Country Road Analysis
INTRODUCTION
Country road has always been one of Australia leading premium stockists of apparel and home wares. Country Road began as a small manufacturer but expanded and diversified to become a leading wholesaler/retailer of apparel and home wares in the Australian market. The great success of this fueled the company into an expansionary strategy into the lucrative yet highly competitive US markets and also further along the way into the Asian markets. The strategy of international expansion into Asia had involved alternative strategies instead of the aggressive strategy into US. Such strategies included strategic partnerships and franchising agreements. Country Road was successful at first with its defined higher quality products and diversification but later spiraled down due to not having clear focus of what the market wanted.
CURRENT BUSINESS STRATEGY
The current business strategy of Country Road can be analysed through a business system. A business system is the configuration of resources (inputs), activities (throughput) and product/service offerings (output) intended to create value for customers (De Wit & Meyer 2005). Competitive advantage can only be achieved if a business system creates superior value for buyers (De Wit & Meyer 2005).
Product Offering
The Australian apparel market was characterized by high-cost and low-quality products, leaving customers with limited choices. Country Road saw an opportunity to attack this niche sector of the retail market by providing high-quality women cotton shirts, which gave way to huge success. The chambray shirt was one of the successful shirts and characterized the essence of the company reflecting the Australian way of life. The fabrics, designs and colours of garments saw success for Country Road. Furthermore Country Road diversified its products into women’s wear, men’s wear, accessories and home wares and expanded into newer geographical markets such as New Zealand, US and Asian markets. This created
Country road has always been one of Australia leading premium stockists of apparel and home wares. Country Road began as a small manufacturer but expanded and diversified to become a leading wholesaler/retailer of apparel and home wares in the Australian market. The great success of this fueled the company into an expansionary strategy into the lucrative yet highly competitive US markets and also further along the way into the Asian markets. The strategy of international expansion into Asia had involved alternative strategies instead of the aggressive strategy into US. Such strategies included strategic partnerships and franchising agreements. Country Road was successful at first with its defined higher quality products and diversification but later spiraled down due to not having clear focus of what the market wanted.
CURRENT BUSINESS STRATEGY
The current business strategy of Country Road can be analysed through a business system. A business system is the configuration of resources (inputs), activities (throughput) and product/service offerings (output) intended to create value for customers (De Wit & Meyer 2005). Competitive advantage can only be achieved if a business system creates superior value for buyers (De Wit & Meyer 2005).
Product Offering
The Australian apparel market was characterized by high-cost and low-quality products, leaving customers with limited choices. Country Road saw an opportunity to attack this niche sector of the retail market by providing high-quality women cotton shirts, which gave way to huge success. The chambray shirt was one of the successful shirts and characterized the essence of the company reflecting the Australian way of life. The fabrics, designs and colours of garments saw success for Country Road. Furthermore Country Road diversified its products into women’s wear, men’s wear, accessories and home wares and expanded into newer geographical markets such as New Zealand, US and Asian markets. This created
References: De Wit, B., Meyer, R., (2005). Strategy Synthesis: Resolving Strategy Paradoxes to Create Competitive Advantages (2nd Edition). Thomson Learning, United Kingdom. Kotelnikov, V., (2007). Sustainable Competitive Advantage [Internet]. Available from: http://www.1000advices.com/guru/strategy_competition_sca_vk.html (Accessed on 12 September 2007).