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 McDonald's, 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 module, do 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. Please answer the following questions with a minimum of 3 page strategic plan for Pret a Manger that addresses the following issues:
- What country or countries should Pret a Manger enter next (beyond the five countries they already operate in)? Explain your reasoning for this selection based on criteria from the background materials including de Kluyver (2012) and articles on Pret a Manger.
- What mode of entry should Pret a Manger use to enter this country or countries that you chose? For example, should they use a joint venture, franchising, a greenfield strategy, etc.? Refer to the concepts from Carpenter and Dunung (2012) and Jeyarathmm (2008) in your answer, and cite some articles on Pret a Manger.