Strategic Assessment And Recommendations For Five Guys In Europe Market(Case Study)

To conduct a strategic assessment of Five Guys (its a fast food company) in terms of their external and internal environment, and to identify strategic options and recommendations in which Five Guys can strengthen their Europe market position (suggested countries). To complete that you will choose ONE country from below and develop the report:
Sweden
Italy
Belgium
Portugal

Early in 2003, Jerry and Janie, together with the “Five Guys,” began offering franchise opportunities. In just under 18 months, Five Guys Enterprises sold options for more than 300 units. The overwhelming success of franchising a local restaurant made national news, with articles in trade publications such as Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Business Magazine and the Franchise Times.

Five Guys is looking to expand its market share in the European food market, having already formed some successful branches in the UK. Considering the Five Guys expansion approach, your brief as a strategic consultant will be to analyse and recommend strategies identifying ways in which they can expand and strengthen its position in one of the European countries (suggested above).

Assessment Details
Your strategic management report will need to identify the internal and external opportunities and threats facing the organisation (s) given in the case study, and present appropriate frameworks that inform the development of strategic options and recommendations for the organisation(s) in terms of future strategic directions and methods of expansion.

The report should therefore be comprised of areas for consideration that address the following questions:

1. What is the current strategic positioning of the organisation (s) given in the case study’s in the EU (of the chosen country) market?
The following will need to be carried out to address this question:

Strategic analysis of the current positioning of the organisation(s) in the case study. This will need to include an assessment of the external MACRO environment (using the PEST or PESTEL framework); external MICRO environment (using Porter’s 5 Force framework) and internal analysis of the organisation (s) given in the case study internal environment (applying Jay Barney’s VRIO or Michael Porter’s Value Chain Analysis) to identify opportunities and threats in both these external and internal environmental layers.

2. What strategic recommendations can you propose for the organisation (s) given in the case study to strengthen its current position in the EU Market?

The following will need to be carried out to address this question:

An identification of the competitive strategies currently being followed by the organisation (s) given in the case study and a consideration of their future competitive strategies applying either Porter’s Generic Strategies of Competition framework or Bowman and Faulkner’s Strategy Clock and a consideration of the future methods of strategic expansion and directions available to the organisation (s).

In the last few decades, competition in different industries has increased to very high levels. This has made it necessary for the organisations to understand the internal and external environment.  The analysis is also essential for understand their strengths and weaknesses as well as the threat and opportunities that is present in front of them (Rabellotti, 2016). This will help the firms in constructing their competitive strategies on the local and global level. All the organisations have used different types of methods of expansion so as to ensure their growth in the industry. In food industry Five Guys enterprise is one of the biggest fast casual restaurant chain dealing in the business of selling of hot dogs, French fries and hamburgers. This report analyses macro and micro factors so as to understand the actual internal and external environment of Five guys in Italy. It also analyses the competitive strategies that has been made by the companies so as to understand the competitive direction of the firm in the Italy. This report also gives the idea about the method of expansion that this firm has chosen for its growth in the long term.

Five guys is one of the biggest American fast casual restaurant chains. This is specialised in the business of French fries, hamburgers and hot dogs. Along with this it also deals in the business of milkshakes in multiple flavours. This company was established in the year 1986. Till 2001, it was only operating in five locations of Washington DC. In 2003, company started to expand at much faster rate by choosing franchising as their expansion strategy. Due to this in 2016, it was operating in more than 1500 locations in world and further 1500 locations were under development (Owler, 2018). This is the reason that they become one of the fastest growing fast food chains in United States. Its sale increased by 32.8% from 2010 to 2011.

Fast food chain industry is one of the biggest industries in America. It is worth 198.9 billion U.S. dollars. Till 2020, it will be reaching to 223 billion USD. There are many big competitors in the market and hence ensuring large market share would be a challenge for any company. McDonalds leading the industry in terms of market share (S&P Global Rating, 2018). Till 2016, there were around 186,977 franchised restaurants in US which were just 28 thousand just a decade back.

