这是最好的时代，也是最坏的时代. The divergent fates of two rival condiment businesses — the best of times for mcllhenny Company, 著名的塔巴斯科品牌辣酱生产商, 对驾车方 Foods来说，这是最糟糕的时刻, 美国的鼻祖.S. version of the popular Sriracha pepper sauce — highlight the power and perils of diversification. While mcllhenny 太k strategic steps to diversify with future performance and risk in mind, 汇芳未能利用其最初的巨大成功, making missteps that ultimately rendered the former market leader an also-ran in hot sauce, 甚至在胡芳自己创建的子类别中.
The cases of mcllhenny and 驾车方 illustrate the right and wrong ways to diversify.
150年的辣酱
热酱汁, 用来给各种各样的主菜调味, 国, 和零食, are simple 产品 containing a limited set of ingredients such as pepper mash, 醋, 盐, 大蒜, 和糖. With the exception of the peppers, these are typically commodity inputs. Thus profit in this industry is realized by selling a unique product at scale with strict control over input costs.
mcllhenny, 现在已经是第五代家族企业了, 从19世纪末就开始生产食品了, 从其最著名的“原创”辣酱系列开始. The business carefully manages the particular kind of peppers its contract farmers must grow and source from multiple suppliers on multiple continents, 我们将在下面讨论. In 2014, mcllhenny started producing its own brand of Sriracha sauce based on the growing demand for these 产品.
驾车方, 一个相对较新的进入者, was founded by Vietnamese immigrant David Tran in Los Angeles in 1980 and rose to prominence with its Sriracha sauce, 辛辣的复杂组合, 有大蒜味的, 以及甜的味道——这是Tran引入美国的一种调味品.S. 也叫“公鸡酱”,的标志（黄道十二宫的象征）。, sales grew rapidly as the product’s hot- sweet taste resonated with contemporary palates. By 2020, sales were over $130 million, and the business was valued at $1 billion. 驾车方 helped meet rising demand with a long-term arrangement with Underwood Ranches, 它的单一, local source of the jalapeño peppers essential to the product — one of multiple critical errors the company would make.
多元化的故事
鉴于驾车方凭借辣酱迅速崛起, it may be surprising to hear that the product disappeared off shelves in the early 2020s (with ongoing uncertainty about its availability), essentially ceding the Sriracha market to rivals including mcllhenny, 现任领导人. The simple explanation is diversification strategy — or the smart moves mcllhenny and others made in the face of 驾车方’s misguided efforts.
These key dimensions of diversification determined these businesses’ highly different fates.
供应链
In 2016, 驾车方试图使其辣椒来源多样化, 很大程度上是因为与安德伍德的分歧和对他的诉讼, 在那之前，它是唯一的供应商, 关于多付辣椒的事. 安德伍德不再是合伙人了, 这家公司与加州的胡椒供应商签订了合同, 新墨西哥, 和墨西哥. 但从2020年到2022年, the new suppliers faced climate challenges that severely limited their ability to produce.
These supply chain issues compromised 驾车方’s production capacity, 正如公司与主要客户的沟通所概述的那样. 与此同时, 多派对，更容易接触到辣椒, 包括安德伍德, 凭借一款Sriracha产品进入辣酱市场. 这种配方不仅不受保护, 但驾车方的品牌专注于Sriracha这个名字, 一个地理术语, 限制商标保护, inadvertently creating opportunities for others in the hot-sauce supply chain.
当辉方停止生产斯里拉查酱时, 它开始失去所有相关的市场份额, yet mcllhenny’s multi-sourcing strategy positioned it well to fill the market shortage. The business strategically sourced peppers and other inputs from multiple continents to avoid the very challenges that 驾车方 had overlooked — such as the vagaries of local climates. 到2023年10月，塔巴斯科品牌的Sriracha成为市场领导者.
产品、客户和渠道
驾车方 put all its proverbial eggs in one basket by relying almost solely on its flagship Sriracha sauce for revenue, running the risk of losing business if and when customer tastes shifted.
mcllhenny, 与此同时, 稳步建立了一个辣酱产品组合, 将品牌扩展到九种酱汁，包括原来的. “We need to branch out with the brand,” said Harold Osborn, CEO and fifth-generation family member. That conferred key advantages to the business: The company could cater to multiple segments of 客户 with different taste preferences, 比如jalapeño和墨西哥辣椒酱. 不像胡芳, mcllhenny was less susceptible to ingredient shortages and could ramp up production of alternative 产品 in the face of supply chain issues. 此外, 如果顾客在货架上找不到特定的塔巴斯科产品, 他们可以试试别的, 潜在地扩大增长和利润.
重要的是, mcllhenny diversified to selling wholesale 产品 as inputs as well, 在降低风险的同时创造更多价值. mcllhenny made the smart decision to diversify from B2C to B2B 产品, 向其他食品制造商出售辣椒和其他原料. 驾车方, 太, 向快餐店和其他餐馆提供辣酱汁, but it wasn’t sufficient to offset its supply chain challenges and limited product selection.
Diversification on key dimensions drives value while reducing risk. 供应链, 产品, 客户, and channel are elements of diversification that led to McIllhenny’s rise alongside 驾车方’s decline. 多样化至关重要，但必须做得正确. 驾车方 limited its own success by primarily focusing on one product and demonstrating a “太 little, 太 late” approach by waiting 太 long to diversify its supply chain. Lack of diversification on these fronts failed to protect Huy Fung against the possibility of a supplier becoming a competitor.
The bottom line: If you’re aiming for long-term success, diversification is a must. We hope the ideas here help you strategically diversify your way to the best of times for your business.
关于作者
Achal Bassamboo是查尔斯E. Morrison Professor of Decision Sciences at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. 詹姆斯·G. 康利是凯洛格商学院的外科临床教授. The authors acknowledge the generous support of the Center for Research in Technology & 凯洛格商学院的创新.
