Introduction
Pane e Formaggio is a Vancouver, Canada-based company that is known for its dedication to bakery and gourmet food company. Pane e Formaggio was founded in 2001, and since then, it has been engaged in the production and wholesale distribution of bread and cheese products. The success of the business in this competitive industry is based on sourcing its wheat products from high-quality growing zones in Canada and a significant dedication to high-quality bread and cheese products. The focus of the business is on artisanal bread and other delectable items, such as buttery pastries, gourmet paninis, and savory spreads produced in the business’s kitchens, ensuring a commitment to freshness and quality. This project aims to explore the internal and external environment for Pane e Formaggio and how they influence its competitiveness (Pane Formaggio, n.d.). In addition, the project will analyze the intellectual assets and how they safeguard their intellectual capacity. After that, we will present a strategy for development and improvement to ensure that the business remains competitive.
Goals and Objective
Pane e Formaggio envisions itself as a renowned establishment that offers the highest quality artisanal bread and gourmet cheeses. The main aim of the business is to create a business environment that enables its growth and competitiveness while fostering a strong sense of community and sustainability. The objective of Pane e Formaggio is to offer and maintain the highest quality of products. The business achieves this high level of quality by ensuring that the production process uses the best ingredients and follows rich traditional baking and cheese-making techniques. In their customer service charter, the bread-selling business aims to create a welcoming atmosphere and provide excellent service. They do this by ensuring that they offer every customer a positive experience, from the moment they enter the shop until they leave, as well as tasty products. The communal engagements are enhanced by actively participating in the local community and supporting other local businesses. The business offers employment to the locals in Vancouver and hence contributes to the local economy and fosters a sense of community.
The business mission statement is to be a model of sustainability and environmental protection. The business is modeled to operate in an environmentally friendly manner by being innovative and leveraging technology. Their production process ensures that they minimize waste, use sustainable packaging, and source ingredients from local, sustainable farms. The sustainability goal and objective allow the business to have a cost-effective approach to production and attract environmentally conscious customers (Singh & Chan, 2022). The Vancouver-based business’s long-term goal is to expand its reach and potentially open more locations across Canada or the Pacific region. The plan to achieve these goals and objectives is to increase sales by attracting new customers and diversify the business to explore opportunities for expansion.
Assessing the External Environment of Pane e Formaggio
Assessing the external environment allows businesses to appreciate the dynamics influencing market conditions, such as supply and demand, customer preferences, and emerging trends. In addition, Pane e Formaggio’s assessment of the external environment identifies potential growth opportunities. The expansion of the business into new markets will be advised by the external assessment. Moreover, external assessment allows the business to analyze risks and develop contingency plans. Analyzing competitors and their strategies can help a business differentiate itself and make informed decisions about pricing, marketing, and product development.
Further, an analysis of the external environment ensures that the business will avoid legal issues and ensure ethical and responsible business practices (Davis et al., 2022). The two business environments include a general environment and a competitive environment. The tools for analyzing the external business environment include a PESTEL analysis, which evaluates the businesses’ macro-environmental forces that may affect their operations. In addition, SWOT analysis assesses both internal and external factors to include the strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. Moreover, a tool such as Porter’s five forces analysis is modeled to assess external factors such as the threat of new entrants, the power of suppliers and buyers, the threat of substitutes, and the competitive rivalry within the industry.
General Environment
Political factors
In Canada, Political factors have a significant impact on businesses, including Pane e Formaggio, the bread and wheat product shop in Vancouver, Canada. The Canadian regulations on food products are stringent measures that safeguard the Canadian public through enforcement. Agencies that regulate Pane e Formaggio production processes include Health Canada, The Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Agency. Therefore, the shop must abide by existing or new regulations to ensure the safety and quality of food products. Additionally, the Pane e Formaggio is influenced by the political trade agreements done by the Canadian government. For example, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) trade agreement between Canada and Mexico will benefit Pane e Formaggio as it streamlines the importation of certain ingredients (Boyce & He, 2022). These agreements influence the shop’s supply chain and ability to reach other markets outside Canada. Moreover, the tariffs and trade policy changes have an impact on the cost of ingredients, which may have an impact on the competitiveness of Pane e Formaggio’s products.
