Global Expansion of the Discounter Lidl. Strategic International Business Management

Academic Paper from the year 2019 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 62, University of Salford, language: English, abstract: This paper examines the possibilities of expansion for the Hard Discounter Chain 'Lidl' that operates in the food and non-food retail sector. The organization is keen to expand on an international scale, and it will be evaluated if the expansion is more likely to be successful by opening a store in Norway or Mexico. The paper will use different analysing models to identify the most attractive target market. This paper focuses on the country of Mexico to determine its potential as a target market for Lidl's future international expansion strategy. The rationale is processed with a more detailed discussion of a PESTEL analysis of the macro-environmental factors of the selected market. An explicit impact of the macro-environmental factors on the selected market is evaluated. Porter's 5-factor model is applied to critically analyse the competitive intensity of Lidl's industrial environment in the chosen market. Resources as well as the capabilities of Lidl and their impact on competition as the company enters the market are critically evaluated. The various market entry opportunities are examined, and recommendations are made as to which are available to Lidl. To this end, recommendations are made around the market entry opportunity that will allow the company to make this strategic international expansion a success.