Strategic International Business Management
Learning outcomes:
1. Critically review the strategy of an organisation in light of international business issues, applying relevant theories and concepts.
2. Produce a creative strategic solution to a business problem for an organisation facing diverse challenges, taking into account the firm's external and internal environments.
3. To think reflectively about the formulation and implementation of international strategy in an ethical and professional manner.
Task details and instructions:
You must structure your report in the same order as the assignment tasks set out below.
The word count for the report is 3000 words.
Remember to number the pages, starting with the first page.
Lidl is a German global discount supermarket chain operating across some 30 countries globally. The company is looking to further expand internationally.
Using Lidl as a case company, produce a report that addresses the 5 following tasks:
TASK 1.
Evaluate the following 2 countries to identify which represents the most potentially attractive target marketfor Lidl's future international expansion strategy:
- Mexico
- Norway
In order to evaluate which of these 2 countries represents the most potentially attractive target market, you are required to undertake a comparative PESTEL analysis of those macro-environmental factors of the 2 countries that are relevant to Lidl.
- Worth 20% of the overall mark
- Not included in the word count
- This background analysis must be included as an appendix, presented in table format and must be no more than 5 pages in length.
- Data should be recent, primarily quantitative and obtained from appropriate sources (e.g. the most recently published World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness report).
- A scoring system should be used for each macro-environmental factor / sub-factor for each country to show whether each factor / sub-factor is more or less attractive for your company. These scores should then be totalled for each country in order to arrive at an overall scoring of attractiveness for each country.
- Further guidance on undertaking the comparative analysis of the 2 countries is available in the Assignment Briefing slides on Blackboard.
TASK 2.
Discuss the rationale for the selection of your chosen market. Your rationale should be justified with a more detailed discussion of your PESTEL analysis of the macro-environmental factors of your chosen market that you have presented in the appendix for Task 1. This discussion should explicitly consider the implications of the macro-environmental factors of your chosen market for Lidl.
This task must be presented in the first section of the main body of your report.
TASK 3.
Apply the 5-Forces model to critically analyse the competitive intensity of the industrial environment of Lidlin your chosen market. A SWOT analysis isnot acceptable.
This task must be presented in the second section of the main body of your report.
TASK 4.
Analyse the firm's internal environment in order to EITHER:
i) critically evaluate the resources and capabilities of Lidland the competitive implications of these for the company when entering into your chosen market (this will require an application of the VRIO framework)
OR:
ii) identify Lidl's internal value-adding activities and critically evaluate which of these will be most relevant in supporting the company to enter into your chosen market (this will require an application of the Value Chain model).
A SWOT analysis for either option isnot acceptable.
This task must be presented in the third section of the main body of your report.
TASK 5.
Critically evaluate the various modes of entry available to Lidland recommend - with justification based on the findings of your analyses in Tasks 2, 3 & 4 above - the most suitable mode of entry that will enable this strategic international expansion to be a success for the company.
This task must be presented in the fourth and final section of the main body of your report.