Module 4 – Case
Market Selection and Foreign Entry Mode
Assignment Overview
Pret a Manger (which means ready to eat in French) is a British fast food restaurant chain known for its very friendly staff and relatively healthy food. While the majority of its restaurants are in the U.K. it also has a heavy presence in the eastern United States. While the restaurant is successful in the U.K. and in American cities such as New York and Chicago it has had only limited success in other countries so far. In 2002 it tried to expand to Japan in a joint venture with McDonalds but ultimately this venture failed and it withdrew from Japan by 2004. Now it is currently entering China with restaurants in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Clearly Pret a Manager is intent on international expansion but given its failure in Japan it of course needs to carefully plan its expansion strategies.
Before writing your paper make sure to carefully review the concepts of target markets and market selection from de Kluyver (2012) as well as the discussion of advantages and disadvantages of different foreign entry mode decisions in Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and Rajagopal (2009). Once you have finished reviewing the basic concepts of this moduledo some research on Coupang. Below are a couple of articles to get you started but news on Pret a Manger seems to change by the day so try to find some more recent articles in addition to reading these two articles:
Junqian X. (2014 October 3). Pret a Manger prepares for sandwich battle. China Daily. [ProQuest]
Sanchanta M. (2004 March 30). Pret a Manger retreats from Japanese market. FT.Com. [ProQuest]
Case Assignment
Suppose you have been hired by Pret a Manger to come up with an international strategic plan. Write a 4- to 5-page strategic plan for Pret a Manger that addresses the following issues:
Module 4 – SLP
Market Selection and Foreign Entry Mode
For your final SLP pretend that an American corporation hired you to write a report on whether or not they should enter the country that you have been researching for your Modules 1-3 SLP assignments. You have already done a lot of research on many of the cultural financial legal and political aspects of doing business in your country which you can use as part of your overall recommendation. However you also need to consider other factors such as the potential size of the market that your country has to offer. If your country has very few consumers then it will not be a wise decision to enter the country no matter how strong the legal or political system.
One resource to use for your report is Michigan State Universitys Market Potential Index (http://globaledge.msu.edu/mpi/2014). This index focuses mostly on various aspects of the size or growth of the consumer market in each country which should provide some valuable information in making your recommendation. But dont rely just on this index. Do some additional research on factors that you think make your country an attractive or unattractive market for an American company and use some of de Kluyvers (2012) guidelines on country selection as part of your paper.
When you have finished your research write a 2- to 3-page paper with the following information:
Start out this module with this introductory video on foreign entry mode strategies that explains the main concepts from Professor Mark Wolters of the University of Illinois:
Wolters World. (2012 October 25). Global market entry strategies explained [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSyYo4ph3hM
The first step to entering a foreign market is to decide which country to enter. The following chapter will give you a solid overview of the process of selecting a potential country to enter:
After youve chosen which country you want to enter you then need to decide how to enter the country. The following two readings will give you an overview of several foreign entry-mode strategies and benefits and risks of each strategy:
Case Assignment
Junqian X. (2014 October 3). Pret a Manger prepares for sandwich battle. China Daily. [ProQuest]
Sanchanta M. (2004 March 30). Pret a Manger retreats from Japanese market. FT.Com. [ProQuest]