Strategic Analysis of Dune London's International Expansion in Italy

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Dune London's international business strategy, specifically focusing on its expansion into the Italian market. It begins with an introduction to global expansion strategies and then delves into Dune London's recent internationalization efforts, detailing its market presence, competitors, and hierarchical approach to entering new markets. The report examines the challenges and opportunities presented by the Italian market, including customer preferences, economic conditions, and competitor analysis. Furthermore, it presents a strategic proposal for Dune London's expansion, incorporating political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) factors, as well as the 4Ps of the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion). The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of a well-defined strategic plan for success in the international market.

International business
strategies

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. Dune London recent internationalisation strategy ......................................................................1
2. Strategic proposal.........................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Global expansion strategies are implemented by an organisation in which they desire to
expand their business in overseas market to capture more opportunities for growth and
development. In this context, the following assignment will demonstrate brief understanding
about global expansion strategy with reference to Dune London. The organisation desires to
expand its business operations in Italy. By analysing key literature, critical application of
theoretical framework will be identified in the report. Eventually, strategic proposal will be
produced that will help in justifying the future direction of international growth strategy in both
short and medium term.
1. Dune London recent internationalisation strategy
According to Clarke and Boersma, (2016) when an organisation gains immense
reputation in the domestic market or local economy and have capabilities to enlarge their
business outside the boundary of own country in order to enhance business growth and
development is referred to the process of global expansion. In order to raise the profitability and
productivity of the company, management tends to enhance their business operations by
establishing branches and subsidiaries in different parts of the world. Dune London is one of the
most influential brand of Dune Group in fashion and accessories. Headquarters of organisation
are located in London which is also known as fashion capital of the world.
The management has over 20 years of experience in the footwear industry and has grown
through a passion and dedication to excellence in product development and in house design.
Dune London has global presence in many countries including US, France, Germany, South
Africa, Ireland, etc (Cavusgil and Knight, 2015). In addition, it delivers goods and services in
more than 175 countries through effective online supply chains. As per Parc and Kawashima,
(2018) in order to sustain in the competitive environment, it is essential for the management of
business organisation to make initiatives in order to expand their business globally. Wild, Wild
and Han, (2014) argued that expansion of business in overseas market is not easy as top officials
have to analyse the foreign market, conditions, laws, people behaviour, trends, economic
condition and many macro and micro factors. This consumes lots of time and money of the
company (Beamish and Lupton, 2016).
Dune London wishes to establish and increase their business operations in new market
country which is Italy. In order to gain competitive advantage, the management has appointed
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new international director named James Radford in order to manage the international expansion
of the organisation efficiently (Man, 2017). The key competitors of Dune London are Kurt
Geiger, Russell Bromley, TIM and The Muck Boot Store (Clarke and Boersma, 2016). Every
organisation has different strategies for establishing global presence, but their motive remains
same which is to increase profits and revenue through promulgating about brands and products.
According to Cavusgil and Knight, (2015) the management of Dune London prefers hierarchical
order to step into the global market. The same approach will be utilised in order to establish
organisation in Italy.
In the first step, management prepares a business plan which states the needs, goals and
objective of establishing global presence. It's essential to assess the readiness and commitment to
growth internally before management of Dune start. The next step is conducting foreign market
research and identifying international markets. Here, the management of Dune analyse the
potential markets where organisation can conduct their business operations. The third step is
deciding and evaluating the methods of establishing organisation abroad. Numerous options
available for management such as opening subsidiaries, working with agents, online delivering,
etc (Paul, Lang and Baumgartner, 2017). Moreover, management have to select appropriate and
suitable method in order to enhance the effectiveness (Bendell, 2017).
The fourth step is to negotiate deals and navigate the legal morass of exporting. Fifth step
is to tap government and private sources of financing and figure out ways to make sure
organisations are getting paid. The last step is to move goods to international market, where
management of Dune eventually make global presence in the desired country. Morschett,
Schramm-Klein and Zentes, (2015) elaborated that management of organisation who wishes to
enlarge their operations in global market have to face various adversities in order to enjoy
enormous rewards. Initiation phase is always difficult and this phase only decides whether the
organisation will be able to sustain in the global environment or not. Many organisations failed
to pass this phase and eventually dissolve their corporate office in overseas market. According to
Bendell, (2017), Italian customers are demanding quality goods and services, but less concerned
with organisation operating hours, loyalty programmes, special offers, etc. Customers prefer the
precise quality of products they paid for and after sales service they receive. Majority of
population prefer to save money and high inflation in recent years lowers the purchasing power
which eventually led to decrease in customer confidence (Italy: Reaching The Consumer, 2018).
