Overview
You are a marketing consultant to The Emporium. As way for you to determine the advantages (or weaknesses) of The Emporium as compared to its competitors is through doing a competitive profile matrix (CPM). When you identify The Emporium’s key success factors, you can weigh them according to their strength/weakness compared to the competitors.
Access the scenario video.
Read the background below and view the scenario:
Scenario: The Coffee & Tea Emporium*
You inherited the management of the Coffee and Tea Emporium (better known as The Emporium) in Boston, Massachusetts, from your family member in December 2023 as a sole proprietorship. Located in the Back Bay area of downtown Boston on the corner of Gloucester and Newbury Streets, The Emporium is known for its coffee (beans are roasted on the premises) and imported teas as well as simple light fare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Many executives stop by the store to and from work to pick up a quick meal.
Your family member bought the building 10 years ago with a commercial mortgage for 30 years for $2 million. After his death, and as the new sole owner, you were able to pay off $480,000 of it leaving a balance of 840,000 at 6.5% over the remaining 20 years.
You married a patent attorney at a small firm in the city in June of 2024. Since your marriage, your spouse has been working weekends at the store since The Emporium seems to always be short-staffed. You are the acting manager along with your spouse who is the assistant manager. Now your spouse will not be able to work the weekend shifts due to work demands and subsequent travel requirements.
You know the previous family owner was a bit lax on conforming to regulations, controlling finances, taxes, and management of this store in their last years. The owner also neglected the increasingly competitive market in which The Emporium operates. You are cognizant of the need to improve the staffing at the store and attend to the bottom line, which after 2023 taxes did not look very good. Because of this, although you pay your spouse wages like the rest of the staff, you have not taken any payments as yet for your work.
You are tasked with making The Emporium become more compliant with regulations, including your spouse as part owner of The Emporium, reconfiguring this company for the future, and managing the business more efficiently and successfully.
You are also thinking that once you get everything under control again, in the next few years, you would like to expand to have another store in Faneuil Hall or very nearby. But first, you need to make the store more profitable and legally compliant.
You have been so busy running the store ever since assuming ownership that you have not been able to address marketing or finances adequately. Your store was marketed as “a family café,” with no discernable efforts at promotion other than a sidewalk chalkboard toting the specials of the day. Still, the café received good reviews from a notice you found from 2021 with a special mention of the baked goods as well as the coffee. There is a computerized register system but you have noticed it is not linked to anything other than receipts.
Each day, the staff clock in at the back door. They don aprons and begin their shift. The staff write down orders and put them up on the rotating order belt that goes to the kitchen. The staff complains that The Emporium is stuck back in the year 2000 with takeout orders by phone taking too much time. Your staff and the assistant manager currently do not receive any benefits other than their pay ($24 per hour except for part-time student help) and sometimes a small bonus at the end of the year.
Restaurant hours: 7 a.m.–7 p.m. M-F and 10 a.m.–3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday
Disclaimer: The organization and characters depicted in this exercise are fictional. Any resemblance to real organizations or individuals is purely coincidental. This exercise may include actual companies and brand names solely for instructional purposes; this exercise is not associated with any such actual company or brand name. All trademarks remain the property of their respective owners.
Checklist:
Optional Step 1: Do a partial SWOT analysis by concentrating on the internal strengths and weaknesses of The Emporium (based on the example in the reading area of this unit) versus what would be the business’s competition if The Emporium were located in your nearest city or town.
Step 2: Identify The Emporium’s key success factors, weigh them according to their strength/weakness as compared to the competitors. You can set any weight you wish, but a simple one is provided.
Use the competitive profile matrix template.
Using competitors you research in your local area, create a CPM for The Emporium.
Other factors you may wish to consider include:
Price
Selection
Service
Reliability
Expertise
Company Reputation
Social Responsibility
Appearance
Credit Policies
Advertising
Key success factors can be identified for the business. They can include things such as the quality, location, brand recognition, profitability, product, staff, etc. In the matrix, you will list these factors and rate the strength of each one in The Emporium business as well as its primary competitors. Each competing café and coffee shop should be ranked first, second, or third in each of the factors that may or may not affect their competitive advantage.
You can examine the data in several ways. While the total score for The Emporium business may be higher than its major competitors’ scores, the business may have lower scores in some areas, which means The Emporium is not as competitive in those areas. Some of these areas might allow the competitors to create advantages, and their customers or potential customers may choose a competitor over The Emporium business. For example, if The Emporium’s products are rated closely to a competitors, but the competitor has a higher score on staff friendliness, might customers start frequenting the competitor’s business? What would you recommend increasing The Emporium’s score in this area?
For this assignment, spend some time looking around The Emporium’s scenario. Either search online or visit two competitors in your area that The Emporium may compete against and familiarize yourself with those businesses. You may even be a frequent customer of a similar business and already be aware of how you might rate their strengths against The Emporium.
- Submit a CPM for The Emporium addressing at least all factors listed the CPM template.
- Submit: A summary of your findings, implications, and recommendations for The Emporium in a minimum 1-page. Make sure to add a reference page at the end.
- At least two references are used (ABI/INFORM database and the text)
Your submission must include a minimum of two short citations with accompanying references. The first being the course textbook, and the second is an article from the database ABI/INFORM Collection in the PG Library. Any additional articles must also derive from the database ABI/INFORM Collection. Cite using in-text citations where appropriate. Your sources and content should follow current APA format and citation style. Visit the Academic Success Center found in the Academic Tools area in your course for further assistance.
Additional resource: The Small Business Administration website.