Details of Assessment
You are the newly appointed strategic consultant with JD Sports PLC a UK-based retailer of fashionable branded sports and casual wear. The board of directors in the UK have decided to expand the business in the Asian Market’. Therefore, you are instructed to prepare a report suggesting the best strategic direction for the firm to grow internationally, and to develop strategies that will help them to create a competitive advantage and achieve their strategic objectives.
You need to consider effectively scanning both the internal and external environment for JD sports in order to help the business to explore new opportunities in the Asian market.
Company Background
Established in the year 1983 by John Wardle and David Makin, JD Sports has long been established as the leading UK specialist retailer of fashionable branded, sports and casual wear. What started as a single shop in Bury, England has now expanded across the UK, and by 1996, JD has opened a total of 56 stores. By 2011, JD has dominated most of the EU, primarily in Germany, Ireland, France, Netherlands, and Spain, with Denmark and Sweden to follow suit. At this moment in time, JD was already regarded as the most innovative visual merchandiser of sportswear with the best and most exclusive stylish range.
Fast forward to 2016, JD officially launched its first store in Asia, right here in Malaysia. In November, JD opened its first flagship store in Pavilion Elite, Kuala Lumpur, and its third store in Asia in Sunway Velocity, Cheras.
JD looks forward to progressive development in Asia in the days to come.
However, for a better understanding of the organization, you are required to research the given organization including its challenges and strategic management approach to expand in the Asian Market
- Applying the knowledge of relevant strategic management frameworks, you need to
- Carry out the external analysis
- Address the internal analysis
- Identify key issues, evaluate alternatives and make conclusions based on thorough analysis
Make appropriate strategy recommendations for the given organization in today’s business environment. All these must be completed by accessing, selecting, and utilizing a variety of business information sources.
Assessment Task Details
Your individual strategic management report will need to identify the internal and external opportunities and threats facing the organization (s) given in the case study and utilize appropriate frameworks that inform the development of strategic options and recommendations for the organization (s) in terms of future strategic directions and methods of expansion in Asian markets.
The report should therefore be comprised of areas for consideration that address the following questions:
- Appraise the current strategic positioning of the given organization. (LO1, LO2, LO3, and LO5) The following will need to be carried out to address this question:
Undertake a critically evaluated strategic audit, using appropriate models & frameworks, of the firm’s existing strategy in relation to its ability to exploit new global opportunities to create a more competitive advantage
In order to prepare a report for the board of directors, you are required to scan the Micro and Macro environment of the company where it operates.
This will need to include a critical assessment of the external MACRO environment (using the PEST or PESTEL framework); external MICRO environment (using Porter’s 5 Force framework) and internal analysis of the organization (applying Jay Barney’s VRIO or Michael Porter’s Value Chain Analysis) to identify opportunities and threats in both these external and internal environmental layers.
- What strategic recommendations can you propose for the organization (s) given in the case study to strengthen its current position in the given Market? (LO4, LO6) The following will need to be carried out to address this question:
Your report must include an analysis and evaluation of the organization’s competitive strategies in a critical and informed way. Evaluating best alternatives and make possible recommendations and conclusions based on thorough analysis and consideration of their future competitive strategies, applying either Porter’s Generic Strategies of Competition framework or Bowman and Faulkner’s Strategy Clock.
