...Carrefour S.A. is a large multinational corporation that aims to issue EUR 750 million worth of debt. Consequently, Carrefour must decide the market in which it wants to place its bonds. The company had historically financed growth using securities denominated in the currency of its business operations. However, Carrefour’s investment banks, Morgan Stanley and UBS-Warburg, recently recommended borrowing in British pounds sterling to take advantage of a borrowing opportunity in that currency. This recommendation seems counter-intuitive prima facie, given that the British coupon rate is higher than those in all the other currencies, particularly the Swiss franc. Nevertheless, there are several reasons why investing in the British pound is a good idea. While the nominal interest rate of the Swiss franc is lower than that of the British pound, the real interest rate of the British pound is lower because of the relatively higher inflation rate in the U.K. Moreover, the exchange rate for GBP/EUR (.628) appears more favorable than the exchange rate of CHF/EUR (1.453). In addition, we can calculate the implied forward rates to further help us with our decision. We can use the formula F (f.c./EUR) = (1+i(f.c.))N/(1+i(EUR))N*S(f.c./EUR) to find the implied 10 year forward rates: The low forward rates for GBP/EUR suggest that borrowing in British pounds is a wise choice. Next, we must use the implied forward rates to calculate the cash flows for each currency (in Euros)...
Words: 585 - Pages: 3
...AND MANAGEMENT Fages Gaspard Introduction of the company * Main address: Carrefour S.A., BP 419-16, 75769 Paris Cédex1 * 6 Avenue Raymond Poincaré, Paris 75116, France * Tel: +33 1 53 70 19 00 Fax: +33 1 53 70 86 16 Website: www.carrefour.com * Carrefour is the world’s second largest retailer in terms of sales. * Truly global player with operations in over 35 countries. * Major formats are hypermarkets, supermarkets and discount stores. * Well known for entering and adapting to emerging markets. * Group turnover (2012): EUR 85.96 billion * Total number of stores (including franchises): 15,673 Carrefour SA was first listed on the French stock market in 1970. First opening stores in France during the 1960s, Carrefour went on to open the first hypermarkets in France and Europe. First started expanding into the rest of Europe in the early 1970s and 1970At the same time the ED discount format was introduced. The Carrefour own-label was introduced in 1985. The first non-European store was opened in Brazil in 1975. Carrefour's firs Asian store opened in Taiwan in 1989. Carrefour announced its intention to merge with Promodès at the end of August 1999 with the merger approved in January 2000. The Carrefour name was retained with the majority of Promodès stores rebranded. The merger pushes Carrefour to second place in global retailing. Carrefour operates a diverse portfolio of formats, including hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount...
Words: 982 - Pages: 4
...Carrefour and Grupo Pão de Açúcar Merger Intercultural Negotiation Rafael Campos de Oliveira November 2012 Contents Table Introduction Background Information a. Background Information of Carrefour b. Background Information of Pão de Açúcar c. Background Information of Groupe Casino 1. Situation before the negotiation 2. The proposal 3. Groupe Casino position 4. End of Negotiation 5. Future for Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar 6. Final commentaries 7. References Carrefour and Pão de Açúcar merger Introduction This paper will describe the negotiation to merge Pão de Açúcar, the largest retailer in Brazil, and Carrefour, the second largest supermarket chain in the world. The initial plan was to create a Brazilian super retail chain with a global presence but due to several reasons the negotiation didn’t succeed. These reasons will be presented in the following chapters, along with an analysis comparing the theories learned in the Intercultural negotiation class. The methodology of this research was based in articles published by newspapers, containing both analysis of this case and interviews with the people involved. Background information BACKGROUND INFORMATION OF CARREFOUR Carrefour S.A. is a one of the largest hypermarket chains in the world – according to public information – it had more than 1395 hypermarkets at the end of 2009. Carrefour is...
Words: 2919 - Pages: 12
...Marketing Channels/ Assignment There is a gap that separates the producers from consumers in the market. This gap was caused by some historical factors and practices that mostly appeared after the industrial revolution. The discrepancies that separate the producer from the final consumer consist of the following: * Spatial separation Producers usually locate in places it is economical to produce, whereas consumers are located in several different locations. * Separation of ownership Producers own goods and services that they do not want to use. Consumers want goods and services that they do not possess. * Separation in Values Producers value goods and services according to their costs and competitive prices. Consumers value goods and services according to economic utility and capability to pay. * Separation of information Producers do not have an idea of what the consumers need, when they need it, and at what price. Consumers do not know what exists, from which producers, when, and at what price. * Separation in time Consumers might not desire to consume goods and services when producers would rather produce them. * Discrepancies of Assortment Producers focus on producing a narrow assortment of goods and services. Consumers need a broad assortment. * Discrepancies of Quantity Producers rather produce and sell goods in large quantities. Consumers rather purchase and consume in small quantities. Retailers provide important functions and services...
