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The Historical Development of Carrefour and its Competitive Advantage in Taiwan- An Analysis on the Basis of Customer Value Pei CHAO Assistant Professor, Department of Marketing and Distribution Management National Koahsiung First University of Science and Technology 1 University Road, Yuanchau, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan, R. O. C Tel: 886-7-6011000 ext. 4224; Fax: 886-7-6011043 E- mail: peichao@ccms.nkfust.edu.tw Hitoshi TSUCHIYA Senior Instructor, Department of Marketing and Distribution Management National Koahsiung First University of Science and Technology 1 University Road, Yuanchau, Kaohsiung 824, Taiwan, R. O. C Tel: 886-7-6011000 ext. 4213; Fax: 886-7-6011043 E- mail: hitoshi@ccms.nkfust.edu.tw 1 The Historical …show more content…

In 2005, Carrefour ’s corporate annual revenue was about NT$ 56 billion (40% of the total sales volume in the hypermarket sector) that was twice more than that of the second hypermarket retailer- RT Mart. 3 Carrefour has been a pioneering retailer undertaking international expansion since its first entrance to Belgium in 1969. Within the internationalization process for more than three decades, Carrefour has achieved mixed consequences in different countries. Carrefour is the leader within European countries such as Spain, Belgium, Greece and Italy, becomes the number one in Taiwan and holds a leading position in Brazil. On the contrary, Carrefour withdrew from the U.S. market in 1993, Hong Kong in 2000, Hungary in 2003, Japan in 2004 and Poland in 2005. Elsewhere, Carrefour is still striving for its survival in the marketplaces such as South Korea and Thailand. It is interesting to inquire why Carrefour experienced success in some countries but failed in others. The explanation to Carrefour’s success and failure may come from different theoretical perspectives. In this study, however, we tend to apply the concept of customer value to account for why Carrefour has been successful in establishing its competitive advantage, relative to inter- and intra- institutional competitors, since its entering to the Taiwan marketplace in 1989. This study is organized as follows: first, we discuss theories of institutional evolution, which

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