ToolsCorp Corporation: SWOT Analysis And Business Plan For Global Expansion Essay.

As members of the senior management team of ToolsCorp Corporation, your group has been asked to prepare a neat and organized report for the Strategic Officers Steering Committee (SOS-C) of ToolsCorp Corporation.

The purpose of this paper is to obtain permission from them to go forward with the next step (developing a full-blown business plan) for ToolsCorp's strategic initiative to break into the global marketplace. 

Your group's paper should discuss the following:

• A complete strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis (including at least 5 factors from each category and full explanations of why each factor is important and why it was placed in the category) of the environment that exists within ToolsCorp and the environment that ToolsCorp is proposin.

• An outline of the business plan to be developed for ToolsCorp's strategic initiative

• A full mission statement containing the nine components and presented in a well written paragraph

• Key operating principles as you will apply them • A preliminary market analysis of the market(s) into which ToolsCorp expands

• The one-year, five-year, and ten-year strategic objectives of the strategic initiatives presented as one strategic proposal for each time frame (3 strategic proposals in all), complete with implementation plans, potential ramifications, and feedback mechanisms

• The additional material that your group considers necessary to support the case for going forward with ToolsCorp's global strategic initiative (This is not optional, you must input additional material.)

ToolsCorp Corporation is a fictitious company that does not exist anywhere. For the purpose of this course, it is located it in Tennessee. It builds power tools, lawn mowers, lawn furniture, microwaves, and ranges. All products are manufactured locally and sold through large retailers that place sales papers inserted in every Wednesday and Sunday paper. Although they have a thriving business in the United States and Canada, ToolsCorp is trying to break into the global marketplace. 

SWOT analysis

Entry into global marketplace calls for extensive market analysis and strategic decision-making for which evaluation of the potential markets and identification of their suitability as a target market essential. This report is an evaluation of the prospect of market expansion for ToolsCorp Corporation, which would be submitted to the Strategic Officers Steering Committee (SOS-C) of the company to obtain permission for the business plan. Hence, the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats concerning the organisation and its strategic venture are evaluated and the requirements of the business plan are outlined along with objectives. For this, the suitability of two markets, namely France and Australia are evaluated through market research depending the more suitable one is identified for entry of ToolsCorp Corporation and an outline of strategic objectives and implementation plan is provided.  

Strengths	Weaknesses
· Locally produced products · Strong distribution system incorporating large retailers · Positive brand image   · Quality products · Stronghold in the market of USA and Canada	· Manufacturing process concentrated in Tennessee, USA · Limited market space · Limited accessibility for global consumers · Lack of experience in global operation management · Few marketing activities
Opportunities	Threats
· Improvement of global market presence · Sales escalation · Competitive brand positioning in target market · Collaboration with multinational retail chains · Establishment of regional headquarters · Less vulnerability to local economy	· Difference between preferences of home market and target market regarding product · Lack of acceptance in target market · Legal hazard · High market competition · High expenses on logistics

Table 1: SWOT analysis of ToolsCorp Corporation

(Created by student)

Explanation for the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats listed in the table are presented here:

The locally produce products enables ToolsCorp to exhibit strong control over the manufacturing process and quality of the product. The high quality of product and sales through large retailers within USA and Canada helps the organisation to maintain a profitable sales performance and positive brand image, which is the key to the consumer preference in the market. This also results in stronghold of the company in its existing markets, which provides the company the financial security to explore other markets.

The concentration of the entire manufacturing process in Tennessee, USA, increases the cost of distribution. As the organisation expands in more markets such concentration might exhaust the organisation’s ability to deliver market demands. The organisation’s marketing solely depends on the sales paper inserted twice a week by its retailers, which indicates towards unexhausted marketing potentials. The limited market space and unexhausted marketing potentials restrict the organisation’s accessibility to the potential customers. The lack of experience in global operation management and low access to global consumers has restricted its ability to access other countries despite its exceptional performance in USA and Canada. It also has the opportunity to access the market of different countries through selling its products via multinational supply chains this way the organisation’s performance would be less sensitive to the policy, economic crisis and market alterations in the home country.