Words: 437 - Pages: 2
...Marketing FoundationMKT 2222 | Group Project: Carrefour | April 4th 2008 | | Group Members & Student Numbers:Fikri Fikrioglu – M00013290Mohammed Moin – M00074462Christos Andreou – M00022720Seminar Tutor: Paul GarneauSeminar Number: Seminar S03 | Table of ContentsBackground Information and Company Description of Carrefour 2The Marketing Environment 5SWOT Analysis 10 Consumer Decision Making Process 16Market Segmentation 20Positioning of the Company 22The Marketing Mix 23The Competitive Situation of the Company 26Primary Data Collection & Evaluation 30Conclusion 40Bibliography & References ...
Words: 13508 - Pages: 55
...Taking Wal-Mart Global Lessons From Retailing's Giant Vijay Govindarajan and Anil K. Gupta [pic] During 1992-93, Wal-Mart agreed to sell low-priced products to two Japanese retailers, Ito-Yokado and Yaohan, that would market these products in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Then, in 1994, Wal-Mart entered Hong Kong through a joint venture with the C.P. Pokphand Company, a Thailand-based conglomerate, to open three Value Club membership discount stores in Hong Kong. MODE OF ENTRY Once Wal-Mart had selected the country or countries to enter, it needed to determine the appropriate mode of entry. Every company making this move faces an array of choices: It can acquire an existing player, build an alliance with an existing player or start greenfield operations, either alone or in partnership with another player. Wal-Mart entered Canada through an acquisition. This was a logical move for three reasons. First, Canada is a mature market - an unattractive situation for greenfield operations, since adding new stores (i.e., new capacity) will only intensify an already high degree of local competition. Second, because there are significant income and cultural similarities between the United States and Canadian markets, Wal-Mart faced relatively little need for new learning. Thus, entering through a strategic alliance was unnecessary. Third, a poorly performing player, Woolco, was available for purchase at an economical price. Furthermore...
Words: 2169 - Pages: 9
...Executive Summary The wave of globalization is everywhere and the food retail industry is not spared. Hypermarkets such as Tesco and Carrefour have long been in existence and is rapidly making its presence felt in further expansion plans in the Asia Pacific region. Started in North and America and Europe, hypermarkets became the dominant retail grocery today. Consumers’ expectations for ease in grocery shopping, together with the increased of car ownership made shopping in big supermarkets a trend to last for a long time to come. With higher income and change in lifestyles, coupled with an increasing middle income group – it has opened a whole new market for the retail chain industry. Due to the saturated local market, hypermarkets are bent on expansion in finding new markets internationally. Even though governments have opened up their economies to foreign players, there are rules and regulations imposed on new players in order to protect their own local retail industries. Global retail industry has come a long way since commencement. Worldwide retail sales is now valued at $USD7 trillion (Source: Deloitte :2003). Invention of bar-coding system enables stores to manage tens of thousands of items and also assisted in ‘Just-In-Time’ store replenishment system. This report would explain the emerging markets to be tapped, and the different opportunities and threats faced by the entrants; various rules and regulations imposed by the local government in which hypermarkets...
Words: 2693 - Pages: 11
...Carrefour Company Background Carrefour means "crossroads" in French, arose in 1959 as a partnership among two industrialists, Marcel Fournier and Louis Defforey, in Annecy which is urban area around eastern France. However Carrefour had been progressively more developed since World War two. Fournier previously had created the branch store which is Grand Magasin de Nouveautés Fournier d'Annecy and which has networks in the Casino supermarkets, Defforey was the leader of Badin-Defforey in Lagnieu. This French international chain is the third lagest regarding profit after Tesco and wal-Mart, during the year 2008 the company changed its CEO to Lars Olofsson who believe the company “approach is to be only where it knows it can win”, there after it decided to terminate part of its business around Asia among countries which they did not benefit or gain profit from them such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore in year 2010, and focus on those countries with more customers and gain profit from them, one of the reason why the French international chain “Carrefour” failed in this countries is because the taste and living ways are different French style so it was hard for Asians to adapt quickly. Carrefour is actively committed to promoting local economic development. Since retail activities are all about contact with people, the group consistently emphasizes local recruitment plus management and staff training on the job wherever they work. Typically, the Carrefour group will be one...
