Client Situation
Our client is based in Abu Dhabi and is one of UAE’s largest and most profitable group of companies. The client has diverse business interests that include eight major companies in the real estate, hospitality, travel and tourism, automotive, industrial and general trading sectors. The client had decided to enter the retail mall business and has plans to open its first mall in Abu Dhabi.
Cedar’s Approach
The client mandated Cedar to develop the overall group strategy for the retail mall business and create a 3-year business plan. The activities carried out by Cedar primarily involved:
- Developing a detailed understanding of the client’s current real estate & retail operations portfolio, organizations and future plans
- Detailed assessment of the retailing sector in the UAE
- Concluding on an overall group-level strategy for the retailing business, with a focus on the next 24-36 months
- Employing the use of the Balanced Scorecard framework to track progress on strategy
Outcome
Some of the key outcomes of the activities conducted by Cedar were as follows:
- Detailed profiling of the competitive scenario with an overview of the regulatory framework was conducted, which aided the client in benchmarking industry best practices
- Development of an overall financial outcome that the business is capable of delivering in terms of revenue, profits, risk, and cost recommendations on investment and operating expenditure plan
- Development of a Tenant Strategy determining likely leasing income, and other expectations that the tenants may have in terms of rent-free periods, size of space, promotional expenditures, facilities, tenant turnover minimization
- Formulation of an end-customer group strategy, clearly outlining the customer segments that will be available for the group to pursue (by income, demographics) and its overall impact on a tenant strategy, financial strategy, and process strategy
- Development of a Product & Category Mix Plan identifying number, format, and locations of new outlets
- Development of high-level outline of key pre and post-operative business processes such as project planning, sales and business development