The countries under consideration in this study, Australia and France are unexplored territories for ToolsCorp Corporation. Entering these markets for global expansion would help the organisation to enhance its presence in the global marketplace, and position uniquely its products leveraging its existing performance and new operational setting. As ToolsCorp, by entering Australia and France, would also acquire a chance to explore new continents, it might use its units in these countries as regional headquarters and conduct its operations in the continent through it.

Strengths

Due to the difference in culture and preferences between the existing and target markets of ToolsCorp, the organisation faces the threat of lack of acceptance in the target market for its products and marketing activities. Both the countries considered for market expansion, France and Australia might pose distinctive legal obligations restricting the operation of ToolsCorp in the target market. As per the rankings of the World Bank Australia stands 6^th in simplicity of acquiring construction permit, 26^th in tax payment, 51^st in registering property for business and 95^th in trading across the border while France ranked 18^th,  54^th, 100^th and 1^st in the respective categories (Doing Business, 2018). Presence of multiple strong suppliers of similar product in the target market would cause highly competitive pricing, ultimately limiting the profit margin and revenue of the organisation. The cross-country business operations increase the expenses on logistic especially when the target market is located on another continent, which ultimately might hamper the result of the venture.

Objective-

Basic objectives of the expansion would be identified. The preliminary objectives of the expansion are as followed:

• To become one of top suppliers of lawn accessories in target market
• Development of positive brand image
• Acquisition of 30% market share by the end of ten-year
• Development of sound distribution channel in target market

Mission statement- 

Mission statement would be reviewed, modified and stated

Past performance- 

Past performance of the company in USA and Canada would be evaluated to identify its performance and strength in its existing market in terms of:

• Sales
• Gross margin
• Inventory turnover
• Operation expense

Assets and liabilities- 

Current assets and liabilities of ToolsCorp Corporation in USA and Canada market would be evaluated to evaluate its ability to enter a new international market.

The requirements for the market entry would be assessed and presented. This estimate would include the breakup and summary of the following factors:

• Total expense
• Asset requirement
• Total liabilities
• Planned investment

The products that would be initially marketed in target market would be determined and listed. The Substitute products in the target market would be evaluated to realise potential of the product in the target market.

An extensive market analysis would be conducted on the target market to identify its different segments, nature of market competition, competitors and consumption potential based on the buying pattern.

The nature, potential, regulations and level of competition in the industry would be identified through industry analysis.

Based on the result of market analysis the following would be determined:

• Promotion strategy
• Marketing strategy
• Product modification strategy
• Distribution strategy
• Pricing strategy
• Sales strategy
• Positioning statement
• Potential strategic alliances

The market and industry analysis would also provide an opportunity to forecast sales performance and determine performance milestones. It might also incorporate the milestones of this expansion plan.

The management plan during the global expansion of ToolsCorp Corporation would also be planned, which would include operational personnel plan, determination of management team and supplier identification.

Weaknesses

Finally, after consideration of all the requirements discussed above a detailed financial plan would be developed and the key financial indicators along with the break-even point would be assumed. This section would include:

• Profit and loss statement
• Break-even point
• Key financial indicator
• Business ratio
• Projected cash flow
• Balance sheet 

The following is the mission statement, for ToolsCorp Corporation for its strategic initiative of breaking into the global market, developed based on the nine components of a mission statement (David, David & David, 2014).

To provide armatures as well as professional cooks, technicians and gardeners of Australia/France; convenient tools and equipment for household fixes, lawn maintenance and cooking at varied range of prices, backed by exceptional customer services, available at one phone call, operating globally. The products are developed using latest technology and environmentally viable material to profitably manufacture and market products to handypersons and workers across the globe. ToolsCorp Corporation aims to be the bestseller of handy tools and equipment of the world starting from Australia/France, leveraging compliance, care and convenience for its customers.

The following operating principles and prescribed measures to apply them are expected to guide the business plan towards achievement of its objectives.