Words: 476 - Pages: 2
...CARREFOUR STORES * The Carrefour supermarket company is set up by the Fournier, Badin and Defforey families who run a discount supermarket in Annecy. * Hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, cash & carry e-commerce. * Carrefour has all the resources to cater to the different needs of its customers – whether they live in an urban or rural environment, whether they be private or professional clients, in France or abroad. * In every store format, with different banners, the Group develops attractive, modern and inviting stores. Carrefour teams join forces to increase the competitive advantage of its multiformat approach. During 2015, this investment, carefully tailored and constantly. * More than 12,200 stores in over 30 countries, the Group offers its customers a wide array of formats and banners for every shopping pattern – daily purchases in local stores or weekly trips to the hypermarket – that meet the needs of the diverse clientele, from business customers purchasing wholesale supplies, to family shopping trips. THE 10 PRINCIPLES OF THE CARREFOUR CODE OF BUSINESS CONDUCT – 1. Strictly respect the law 2. Contribute to a safe and healthy working environment 3. Commit to diversity and good working conditions 4. Protect the Group’s assets and resources 5. Guarantee confidentiality 6. Avoid conflicts of interest 7. Refuse all forms of corruption 8. Develop loyal and transparent business practices ...
Words: 1322 - Pages: 6
...1.0 Tesco Malaysia Tesco stores (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd was first introduced on 29 Nov 2001 in Malaysia. Malaysia was selected as the market of entry due to its developing economy with political stability, market capacity which was positive signs of establishing a business in a country. The first Tesco store was officially opened in May 2002 in Puchong. Sime Darby owns 30% of Tesco shares and the rest is own by Tesco itself, since the launch of the business. Tesco has a total of 49 hypermarkets in Malaysia. Tesco basically caters for the needs of people by the sale of fresh foods to groceries, household needs to apparels they cover almost everything. Tesco carries a total of 86,000 lines of products including more than 1,300 Tesco branded items. Tesco is one of the only retail outlets to have the online services whereby customers are allowed to order products just by clicking on their computers and the goods are directly delivered to their home’s(Studymode.com). Tesco is operated by their CEO Mr Grorg Fischer who has lots of experience in the retail industry and plans to broaden the online services. (News Straight Times Oct 2014) Tesco is one of the leading companies that aim’s to provide business strategies and practices to adapt business based on the changes of the environment. Therefore the vision of the company is “To be the most highly valued business by the customers we serve, the communities in which we operate, our loyal and committed colleagues and of course, our shareholders”...
Words: 3185 - Pages: 13
...why different firms adopted different strategies even in the same environmental context. Question To analyze the strategies of Carrefour and how these strategies interact with Chinese government policies and local market conditions? CARREFOUR The Carrefour Company was created by the Fournier and Defforey families in 1959 in France, with the meaning of its name— “crossroads” expressing convenience. Today, Carrefour has reached 30 countries in Europe, Latin American and Asia. Currently, Carrefour has opened over 12,500 stores all over the world, with sales in 2006 of $114.9 billion and 456,000 employees. Store Formats. Carrefour operates three store formats in China: Carrefour hypermarkets, Champion supermarkets, and Dia discounted convenience stores. Since Carrefour entered China in 1995, hypermarkets were the principal format for Carrefour expansion. Carrefour opened 150 Dia discounted convenience stores in Shanghai and 100 in Beijing in 2003 (www.carrefour.com.cn), but faces fierce competition from 7-Eleven stores from Taiwan. Carrefour would more likely to learn from and follow 7-Eleven in the convenience store niche . Store Location. China is still a country with a relative low income level and hence the mainstream power of consumption remains in large and prosperous cities and city centers. Therefore, Carrefour establishes their stores in first tier cities and also in more prosperous and business areas . Yan (2003) argues that Carrefour’s ...
