The Corporate Strategy of Metro in the Canadian Market Research Paper

The Corporate Strategy of Metro in the Canadian Market - Research Paper Example The corporate level strategy is the overall or board strategies that the company has adopted. However, the business level strategy is the specific strategy that the company has implemented in order to achieve competitive advantage. Metro has applied a cost leadership strategy and the company is highly focused on reducing its overall costs so that they can offer goods to the customers at lower prices. Strategic models have been used to analyze the internal and external environment of the company. SWOT analysis and Porter’s Five forces model have been used to analyze the market conditions. SWOT analysis highlights the company has several strengths and there are opportunities in the market that Metro can capitalize. However, it is important for Metro to work on its weaknesses and take steps to reduce the impact of the threats that the company faces to further improve its position in the country. Porter five forces define the bargaining power of customers, bargaining power of supp liers, intensity of competition, threats from new entrants and threats from substitute products that Metro faces. At the end of the report gives a brief conclusion about the strategies of Metro and how the company can expand its operations and improve its profitability in the years to come. The strategy is defined as the plan of actions that the firm has set in order to achieve its targets or objectives or vision or mission (Johnson, & Scholes, 2001). Every organization operates with a target or with a mission and it is important for the management to formulate strategies that would lead to the accomplishment of these targets or mission (Bartlett, and Ghoshal, 1991). Mission and vision of the company are the tools that are used to motivate the employees and management and motivation to work would only arise if there is a mission to be achieved (Porter, 1980). However, it is important to have strategies that would make sure the efforts are put in the right direction. If a company doe s not have a proper strategy, then despite hard work and efforts from the employees, the company might not be able to reach its destination (Lee, and Carter, 2010). Managing a business has become complex today. With the increasing complexities of the external environment and organizations now need to be more focused and analyze their external environment carefully as well as regularly (Schroiff, and Arnold, 2004). By analyzing the external environment, an organization is able to identify factors that could influence their operations and profitability (Doole, and Lowe, 2008). Organizations can only plan and formulate their strategies if these factors are identified. Proper planning and careful formulation of strategies would allow firms to improve their earnings and achieve growth. This report will analyze one of the leading grocery stores in Canada, Metro. Metro is the food retailer operating in two major provinces of Canada; Quebec and Ontario. The company has its headquarters in M ontreal, Canada. The company has been growing despite increasing competition in the market.