Analyzing The International Expansion Strategies Of Priceline Pharmacy In Nepal - Essay.

• Briefly outline the company and the background to their success in their domestic market.
• Outline the company s organizational resources/ capabilities/expertise (i.e financial, human, technological etc.) identifying what you see as organizational strengths and potential weaknesses.
  
  

The purpose of the report is to analyze a chosen brand based in Australia in terms of its international expansion strategies. It will systematically discuss the macro and micro environmental factors concerning the company. The paper’s scope is to provide recommendations for improving its strategies of the international market. The theories of international marketing shall also be used for the analysis.

Priceline Pharmacy is an Australian health and beauty retail company operating under the brand name of Priceline since 1982 (Priceline.com.au 2018). The pharmacy employee over 300 staff across Australia and the Australian Pharmaceutical Industries is its parent organization. It is one of the most renowned brands in the domestic market but has to make a mark internationally. Within the Australian business environment, the company has a stronghold. The loyalty club membership provided by the company has attracted over six million customers, and the number is still growing. The reason for its success is the reward given to the members. The company has also introduced new changes in its various stores from lighting to cleaner layout and so on. Further, it has also successfully launched a new store in Melbourne, which shows its tremendous success rate in the Australian market. The brand aims to achieve the rate of opening 20 sites per year under its national expansion approach.

With over 300 employees and around 330 stores across Australia, Priceline Pharmacy is one of the fastest growing franchises in the country (Priceline.com.au 2018). It refers to the strong organizational resources the organization has including human resource. When it comes to technological resources, its loyalty program is an excellent example of the excellent utilization of the technological sources. With the engagement of TCS with API in 2013, Priceline Pharmacy received a whole new technological makeover. The integration of SAP ERP ensured seamless IT functioning in the company.

In order to expand its business, the company has chosen Nepal's market. It has been identified that after the tough situation, the economic situation in Nepal is changing. As the company provides the health and beauty products, therefore, in the developing countries like Nepal, the products will be readily accepted by the customers. On the other hand, it is true that the availability of the foreign companies in this country is very less. Due to this reason, it will be able to gain the market advantage quickly. As the slow technological development process, therefore, when the company will enter the market with its modern technological equipment, it will be able to attract the customers. On the other hand, lower employee wages is another influencing factor for developing the business organization. The business market will be cost effective for the company. The large business market in Nepal will help to increase the rate of profitability. Due to these reasons, the company has selected Nepal to develop its business.

Market selection

Market segmentation is critical in the business development practices (Cross, Belich and Rudelius 2015). Depending on the range of the products and availability the market segmentation is being set. It has been identified that the company named Priceline Pharmacy provides the health and beauty products in the reasonable ranges in the market. Therefore, from the demographic segmentation, the company has targeted the middle class, and lower middle-class people are being targeted by the company. In terms of industry sectors, it targeted the hospitals as well as the healthcare professionals. The company has a large target market in the case of health products. In this case, the company targets every age group of people. From children to aged people are on the target list of the company. On the other hand, in the case of beauty products, mainly targets the women customers as it cannot be denied that most of the cases the beauty product developing organizations are being developed based on the availability of women customers.

On the other hand, in the case of geographic segmentation, the location of the stores are being selected. The organization needs to establish its stores where it can quickly get highlighted (Weinstein and Cahill 2014). The product stores are being developed depending on the target market location. The connectivity and transport communication influence the geographic segmentation choosing process. In this case the company it has decided to develop its stores in Katmandu. It will be beneficial for the company as it is the capital of Nepal, therefore, the population in this area is high. Another way, it can be said that the connectivity such as airports and other transport facilities are available in this place.

Psychographic segmentation is also essential for the organization (Hatheway, Kwan and Zheng 2018). As it has already established its strong brand image in the industry, therefore, the customers who are attracted towards the international brands will definitely get attracted towards the company. On the other hand, it can be said that the technological utilizing process of the company can also attract a large number of customers.

The micro environment is vital to get analyzed for organizational development (Yang et al. 2014). Through this process, the internal situation of the company can be analyzed, depending on which the company can be able to develop effective strategies for maintaining its position in the market. In order to analyze the Micro environment, SWOT analysis has been done.

Macro environment-PESTLE analysis

Strength: The biggest strength of the company is it has already developed its strong brand image in the market.  With the large customer base, the company is growing in the fastest manner. After the technological development, the company has set the example of utilization of modern technology in the pharmacy industry. On the other hand, it has been identified that the company has introduced training and development practices which have increased its performance efficiency. Using its unique marketing strategy the company has gained the customers’ trust.

Weakness: Employee conflicts in the workplace is the major weakness of the company. It has been identified that although the company has developed its strong brand image in the market, however, the changing demand of the customers has brought the challenges for the company. Increasing substitute products and services have created barriers for the company to maintain its unique image in the market.

Opportunities: In the current scenario, the pharmacy industry is growing in the fastest manner.  After the introduction of technological equipment in the industry, the rate of employment has increased in this industry. With the increasing development of the Pharmacy industry, a large number of people have shown their interest towards involving themselves in the sector due to this reason the availability of employment has got improved. After the increasing contribution of Pharmacy Industry in the GDP rate, the government has shown interest  

Threats: It has been identified that the strict international policies are the significant barriers for the company. Due to different taxation policies and currency related issues have created significant threats for the company. It is also true that increasing numbers of competitors in the market have created a challenge for the company. Therefore, this can be said that due to such threats from the government and competitors, the company is dealing with the tough situation.

• With the improvement in employee performance, the company also needs to focus on employee satisfaction.
• Effective reward and recognition strategies can help in the case of appreciating the employees
• Proper training and development practices are required for introducing the unique service in the market.
• Unique product development strategy by using the technological tools can attract the customers.
• Effective promotional strategies as well as performance measurement tools are needed to get introduced in the market.

Conclusion

In can be concluded that if the company focuses on providing the better environment to the employees so that they can discuss their problem with the management, it will be beneficial for the company to handle the internal culture. It will also be helpful for the organization to avoid certain risks. After analyzing both the macro and microenvironment of the company, it has been identified that in order to develop its business in the Nepal market, the effective strategic development is required. As the study has mentioned that it has already developed its strong image in the international market, therefore, in this situation the effective promotional strategies are required to get developed by the company. If the company is able to introduce the performance management tools as well as employment wellbeing policies, this will be helping to increase the arte of profitability.

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