7eleven Case Study

1. How would you characterize the business strategy at 7-Eleven? What level of responsiveness are they aiming to achieve? Like all companies that strive to make best use of its structural elements and infrastructural elements through its effective strategy, 7-Eleven has put in place a business strategy that is fully cross functional. The strategy incorporates the strengths and potential of all sectors at the functional level and is aligned with the mission statement of the business. The operations and supply chain activities of 7-Eleven are aligned in the ‘Internally Supportive’ stage with the overall business strategy of providing convenience to its customers. This growth has been very carefully planned exploiting the core strengths that Seven-Eleven Japan has developed in the areas of Information systems and Distribution systems and a variety of store services. To begin with, 7-Eleven made particular a very efficient franchise system wherein only 1 out of 100 applicants received the license and had to adhere to very strict requirements such as operation and management of the store, customer service and appearance in order to keep with the overall image and reputation of 7-Eleven convenience stores. Additionally, according to 7-Eleven – ‘filling in the entire map of Japan is not our priority, instead we look for demand where 7-Eleven stores already exist based on our fundamental area dominance strategy of concentrating stores in a specific area.’ 1This strategy works wonders for the 7-Eleven stores as the following advantages follow such practice:
1. Boosts distribution efficiency. 2. Improves brand awareness. 3. Increases system efficiency. 4. Enhances the efficiency of franchise support services. 5. Improves advertising effectiveness. 6. Prevents competitor’s entrance into the dominant area.

By resorting to regional merchandising as part of their strategy, the 7-Eleven’s in every area have helped boost their sales and customer satisfaction by many counts. This