strategic management

Section B Application Questions 62 Marks Study the scenario and complete the questions that follow: Seattle Coffee - Expansion Seattle Coffee Corporation is an international coffee house chain based in Seattle, Washington, United States. Seattle Coffee is a provider of high-end coffee products and more importantly, a relaxed experience. The company is the largest coffee house company in the world, with 16,120 stores in 49 countries, including around 11,000 in the United States, followed by nearly 1,000 in Canada and more than 800 in Japan. Seattle Coffee sells drip-brewed coffee beans. Through the Seattle Coffee Entertainment division and Hear Music brand, the company also markets books, music, and film. Many of the company's products are seasonal or specific to the location of the store. Seattle Coffee branded ice cream and coffee are also offered at grocery stores. Seattle Coffee's Italian style coffee, espresso beverages, teas, pastries, and confections have made Seattle Coffee one of the greatest retailing stories of recent history and the world's biggest specialty coffee chain. According to Seattle Coffee their mission statement is "To inspire and nurture the human spirit - one person, one cup and one neighbourhood at a time". Strategically, Seattle Coffee has historically had a differentiation strategy, with prices being comparatively high and their offering including uniquely high-quality products, services, and environments for the consumer. This differentiation strategy is used with horizontal growth strategy internationally. Seattle Coffee currently has a market expansion strategy focused on Asia and has recently seen both problems and great sales figures arise from this market in China and Japan. The objective of this strategic campaign is to capitalize on the highly dense Asian market, with its high population and growing wealth. In 2010, Seattle Coffee announced that it intended on breaking into the Indian market, however it had failed to do so four years later. The problem facing Seattle Coffee right now is whether or not to expand into India and, if the company were to expand how it would go about doing so. If Seattle Coffee does decide to expand into India with a promising strategy, there is still the problem of finding a suitable partner in India. Source: Adapted from Henrico, Lues, & Kopung (2016). Strategic Management Examination Appendix. North-West University Question 8 Discuss and apply Rumelt's model as a criterion for evaluating strategies for Seattle Coffee Company. (8 Marks) End of Section B