Strategic Management Practice Course Title: Digital Marketing

Team Members

  • Kathleen Nash - K00283348

  • Rachel Holland - K00284898

  • Jia Wei Tiew - K00278546

Strategy Overview

  • Objective: Reposition from a traditional specialty café to a wellness-led café.

  • Methods: Utilizing strategic alliances and focus differentiation strategies.

Corporate Strategy

Definition of Corporate Strategy

  • Corporate strategy encompasses the industries and markets an organization chooses to compete in, as well as its overall direction for growth.

  • Quote: "Corporate Strategy is about the overall scope of an organisation and how value is added to the constituent businesses of the organisation as a whole." (Whittington et al., 2020)

  • Key Question: Where do we compete in the market?

Chosen Growth Strategy

Growth Through Horizontal Expansion

  • Type: Growth (Concentration)

  • Method: Horizontal expansion through alliances with Juspy and Vanilla Matcha P'Latte.

  • Focus: Concentrated growth aims to increase sales, assets, profits, or market share via internal and external methods like mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances. (Wheelen et al., 2018)

Characteristics of Concentrated Growth

  • Focuses on expanding a single product in a single market.

  • Utilizes dominant technology and existing knowledge of products, customers, and technology to enhance productivity, market penetration, and technological efficiency. (Pearce and Harvey 1990)

Current Issues Identified

Guji's Market Position

  • Guji is successful but overly resembles other premium cafés, leading to easy customer switching.

  • Current strengths are easily imitable (VRIO parity), resulting in a lack of sustainable competitive advantage.

  • Premium pricing lacks a strong rationale for customer choice.

Justification for Concentration Strategy

Rationale

  • Concentration builds on core business (coffee + wellness beverages) while leveraging existing barista skills, brand equity, and operations.

  • Supports movement towards Differentiation Focus, by creating a well-defined niche (wellness + education) without unrelated diversification risks.

  • Alliances help to accelerate rollout and share risks versus building independently.

Why Not Opt for Stability?

  • Stability maintains unchanged activities, but Guji's differentiation issues are not due to operational efficiency.

  • Remaining stagnant in a crowded market increases vulnerability to being perceived as interchangeable over time.

Why Not Pursue Retrenchment?

  • Retrenchment is for firms in decline or cash survival mode.

  • Guji is not in crisis; it possesses a credible growth opportunity. Reductions would impair brand momentum and compromise the chance to build a defensible niche.

Selected Alliances

Juspy & Vanilla Matcha P’Latte

  • Juspy: Offers collagen + protein functional blends with adaptogens and other healthful ingredients.

  • VMP (Vanilla Matcha P'Latte): Pilates instructor who runs events across Limerick & Tipperary.

  • Menu Integration: Juspy products can feature across various offerings like coffee, matcha, shakes, and smoothies.

  • Workshop Hosting: VMP can lead events to engage wellness communities.

Market Trends

  • Local coffee shop spending increased from €525m in 2023 to €553m in 2024 (Bord Bia, 2024).

  • Health and wellness are the top consumer priorities (PwC, 2025).

  • 49% of Irish adults exercise or participate in sport weekly (Sport Ireland, 2024).

  • 74% of those under 35 regularly purchase iced beverages (Irish Independent, 2025).

Implications for Growth Strategy

Market Insights

  • The market is extensive and growing; potential growth from refining propositions.

  • Wellness and trendy drinks align with consumer demands, indicating a viable wellness-led niche (Bord Bia, 2024; PwC, 2025; Sport Ireland, 2024).

  • Convenience and digital channels may enable scalable growth beyond physical locations (Carbery, 2025).

Wellness Café Concept

Alliance Benefits

  • Proposes functional product platforms for wellness drinks (e.g., protein/collagen/low-sugar).

  • Access to community via VMP provides brand credibility and further engagement.

  • Co-branded launches for products (e.g., “Guji x Juspy”) promoted through events and offers targeting health-seeking consumers.

Diversification Strategy

Justification for Diversification

  • The café market is saturated; differentiation is crucial for survival.

  • Intense competition limits natural growth in urban areas (Chance, 2018).

Operational Challenges

  • Rising labor costs due to minimum wage increases forecasted to reach €14.15 per hour in January 2026 (Revenue, 2025).

  • Increased prices of Arabica coffee beans due to climate disruptions indicate potential supply issues (RTE, 2024).

