CASE STUDY: SWEETGREEN

Case Study: Sweetgreen - How Sweetgreen Became a $1 Billion Salad Start-

Up (CNBC).

Hint: Use this flowchart to determine if the resource/capability provides a

sustained competitive advantage.

SECTION A
The case study video mentions "supply chain transparency" as one of
Sweetgreen's resources. Conduct a VRIO Analysis on this resource. Does it
provide a sustainable competitive advantage? Use the results of your analysis
to explain your answer.

Sweetgreen’s supply chain transparency:

1. Is it Valuable?

Yes. The supply chain transparency increases its product’s perceived value in
customers’ eyes. Because the customers pay great attention on their health, so they
are curious about whether the ingredients of the food provided by the firm are
organic, how does firm get these ingredients from, or when ingredients are arrived
at a Sweetgreen. By use the supply chain transparency, customers can easily know
where their foods come from and this is an attractive feature for the customers,
which helps firm to increase perceived value of its products. In addition, by using
supply chain transparency, the firm can enhance its brand image of delivering safe,
quality and sustainably produced food consistently. So this resources is valuable.

2. Is it Rare?

Yes, I think this kind of resource is rare. In order to achieve supply chain
transparency, Sweetgreen had set up an extended network of local suppliers or farms
that delivery fresh ingredients to the firm on a daily basis. Thus, it is difficult for
other competitors to acquire this capability, as they are hard to set up tightly
relationship with so many suppliers.

3. Is it Inimitable?

Yes, the cost to copy this resource is quite high. The most important reason is that the
supply chain transparency is socially complexed. In order to support the idea of
offering fresh and higher quality meals to clients, Sweetgreen builds a network of
more than 500 suppliers and each store handles products from lots of suppliers every
day. The supply chain system is quite complicated, with numerous useful strategies
that help the system run more efficiently. As a result, other businesses will find it
difficult to compete.
Furthermore, according to the video, the company was founded in 2007 and has over
91 locations in the United States. Its “supply chain transparency” resource has taken
a long time to establish, making it expensive and time-consuming for other
competitors to imitate.

4. Is it Organized?

The organization currently has an effective strategic management process in place.

Its partnerships with suppliers and distributors are solid, and the supply chain
system and distribution channels are functional and efficient, allowing the
organization to use supply chain transparency in the marketplace.
Furthermore, as noted in the video, Sweetgreen is changing half of its operations
digitally, and in order to maintain the supply chain transparent for online orders,
Sweetgreen leverages blockchain, which allows customers to know where, when,
and how their food comes from. This shows that the company has an efficient
structure in place to make use of the resource of "supply chain transparency."

5. Does it provide a sustainable competitive advantage?

Yes, by using supply chain transparency, the company gains a sustainable

competitive
advantage. Firstly, by leveraging supply chain transparency, customer value and
satisfaction of Sweetgreen’s products are increased, which helps to build brand
loyalty. As a result, customers will tend to repurchase the foods with the Sweetgreen
brand continuously. Moreover, the resource of supply chain transparency makes
company’s products differentiated in the marketplace. Since it is hard for other
competitors to intimate such rare resource, it allows firm to have a distinctive
competency that creates a differentiation advantage. Thus, this resource provides a
sustainable competitive advantage for Sweetgreen.
SECTION B
Paste screenshots of the following interactive content:
• 3.1 Competitive advantage and generic strategies interactive video.
Interactive Content (link)

• 3.2 Resource based view interactive video. Interactive Content (link)

• 3.3 Value Chain Analysis interactive video. Interactive Content (link)

• 3.4 Core competencies interactive video. Interactive Content (link)