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:
Assignment Expectations