UK Economy Workforce

UK Economy Workforce

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Assignment Brief With a three million-strong workforce, and year-on-year growth, the retail sector is a significant contributor to the UK economy. Between 2016 and 2020, the retail sector workforce is projected to grow by 54,800. In some parts of the world, the retail business is dominated by smaller family-run or regionally-targeted stores, but this market is increasingly being taken over by billion-dollar multinational conglomerates like Wal-Mart and Sears. And yet, as the leading retailing players are increasingly seeking for opportunities to expand their global presence and are investing heavily in driving internet retailing sales, numerous local British retail companies have been successfully competing with their global competitors in the UK Market MORRISONS Scenario You have been hired by a local British retail company (Either Morrisons, Card Factory or Ocado) as a consultant in order to develop a market entry and business level strategy plan into the Chinese market. You are expected to write a report to summarize your research findings on the given tasks below. Tasks (100%) Analyse and demonstrate an understanding of the external environment in the Chinese market: Opportunities, threats, industry competition, and competitor analysis. Identify the firm’s resources and determine the potential of the firm’s capabilities and competencies in terms of a competitive advantage in the Chinese market. Reframe the vision statement and the mission statement of the firm for the new strategic business unit in China. Critically evaluate if the firm can continue with the current vision and mission statements in the new market. In the light of the analysis done in Task 1, 2 and 3, construct a SWOT analysis of the company and recommend a business-level international strategy for and market entry mode into the new market. Referencing (Harvard) Assignment Guide The external environment affects the competition actions and responses firms take to outperform competitors and earn above-average returns. The External Environment The Industry Environment Firms understand the external environment by acquiring information about competitors, customers, and other stakeholders to build their own base of knowledge and capabilities. On the basis of the new information, firms take actions, such as building new capabilities and core competencies as the basis for better serving their stakeholders’ needs. Resources, capabilities and core competencies are the foundation of competitive advantage. Resources are bundled to create organisational capabilities. In turn, capabilities are the source of firm’s core competencies, which are the basis of establishing competitive advantage. Tangible Resources Intangible Resources Components of and Internal Analysis Vision is a picture of what the firm wants to be and, in broad terms, what it wants to ultimately achieve. A vision statement articulates the ideal description of an organisation and gives a shape to its intended future. A mission specifies the business or businesses in which the firm intends to compete and the customers it intends to serve. An international strategy is a strategy through which the firm sells its goods and services outside its domestic market. Engaging in an international strategy has the potential to help a firm extend the life cycle of its products. Gaining access to needed and potentially scarce resources is another reason firms use an international strategy. The other factors influencing firms to pursue an international strategy can be given as: increased pressure to integrate operations on a global scale, increased global communications, the potential of large demand for goods and services from people in emerging markets such as China and India and so on. At business level, firms select from among the generic strategies of cost leadership, differentiation, focused cost leadership, focused differentiation and integrated cost leadership/differentiation. Five modes of entry into international markets are available to firms. Modes of Entry and their Characteristics Report Structure and Content Guide Links between the Learning Outcomes and the assignment tasks