Section 1
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., is a US based operator that specifically deals with Mexican foods with a particular focus on burritos and tacos, it has its outlets located in many regions across the globe, and these regions include Germany, France, Canada, and United Kingdom among many other countries. Ensuing its developments and stance in the contemporary time, Chipotle has since released a mission statement that merge well with its aspirations and futures perceptions, they refer their mission statement as Food with Integrity; this mission statement essentially accentuates the great effort they put in ensuring that they use natural organic ingredients and naturally raised food products that are healthier than GMOs, additionally, their mission statement clearly delineates that the company has a huge concern to farmers that produce organic products (Global Data, 2011).
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., was founded in the year 1993 by Steve Ells. The first restaurant established under the name was based in Denver Colorado (Global Data, 2011). Steve Ells the founder of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. opened the first restaurant after being a line cook at San Francisco for quite a while, the founder secured the capital from his father who offered him a loan of $85,000. In 1998, MacDonald’s invested in Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. a fact that considerably amplified its development, by 2005 the company had established a total of 500 outlets. In the present time, the company has since developed establishing base in many countries with a positive stance in the market subsequent to its mission statement.
Section II
The company embraces innovation and development of new ideas with particular concern towards the customers of the company (Trans World News, 2011). Having such a culture in place offers a framework under which customers and employees can freely present their innovative ideas with no fear that they will be supressed. Considering that customers will be presenting ideas that technically favour their needs, the products from Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. will apparently obtain great sales ensuing customer’s loyalty established through their innovative culture. The innovative culture embraced by the company act a strength subsequent to the fact that the products produced consequently to ideas formulated and implemented will cater for customer needs hence developing customer loyalty towards the company. Encouraging the formulation of new ideas and innovation in the company is a distinctive competence to the company, unlike other companies that lean on their own perceptions regarding the type of products they ought to be producing, this company will be producing products that favour the customer needs. Being innovative fundamentally puts Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. at par competition wise.
The second strength of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. in line with its operations is the use of naturally raised meat and organic ingredients in making their food products. This factor is considered a strength of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. consequent to the fact that most customers are in favour of naturally produced food products, unlike GMOs. Additionally, the fact that the company produce foods made from natural organic products in line with their mission statement puts the company’s ethical stance in terms of adhering to policies at par. This strength is a distinctive competence because customers with strong adherence to their health sustainability will always come for natural products foregoing products made from GMOs. The company has great potential of achieving customer loyalty unlike those that produces food products made from GMOs
The first weakness of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., is that, it has a limited menu (Shaw, 2014). The fact that the outlets of this company focuses on Mexican foods with particular focus on burritos and tacos, customers with boundless needs may not be fully satisfied. For this company to outdo this weakness, it ought to conduct research using questionnaire in a bid to establish what its customers think their outlets ought to have then go ahead and produce extra products based on the research findings.
The second apparent weakness of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., is that its major base is within United States and Canada. This is a weakness essentially because customers who love their products are all over the world and hence may not be able to access what they want. This weakness can be evaded by Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. by basically establishing bases in many countries across the globe by franchising.
Section III
The first opportunity within the scope Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc., is that it has the potential of expanding its operations to untapped countries and regions across the world (Trans World News, 2011). Considering that this company has customers all over the world who aspire to have their products whenever they need them, the company is enforced to expand to untapped regions. This factor considered as an opportunity to the company because the company has the potential of accomplishing the act of expanding its operations to other countries. This opportunity affect the company in the sense that, those who aspire to get their products and have no access to it may have a negative perception of the company.
The second opportunity that can be used by Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. to expand its operations is the use of online food ordering and home delivery. Many customers who aspire to have products from this company may not technically have them because of barriers that include distance and level of commitment on their side, this offers the company an opportunity of embracing online food ordering and home deliveries. This factor is an opportunity because upon embracing online food ordering and home deliveries the company will improve its sales. This fact affects the company because it may fail to reach its customers as they desire.
The first threat posed to the company is the intense competition from other players in the market that include Taco Bell, Noodles, Col and Panera. Competition acts a threat because other companies that include Taco Bell, Noodles and Col, Panera, use strategies that may work to overpower the company in terms of market share (Shaw, 2014). This factor is a huge threat to the company because some strategies adopted by the competitive companies may be effective compared to those adopted by the company. This threat is likely to affect the market share that had been acquired by the company.
The second threat posed to the company is the fact that the price of food ingredients produced by the company is volatile. With the fluctuating prices of naturally produced ingredients, the company may not be able to align the price of the food products they produce to those of the ingredients used to produce the same. This act a great threat to the company because its revenue stream may not be as expected when the prices of the ingredients are high. This may affect the company’s profitability because sometimes the prices don’t favour them.
Section IV
Ensuing the fact that the company has many opportunities within its scope, it has to implement and execute opportunities that will boost the lucrativeness of the company. To capitalize on the present opportunities, the company ought to create a board that specifically focuses on researching for ideas and implementing the same.
Considering that threats affect the company in a negative way, the company ought to adopt a culture where employees and customers are given the opportunity to offer beneficial ideas that will essentially work to offer the company a competitive advantage against their odds. Additionally, the company ought to capitalize more on the opportunities they have to neutralize the aftermaths of the threats.
References
Global Data (2011, April 13). Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) - Financial and Strategic
SWOT Analysis Review. Retrieved March 22, 2014 from http://www.marketresearch.com/GlobalData-v3648/Chipotle-Mexican-Grill-CMG-Financial-6261101/
Trans World News (2011, September 30). Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) - Financial
And Strategic SWOT Analysis Review - New Company Profile. Retrieved March 22, 2014 from http://www.transworldnews.com/946172/c1/chipotle-mexican-grill-inc-cmg-financial-and-strategic-swot-analysis-review-new-company-profile
Shaw, B. (2014, January 6). Three Weaknesses for Chipotle Investors to Monitor in 2014.
Retrieved March 22, 2014 from http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/01/06/three-weaknesses-for-chipotle-investors-to-monitor/
Shaw, B. (2014, January 18). Risks for Chipotle Shareholders in 2014 and Beyond. Retrieved
March 22, 2014 from http://www.dailyfinance.com/2014/01/18/risks-for-chipotle-shareholders-in-2014-and-beyond/
