“Ben & Jerry’s – Japan”
Assignment 2
1. Which way would you recommend B&J enter Japan: with Mr. Yamada or with 7-11? Support your answer with rationale.
Let’s see the advantages and disadvantages for Ben and Jerry’s to enter the Japanese market with Mr. Yamada or with 7-Eleven Japan;
Entering Japanese market with Mr. Yamada:
Advantages: * Ken Yamada was a third generation Japanese American from Hawaii, with his excellent marketing skills and knowledge of the Japanese market and consumers he had successfully introduced Domino’s Pizza chain in Japan. * Mr. Yamada would position the brand, form and executive an entry strategy, and will take care of marketing and distribution for Ben and Jerry’s well into the future,
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* 7-Eleven will not help Ben and Jerry’s in the marketing of its products, making Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream one of the many brands carried by the convenience store. * Ben and Jerry’s will always have the risk in case 7-Eleven terminates its contract and stop buying its products due to low sales. French ice cream manufacturer Rolland is an example were 7-Eleven terminated their contact due to inadequate sales. * 7-Eleven required Ben and Jerry’s to change its package size from the regular 473ml to120ml personal size, which required Ben and Jerry’s to spend additional $ 2 million. * 7-Eleven also wanted to provide its own design for the package and the package won’t have a photo of Ben and Jerry on it. All this is against what Ben and Jerry’s is known for. Looking at the advantages and disadvantages it will be preferable if the company enter the market with Mr. Yamada. The company had already done such deals in other countries like Canada and Israel and had been successful. Entering the Japanese Market with Mr. Yamada will give Ben and Jerry’s both local market knowledge and an experience partner, making its entry into the market smoother. Ben and Jerry’s biggest issue of not having a solid marketing plan for Japan will also be solved by the partnership with Mr. Yamada. The deal has its drawbacks but considering the advantages it will be a better option compare to entering the market with 7-eleven.
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Furthermore, it is just coming into the growth stage of business with the highest branch in the Japanese restaurant segment. It has high growth potential on business expansion plan all over countries.
One of his meetings was with the Japanese distributor of Dreyer’s, an American company which had licensed its trademark to a joint venture operation in Japan in 1990. Sales had been poor, and its biggest customer in Japan, Seven-Eleven, was viewed as demanding in its need to drop flavors on short notice and its requirement for just-in-time deliveries.
The ice cream industry is very a competitive field. Blue Bell has many competitors with a bigger budget and a bigger distribution channel. The company still manage to produce top brand ice cream to please its customers. According to the U.S Market for Ice Cream, “Sales nearly $12.2 Billion in 2005 with the sales of frozen, yogurt frozen desserts at scoop shops, restaurants and vending outlets. Three years ago there was a tremendous interest in ice cream nutrition panel. Other competitors were introducing product such as; low crab ice cream, no sugar added and low fat ice cream.
The Taco Bell Corporation, a unit of Yum Brands Inc., fell victim to a lawsuit on January 19, 2011, following a lawsuit filed by the Alabama firm, Beasley Allen (Roper, Samikkannu, & O’Rourke, 2011). Subsequent to receipt of the lawsuit, Taco Bell released full-page newspaper ads in local and national newspapers headlined, “Thank you for suing us” (Roper, Samikkannu, & O’Rourke, 2011). In addition, chief executive officer of Taco Bell, Greg Creed, called for a multi-million nationwide advertising campaign designed to combat the negative publicity arising from the lawsuit (Barclay, 2011).
Jack in the Box, Inc. opened its first restaurant in 1951. Today, it has become one of the nation’s largest hamburger chain and “based on number of restaurants, is the second largest QSR hamburger chain.” In addition to its QSR hamburger chain, Jack in the Box “acquired Qdoba Restaurant Corporation, operator and franchisor of Qdoba Mexican Grill.” 1 According to its 10-K report, Qdoba “is the second largest fast-casual Mexican brand in the United States.” 1
Ben & Jerry’s is an ice cream brand that started in Vermont in 1979 by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield. Originally started as a small parlour business, it saw steady expansion in its distribution over time. Its acquisition by Unilever in 2000 allowed the brand to undergo worldwide distribution through tapping on the conglomerate’s logistics and distribution expertise. Faced with an ever changing business environment and dynamic consumer preferences, Ben & Jerry’s has adopted unique strategies to boost its competitiveness.
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conversation hearts and hand signed valentines to employees to let them know how much we love
First, the company should work to increase the sales volume of the “smooth” product line. Ben and Jerry's should work on a price skimming strategy in order to steal some of the market share away from top competitor Haagen-Dazs. They could implement this approach until they have enough attention on their brand and then build the price back up to their superpremium target. This would give Ben and Jerry’s more control of the ice cream market as a whole, not just mix-ins. In addition, Ben and Jerry's should invest more in product diversification.
Ben and jerry’s in general tries to target everyone who likes ice-cream. But in fact, they are positiong their product and selling their product in premium ice cream market. While considering customer segmentation there is few most relevant segment which will be discussed below. As a basic idea Ben and Jerrys is trying to merge quality, fun and social responsibility as well as increase awareness of environmental issues for their customers.
There are many advantages and disadvantages for Ben & Jerry’s to penetrate the Japanese market by relying on 7-Eleven, an
The main areas where Seven-Eleven 's in United States needed to be concentrated on Distribution System, Need to increase Demand and it should be able (manage) to drive the customer flow towards their convenience store, Lacking of signature products from it, Less Sales growth, The seven elevens are distantly located, the inventory turnover in US was less when compared to the Seven-Eleven 's in Japan.
1. Was Japan an attractive market for Toys “R” Us? Do you think there were any cultural obstacles to product acceptance? Strong competitors?
Seven-Eleven Japan will continue to develop our convenience store franchise business based on our fundamental philosophies of "Modernizing and revitalizing small and medium-sized retail stores" and "Coexistence and Co-prosperity". Our special business characteristics are the foundation of our efforts to build better relationships with our stores while focusing on management support for our partner franchisees, as well as with local communities surrounding them.