INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, going to cafés is not only a way to take a break after long hours of
working but it has become a lifestyle. Along with the lifestyle of coffee is
gradually becoming a trend, many cafeterias are also catching up with consumer's
needs. There are many coffee shops in Hanoi which have done these things like
Highland Coffee, Cộng Coffee, Aha, Kafa, …. But in all of these, Cộng Coffee is
the brand that is arguably the most popular with unique coffee-related drinks and
old style decorating. Established in 2007 with a unique idea, Cộng has reminded its
customers of the memories of Hanoi in a coffee space.
The birth of Cong Coffee is very special. The founder of the cafe community was
not originally a businessman but a singer and the idea of coffee business does not
come to her through the business plan as well as other big chain stores. Mrs Linh
Dung – The founder of Cộng Coffee said she was very scared to run a business
because in her childhood, her mother sold coffee and refreshments and the house
was always crowded. However, her fate may has been tied to the business with
cafés.
The predestined business relationship comes from the difficulties of her friend. Her
friend has a small coffee shop, renting an area of 28m2 at 152D Trieu Viet Vuong
(Hanoi) which had not had customer about 3 months. That friend came to visit
Linh Dung's house and very impressed in the way she designed the furniture
randomly from old furniture. They express a rustic, warm theme. The friend asked
her to redesign the old cafe and run it at the same time. After 6 months of
cooperation, Mrs Linh Dung has been managed this coffee shop by herself and
that’s the time Cộng Coffee was born.
A new name “Cộng” can be understood in many ways. It is simply inspired by the
first letter of the catchphrase: CỘNG HOÀ XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM.
But according to the founder, Mrs Linh Dung, this name is the way to remind the
history of people, history of the country. This is a new business model, inspired by
taking advantage of the usefulness of old household appliances. Cộng Coffee has a
quiet atmosphere and a bit of nostalgia in every corner. Cộng give customers a
decoration what is the closest to daily life, from glazed iron shifts or wooden tables
with the style “Cộng” decoration. Founded in 2007, Cộng’s mission is to arouse
imagination and provide customers with different emotional experiences about
Vietnam. Cộng is constantly innovating with the goal of moving forward to bring
Communism to the world; Spreads and inspires the difference with each member's
heart.
In front of the strategic vision of Cộng Coffee, we will use the SWOT model to
employ a strategy for Cộng Coffee and give some strategic suggestions for Cộng
Coffee at 45 Quang Trung, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi.
II. SWOT Strategy:
1. Internal Environment
a. Strength
- Creative decoration: The reason why Cong cafe is still chosen by many people is
its unique in presenting old stuffs in the coffee shop. When come to Cộng, you
will feel like you are living in the old times, a Cong's signature. Using old
stuffs in a skillfully way, knowing how to make full advantage of the space by
displaying pictures in Vietnam war. Young people come here not only for their
curiosities but also to be able to live in the old times. Especially, Cộng café is
a frontier in this old decoration. It is pointed that decoration is the greatest
competitive advantage of Cộng
 It is can attract people from all ages no matter who they are.
- Location : Cộng café has location near office buildings and schools. So here is the
perfect location for officer to have time in order to relax during their breaks or
for parents to sit and drink coffee while waiting for their kids. Cộng café also
is located near the crossroad so it can easier to attract people
- Staff: When customers are familiar with the image of staff dressing special clothes,
wearing a white apron, the owner is cleverly using the image of the staff
wearing the uniform with the color of the soldiers - the shirt of the old army
with a canoe. Staff are also well-trained, both their skills and manners.
 Make customers feel comfortable.
- Drinks and food: Cộng café have their own unique drinks such as: Cot dua cacao,
Ca phe cot dua, bac xiu. Not only have drinks, Cong café also have snacks
like: dried sunflower seeds, peanuts, dried beef,…
 Thus, customers can both enjoy their favorite drinks and snacks
Technology: Although the decoration is in the old style, Cộng cafe also pays
attention to the issues of intelligent technology. For example, customers who
purchase things will receive an electric device. It will sound to indicate that
drinks are complete so customers can go to the counter to receive their drinks.
b. Weaknesses
- Located on an one-way street: Supposed a thirsty group of motorbike riders
decide that they want to stop by at a coffee shop for drinks but they have
already passed Cộng (which is located near the beginning of Quang Trung
Street). In this case, they will choose to keep going and sit at Aha or All day
coffee instead, because this option will cost them no time turning around.