Environmental factors
Pane e Formaggio products, processes, and packaging materials are influenced by environmental issues, such as climate change, waste reduction, and sustainable practices. Consumers are becoming more conscious of the environmental impact of their choices, including their food purchases. Therefore, they will seek food products that are eco-friendly and sustainable. Therefore, Pane e Formaggio’s internal business practices are influenced by external environmental factors. The business must adopt a process that reduces carbon footprint. In Canada, advocacy and awareness done by non-governmental agencies about environmental concerns have a significant influence on public perception and preferences for certain products (Davis et al., 2022). Pane e Formaggio’s supply chain must, therefore, be formulated to reduce its carbon footprint by reducing transportation emissions but also supporting local farmers and reducing the carbon footprint of the products. Similarly, Pane e Formaggio must ensure that consumers know its commitment to sustainability in its marketing and branding efforts.
Social Factors
Canadian residence in Vancouver demographic and social factors have a significant influence on Pane e Formaggio’s business process and revenue generation. Changes in societal dietary needs, such as healthier eating, may attract consumers to the shop. Pane e Formaggio is known for its quality food products, which can capitalize on this trend by marketing its bread and wheat products as healthy and made with premium ingredients. Moreover, business marketing and labeling emphasize the nutritional value of the products, such as whole-grain bread, gluten-free options, or products with reduced sugar and additives (Killins et al., 2021). Vancouver’s social factors include cultural diversity with residents from different ethnic backgrounds. This implies that Pane e Formaggio products should appeal to different cultural tastes and preferences. The bread and wheat product varieties must be catered to a broader customer base.
Technological Factors
Leveraging technology in a business process reduces operations costs, improves efficiency, increases production output, and expands revenue channels. The Pane e Formaggio e-commerce platform for food ordering increased revenue and led to significant growth. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Pane e Formaggio expanded its reach and became convenient. Additionally, the business can consider investing in emerging technologies such as AI and automation to significantly enhance efficiency and reduce operational costs for Pane e Formaggio.
Economic Factors
Vancouver’s economic stability has a huge impact on the profit margins of Pane e Formaggio’s operations and pricing strategies. A stable Canadian economy translates to consumers’ confidence and ability to spend on specialty food offered by Pane e Formaggio. Moreover, businesses’ ability to collaborate depends on the stability of Vancouver’s economy (Motaung & Sifolo, 2023). However, if the economic standards in Vancouver change, it may affect the income levels, and the expenditure ability may change the demand for premium bread and wheat products. High-income consumers may be willing to pay more for quality products, while lower-income consumers may be more price-sensitive.
Legal factors
Pane e Formaggio is regulated and guided by the Vancouver laws and regulations. Food safety regulations and employment laws are some legal factors that influence business operations. The health and safety standards are entrenched in the Canadian laws. According to the Canadian Institute of Food Safety (2020), businesses dealing with food products must be licensed after a thorough assessment. Canadian labor laws and employment guidelines direct Pane e Formaggio compensation for employees and working environmental conditions. This implies that the bakery and the shop must provide a safe working environment and adhere to safety regulations to protect employees from workplace hazards. Another legal factor that affects business in Vancouver is the contract law.
A SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis of Pane e Formaggio’s corporate social responsibilities, a business external factor, enhances its reputation and customer loyalty. This is a strength that influences business practices. In addition, opportunities exist to increase the market reach by targeting a market with a preference for nutritious and high-quality products. The digital transformation of the business environment also provides Pane e Formaggio an avenue to market its products as healthy and expand its revenue generation (Davis et al., 2022). However, competition from emerging and existing bakeries within Vancouver competes for the market share. This implies that businesses must maintain a competitive edge, which may influence the need to adopt innovative business practices. Other threats that influence consumers’ spending abilities on luxurious products such as those offered by Pane e Formaggio are economic fluctuations.
Business Competitive Analysis
Porter’s Five Forces analysis is an assessment tool that studies business competitiveness as affected by the external business environment that makes it competitive.
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Threat of New Entrants
The Vancouver guidelines on food handling certification moderately control bakeries’ large-scale entrance. However, it is easy to start small-scale bakeries, and Pane e Formaggio competes for the market with the business with small and large-scale operations. Existing bakeries often have established customer bases, brand recognition, and economies of scale that make it challenging for new entrants to compete effectively.
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Bargaining Power of Suppliers
The suppliers have moderate bargaining power on the quality and prices of the supply of ingredients. Therefore, there are more suppliers to choose from based on the quality and prices of bakery suppliers. Pane e Formaggio’s competitiveness is based on the availability of multiple suppliers offering quality and availability of specific ingredients.