 This company is facing many types of problems in different areas. Some of the biggest problems that company is facing are:

• High competition: Due to such a highly competitive market, it can be seen that company is not able to control its position in United States and countries like Italy. This competition has pulled them to reframe their competitive strategies so as to improve their condition in the market (Perotti, Zorzini, Cagno and Micheli, 2012).
• High employee turnover: In the last few years, this company has faced high employee turnover which is not good for the firm’s reputation. It has also been seen that there are people from different parts of the world working in the company’s Italy unit but they have failed to work as per their expectations.
• Price war: Due to high competition there is a serious price war going on the fast food industry of Italy. This has raised issues for the company as they have to ensure higher amount of profit margins while still being a winner in the price war (Wells Fargo, 2017).
• Increasing health consciousness: They are also facing pressure from different segments of the society so as to improve quality of the good and make it more hygienic.
• Expansion: Franchising which has been one of their best methods of expansion has faced many challenges in their past few years (Tiffin, 2014). This is the reason that their growth potential has been hampered especially in the European region.
• Economic breakdown of Europe: This company had a great deal of stake in the European region which is facing many types of economic challenges hence it is an issue for the overall development of the organisation.

It is crucial for the organisation to understand the impact of external environment on their business operations. The company plans to strengthen its position in Italy hence they need to have proper analysis about the external environment of Italy. This can be understood by analysing different factors that are forming external environment. For understanding the environment of Five Guys, the tool that can be used is PESTLE.

PESTLE analyses of Five Guys are as follows:

• Political: The political condition of world is changing along with their policies. These changes in policies have forced the firm to change their policies. In the trump era companies are forced to do more investments in US only. On the hand America is imposing economic restrictions on countries like China which is posing a threat to the expansion plans of Five Guys. On the other hand countries like Italy are having a great deal of stability in terms of political environment (Del Giudice and Maggioni, 2014). They have good relations with all the countries hence might not face challenges in importing best raw materials from the other countries.
• Economic: For strengthening their position in the Italy market, the biggest problem that firm is facing is related to the economic condition of the region. Whole Europe is facing challenges related to the economic stability and hence the purchasing power of the people in Italy is decreasing. They are not finding investors in this region easily as the chance of business failure or loss is very high. They can also invest in the regions that are developing and have less competitive forces restricting their business (Brunori, Malandrin and Rossi, 2013).
• Social: The society has changed due to changing environment of European region. This has affected the purchasing behaviour of the people in Italy. The biggest problem is that unemployment in Italy is increasing at much faster rate with around 25,000 jobs at risk. This is increasing the negativity in terms of purchasing capacity of Italy. On the other hand the changes in life style has brought positive environment for fast food restaurants as more people are coming to fast food chains.
• Technological: Italy is a technologically advanced nation hence the firms will also have to make advancements in terms of technology use in business. Technology will have to be upgraded in terms of food production so that quality of the food remains on the higher side. This will also help the firms to improve the organisational operation such as marketing, sales and services.
• Legal: It is to be noted that legal environment of Italy is very stable but they have strengthened their consumer related to laws. These laws have affected the business operations of firms. More hygienic and quality foods have to be prepared by the organisation so as to comply with quality regulations within the country.
• Environmental: Five Guys have to improve the environment related concerns so as to ensure that image of the company remains on the better side. The waste management system will have to be improved so as to ensure that less waste is dumped into the environment. Company will also have focus on the supply chain management and the problems related to packaging of food in order to strengthen their position in the industry.

In order to understand the environment of industry 5 forces framework is very much effective. The five force analysis of Five guys is done below.