 Lose a small amount of customers because of the location
-
Few parking spots: On our trip to Cộng, we realized that it only has 10-15
parking spots for motorbikes. And our full group easily filled all those spots,
which means there would haven't been enough space for more customers to
park. This is very inconvenient, considering the target customers of Cộng are
students, teenagers, who mostly travel by motorcycles and motorbikes. And of
course, there is not enough space for cars, except for the parking meter about
10m in front of Cộng, which obviously costs money.
 Inconvenient for customers in general and customers who travel by cars.
-
Considerably high prices: In comparison with other coffee places such as
Aha, Kafa - very big competitive rivals, Cộng has a relatively expensive menu:
(Photo menu)
+ The cheapest drink costs 35,000 VND
+ The most expensive drink costs 55,000 VND
+ Drink cost 45,000 - 50,000 VND on average.
 Won’t be suitable for young students who have small allowance or workers
with below average wage.
-
Few employess per shift: Each shift has 2-3 employees so too many
customers will lead to slow serving.
-
Decoration Special decoration: While this has been mentioned as one of
Plus’s strengths, it also effectively to its weaknesses. Because the decoration
and style is so unique (nostalgia for Vietnamese war times, with signature
features and old stuff together with dim lights), it can not be preferred by
customers of all age. For instance, some of the youngsters our age still feel
that there aren’t enough lights for reading books, doing research on
computers, etc.
2. External Environment
a. Opportunities
- A lot of offices and school: Through the field trip we realized that there are
many offices and schools around the street where CỘNG is located. After
long hard-working morning, café shops are suitable places for busy office
worker to have lunch or take a break and CỘNG is not a bad idea. In every
afternoon, around 5:00pm to 5:30pm, students in the neighbor primary
school finish their study and many parents wait to pick up their children. In
the meantime, it is possible for them to wait in a café. Besides, there are
several high schools nearby such as Trần Phú, Việt Đức… The demand for
taking pictures at unique decoration places of teenagers nowadays increases
rapidly.
 Opportunities for CỘNG café broaden its customer range.
- Convenient traffic: As we mentioned before in the Weakness part, CỘNG
located on one-way road. But it also like a huge opportunity of CỘNG.
Traffic jams are rarely happened on the one-way street.
 So the regulars could reach to CỘNG with ease.
- Full of trees on the sidewalk: Protecting the environment is a heated
“trend” and often discussed topic.
 So having more trees on the street is a huge strong point which will
generate more attraction for customers
- Other playing places around: The fact, Hoan Kiem Lake is one of the
most famous place where many entertainment services are concentrated.
The distance from CỘNG to Hoan Kiem Lake is not far.
 CỘNG will easy become a good option for young generation to hang
out and have a chit-chat with their friends.
b. Threats
- Many competitors participate in the market: Nice location near the center is
the ideal location of cafes to appear. Around Cong we can mention rivals such
as Trung Nguyen Legend Café, Terrace Café, The coffee house, Café Mai, …
Those are all popular brands with distinct advantages and strengths. They have
a certain market share. In particular, space, decoration, service, price and
quality of the above brands immediately receive customer’s satisfaction so they
quickly capture a number of patrons. In recent time, The coffee house has
focused on promoting advertising, developing applications for ordering drinks,
earning points, updating drinks regularly to diversify menus for customers to
choose. Trung Nguyen Legend Café focuses on promoting the quality of coffee
products with stable and carefully selected input materials.
 Highly competitive market and the presence of well-known brands around Cong
Café 45 Quang Trung makes the store more difficult to attract customers,
especially when they also have good potential and ability.
- Psychology of customers: like trying new things. Today, most customers tend to
like change. They do not tend to point to just come to one place in a long run. At
first, customers are interested in going to one place, but when they are familiar,
they will not continue to maintain this hobby. Instead, they will experience other
coffee shops and this is very easy, especially as more and more new coffee shops
appear. There are a number of customers who will maintain a preference for a
familiar coffee shop because of the speciality there (maybe quality of service,
special space) but this number is not high enough.
