Client Situation
Our client is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded consumer foods sold through retail stores. The management was keen on expanding their market to widen their exclusive snack food offerings to a larger target audience. It sought to expand into the Indian market and had decided to assess the market potential to identify opportunities for entry.
Cedar’s Approach
The client had mandated Cedar to assess the market potential and identify prospects for a joint venture mode of entry to execute its vision. Cedar’s approach was as follows:
- Validation of objectives, approach and timelines; and determination of internal data sources
- Collection of all internal data regarding the strategy and operations of the client
- One-on-one interviews with the client’s senior executives to understand their current state assessment and vision
- Collection and validation of global market insights, Indian macroeconomic overview, retail market data
- Detailed competitive evaluation of competitors and their compatibility with the client
- Primary interviews with external stakeholders in the industry value chain
- Integration and analysis of all gathered inputs
- Presentation of market assessment findings and recommendation of a way-forward strategy
Outcome
The key outcomes of this program were as follows:
- Based on the current state assessment and future growth potential, it was found that the Indian market offered an extruded snack food opportunity to the client
- The market size was respectable, competitors (except one) were small and lacked financial resources to grow the market, and there was ample availability of raw material
- Several potential partners were identified to have the sales and distribution capability to address this market. The product category allowed for easy customization of products to address ethnic flavour preferences
- Cedar identified six companies that were attractive prospects for a joint venture
- Cedar conducted meetings with the CEOs of the six shortlisted companies, and based on those discussions, prioritized these companies into two groups: highly and moderately attractive joint venture prospects
- A decision to conduct joint first meetings by Cedar and the client with the above companies was taken, to create a final shortlist for further detailed discussions, negotiations, due diligence and detailed development of an entry strategy and implementation plan