides huge variety of products and coffees.
• They have different types of restaurants in every country. A major importance is given to the customers on the culture the restaurant is following. Hence, it is also a huge plus for Black Canyon.   

• Black Canyon was started as a very small business enterprise. Hence, it has a very less capital to invest on. The ambience of the outlet sometimes depends on the capital a company puts into it.
• Since they are established in Asia, there are very less people who speak English language. Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia are the countries where the people mainly depend on the tourism. Tourism means different people from all around the world visits these places. Hence, Language barrier should not be there.
• Their Supply chain management needs to be improved a bit. Supply is a very important part of the business(streit, 2013).  

SWOT is the abbreviation for Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats. Explanations of these points are:

• Strength is something which prevails in every company. Each company has to maintain its strength in order to sustain in front of its competitors. Leaders should try and maintain those strengths in the companies.
• Weakness is actually in the internal system of the company. Weaknesses can be the reason for the company downfall as the competitor companies will make them their strengths.
• Opportunities are the possible open gates for the company to excel in market. By knowing the opportunities, a company can make new strategies accordingly and achieve its goals.
• Threats are the harmful effects that a company can have. These are the factors which can deteriorate the company on the whole by decreasing its profit(Researchgate, 2018).

Strategy Formulations is a kind of a process which an organization creates for its company to grow. There are 6 steps to the process.

1. Defining the organization: The first and the foremost thing for the company is to know about its people it belongs to. Knowing the customer is important as the company always excels because of its customers only.
2. Defining the mission: Long term goals for every company is the first step it takes every year so that the process of achieving the goal starts sooner. Goals should be targeted first of course.
3. Defining the objectives: Production of goods, shared market desires, quality customer services, technology changes if any and an increase in sales are the objectives which a company should look for.
4. Defining the strategy: To stay in the market and leading in the business, a company should always make new strategies which help it to sustain in the market.
5. Implementing the strategies: When new strategies are defined, their implementation should also be the first priority. Reason behind that is if they fail, a company should always have time to make the new ones.
6. Process of Evaluation: Organizations look for the market growth al throughout. It becomes easy when the process they have implemented is evaluated all through the year. Being proactive is the key(Saylor, 2013). 

Strategic Action Plan is the kind of paper work done by the company that helps organizations in achieving its goals. This action plan can help Black Canyon to improve on its weaknesses and threats and can help it look forward to the new horizons. The factors are:

1. Having a Vision: Organizations can have a vision statement of the goals and future process. It should be easily able to picturize its goals.
2. Statement of Mission: This statement always will give the picture of the organizations as to what it is now and what it wants to become in future.
3. Making smart Goals: Instead of working hard, an organization can work smartly. Smart work can always be done in the less span of time and actually helping it to achieve the goals even sooner.
4. Analysis of Gap: Gaps can actually help the organization to find out the differences between the company’s present and future. Analyzing the gap makes it easier to find out the about the areas that is to be given priority to.
5. Monitoring the complete process: The process that is mending for the company to be at the profit side and to achieve its goals should always be evaluated. By monitoring the process, few loop holes can be found out before time(Jive, 2017). 

Conclusion 

Black Canyon Coffee is a well-known brand and since its inception, it has only grown in the market. Even after having so many competitors like Starbucks, Coffee world and Au Bon Pain, it has managed to attract the customers from all over the world. This report shows how this Thai brand excelled by having a few strengths and weaknesses. Opportunities and threats have also been a part of its like. SWOT analysis and strategy Formulation points are discussed to help the brand grow and achieve its goal in such a competitive market. By doing analysis of the internal industry and external too, a few important points which can help the company to know about their weaknesses and strengths of its competitors too. After all, this brand is loved by the people and it wants this to stay like this.  

References 

Blackconyonthai. (2014). Retrieved January 29, 2018, from Blackconyonthai.com: https://blackcanyonthai.com/about_us.aspx

Aubonpain. (2018). Retrieved January 29, 2018, from aubonpain.com: https://www.aubonpain.com/abou

coffeeworld. (2015). Retrieved January 29, 2018, from coffeeworld.com: https://www.coffeeworld.com/about

scribd. (2018). Retrieved January 29, 2018, from scribd.com: https://www.scribd.com/doc/246435906/Draft-Black-Canyon-Coffee-Case-Study

Claessens, M. (2015, February 26). Market-Insider. Retrieved January 29, 2018, from Market-Insider.eu: https://marketing-insider.eu/macro-environment/

Usman Ali Khan, M. N. (2015, June). A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT OF APPLE INC. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 3(6).

streit, a. (2013, November 27). Prezi. Retrieved January 29, 2018, from prezi.com: https://prezi.com/gljjl8jej5lp/black-canyon-coffee/

Researchgate. (2018). Retrieved January 29, 2018, from Researchgate.com: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315054133_Strengths_Weaknesses_Opportunities_and_Threats_SWOT_Analysis_and_Strategic_Planning_for_Iranian_Language_Institutions_Development

Jive. (2017, November 16). Retrieved January 29, 2018, from Jive.com: https://jive.com/resources/blog/5-step-strategic-plan/

Saylor. (2013). Retrieved January 29, 2018, from Saylor.org: https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Saylor.orgs-Strategy-Formulation.pdf