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In order to gain customer attraction, management of Dune London needs to focus on quality of
products and services that they will be going to provide to the customers of Italy.
Miklian and Rettberg, (2017) said that in order to achieve success in global market,
management of business organisation needs to prepare effective business development plans
which justifies their aim and objectives for establishing business in overseas market. After that,
they have to conduct foreign market analyses and research on the customer taste, preferences,
key competitors and other macro-economic factors that can affect the organisational growth and
development. As per Beamish and Lupton, (2016) global expansion is a big token for any
company’s business plan. It is a long-term plan when organisations are entering a foreign
marketplace. This is why organisational approach to global expansion should be proactive and
not reactive. Management has to patiently conduct all research and get all of team up to speed,
making sure that team members are aligned with this long-term plan and that expansion strategy
is being accommodated in business’ overall strategy. In recent internationalisation strategy, the
management of Dune London wishes to establish new branch at Italy in order to raise its
productivity. According to Cuervo-Cazurra and Ramamurti, (2014) the growing sectors in Italy
identified were food and beverages, fashion, tourism, luxury goods, transport, textiles and
shoemaking industries. Dune London specialises in footwear designing and manufacturing; thus,
the market environment of Italy provides immense opportunities to capture ample of market
share.
. Dune London has systematic and structural approach for global expansion. In global
expansion, management faced immense challenges and problems which act as an obstruction for
global expansion. Organisations have to overcome those obstructions in order to establish
corporation in different country (Contractor, Dhanaraj and Kumar, 2015).
2. Strategic proposal
It can be said that every business needs market strategy and analysis of market where it
wants to expand business operational activities effectively. It plays a major role in international
growth strategies. Most strategic plans look about 3 to 5 years into the future. Planning farther
ahead than five years can be problematic (Contractor, Dhanaraj and Kumar, 2015). This will help
Dune London to expand its business operational activities in Italy effectively.
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Strategic planning begins with key decision-makers in the organisation agreeing to
determine where the business is now and to articulate where they want the business to be in three
to five years.
Political: It can be said that government make policies and plans for the effective management
of business in terms of rules and legislations. Dune London should follow such rules in order to
expand their market and operational activities in Italy accordingly (Cuervo-Cazurra and
Ramamurti, 2014). Political factors affect the business strategies and plans so that one should
consider all the elements effectively. Inefficient public sector supporting a modern and advanced
business infrastructure, high government debt, high levels of corruption, bureaucracy and tax
evasion and the current Italian political environment does not favour foreign companies to enter
the market.
Economic: Italy is one of the best nations where the economy level is good that Dune London
business is able to expand their activities. It will help to increase level of economy and will
increase profitability. The economy is driven in large part by the manufacture of high-quality
consumer goods produced by family owned in SME that the business should try to increase
economic advantage in order to provide strength towards economic growth and development.
Social: These factors include social trends, thinking and nature of people etc. such factors also
affect the business of Dune London; thus, social factor analysis of Italy is crucial in order to
expand the business activities with long and short term objectives effectively (Grönroos, 2016).
Doing business successfully in Italy requires a personal network, understanding the business
culture and preferably knowledge of the Italian language that Dune London management should
evaluate market trends and population analysis in order to establish their operations in Italy.
Technological: Techniques should be improved and developed by organisation which will help
towards the international growth strategy and will lead towards profitability. This will also help
to make business operations more effective with better innovations and technologies in Italy.
Only a small portions of Italians are connected to fixed broadband the government has launched
a number of policies aiming at improving the provision of online services to its citizens and
creating a better environment for start-up that Innovation and new techniques will help to
manage Dune London business operational activities in Italy.
Environmental: Population analysis, climate and other environmental factors also affect the
business expansion. Therefore, managers should analyse all the environmental factors in order to
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evaluate whether the business strategies will work or not in Italy environment. The global
showcase welcomes over 20 million people and besides that Italy have economical refresh that
the environmental factors should be analysed by Dune London in order to manage products and
services accordingly and effectively.
Legal: These factors are related to the rules and legislations formulated by Italy government in
order to manage and control various business operational activities effectively (Grönroos, 2016).
