Strategic Management and Leadership: A Case Study of CMA CGM

This case study analyzes the strategic management and leadership of CMA CGM, a French container transportation and shipping company. It evaluates the company's market position, existing plans, and relationship between corporate, business, and operational strategies. The application of strategic models and evaluation of strategic options are also discussed.

Strategic
management
and leadership

Executive Summary
• The focus of the report is on CMA CGM and the strategies it
adopts to remain afloat in business
• The focus is to identify the market position of the company and
the manner in which it execute its current plans
• At the same time relationship between corporate, business and
operational strategies are highlighted
• The strategic models used by CMA CGM is highlighted along
with an evaluation of the strategic options that has been
developed by the company

About the organisation
• CMA CGA is a French container transportation and shipping
company.
• The company uses 200 shipping routes between 420 ports
which exist in 150 countries
• The company has 750 offices across the two countries
• The headquarters of the company exist in Marseille in France
as well as Norfolk in the United States
• The name of the company is used as an acronym that can be
translated into Maritime Freighting Company – General
Maritime Company

Marketing position analysis
• Currently CMA CGM is ranked fourth in terms of routes
followed while conducting shipping duties
• This is mainly because of the revenue generated by the
company which can be considered as low after making
comparisons with the rivals
• However, in terms of market share, CMA CGM ranks third
world wide behind Maersk Line (Denmark) and Mediterranean
Shipping Company (Switzerland)

Effects of existing plans
• The existing plans of expansion has
seen positive growth of the company
• For example the company has
managed to acquire strategic stake in
LCL Logistics which is a leader in
the shipping companies in India
• It has also taken over NOL a
Singaporean shipping company which
is considered as the largest
acquisition made by the company
• However, the Singapore Exchange
Securities Trading suspended the
NOL after the offer was made

Relationship between corporate,
business and operational
strategies
• The core competencies of a company forms the basis of a
business strategy
• It helps in the creation of value and monetizing the value
• It helps firms to exploit its core competencies in the business
• It employs the competitive strength for creating value for the
company
• A good service is presented for the development of the
business strategies

Contd..
• Management practices, organizational behaviors and
external relationships define the corporate strategy
• It helps in the addition of value and creates value for an
organisation
• It helps in the formation of a proper structure
• With the help of the corporate strategy, companies can meet
the business objectives

Contd..
• Creation of value and the manner in which it can create the
value defines the operational strategy of an organization
• It can be considered as the practical version of the imagined
value while discussing business strategy formation
• It involves analysing and sourcing of raw materials necessary
for the satisfaction of the customers
• Unlike the other strategies, this operational strategies provide
a detailed approach for a company
• It also takes into account extensive list of activities and makes
decisions

Application of strategic models
• The application of SWOT analysis can help CMA CGM to analyze its
competencies in the market
• The strength of the company is that it is ranked among the top four
in terms of route covered and market share. Hence opportunities
for expansion is excellent
• The weakness is that the company need to invest more on the
development of the conglomerate structure of its business
• The opportunity is the expansion and the acquisition process that is
taken into account. So far the company have tasted success with the
expansion and the acquisition of top companies around the world
• The threat includes the competitors such as Maersk Line, COSCO
and Mediterranean Shipping Company

Contd..
Strength
•Market share
•Coverage route
Weakness
•Development of conglomerate
•Investment
Opportunity
•Expansion
•Acquisition
Threat
•Competitors
•Inability to penetrate

Evaluating the strategic options
•The strategic options includes the experimentation of the
strategy, its transformation and incremental modification needed
•In the case of CMA CGM, the company can transform its
business prospects and ensure that it continues with the
development and expansion of the company
•This can help the company to build platform so that it can
conduct experiments based on the acquisition method adopted
for expansion
•Hence, the strategic option can be successful for the
development of successful results for the company

References
• Cma-cgm.com. 2019. Cma-cgm.com. [online] Available at:
http://www.cma-cgm.com/finance [Accessed 5 Feb. 2019].
• Degiuli, N., Ćatipović, I., Martić, I., Werner, A. and Čorić, V., 2017.
Increase of ship fuel consumption due to the added resistance in
waves. Journal of Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and
Environment Systems, 5(1), pp.1-14.
• Erikstad, S.O. and Rehn, C.F., 2015. Handling Uncertainty in Marine
Systems Design-State-of-the-Art and Need for Research. In 12th
International Marine Design Conference 2015 Proceedings (Vol. 2,
pp. 324-342).
• Henckel, T. and McKibbin, W., 2017. The economics of infrastructure
in a globalized world: issues, lessons and future challenges. Journal
of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 1(2), pp.254-272.

Thank You