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Bargaining Power of Buyers:
The availability of small-scale and large-scale bakeries in Vancouver offers a high bargaining power to buyers. Therefore, Pane e Formaggio customers can easily switch between other shops, requiring the business to offer competitive pricing and high-quality products.
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Threat of Substitutes
There exists a low threat of baked and wheat products, but the Pane e Formaggio competes with alternative snacks and quick-service restaurants.
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Competitive Rivalry
Competitive rivalry within the baking industry is high. There are numerous bakeries in Vancouver offering a wide range of products. Competition is based on product quality, variety, pricing, and customer service. Bakeries continually innovate to differentiate themselves and attract and retain customers.
Internal Environment assessment
The internal business environment is the factor within a business with a significant economic and procedure yield on operations, performance, and decision-making processes. The business’s internal environment impacts the ability to achieve the goals and mission of the business. For example, the organizational structure can determine the relationships between management and employees. Moreover, organizational culture determines shared values amongst employees, which is important for efficiency and effectiveness. The internal environment operations may include production, sales, marketing, human capital, and customer service (Masudin et al., 2021). Assessing the Pane e Formaggio internal environment provides the business with insights that are essential in developing strategies that address identified weakness and takes advantage of its strengths.
Internal environmental assessment also helps the business to know its vulnerabilities to manage risks, enhance decision-making, and avoid potential pitfalls. Anticipating changes in regulations, technology, and organizational structure or management, assessment of the internal environment advises the business on how to handle the anticipated changes and ensure seamless application and changes. Therefore, an assessment of Pane e Formaggio’s internal environment assessment is an essential business practice that enables the bread-making business to make informed strategic decisions and adapt to changes in the business landscape effectively (Boyce & He, 2022). Top of Form
Value Chain Analysis
The Pane e Formaggio value chain primarily includes sourcing high-quality ingredients for their bread, cheese, and other products. The logistics for sourcing the ingredients for baking, cheese aging, and food preparation. To ensure sustainability, the business ensures that most of its supply chain management is within Canada to reduce its carbon footprint. The distribution of freshly baked bread and cheese to customers or retail locations includes a system of storefronts and supplying orders to local markets. These routes of supply are branded to promote the products and attract customers. Pane e Formaggio has provided enough funding to develop its supply value chain. The procurement department sources ingredients and other supplies needed for the business by using technology to manage the inventory procurement process and maintain the physical storage infrastructure (Motaung & Sifolo, 2023). To support a smooth value chain process, the Human resource department recruits and trains staff to be the best bakers, cheesemongers, salespeople, and support staff. The supply chain value of Pane e Formaggio improves the business efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and quality of products.
Procurement Process
The main role of the business procurement process is to ensure that the business acquires the necessary ingredients and supplies to create its products. The procurement processes provide quality and freshness of the products sold at the Pane e Formaggio shop in Vancouver and the online e-commerce platform. A business’s profit margins are determined by its reliable suppliers, which are determined by the proficiency of its procurement department and officers for high-quality bread, cheese, and other ingredients (Singh & Chan, 2022). They may establish relationships with local bakeries, cheese producers, and other food suppliers known for their quality products. To ensure that the business only procures quality products, the Pane e Formaggio has adopted a digital procurement that is structured to ensure quality assurance. The procurement process also negotiates favorable supply terms and contracts to help secure a consistent supply of ingredients.
Business Structures
Pane e Formaggio is a sole proprietorship business that has employed over 25 employees in its Vancouver-based shop and bakery. The proprietor of the business has autonomy in the decision-making process. The centralized decision-making process is efficient and effective without time wastage. Moreover, the proprietor’s leadership style and values shape the workplace culture. Moreover, the sole proprietorship offers the business owner the ability to have control over the quality standards and pricing strategies.
Resource-Based View (RBV) in Technology and Human Resources Allocations:
The RBV is an assessment tool that assesses the business’s uniqueness in relation to its valuable resources. Pane e Formaggio has an e-commerce platform and a human resource department that relies on technology. The unique baking equipment and an online ordering platform provide the business with an upper competitive advantage. The use of skilled bakers and knowledgeable sisters is an advantage to the Pane e Formaggio in remaining competitive and claiming a large market share.
