Analytics and Business Survival—Critical Success Factors and the Demise of HP Bulmer Ltd.

This article examines the requirements for the successful deployment of business analytics in industry and uses this as a framework to provide a business intelligence perspective on the demise of a case study company, drinks manufacturer HP Bulmer Ltd., resulting in the collapse and takeover of the company in 2003. Based on a scoping literature review and a qualitative interpretivist approach, the article investigates the critical success factors for business analytics software projects and classifies these into five main organisational pillars that are required for successful analytics deployment. Then, using documents available in the public domain, the article examines the case study of HP Bulmer Ltd., which used analytics software in the 1990s and early 2000s as the company attempted to establish itself as a global drinks manufacturer. The article reports on how the company struggled to put the necessary pillars in place for successful use of their analytics systems, but having finally achieved this, then failed to take the necessary decisions to steer the company towards profitability as opposed to rapid growth in turnover. The article uses the case study to reflect on the key aspects of analytics technology deployment and the wider field of digitalisation and digital transformation, and points to the critical importance of political will to formulate and steer data-informed strategy. The research contributes to the development of theory regarding analytics deployment and will be of value to practitioners faced with the challenges of implementing analytics systems in industry.