Serra and Kunc (2015) stated that the management that is driven by the organisational vision leads the human resource towards successful achievement of the targeted goals. The market expansion team of ToolsCorp would be guided by the vision of achieving the position of market leader in the target market. Therefore, every strategy would be aligned directly towards fulfilment of that vision and the workforce would have better motivation to work hard.

Encouraging autonomy of the employees encourage, them to take responsibility and motivate them to prove their worth as a part of the company (Mittal & Dhar, 2015). On the other hand, only through collaboration and cooperation between the members of team, a particular task can be completed efficiently (Ceschi, Dorofeeva & Sartori, 2014). The market development and expansion team would be encouraged to take shared decision while every employee would be encouraged to state their opinion so all the aspects of an issue or strategy can be evaluated from different points of view.

Picard (2014) Identified that elimination of the complications through strategic and systematic evaluation of each operational options helps the business organisation to reduce the time waste during performance or completion of an operation. Therefore, while development of the strategic plans for every aspect of market, entry would be evaluated and resource requirements, availability and affordability would be evaluated. This would reduce the complexity during the implementation of such plans and hence ease the process of market entry.  

Opportunities

Success of a business venture depends on the acceptance of the venture in the consumer market (Hill & Alexander, 2017 and David Mc, 2013). Hence, before determining the marketing strategy or introducing its products in the international market, ToolsCorp Corporation would have to conduct an extensive market research to identify the preferences and attitude of the target customers. Finally, the business plan for ToolsCorp’s global market entry would also have to be based on an exhaustive market research to ensure that its entry strategies are in line with the target consumers and their attitude.  

Consistency in the business objectives and strategic processes determine long-term success of a company in the target market (Sodeyfi, 2016 and Goetsch & Davis, 2014). The performance of ToolsCorp Corporation in the USA and Canada market marks its consistency in terms of deliverables. Similar processes would be followed in the international market as well, to establish trust among the consumers towards the products of ToolsCorp.

Research and innovation is the key to the retention of competitive advantage (Boons, Montalvo, Quist & Wagner, 2013). Visnjic, Wiengarten and Neely (2016) added that innovation is essential for retention of consumer attention as well. While operating in the international markets such as Australia/France the organisation would have to incorporate human resource from the target market in its research and development processes to develop innovative models of its handy-tools and appliances and manners of marketing them, which would serve as its competitive advantage (Srivastava, Franklin & Martinette, 2013).

ToolsCorp in its initial years of global market entry might face obstacles such as high competition in the target market or lack of faith among consumers towards its product (Pindado & Requejo, 2015). However, persistence exhibited during such period is expected to result in success in long run. Therefore, the initial sales forecasting of the business plan, though might project potential loss at the initial years, persistence towards making a successful market entry, continuous effort put in product development, and persuasive marketing would help the organisation to pass the obstacles successfully and develop a strong market presence.

The senior management team of ToolsCorp Corporation has selected two different countries from two continents for initial consideration as a target market for ToolsCorp Corporation’s Global market entry. The countries, selected, are France and Australia. Evaluation of scope of ToolsCorp in these two markets is expected to hint the organisation’s prospect in their respective continents as well. With the population of 66,896,109 and 24,127,159, both the countries offer large consumer markets to ToolsCorp Corporation to explore (Doing Business, 2018). The high spending ability of the consumers of both the countries also makes them suitable for expansion if ToolsCorp Corporation.

Threats

Chart 1: Comparison of countries based on cultural dimensions

(Source: Country Comparison, n.d.)

From the chart presented above it is evident that the culture and hence the nature of the consumer market of Australia is more similar to that of the home market of ToolsCorp, that is USA and the existing market Canada; than that of France. Therefore, for initial market entry, the organisation would have to bring less change in marketing strategies and the product if it enters the Australian market than the market of France (De Mooij, 2013). Here it is noteworthy that in case of Individualism both Australia and France scored considerably above which makes word of mouth marketing less effective. However, the score of France, in this category is considerably low than that of rest of the countries marking its consumers less individualistic than the others. Its low score in indulgence/resistance combined with its high score in uncertainty avoidance makes it more resistant towards a new product’s entry in the market (Gillespie & Riddle, 2015). From this evaluation, Australia appears to be a more agreeable target market for ToolsCorp, as a means to enter the global marketplace.