• Bargaining power of suppliers: In Italy there are large numbers of suppliers both internal and external. Due to presence of huge numbers of suppliers in the region, the bargaining power of suppliers is on the lower side (Hirsch and Gschwandtner, 2013). This company has a good relation with their suppliers in the region hence they have able to gain quality raw materials for their operations.
• Bargaining power of customers: As the competition in industry is on the higher side hence bargaining power of customers is also high. This is because consumers have lot of options of different taste that too available at every range. Italy being a small country does not provide the company with an opportunity to enlarge their customer base at much higher range.
• Competition: This is one of the biggest threats to the company as they are not able to increase their market base as expected by the company. In order to strengthen the position of the firm in front of others new set of competitive strategies needs to be made by the firm (Massa and Testa, 2012). Quality improvement can be one of the best tools for dealing with the competition.
• Threat of new entrants: The investment that is required to open a fast food chain is on the higher side. Along with this, the competition is also too high and in the presence of big brand names it is not easier for the new firms to make their mark in the industry (Gerrard, 2017). These all reasons reduce the threat of new entrants. Along with this the investment scope in the European region is also on the lower side hence this threat further on the lower side.
• Threat of substitution: This threat is on the larger side. This is because there are large numbers of items available in the market that can substitute the products that is delivered by the Five guys. The biggest threat they are receiving is from Chinese and Italian food products. In the coming time, it’s the innovation that can only save the company from losing their market space (QSR, 2014).

Industry Background

Along with the external environmental analysis, it is crucial that company evaluates the internal environment of the company. This is also essential for identifying strengths and weaknesses of the firm which is further essential for constructing strategies. The analysis that can be used for understanding the strengths and weaknesses is value chain analysis. There are two main types of activities performed in organisation i.e. primary and supporting activities.

Primary activities are as follows:

• Inbound logistics: They have invested huge amount of money in the storage and receiving of the raw materials. Their business units have same receiving and storage area within the same. In some of their units they have different receiving and storing areas. In terms of material distribution they have higher efficiency in which materials can be distributed whenever required in the business organisations (Melnick, 2011). Value chain and support system are also effective and organisation culture of the company is also very good.
• Production: Their production capacity is also high and is able to fulfil the requirements of the firm. Since their manufacturing units are capable of fulfilling the fluctuating demands of the organisation which is very much essential for the gaining higher consumer satisfaction.
• Outbound logistics: This is also the strength of the company as they are delivering the products and services to their customers in the given time. Storage and distribution along with service platforms ensures that company is able to deliver the products and services in the stores. The only problem with the outbound logistics is that the company has no delivery policy.
• Marketing and sales: This Company has a very good marketing and sales team which has helped them in making their growth fast. They are using both traditional and digital mediums for improving their marketing and sales performance. The franchise partners do the local marketing effective (Credibly, 2018).
• Service: Franchising contracts are only given to those partners who have qualified for their service standards. Their company has been able to make healthy relations with their customers. They are giving their services as per the customer’s expectations.

Support activities are as follows:

• Firm infrastructure: The infrastructures of the restaurants are very good and are providing comfortable and best experience to the consumers. Administrative handling, line management, financial management all are done at each of their units in an appropriate manner.
• Human resource management: In this segment, the company has been poor especially in terms of retaining staffs. They have to continuously invest in recruitment and training process so as to maintain the standards of their services.
• Technology development: When compared with other competitors they have not been able to make advancements at such faster rate. Even the marketing through technological mediums has not been able to reach to larger numbers of people (Restaurant business, 2018). They will have to move towards automation and artificial intelligence especially for improving the service industry.
• Procurement: They have been able to manage healthy relationship with suppliers. At the same time they have been able to negotiate with their suppliers to reach at the best prices. Their franchising and purchasing agreement with suppliers has been very effective. They have been able to generate valuable services, products as well as distinctiveness.

In the competitive environment that has been analysed in the above section, it can be said that it is essential for the Five guys to construct the best of strategies for their growth. In different types of strategies made by the Five guys, the best of strategies that is made by the company is illustrated as Porter’s Generic Strategies. For the cited firm the strategies are as follows:

