Executive-Summary

Executive Summary: Strategic Plan Part-3STR/GM 581University of PhoenixExecutive Summary: Strategic Plan Part-3Executive Summary

METRO GROUP is an international retailing company with Head quarter in Düsseldorf, Germany, is one of the world’s leading retail and wholesale companies in the world. The company has over 280,000 employees in 180 nations around the world with over 2,200 outlets in 32 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia. The company wants to expand its operation in Canada; To gain competitive advantage in the new market, Metro Group has to ensure that it manages its core business in a sustainable manner, providing exceptional customer service and producing world-class products that are difficult to imitate will give a competitive advantage against other competitors in the market.

Business/Product or Service

METRO GROUP deals with private and commercial clienteles in a wide-ranging array of services in cash & carry and in retail. With their specific offers designed to meet the growing demands of customers, METRO GROUP’s sales brands have become individual retail brands in many ways. A significant establishment of customer orientation will symbolizes a key component of the new Retail strategy. For this reason, the company has conducted a thorough customer satisfaction analysis. METRO GROUP can target customer groups including “young families”, “best agers”, “smart budget family” and “traditional hoarder”. Based on these insights, Retail can address all customers with a more compelling and targeted approach in Canada. Real is committed to ensuring that its customers find exactly what they require for their personal needs when they shop in a Real hypermarket. As this also includes an excellent price-performance ratio, Retail has lowered the prices of its key customer groups’ preferred products.

The Market

The Business Concept of METRO GROUP is to create brand articles and strong private labels guarantee a high-quality product line in both the food and non-food segments. Canada represents a bounty of untapped potential, 14 square feet per person in Canada. The Canadian market as a whole is relatively under-served, and growing medium-to-large, with a strong Canadian currency and shopping Centre sales averaging $580 per square foot in Canada, there are opportunities for retailers and investor owners alike. METRO GROUP can quickly and easily capture some of the market through acquisition rather than store-by-store expansion. With the Canadian retail sector pushing forward at a sustainably healthy rate, demand for space in shopping centers and street fronts will continue to get tighter, with a resultant increase in lease rates particularly in growing urban markets (Municipal Growth Stars in Canada.). Because the company will need greater numbers of stores to maintain economies of scale entering Canada, buying a chain with similar location and size preferences has many advantages for METRO GROUP.

Competition

One of METRO GROUP biggest competitors for the expansion in Canada is Wal-Mart, and they will always have to face Target once they start operations in spring of 2013 (Huffington post). The company’s advantage is that it sells high quality goods and brands and using cost reduction strategy will give METRO GROUP a competitive edge in the market in Canada.

Risk/Opportunity

The objective of conducting a risk management plan for METRO GROUP in drive to expand in Canada is to increase the probability and impact of positive events, and decrease the probability and impact of negative events that would happen throughout the life span of the company (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). A risk breakdown structure will be implemented to help break down the risks associated with the METRO GROUP in Canada. The company will be creating a decision tree diagram to help the business make decision between alternative capital strategies.

Conclusion

How and why firms outperform each other goes to the heart of strategic management, understanding various strategies, how to formulate and deploy them will allow METRO GROUP to enjoy superior performance and improve its competitive position. The firm that chooses a concentrated growth strategy directs its resources to the profitable growth of a narrowly defined product and market, focusing on a dominant technology (Pearce and Robinson, 2011). However, there are always drawbacks to each strategy the company will try to implement. Thus, the sustainability of METRO GROUP advantages will always be challenging, because there will be replications or replacement by new or existing competitors.

References:

http://www.metrogroup.de/internet/site/metrogroup/node/10781/Len/index.html

Pearce, J. A., II, & Robinson, R. B., Jr. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control (11th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Yip, G. S. (2003). Total global strategy II (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Mintzberg, H., Lampel, J., Quinn, J. B., & Ghoshal, S. (2003). The strategy process: Concepts, contexts, cases (4th ed.). New Jersey: Pearson-Prentice Hall.

https://www.bea.gov/scb/account_articles/international/1097srv/maintext.htm

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/080522/dq080522c-eng.htm