Market forces	France	Australia
Bargaining power of consumer	High	High
Bargaining power of supplier	Moderate	Low
Threat of new entrants	Low	Low
Threat of substitutes	High	High
Industry rivalry	High	High

Table 2: Five-force analysis of France versus Australian market

(Source: Created by student)

Both Australian, as well as France’s market, contains a number of companies that avail similar products as ToolsCorp Corporation. For instance, in Australia organisations such as Honda, John Deer, Masport and Toro accommodate a massive share of the market for Lawn Mowers (WCR, 2017). Here while Honda is the market leader Toro receives the favour of economic buyers. On the other hand, in France, several companies like Triangle, SDMA SAS and Stiga sell garden equipment Garden equipment France companies, n.d.). A number of substitutes of other products of ToolsCorp are also available in the selected markets. Therefore, in both the markets, the risk of substitution is high and as the consumers have plenty of option in such markets, their bargaining power is high as well. Due to the presence of strong competitors, the industry rivalry is also high in either of the markets.

As the process of manufacturing of products such as power tools, ranges, microwaves, lawn furniture and lawn mowers involve use of heavy and expensive machinery, large factory and considerably large number of human resources, therefore, the threat of new entrants in this industry is considerably high. However, in both the markets a number of suppliers of raw materials and parts of the products offered by the company are available, although the number is higher in case of Australia. Therefore, the bargaining power of suppliers in Australia is lower than that of France. Hence, Australia is expected to be a more preferable market for ToolsCorp’s product in long run as it can establish a manufacturing unit in Australia once it begins to operate in the market, successfully.

Outline of business plan for ToolsCorp’s entry into global market

As per a report of The World Bank, Australia won 14^th position to the 30^th position of France in respect to ease of doing business (Doing Business, 2018). While it ranked 7^th in the ease of starting business while France ranked 25^th (Doing Business, 2018). The result of this report, in combination with the analysis presented above, marks Australia as a better option for market expansion for the ToolsCorp Corporation.

One-year

Strategic objectives	Implementation plan	Potential ramification	Feedback mechanism
· 3% market share · Association with major retailers and supermarkets of Australia	Distribution: Selective distribution through large retailers in major Australian cities Marketing: Through Direct marketing, television commercials and social media People: Persuasive salespersons from the retail stores, hired to peruse customers Resources: initially the resources will include funding for export, sales and marketing	Limited accessibility might be one major consequence of this distribution process.	· Online survey for the salespersons and buyers of its products in Australia · In return for loyalty points, the buyers would be asked to participate in the surveys · Rating different aspects of the product and its market presence

Table 3: Strategic proposal for one-year

(Source: created by student)

To achieve this target first a distribution type and a distribution channel is to be selected for ToolsCorp Corporation’s operations in Australia. For the initial market entry, the organisation might use selective distribution channel and avail its products only at the stores of major city of Australia (Baker, 2014). It needs to introduce one of its best-performing products. Based on the consumer feedback, ToolsCorp might need to alter some of the features of its products to acquire customer preference.

Strategic objectives	Implementation plan	Potential ramification	Feedback mechanism
· Establishment of distribution units in every major citiy in Australia · Development of a strong market position · 20% market share	Distribution: Indirect distribution through retail stores and the products will be directly sold to the retailer Marketing: Through Direct marketing, loyalty programmes, social media and television advertisements People: staffs to manage warehouse, marketing staffs and own representatives in the retail stores Resources: location for distribution unit, funding for marketing and sales operations	This plan entails considerable risk of loss of funds, as at the incidence of changed consumer preference or economic downfall the expenses on warehouse would be irretrievable, in short term.	· Service and product rating option for customers encouraged with bonus points · Employee feedback acquisition through online survey and direct questioning

Table 4: Strategic proposal for five-year

(Source: created by student)

After the completion of one year of ToolsCorp Corporation in the Australian market, the organisation might change the distribution channel from selective distribution to exhaustive indirect distribution, as it would increase the availability of the product in Australian market (Kohtala, 2015). Development of warehouse in the target market would reduce the cost of logistics, and improve the organisation’s presence in the target market (Rushton, Croucher & Baker, 2014). Recruitment of local staffs for conducting the organisation’s operation in the target market would help in generating positive impression among consumers concerning the products of ToolsCorp, and the local staff members would have better understanding of the target market and its behaviour.