Tangible and Intangible Resources Analysis
Tangible Resources
Pane e Formaggio’s tangible resources include the bakery infrastructure, such as the bakery facilities, ovens, cheese aging rooms, storage areas, and retail outlets. These production assets are state-of-the-art technologically developed infrastructure. Maintaining the infrastructure ensures that the business preserves its culture of producing high-quality products. Another tangible resources within the business is the inventory. This implies that effective inventory management will ensure that the business maintains its culture of offering quality and fresh products. Moreover, equipment and machinery used in baking and other food production processes and logistics in the supply chain management are efficient and allow reliability of the distribution routes to offer business competitiveness (Motaung & Sifolo, 2023). On the other hand, storefronts or production facilities, the location and condition of these properties can significantly impact business operations, visibility, and costs.
Intangible Resources
Pane e Formaggio’s reputation in Vancouver is one of the intangible resources that has created a competitive edge for the business. The reputation is spread through positive word-of-mouth, reviews, and brand recognition. A positive reputation attracts loyal customers to the business, which ensures the business enjoys high sales (Noble, 2022). The business’s delicious recipes set itself apart from others in the business. These proprietary recipes and formulas for bread and cheese products are a source of quality that is associated with the Pane e Formaggio.
Intellectual Assets
Intellectual assets or intellectual property is a business legally protected non-physical assets. The intellectual assets represent business innovations and creativity. These intangible business assets offer the business competitiveness and bring financial advantage to the business. They include business symbols, logos, or names that identify the business through branding. Other intellectual assets are under the copyrights. Original pieces of work in a business are exclusively protected by law against reproduction and illegal distribution. The business protects its innovative procedures through patents, trade secrets, intellectual capital, and domain names.
Assessing the intellectual assets in a business is to identify the innovations, creative works, and branding that can be safeguarded against misuse and unauthorized use. In addition, safeguarding the business’s innovative ideas against replication gives the business a competitive advantage. Therefore, assessing intellectual assets allows business to identify their unique selling points (Noble, 2022). The Pane e Formaggio has unique baking, beverage, and food intellectual property and an easily identifiable branding. The business name itself is unique only to Pane e Formaggio, which includes wheat straws and cheese with a piece removed from the larger part. The delicious recipes are copyrighted to ensure that only Pane e Formaggio is legally allowed to produce its signature bread, which allows them to gain an upper advantage. Moreover, the business website domain is an intellectual asset associated with Pane e Formaggio and is protected by the law against copying. To remain competitive, the business’s ongoing research and development activities related to bread and cheese production are registered to allow the business to protect its unique knowledge and innovations.
References
Boyce, S., & He, F. (2022). Political governance, socioeconomics, and weather influence provincial GHG emissions in Canada. Energy Policy, 168, 113019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2022.113019
Canadian Institute of Food Safety. (2020). British Columbia Food Safety Laws and Requirements. Canadian Institute of Food Safety. https://www.foodsafety.ca/laws-requirements/by-location/british-columbia
Davis, Z., de Groh, M., & Rainham, D. G. (2022). The Canadian Environmental Quality Index (Can-EQI): Development and calculation of an index to assess spatial variation of environmental quality in Canada’s 30 largest cities. Environment International, 170, 107633. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2022.107633
Killins, R. N., Ngo, T., & Wang, H. (2021). Politics and equity markets: Evidence from Canada. Journal of Multinational Financial Management, 63, 100726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mulfin.2021.100726
Masudin, I., Aprilia, G. D., Nugraha, A., & Restuputri, D. P. (2021). Impact of E-Procurement Adoption on Company Performance: Evidence from Indonesian Manufacturing Industry. Logistics, 5(1), 16. https://doi.org/10.3390/logistics5010016
Motaung, J. R., & Sifolo, P. P. S. (2023). Benefits and Barriers of Digital Procurement: Lessons from an Airport Company. Sustainability, 15(5), 4610. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15054610
Noble, B. F. (2022). The Canadian experience with SEA and sustainability. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 22(1), 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0195-9255(01)00093-2
Pane Formaggio. (n.d.). Store Home – Pane Formaggio Servicing Vancouver lower mainland. Pane Formaggio. https://paneformaggio.com/
Singh, P. K., & Chan, S. W. (2022). The Impact of Electronic Procurement Adoption on Green Procurement towards Sustainable Supply Chain Performance-Evidence from Malaysian ISO Organizations. Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, 8(2), 61. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc8020061
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