Competitive Advantage of Nations Performance †MyAssignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about the Competitive Advantage of Nations Performance. Answer: Introduction Tim Hortons is a Canadian multinational fast food restaurant which is present across 9 countries. The restaurant chain is renowned for its sundry range of coffee and doughnuts. The company was founded by hockey players Tim Horton and Jim Charade and is today Canadas largest quick service restaurant. Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 and since then has created a significant mark in the fast food industry. This report highlights upon the brands expansion to the Indian Subcontinent which is a crucial aspect of the companys geographical expansion in the coming years. India is one of the largest countries of the Asian subcontinent. It has a mammoth population of over 1.32billion with an average age of 29. India is a developing economy and hence a grand market for Tim Hortons expansion. India ranks 100 in the ease of doing business index released by the World Bank (World Bank, 2018). India has been the expansion ground for various fast food chains from across the globe. The country has already accepted Burger King which is the owner of Tim Hortons. The large population of the country will also provide the brand with a relatively cheaper labor force. India is predominantly a Hindu dominated market and hence a majority of general public is vegetarian in their food choices. People of India do not have as high a disposable income as that of people in Canada. Target Market Target market for Tim Hortons includes youth between the ages of 15 to 35. College going students can also be targeted by the brand by offering quick ready to eat snacks and coffee to go. Office going crowd of the country can also benefit from the quick service of the brand. Families with children can also create an optimistic target market for the brand owing to their assorted variety of doughnuts offered. There are various coffee shops in India which have already captured a large percentage of the fast food market. Leading competitors that the brand would have to face upon entry in India include: McDonalds Caf Coffee Day Dunkin Doughnuts O.D. (Mad Over Doughnuts). Costa Coffee. Recently entered Starbucks. Coffee by Di Bella These brands have already been accepted in India mostly spreading across the metropolitan cities of the country including Mumbai, New Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai, Kolkata, Jaipur and Hyderabad. Therefore in order to differentiate from these competitors, it is imperative for the brand to work towards gaining a competitive advantage against these firms. However, the only advantage is that owing to the large population and the growing fast food culture, there is enough market for many brands to sustain in the country. In order to sustain in any given market, it is imperative that brands work towards establishing a competitive advantage against their existing or potential competitors (Porter, 2011). This competitive advantage can be in the form of unique offerings, differentiated promotions or strategic pricing. Tim Hortons has adopted a market penetration pricing strategy. This strategy requires organizations to price their products relatively lower in order to gain a competitive advantage (Armstrong et. al., 2015). This strategy adopted by Tim Hortons is sure to help the brand in gaining an advantage over its Indian Competitors. Entry strategy Geographical expansion in International boundaries requires brands to carefully select an appropriate entry strategy. An entry strategy creatively defines how a particular brand would enter a new international market. The entry strategy recommended to Tim Hortons to enter the Indian market would be Joint Venture. Joint ventures requires a brand that needs to enter to a new market to join hands with an existing brand in the new location (Killing, 2013). This allows both the brands to carefully and creatively work together. The existing brand has sufficient knowledge and the advantage of experience of working in the same country for a long time. On the other hand, aligning with a new brand helps the existing brand to expand its product line and develop its target market. For Tim Hortons to be truly successful in capturing the Indian market, it is crucial that the brand initiates its outlets in metropolitan cities of the country. Mumbai, Capital New Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Bangalore, Jaipur and Hyderabad are lucrative locations for the brand to initiate its expansion process. All these cities offer a huge target market for the brand and the demand for fast food already exists. It is also important the brand inaugurates outlets in commercial parts of the cities including but not limited to malls, large office complexes, airports and city centers. This would attract more attention and hence will lead to improved footfall. Reliance Industries is a leading group of industries in India founded by entrepreneur Dhirubhai Ambani. The group of industries has businesses across different industries ranging across retail, manufacturing, solar energy, telecommunications, life sciences and media. Tim Hortons could get into a joint venture with the reliance industries. This conjunction would have various advantages for Tim Hortons. The biggest advantage being the backing of a strong brand name that is reliance industries. Association with such a strong brand automatically establishes trust in the minds of people. Reliance industries also believes in market penetration pricing strategy which is currently adopted by Tim Hortons. Botht the brands are highly ethical companies and have been well known for their quality offerings and satisfied customers. Therefore, the similar value set of both the brands would take the venture to a smooth conjecture. Both the brands can also take advantage of each others promotional strategies. Upon joining hands with Tim Hortons Reliance industries would make consistent efforts of including the brand in all its promotions. This is where the large reach of Reliance will be beneficial for Tim Hortons. Conclusion In order for Tim Hortons to expand into the Indian market, the following strategies would be recommended: Introduction of healthier option in the food menu including gluten free and vegan for health conscious customers. The food menu must be vegetarian dominated as the country has 80% Hindus who practice vegetarianism by religion. For delivery the brand must tie up with leading food delivery applications like Swiggy, Zomato, Foodpanda and Uber Eats. Creative innovation through join promotions with Reliance, Billboards and Television Ads must be designed to seek attention of customers before entering the market. Social media market must be used as a lucrative tool to reach out to customers. Social media marketing refers to any kind of promotions conducted through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest (Tuten Solomon, 2017). Conclusion Tim Hortons is a leading fast food chain that is currently dominating the Canadian market. Further geographical expansion is the need of the hour. For the same, India is a perfect market. The countrys massive population, increasing youth, elevating fast food trends and enhanced ease of doing business are major benefits for Tim Hortons. As a brand, Tim Hortons must join hands with Reliance industries and focus upon differentiating itself through price penetration strategy and innovative marketing strategies. Effective marketing tactics and strategic targeting by Time Hortons would ensure successful entry and large scale acceptance in the Indian market. References Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., Brennan, R. (2015).Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education. Killing, P. (2013).Strategies for joint venture success (RLE international business). Routledge. United Kingdom. Porter, M. E. (2011).Competitive advantage of nations: creating and sustaining superior performance(Vol. 2). Simon and Schuster. Tuten, T. L., Solomon, M. R. (2017).Social media marketing. Sage. United Kingdom. World Bank, (2018), Ease of doing business index, Accessed from https://www.doingbusiness.org/data/exploreeconomies/india, retrieved on 17 April, 2018.