GAME: Competing in Africa's Playing Field GAME is the largest low-price retail store in South Africa and

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GAME: Competing in Africa's Playing Field GAME is the largest low-price retail store in South Africa and one of the largest retail companies in Africa. It consists of 110 stores in 12 countries and thinks of itself as a discount cash retailer of consumer goods and general merchandise, electrical appliances, and non-perishable items for home, leisure, and business use. GAME is implementing a high volume, low margin operating model that depends on making a high volume of sales at a lower price as well as on a sound and consistent promotional strategy. The company applies "Price Beat Policy". The policy states, "If you have purchased any item from GAME and, within 21 days, find the identical product at a competitor for less, tell us and we will refund MORE than the difference. In addition, if you intend to purchase from Game and find the identical item at a competitor for less at the same time, tell us and we will BEAT that price". GAME started to expand into Africa in the early 1990s when it realized that its South African market would mature quickly and that there was little space for investment in the already over-traded market. Recognizing the retail market potential the neighboring South African countries, GAME started investing in Africa by opening its first store in Botswana in 1993. The company relied heavily of on its strong financial position and unutilized funds generated form its success over the past years to expand internationally following wholly owned subsidiary market entry strategy.

It was only when the company decided to invest further afield, specifically in Uganda (2004), Nigeria (2005), Tanzania (2006), and Ghana (2007), that the reality of Africa kicked in. The opening of the Nigeria store was known to be a bit of a disaster after the first group of containers of goods were held up for nine months at the local customs office because of GAME's refusal to submit to bribery Regarding the supply chain to the African countries, until about three or four years ago, distribution of all goods had been managed centrally from South Africa. GAME's experience in Nigeria changed this. GAME decided it was best to turn to local suppliers in Nigeria because restrictions on certain imported products meant that even one restricted product could hold a whole container back. In other countries, however, GAME imported up to 90 percent of its goods from South Africa without any major difficulties. A large portion of its goods had to be transported by road, but getting those roads to certain countries meant that in some cases truck drivers had to cross five different borders. The drivers therefore, had to build up good relations with the border officials to speed up the process, particularly because GAME incentivized the drivers with bonuses if they were able to deliver the goods on time. The company therefore, had a separate business plan and business model for every country. For example, whereas in South Africa every store stocked 12,000 active products, some remote African stores such as GAME Kampala had only 8,000. This was because the cost of supplying the full range of products was prohibitively high and because GAME realized that consumer needs and preferences differ from one market to another. GAME also realized that, unlike South Africa, shopping centers were an unknown concept in most African countries, so GAME opted for stand-alone stores in most instances, and in some countries, it developed its own small shopping centers. Still, securing financing from the local banks proved to be trying, as the bank officials did not understand the concept of a shopping mall, having only had to finance ventures like roads and bridges in the past. By 2010, GAME had a presence in 12 countries and it had become evident that despite the risks, it was indeed very profitable for the company to invest in African countries.

GAME stores in Africa generated far higher profit and return on investment than their South African counterparts. The company was also planning to expand its footprint in another six countries over the next five years. Nonetheless, GAME had found that it could not simply cut and paste its South African business model into other African contexts. Until recently, GAME has been fortunate not to have had serious competition from international players, although the company did face some competition from the other South African-based supermarket retailer; Shoprite Holdings, as well as the informal market. Recently, GAME expected a complete change in the African Business landscape and foresaw that more and more international businesses would start realizing the investment potential of Africa. The company was fairly convinced that big multinational players such as Walmart and Carrefour, which had previously shied away from investing from Africa, would form partnerships with existing investors rather than risk going alone.

Explain Walmart's bid for Massmart in 2010. Why this approach? Has it been successful? As one of the largest and most competitive MNCs, why Africa, why MassMart, why these countries, why this form of entry. But most importantly, how has it been mapped out and what are the results and learnings/lessons

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