Strategic objectives	Implementation plan	Potential ramification	Feedback mechanism
· 30% market share · Establishment of a manufacturing unit in Australia · Expanding to other countries of the same continent making Australia the regional headquarter	Distribution: Both direct and indirect distribution through retail stores and warehouses Marketing: Through mass media, social media, loyalty programmes, app-based marketing and direct marketing People: Expatriates transferred to Australia to manage and monitor the establishment of manufacturing unit in Australia, local employees engaged in manufacturing, sales and marketing activities Resources: land and funds for establishing manufacturing unit and fund to expand the market to neighbouring countries like New Zealand	The huge amount of funds allocated to the development of manufacturing unit involves risk of huge amount of irrecoverable loss	For customers · Online survey · In-store survey · App-based survey For employees · Online survey · Direct feedback · Grievance portal

Table 5: Strategic proposal for ten-year

(Source: created by student)

Utilisation of loyalty programmes along with the app-based marketing is expected to boost the sales performance of the organisation, while development of a manufacturing unit would reduce the concentration of the entire manufacturing process in the home country (Hennig-Thurau & Hansen, 2013). It would also reduce the transportation cost and promote its Australian unit as a regional hub centralising, which the organisation can expand to its neighbouring countries.

The US economy, in the first quarter of 2018, had slowed down more than the estimation of market experts, accompanying weak consumer spending performance seen in around five years. Through the second quarter exhibited promising growth based on the upsurge in tax cuts and labour market. However, experts have predicted a potential trade war triggered by the "America First" policies undertaken by the administration, which might cast a shadow over USA’s economic prospect. The following chart avails an understanding of the change in the economy that USA has witnessed since the first quarter of 2017 until the second quarter of 2018.

Chart 2:  Change in US GDP 1st Q 2017 - 2nd Q 2018

(Source: CNBC, 2018)

From the chart presented above, it is evident that since the first quarter of 2017 the US economy has seen significant low GRP rate which though during the second and third quarter of 2017 appeared to be recovering began to slow since the 4^th quarter of 2017 and continued till the 1^st quarter of 2018 (CNBC, 2018). Although the second quarter of 2018 exhibited significant recovery from the condition the downfall in the economy has increased the risk of doing business depending on the US market. Though the consumer market of Canada has exhibited promising growth in consumer spending, which market analysts predicted that would grow further (CNW, 2018). ToolsCorp Corporation needs to expand its market further to limit the potential loss caused by reduced purchase-ability of Consumers in the US market.

Australian GDP has witnessed rapid growth of 3.4pc in the second quarter of 2018 leveraging the 0.7pc growth rate of household spending. Until June 2018, the GDP of Australia has reached A$ 1.84 trillion (CNBC, 2018). One of the major reasons for this performance is the annual growth of 1.6% in the population of the country. The growing population of Australia has exhibited speedy growth in the consumer spending while the increased demand for homes and infrastructure has also contributed to this rapid growth of the US economy. Janda (2018) observed that the average income of the population has not increased at the same pace as the spending. However, the increasing consumer spending in the Australian market and its growing economy has exhibited significant prospect for the business operations of ToolsCorp Corporation.

Conclusion 

Through the discussion presented above, Australia has come out as the preferred country for Global market entry of ToolsCorp Corporation as it provides the most favourable economic, social and cultural environment for ToolsCorp’s entry to the international market. Location wise, France would have been a better option as it would reduce the cost of logistics. However, evaluation of the market cultural dimensions and overall ease of doing business in the respective markets it has been observed that the cultural dimensions of Australia are more similar to that of the home markets of ToolsCorp Corporation and the business environment on Australia is also more favourable. Therefore, members of the senior management team of ToolsCorp Corporation have suggested Australia for its entry into global market.

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