Words: 948 - Pages: 4
...BIG THINK THEORY * Organizational/singular. What organizational capabilities must we invent, reinvent, or redo to deliver the Big Think strategy, and how should we employ them to make the strategy a success? * Organizational/systemic. What business networks (partners in the supply chain as well as alliances and other forms of collaborations) can we use, and how should we use them, to make the strategy a success? * Market/singular. What kind of customer value can the strategy create for various customer segments, and how can we deliver this customer value? * Market/systemic. What kind of market ecosystem can we create, and how can we use it to enhance the strategy Organizational Capabilities: Focuses on internal processes and systems for meeting customer needs. Tesco also builds its organizational capabilities by in-creasing its expertise in various relevant functional areas including retailing, marketing, distribution and finance. Tesco is very much hold to the UK’s core business value. Due to the culture differences in Malaysia, Tesco must be study closely the local culture. In addition, instead of setting up a whole operation system based on UK culture concept, Tesco should acquire some of local supermarket chain companies and employed and promote natives into management level to run the operation. These international management approaches provides the key elements for Tesco’s global success. Moreover, Tesco must implement the uses cutting-edge technology...
Words: 1130 - Pages: 5
...Carrefour vs Walmart Kelly Liu stared out from her office window at the traffic on Shanghai’s Yannan “gao jia” as she wondered what to do. Kelly was the head of business development for Walmart China and had a key meeting at the end of the week with her Board of Directors. After 8 years in China, Walmart was still well behind Carrefour in terms of number of stores, brand awareness and revenue. The Board had called a special meeting and asked Kelly to present Walmart’s new growth strategy. She pondered what plan to suggest. Overview In 2006, France-based Carrefour Group (Carrefour), the second largest retailer in the world, successfully completed eleven years of its operations in China. As of September 2006, Carrefour operated in China through its 80 hypermarkets. China was Carrefour's sixth largest market, with sales of over US$2.06 billion in 2005. Carrefour Comes to China As one of the first foreign companies to enter the Chinese retail industry, Carrefour played a major role in bringing about a retail revolution in the country. It leveraged its experience in the international markets and introduced a few of its global best practices into the Chinese market. Until the 1980s, the retail industry in China was fully controlled by the Government. The department stores run by the Government provided little in the way of conveniences. According to Wang Zhirong, General Manager of Tian Bai department store in Dalian, concepts like customer service and choice were...
Words: 777 - Pages: 4
...WAL-MART STORES, INC Step 1: Identify the Firm’s Existing Vision, Mission, Objectives, and Strategies. Vision and Mission: There is no formal vision and mission of Wal-Mart available in this case study. Objective: Wal-Mart is a retail store that strives to excellently serve, respect and focus on both domestic and international customer by providing every-day low prices’ general merchandise to satisfy customers’ needs and help customers to save money. Strategies: 1. Forward Integration * Wal-Mart acquired four stores and six sites from Makro, the Korean Club store retailer. (pg 614) 2. Horizontal Integration * Wal-Mart had acquired entrenched, dominant player, the Wertkauf hypermarket chain in Germany. (pg 611) * Wal-Mart acquired 229 stores of Asda Group PLC, the UK’s third largest supermarket chain. (pg 615) 3. Product Development * Wal-Mart reported experimenting internationally with new operational elements, including jewelry, one-hour photos, optical labs, and online home-delivery programs. (pg 605) 4. Market penetration * Wal-Mart plans to add another 50 German stores by the year 2003. (pg 614) * Wal-Mart plans to open 120-130 new stores in existing international markets. (pg 616) * Wal-Mart announced plans to open 44-55 new stores, 200 new Supercenters, 20-25 new Neighborhood Markets, and 40-45 new Sam’s Clubs. (pg 616) 5. Cost Leadership * Wal-Mart foresaw opportunities to serve customers in other countries, using its management...
Words: 7179 - Pages: 29
...Distinction 1 Evaluation of the influence different stakeholders exert on Tesco plc Tesco is the biggest supermarket in the United Kingdom; it now takes every £1 of every £8 spent in UK shops. The company has become increasingly dominant and has expanded into the convenience store and hypermarket sectors of retailing. Because of this Tesco has recently received a lot of criticism over its activities, which is of great interest to all of Tesco’s stakeholders. Friends of the Earth (FOE) are a pressure group who point to Tesco’s policies of buying up large amounts of land in order to build new stores, the history of fighting battles with local authorities over planning and how it has bought the company’s brand into the high street through its purchase of small convenience stores. The opposition voiced by FOE is summarised in its report that ‘calling the shot: How supermarket get their way in planning decisions’. FOE is a stakeholder that is capable of exerting considerable influence over its customers’ interests. Many local governments have expressed concern about the future impact of major supermarkets on their communities, but they are often unable to do anything about these concerns because the planning system and the strength of the supermarkets are against them. Tesco also face resistance from smaller pressure groups, a good example of this is an online group called ‘Tescopoly’, which is aimed at exposing and limiting what they see as the market-distorting power of the...
Words: 1172 - Pages: 5