S
W
1,Creative decoration
1,Located on an one-way street
2,Location
2,Few parking spots
3,Staff
3,Considerably high prices:
4,Drinks and food:
4,Few employess per shift
5,Technology
5,Decoration Special decoration
O
T
1,A lot of offices and school
1,Many competitors participate in the
2,Convenient traffic:
market:
3,Full of trees on the sidewalk:
2,Psychology of customers
4,Other playing places around
III) Plans
1) S-O
We can find out some solutions to improve business efficiency of Cộng through
strengths and opportunities by the SWOT matrix:
a) S1 – O1, O4
Cộng café has creative decoration which attracts people from all ages to come here
and have some coffee. There are a number of offices and schools around and
officers and students’ parents will find a place to take a break at rush hours so
Cộng is a good idea. Besides, Cộng has several playing spaces near where it is
situated such as Hoan Kiem Lake so the youngster can hang out after having a
drink at Cong.
 Cong has an opportunity to broaden its customer range with their decoration and
the places around it.
 Beside that Cong cafe can organize some appeal activities to attract more
customers from all ages to visit it.
b) S2 – O2, O3
This café locates on the front of the crossroad so it easily catches eyes of people to
pop in and get some coffee. Quang Trung street is one-way street so traffic jams
are rarely happened. The clients will not have to worry about traffic congestion.
Especially, the road in front of Cong has a lot of trees to bring shades to customers
who sit outside even to the motors which parks on the sidewalk.
 The opportunities from location helps Cộng to attract clients and also be the great
idea for officers or parents who waiting for picking up their children. Besides,
having a lot of trees contributes to protect the environment.
c) S4, S5 - O4
Cộng cafe has its own unique drinks and other snacks and also has the location as
an advantage like near Hoan Kiem lake. More than that, it pays attention to the
issues of intelligent techniques.
 All of them above are the reasons that Con
 g can attract young generation to become their regulars.
 Just having the youngsters is not enough, Cong should develop to appeal more the
middle-age customers. Not everyone knows how to use the model techniques so
the staffs should instruct carefully to the one who don’t know how to use it.
Besides, the cafeteria should have some other light foods for the officers at lunch
so they can eat and drink right there.
2) O - W
We can find some solutions through weaknesses and opportunities:
a) O3 - W1:
Despite located on an one-way, Cộng is located at the beginning of Quang Trung
street with clear view, easy to see. And in one-way street, there are few traffic jams
so the solution for Cộng is to install nameplates, so people can easily to find them
on the road.
b) O1 - W5:
We all know about Cộng with the decoration and style about Vietnamese war
times, with signature features and old stuffs together with dim lights, plus near
schools and offices, but such designs are not yet suitable for all ages. To be able to
expand more customers, Cộng can still retain its design and add more modern
design, combining the present and the past.
c) O3 - W5:
With the plus point that there are many trees on the street, Cong uses this
opportunity to expand the shop to the outer space, design outdoor tables or
balconies which has a lot of light which is suitable to work and study.
d) O1 + W3:
For customers who are young, Cong should take this opportunity to move to new
business direction - self-service. This will help customers to be proactive with
their drinks and overcome the weakness of few employees.
3) S - T
Look at SWOT matrix, we can figure out some remedies to tackle business
efficiency issues of Cộng through Strengths and Threats :
a) S1S3S4S5 - T1:
As mentioned, a lot of Cộng’s competitors have sprung up recently. However, most
of them aim to decorate their cafes with colors, furniture, atmosphere in a modern
way. However, Cộng is in the spotlight with its difference. It is well ahead of its
rivals in decoration and recreation the vintage atmosphere of Vietnam. Customers
coming to the cafe not only enjoy the food and drink but also experience the
feeling of returning to the past. Decoration is such a strong competitive advantage
that it is problematic for Cộng’s rivals to cope with.

Cộng should keep its decoration or be better off enhancing it by changing
the background of the room to different periods in the past, for example: after Đổi
Mới, early 2000s,..
Staff of Cộng are well trained in skills and manners, but theirs from Cộng’s rivals
are the same. In order to keep ahead, Cộng should continue training its staff in
proper and professional ways; impose a penalty for undisciplined staff and give
reward for the ones that have good performance each month

To maintain staff as a competitive advantage, Cộng should request its staff to
obey the rules, dismiss who works poorly and reward the hard workers
Cộng is a cafe, so the food and drink must be outstanding to attract customers and
deprive other competitors of overtaking it. Clients have a lot of choices when they
are at Cộng and some of its drinks are exclusive. That’s make Cộng coffee unique
and almost no rival can compete with it.

Cộng has to keep the secret recipe of its food and drink. Moreover, Cộng
should spend more on inventing new kinds of drink to diversify the menu so that
the cafe can approach different types of customers.
