The idea behind "Scoopy Doo" was sparked in 2017 by Emily, a recent graduate from the Alberta School of Business. One of her favourite activities was visiting the Edmonton Farmer's Market and browsing the unique, local products. After attending each week for a year, she recognized a gap in this microenvironment; no businesses were selling fresh, hand-crafted, vegan ice cream. After months of trial and error, she launched the rst Edmonton-based vegan ice cream company. Her company strives to be an inclusive brand with the central goal of offering a tasty, high-quality product that is both delicious and vegan-friendly. Since founding the company, she has recruited a eight additional employees. She leveraged her Human Resources background to create a robust training program to engage her employees and ensure that they provide strong customer experiences when they visit the "Scoopy Doo" booth. Scoopy Doo began as a farmer's market brand and appeared only in farmer's markets during the summer. As its popularity grew and the company expanded, Scoopy Doo was approached by various institutions such as the University of Alberta and Grant Macewan to sell the product to students on campus. Today, the company continues to embrace their farmer's-market business model year-round, with weekly pop-up shops at Grant Macewan, University of Alberta, and various markets throughout the city such as the Old Strathcona's Market, St. Albert's Market, and the City Market. While the company does not have a physical store location, Emily and has considered opening a agship store near campus for students looking for a conscious treat on their study break. Ice cream is sold by the scoop or by the pint. Similar to how local pubs rotate the beers on tap each week, Emily rotates her hand-crafted avours weekly. Due to limited relationships with wholesalers and limited ingredient quantities as a result, there are only three avours available at any given time. She feels that even though customers do not get to choose from as many avours, the variability keeps the product fresh and exciting. In addition, Scoopy Doo has some social media presence, but Emily does not have a clear marketing strategy in place. Her current social media activities include reposting customer pictures when the business is tagged and posting weekly avours when she remembers. External Environment The Ice Cream Production industry in Canada is in the mature stage, but recent innovations have occurred due to changing consumer tastes (Leach, 2019). Customers are looking for health-conscious alternatives that satisfy their cravings without the guilt that comes along with desserts. Competition within the healthy ice cream segment is likely to intensify as competitors move to capture a portion of this growing market (Leach, 2019). The thought of vegan-friendly cookie dough Ice Cream by Ben & Jerry's keeps Emily up at night. The industry has a high degree of competition (Leach, 2019). It is characterized by the presence of large players like Ben & Jerry's, Klondike, Popsicle, Breyers, and Magnum (Leach, 2019). However, small players that are able to carve a niche in the industry have been able to capture impressive shares of the market. Niche segments include soy or yogurt-based Ice Cream, organic, low-fat, and low-sugar options. Along with these opportunities brings the prospect of new competitors, with the total number of ice cream manufacturers anticipated to increase at an annualized rate of 4.6% to 193 enterprises over the next ve year (Leach, 2019). Finally, demand for ice cream is projected to be fairly stable over the ve years to 2024, although revenue will continue to rise as the economy and per capita disposable income continue to grow, enabling consumers to splurge on premium-priced frozen treats (Leach, 2019). Emily also faces competition in the Edmonton market. Brands like Kind Ice Cream, Made by Marcus, and Scoop 'n' Roll are all popular among Emily's Ice Cream's target audience. Many consumers are becoming more aware of the corporate social responsibility brands demonstrate. Through strategic partnerships or enhanced social missions, companies can sway customers to switch brands or pay a premium for their products. Finally, customers are inuenced by unique, bright, and creative packaging, marketing campaigns that \"break through the clutter," and products that appeal to their interests, values, and attitudes. How can Emily take advantage of these trends within the external environment? Your Task Like any small business, Scoopy Doo faces the challenge of maintaining stable prot all year-round. While the company achieves excellent success throughout the spring-summer seasons, when the weather is warm and farmer's markets are abundant, their selling opportunities are limited during the winter season. The only selling avenune for Scoopy Doo in the winter season are indoor farmer's markets. Moreover, the company has been receiving complaints about limited products and the ice cream's inaccessibility as it is only sold at farmer's markets. While Scoopy Doo primarily focuses on ice cream, there is the potential for product innovation and expansion. Scoopy D00 is very curious about what their next step should be. They would eventually like to expand their brand beyond farmer's markets but are posed with the obstacles of developing relationships with retailers and expanding their target audience, which mostly consists of health-conscious young adults. Whatever plan they choose to take, they must maintain their brand identity, increase their overall presence, provide quality ice cream, and generate sustainable revenue. Should they focus on getting their products in stores, or should they create their own storefront? Would it be better for the company to expand its product range or innovate its current market offering? Are University students the best target demographic for Scoopy Doo? Either way, Scoopy D00 is looking for a strategy to expand their business and remain sustainable in the long- run, both nancially and socially. Ensure that you provide answers for parts a-f below. a) Identify the strong problem statement for Scoopy Doo Ice Cream. 1 mark. b) Complete a SWOT analysis based on Scoopy Doo Ice Cream. Include 2 points for each (i.e. 2 strengths). Do not include more than two for each element. Only the first two will be marked. 8 marks c) Identify 2 viable alternatives within the case, and using bullet-point form, identify 2 "why's" and 2 "why not's" for each. 6 marks. d) Provide a recommendation and recommendation overview (2-3 phases) for Scoopy Doo Ice Cream. 2 marks. e) Provide a brief implementation plan and include time frames. This can be completed in bullet point form but ensure you provide adequate detail on HOW the implementation will occur. 10 marks. f) Identify one risk associated with your implementation, provide a trigger point, and how you would mitigate the risk. 3 marks