• Cost leadership strategies: Five guys have adopted cost leadership strategies so as to ensure that they gain competitive advantage over the rivals. Since the cost of franchising of this company is lower than most of the rivals hence the franchisers can easily reduce the cost of their operations. These reductions in the cost of operations have helped the firm to maintain the prices of the product on the lower side (Burke, 2012). In order to strengthen their position in the Italian market, they can further lower down their prices without actually making huge changes in the quality of the products. At almost no cost they personalise the toppings which helps them in retaining larger customer base.
• Differentiation: There are people from different cultural backgrounds living in Italy. They prefer to have innovative products having completely different type of products from their competitors. With their innovation as a strategy they have been able to capture much larger segment in the market. Differentiation has also been done in terms of services as they have a unique and customer oriented style of providing the services. The differentiation must be based on the heavy research that is done by the company on different target segments (Kelly, 2018).
• Focus: They have used both cost focus and differentiation focus as their strategy so as to improve their sales. It is seen that there are people from different segments of the society and company has targeted them all. In order to target them, Five guys have adopted cost focus and differentiation focus as a strategy (The daily meal, 2018). This helps the firm to personalise the services and products as per the demands of the customers. Changes in the menu and special types of toppings without actually making changes in the costing have helped them in gaining success in the market. It has been seen that there are people from the different segments of the society and they have different types of taste and cost preferences. Company should target health conscious people and for this they will have to focus on the bringing the new line of food products that are healthy and nutritious. This is also crucial for making long term loyal consumers.

Five Guys have to redefine their strategic directions along with the expansion strategies so as to ensure their long term growth. Their strategic direction consisted of some of the basic elements such as:

• Products: They have been serving many types of products in different food segments. In order to ensure that the products are of high quality they have adopted no frozen policy. They have good links with their suppliers in the European region which enables them to serve fresh food (Johnson, 2017). They are also adding to their product range regularly which helps them in adding new set of customers to their list.
• Services: They are adding to the services based on customer’s requirements. In order to improve the service quality they have been using new set of technology. They have also made their training process in such a manner that it enables them to build services of the higher standards.
• Markets: In order to capture larger market share, they have been channelizing their suppliers and distributors so as to reach to maximum possible customers. The use of digital marketing strategies along with traditional mediums for promotions could help them in gaining control in the Italy market (Dockery, 2018).

Apart from this company has been using different types of methods of expansion so as to improve their position in the market. Franchising has been their major focused method so as to expand in the market. For this they have also brought changes in the rules of franchising. In Italy, there are many rural areas that are developing. These developing areas act as an opportunity for the firm so as to make investments (S&P Global Rating, 2018). More franchisees have to be given at lower cost so as to increase their scope in the market. They also need to invest directly into opening their own stores so as to ensure that the service quality remains on the higher side. Five guys can also make partnership with the local distributors and suppliers so as to expand in the small cities having controlled by one or two companies. Before the expansion process, companies should invest in improving the quality supply chain. More local employees must be hired so that cultural and social problems can be resolved easily.

It is recommended that the company focus on developing healthy relation with the local public for which they will have make innovations in products and services. The performance evaluation must be done so as to ensure that firm do not face challenges related to any service quality failure. Since Five guys should invest on their staff development program so as to reduce the employee turnover which has been one the major problems of the organisation. It is also recommended that company brings advanced technologies in the data management. This data will be helpful in making of the effective strategies especially related to the operation management. It is also crucial that firm regains its control in the European region so that each business unit in different parts of Europe helps each other in their performance. Company should also add Italian taste in their food products so as to attracted local people especially in the semi-urban areas as they are more attached with their culture and food habits.

Key Challenges Faced by the Company

Conclusion

From the above based report, it can be concluded that Five Guys is one of the biggest fast food chains in America. This company has a very less food variety but of high quality that helps them in attracting large numbers of consumers to their outlets. The political, technological and environmental condition of Italy is favourable for the business but the factors such as economic and social are changing in such a manner that it is posing threat to their business. In Italy, threat like competition and substitution is on the higher side while threat of new entrants is on the lower side. Their primary activities acts as their strength while the support activities acts as their actual weakness. Innovation, cost leadership and cost and differentiation focus are some of their strategies that help in giving them competitive advantage. In the method of expansion they have chosen franchising as their basic strategy for expanding new market. Company should focus on making a healthy bond with their suppliers and distributors in the European region so as to improve its position in Italy.

References

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