Author: Dr Rowan Kennedy Marketing Dept. Sultan Qaboos University
Case Study for Principles of Marketing
Let them eat cake!
After spending 15 years as a Human
Resources Manager at a large Omani
government organisation, Safa decided she
would like to be her own boss and do
something more creative.
Inspired by the very positive feedback about her delicious cakes from her work
colleagues and her large family, Safa decided to supplement her retirement income by
setting up a small commercial kitchen from her family home in Muscat. She set up her
business in the summer of 2019.
Within her first year of business Safa managed a turnover of 10,000 OMR. Around one-
third of her salary as an HR Manager! The key to her success has been her hard work
and her passion for using only the best ingredients such as Fairtrade cocoa and sugar,
free-range eggs, locally sourced flour and cinnamon and organically grown citrus fruits:
all reflecting her interest in healthy living and protecting the environment.
“Being sensitive to the well-being of all creatures and my fellow-Omanis is very
important to me,” comments Safa, “I am very aware of what Omani women are looking
for when they buy baked goods and that is proving to be critically important to my
success. For example, if I am making a cake to celebrate a family event I make sure I
get to know the client and understand what’s important to her family so that I can put
all of creativity and my heart into what I am baking for them.”
Safa’s product range varies from bite-sized mini
cupcakes and syrup-drenched luqaimat (which are
currently under pressure from the many and growing
home baking businesses) through to specialty
celebration cakes: for example, wedding cakes taking
many hours to decorate with sugar roses and delicate
icing designs which sell for up to 300 OMR.
Safa’s Sweet
Sensations
Author: Dr Rowan Kennedy Marketing Dept. Sultan Qaboos University
Safa’s Sweet Sensations (SSS) mission statement is “To connect communities
together by the inspiration and happiness of real food”. SSS uses a variety of distribution
channels to reach consumers. Safa has set up an
attractive website, and has a regular stand at the Oman
Bride Show every winter at the Oman Convention &
Exhibition Centre. Corporate events such as the Mother,
Baby & Child Show and Muscat International Jewellery
Exhibition are also on Safa’s roster. She has even
supplied baked goods to other businesses, on the
recommendations of her friends, for events and milestone celebrations. Despite this
growing B2B side of her business, Safa’s most in-demand products include the supply of
smaller orders to friends and their friends. This revenue source has often helped her
with cash-flow problems when she has needed to buy increasingly expensive equipment
such as a new double oven to increase her production capacity and a larger dishwasher.
Safa’s production and her sales have also been
given a major boost recently by an advertorial (a
paid for feature in an editorial section of a magazine
which gives a product endorsement) in the
glamourous Bride & Groom (Oman) magazine.
Included in the magical black and white-themed
double spread of the February 2020 issue of the magazine was a photo of one of Safa’s
newly-introduced line of wedding cupcakes (pictured) which has proved to be in-
demand amongst brides-to-be readers. The Bride & Groom (Oman) editor commented,
“Safa’s products are, quite simply, an affordable luxury any wedding planner should
have on their list as a must!” Let them eat cake indeed.
Now that she has established a healthy (B2C and B2B) baking business that fulfills her needs
for creativity and for extending her already extensive business skills, Safa is thinking about
which direction to take her business in. She is considering her plans for growing SSS over the
next 12 months. She knows there are several interesting opportunities in the market, but she
needs a clear action plan. Looking at the data she has been informally gathering over the past
year she is wondering how to use it, first to identify profitable market segments and second to
establish her small bakery as a “first choice” provider.
Author: Dr Rowan Kennedy Marketing Dept. Sultan Qaboos University
Case Study Let them eat
cake!
% of overall assessment
20%
Word count (approx.)
2000 Words Group
Assignment
Learning outcomes addressed
A1, A2, & CEPS 8
Due date
Week 6 Class 2
Your Task
The CEO of SSS has asked you to assist with her development plans for 2021 as she decides how
to guide her business development. As an experienced consultant you immediately start to
organise your thoughts around her business portfolio and which parts of her business need the
most attention.
The fact that there is little data and other useful information available is problematic, as is the
judgement required in this case. This is a decision-making under uncertainty scenario which
requires a trade-off between reliability and relevance. Approximations (‘best guesses’) still
allow useful inferences to be made and will result in worthwhile analysis and recommendations.
Start with explaining the mission statement of Safa’s Sweet Sensations
1. Is Safa’s Sweet Sensations mission statement market-oriented? Write my Essay Online Writing Service with Professional Essay Writers – Explain.
2. How is SSS strategy driven by its mission? Write my Essay Online Writing Service with Professional Essay Writers – Explain.
Then, construct a simple BCG matrix for Safa’s Sweet Sensations.
Boston Consulting Group Matrix
1. Begin by classifying SSS’ different
product offerings into a BCG growth-
share matrix.
2. Briefly explain the meaning of each cell
(this is where you practice your
research skills).
3. Write my Essay Online Writing Service with Professional Essay Writers – Explain your reasons for placing SSS’
products into the various cells.
4. Identify and justify one of the product lines for the following step.
Author: Dr Rowan Kennedy Marketing Dept. Sultan Qaboos University
The BCG matrix gives a simple (sometimes simplistic) overview of the current relativities in
Safa’s portfolio. Remember, there are four strategic management decisions that can be made by
a company after classification viz. harvest (from cash cows), divest (from dogs and some
question marks), maintain and invest (in cash cows and some stars).
This portfolio analysis may guide your thinking about the next step which, in this case, will
include application of Ansoff’s matrix:
Ansoff’s Product/Market Matrix
Use Ansoff’s matrix to identify best growth
opportunities for one of the products in Safa’s
portfolio. You may decide that there is a question
mark that needs to be developed (or a cash cow, or a
star). If so, then use Ansoff’s matrix to help your
decision making as to what to do with that product
offering.
You may even decide that the best opportunity lies in diversification – in which case you may
follow that path by exploring what that would look like, and how you would develop it.
1. Briefly explain the use of each of the four cells (another opportunity to conduct some
secondary research).
2. Which of the four cells do you think represents the best opportunity to grow SSS?
3. Fully explore and explain how you recommend the implementation of this growth
strategy for Safa’s product line.
If you’re still a bit unsure about how the BCG matrix works, this is a very good little 15min tutorial. It’s a bit more detailed than you need – but, still, you’ll find it a good explanation of the matrix.
Watch this little 6min clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dKliWrCywM
Author: Dr Rowan Kennedy Marketing Dept. Sultan Qaboos University