  • Current advantages are replicable, resulting in competitive parity rather than a defensible long-term edge via ethical sourcing, skilled labor, specialty equipment, or menu novelty.

Ansoff Matrix Application

  • A tool for organizing potential growth strategies and guiding decisions on product and market options (Kaar and Stary, 2018).

Diversification Opportunities

What Will Work

  • Supports consumer trends toward health, functionality, and personalized nutrition.

  • Rising demand for matcha and healthier products; Irish tea market to grow by 5.9% by 2030 (Grand View Research, 2025).

  • Global protein demand projected to rise by 37% within five years (Speed & Meyer, 2026).

  • Health and wellness revenues projected to reach €8.78bn by 2029, expanding in Ireland at 6.83% annually (Statista, 2022).

  • Collaborating with wellness brands enables access to established communities, enhancing brand positioning and credibility.

Specific Diversification Moves

  • Plans to expand offerings to include:

    • Adaptogenic and functional coffees

    • Protein and performance drinks

    • Low-sugar, nutritionally enhanced options

    • Partnerships with wellness/fitness businesses (e.g., Vanilla Matcha Pilates, Juspy)

Evaluation of Potential Products

Question Marks

  • Definition: New products with success potential needing significant cash for development (Wheelen et al., 2018).

  • Guji’s Question Marks include:

    • Online ordering, delivery & loyalty app:

    • Market Trends: €2.2bn Irish delivery market (Carbery, 2025).

    • Demand: 58% of payments are contactless/mobile (Henshaw, 2025).

    • Role: Click-and-collect, pre-ordering for commuters, and data collection for loyalty functions.

    • Coffee machines market growth: Expected to reach USD 9.26 billion by 2030 (Grand View Research, 2023).

Dogs

  • Definition: Products with low market share and unattractiveness that won't generate cash (Wheelen et al., 2018).

  • Guji’s Dogs:

    • Merchandise (generic accessories):

      • Limited revenue contribution, easily reproduced, non-central to value proposition, restricted growth potential.

    • Role: Bolsters brand visibility, customer engagement but limited revenue impact.

Stars

  • Definition: Dominant market leaders usually capable of generating sufficient cash (Wheelen et al., 2018).

  • Guji’s Stars include:

    • Seasonal & health-focused drinks (e.g., matcha, açaí, wellness coffees):

      • Growth opportunity to stay relevant to health trends.

      • High consumer willingness to pay based on functional benefits.

    • Market Trends:

      • 40% of consumers are drinking more coffee than five years ago.

      • 50% would maintain consumption even with price increases (Java Republic, 2025).

      • Role: Facilitates capitalizing on health trends with minimal additional operational costs and competitive advantages through differentiated offerings.

Insights on Transition to Wellness Café

Benefits of Stars

  • Transition from a specialty café to a functional wellness destination enhances perceived value beyond traditional offerings.

  • Supports premium pricing sustained by performance benefits and reduces direct competition due to market saturation.

  • Alliances with Juspy enhance differentiation in the wellness category and contribute to a defensible market position.

Market Growth Projections

  • Global health and wellness market set to hit €8.78bn by 2029 (Statista, 2022).

  • Irish wellness sector anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 6.83% from 2022 to 2029 (Statista, 2022).

  • 49% of Irish adults engage in sports weekly, signifying an expanding fitness culture (Sport Ireland, 2024).

  • Anticipated 37% surge in global protein demand over the next five years (Speed & Meyer, 2026).

Strategic Advantage and Actions

  • Juspy alliance presents a robust platform for collagen and adaptogenic products—harder to replicate than regular menu updates.

  • Matcha in Motion Events via VMP embeds Guji into wellness lifestyles, reinforcing brand credibility and engagement.

BCG Growth-Share Matrix

Overview

  • The BCG matrix illustrates a company’s product portfolio's relative market share versus industry growth rates, categorized into:

    • Question Marks: New with potential requiring investment.

    • Stars: Leaders in the market generating cash flow.

    • Cash Cows: Profitable products that bring in more cash than required to maintain market share.

    • Dogs: Low market share with low cash generation potential; considered for divestment or careful management (Wheelen and Hunger, 2006).

Strategic Implications

  • The BCG Matrix assists marketing decision-making through strategic planning and resource allocation, evaluating which business units to invest in, sell, or phase out (Hossain and Kader, 2020).

Appendices

  • Detailed charts and additional analyses referenced throughout the notes, providing further context on corporate strategy, Ansoff Matrix application, and BCG Growth-Share Matrix analyses.