Having a vintage style doesn’t mean that Cộng cannot apply modern technology to
the way it works. The electric card beeping when your order is finished is a
fascinating stuff. Technology has been an important part of earning the reputation
for Cộng coffee.
 Besides using the electric card, Cộng can implement online order method. The
customers not only experience the convenience inside the cafe but also wherever
outside.
b) S1S4-T2 :
As it is said from the Threats , most customers these days tend to like changes ,
they do not come to a brand for a long time . Nevertheless , Cộng cafe should
continue to focus on its feature such as presenting a vintage style, old pieces or
wooden tables from the subsidy period in a unique and strange design in its coffee
store in order to retain the loyal customer whose hobbies are the antique
decoration of Cộng itself. Not just keeping the old decoration like it was, Cộng
should also be innovative in developing its design with modern refurbishment of
the store. For instance, the theme of the café shop in special holidays like
Christmas , Halloween , Mid-Autumn Festival with costumes, masks, mascots,
Christmas Tree, lanterns. Additionally, Cộng café has to enhance their own
phenomenal snacks and beverages which establish Cộng’s reputation to
Vietnamese such as : Cot dua cacao, Ca phe cot dua, bac xiu , dried sunflower
seeds, peanuts and beef jerky. Moreover, contemporary, trendy food and
refreshments emerging in the markets should also be added into Menus to increase
the variety of choices for customers.
⇒ Given the aforementioned solutions , Cộng is able to enhance its strengths and
alleviate the threats from customers who is likely to be influenced by the new
things.
c) S3S5 - T2 :
Customers are familiar with the image of staff wearing army color clothes, wearing
a white apron, the chain owner is cleverly using the image of the staff wearing the
uniform with the color of the soldiers - the shirt of the old army with a canoe
⇒ This feature of Cộng cafe’s staff appearance would be enhance to maintain the
customer whose interest is familiar to a coffee shop because of the specialty there .
With these well-trained , decent attitude and skillful employees, Cộng Cafe need to
maintain this exceptional appearance of the work force along with putting several
adjustment on the outfits for special occasions , wearing Santa Claus on Christmas
day, spooky masks on Halloween, for instance. This solution would attract
customer who tend to like the new and often not come to a brand for a long time .
Cộng cafe also pays attention to intelligent technology. For example, an electric
device is widely more useful for customer , they do not have to standing for so
long to wait for their refreshments . Adding modern and innovative devices like
that could attract the youngsters who want to experience the new.
4) W-T
a) W1 - T1:
Cộng is located on an one-way segment, so many customers on the street do not
pay attention to the location of the shop can cause the shop to lose a number of
customers due to the fact that customers are afraid to go back to the Communist.
Therefore, in terms of exterial and interial decoration, should create an eyecatching appearance, easy to recognize. Maybe simply by adding more colorful
lights to make the shop stand out at night.
b) W3 - T2:
Catching the change of customers, Cộng should update regularly to add new and
delicious drinks, with reasonable prices. Try to make quality drinks that match the
price. Learning from the trend of drinks, for example, from mid-2019, Lemon Tea a very simple drink that has a price that is very suitable for the age of students.
c) W2 - T1:
Although there is no large parking space, but having a bus stop right in front of
Cộng while other shops do not, Cộng can offer incentives for customers traveling
by public transport is bus or taxi. This both encourages guests to travel by public
transport to help reduce traffic congestion, as well as protect the environment,
while helping the shop to reduce the number of vehicles in the parking lot.
CONCLUSION
After doing this written report, we have some evaluations about SWOT model.
About advantages, SWOT model is fairly easy-to-use model in devising strategies.
It is a model that anyone who does business can reasonably complete, and
therefore, it does not require the involvement of experts or consultants. This is an
effective method for a company of any function or industry. Moreover SWOT can
help generate new ideas for businesses. By looking at the problems that appear in
columns and analysis, it not only raises awareness of potential (and disadvantage)
advantages and threats, but can also help us respond more efficient in the future,
plan to prepare when risks occur. However, this model still has some
disadvantages. Although, it is easy-to-use, this model has in-depth results.
Moreover, it takes a lot of research and analysis, combined with SWOT model to
get a complete picture. Beside SWOT model, there are many other models that can
use to propose the strategy in business, we just use SWOT to do this research
because of the usefulness of this model.
As mentioned above, the group has come up a couple solutions for the store. Based
on strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, we hope that our ways can
assist the owner to address the remained problems in the near future.