Mgt 406 - Papa Johns Case
MGT 406
Case 3 – Papa John’s International
Muhammad Khan b00034427 Dr. Virginia Bodolica
Question 1: Identify 4 (four) different competences of Papa John International and justify your selection of these competences by indicating the type of competences that each of them is.
The first and most important core competency of Papa John’s is their emphasis on providing a superior quality traditional pizza. This core competency has been the foundation of their success and it has helped them enter thriving into the pizza industry, which appeared to be matured and saturated. John Schnatter (founder of Papa Johns) key target was to keep their products “simple, consistent and focused”. By keeping this philosophy of providing a better product, Papa Johns was able to penetrate the pizza industry. Their marketing emphasized more on their superior ingredients and locations as compared to competitors like Pizza Hut who focused more on discounts and reduced-ingredient pizzas. In a lawsuit by Pizza Hut, which challenged Papa Johns’ claim to use superior ingredients, Papa Johns was able to prove in court that their ingredients were superior to Pizza Hut.
Papa Johns created another core competency with their focus on just making pizzas and eliminating other items from their menus. Papa Johns was originally designed as a sit in restaurant in which the menu consisted of many different items apart from just the pizzas. Schnatter talked about the difficulty of managing all the different food items in the menu and by listening to customers he adjusted his menu accordingly, essentially decided to discard everything and focus solely on making superior quality pizzas. After Apple became the most valuable firm in the world, Nike CEO Mark Parker asked Steve Jobs for advice and Jobs said, “Nike makes some of the best products in the world. Products that you lust after. But you [Nike] also make a lot of crap. Just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff (Gallo,
Case 3 – Papa John’s International
Muhammad Khan b00034427 Dr. Virginia Bodolica
Question 1: Identify 4 (four) different competences of Papa John International and justify your selection of these competences by indicating the type of competences that each of them is.
The first and most important core competency of Papa John’s is their emphasis on providing a superior quality traditional pizza. This core competency has been the foundation of their success and it has helped them enter thriving into the pizza industry, which appeared to be matured and saturated. John Schnatter (founder of Papa Johns) key target was to keep their products “simple, consistent and focused”. By keeping this philosophy of providing a better product, Papa Johns was able to penetrate the pizza industry. Their marketing emphasized more on their superior ingredients and locations as compared to competitors like Pizza Hut who focused more on discounts and reduced-ingredient pizzas. In a lawsuit by Pizza Hut, which challenged Papa Johns’ claim to use superior ingredients, Papa Johns was able to prove in court that their ingredients were superior to Pizza Hut.
Papa Johns created another core competency with their focus on just making pizzas and eliminating other items from their menus. Papa Johns was originally designed as a sit in restaurant in which the menu consisted of many different items apart from just the pizzas. Schnatter talked about the difficulty of managing all the different food items in the menu and by listening to customers he adjusted his menu accordingly, essentially decided to discard everything and focus solely on making superior quality pizzas. After Apple became the most valuable firm in the world, Nike CEO Mark Parker asked Steve Jobs for advice and Jobs said, “Nike makes some of the best products in the world. Products that you lust after. But you [Nike] also make a lot of crap. Just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff (Gallo,
References: Gallo , C. (2011). Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/carminegallo/2011/05/16/steve-jobs-get-rid-of-the-crappy-stuff/ Papa john. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.papajohns.com/about/pj_trophy_room.shtm