It will help business to run smoothly which lead towards expansion in terms of short and long
term objectives. Rules and legislations regarding employee’s obligations and other business
concerns should be addressed in order to run business smoothly. The legal matters such as equal
opportunities, safety of products and health and consumer rights are mandatory in Italy in order
to do business.
Marketing mix 4P's
Marketing mix model will also help Dune London to expand its operational activities in
Italy by conducting research on market and strategies.
Product: Products and services should be effective enough to make a place in Italy market.
Quantity, quality and features should be effective in order to make a complete new brand which
will help to expand business in Italy with long and short term strategic planning and objectives
effectively (Marquis and Raynard, 2015).
Price: Pricing strategies should be managed by firm in order to reach target and potential
customers in Italy market effectively. Thus, the pricing has to be such that it can bear the brunt of
changes for a certain period of time. However, if all these variables change, then the pricing of a
product has to be increase or decrease accordingly.
Place: Analysis of place is important. Place should be at right position so that customers can
reach for the services and products offered by the firm effectively (Hovhannisyan and Keller,
2015). This will help business to create a market analysis from which the financial activities will
be managed with short and long term planning and objectives.
Promotion: Promotional activities are required by the firm in order to promote their products
and services in Italy market so that customers can know about business services. This will also
help to increase production and profitability.
Market analysis, financial requirements, promotional activities, population analysis and
much more activities are required by Dune London in order to expand their operational activities
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in the market of Italy and towards customers effectively (Marquis and Raynard, 2015). This will
help business towards its international growth and lead to expansion effectively.
Recommendations
Italy is famous for style, high quality leather goods and cutting edge fashion. Italian
panache expertise and craftsmanship are evident in the technical skills of its shoemakers. In
order to sustain in the Italian market, Dune London needs to devise strategies which are unique
and adequate to attract the Italian customers attentions. The key competitors for Dune London in
Italy would be Alberto Fermani, Bruno Magli, Elsa Schiaparelli and Giuseppe Zanotti (King
2014). These are renowned shoe manufactures of Italy. Below are the list of recommendations
which management of Dune can implement in their strategies in order to enhance their actual,
medium and long term plan: For Actual Plan: At initiation phase, the management of Dune London is recommended
to consider to seek attraction of customers. As it was identified that Italian customers
does not bother about loyalty scheme and only bother about the quality and quantity of
products, it is being advised to the management to provide the customers of Italy quality
products through online shopping. For Medium term: The management of Dune London needs to ensure that customers
attractions and retention maintained. For medium term, the management is recommended
to enhance the range of products and services in order to satisfy and increase the
customers.
 For Long Term: After gaining customer attractions and retention, the management of
Dune London needs to increase their market share and growth by establishing more and
more branches at different part of the country.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it can be understood that global expansion strategies are
implemented by the organisation in which they desired to expand their business in overseas
market to capture more opportunities for growth and development. In this context, the report aids
in analysing the global expansion strategy with reference to Dune London whose management
desired to expand its presence in Italy. The current internationalisation strategy of the
organisation has been discussed in the study and key competitors of the organisation have been
identified. In respect to this, strategic proposal has been prepared identifying the marketing
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strategies and macro factors of Italy that impacts on the productivity and profitability of the
organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Beamish, P.W. and Lupton, N.C., 2016. Cooperative strategies in international business and
management: Reflections on the past 50 years and future directions. Journal of World
Business 51(1) pp.163-175.
Bendell, J., 2017. Terms for endearment: Business, NGOs and sustainable development.
Routledge.
Cavusgil, S.T. and Knight, G., 2015. The born global firm: An entrepreneurial and capabilities
perspective on early and rapid internationalization. Journal of International Business
Studies 46(1) pp.3-16.
Clarke, T. and Boersma, M., 2016. Sustainable finance? A critical analysis of the regulation,
policies, strategies, implementation and reporting on sustainability in international
finance. UNEP-Inquiry: Design of a Sustainable Financial System.
Contractor, F., Dhanaraj, C. and Kumar, V., 2015. Leveraging India: Strategies for global
competitiveness. Management International Review 55(2) pp.159-179.
Cuervo-Cazurra, A. and Ramamurti, R. eds., 2014. Understanding multinationals from emerging
markets. Cambridge University Press.
Grönroos, C., 2016. Internationalization strategies for services: a retrospective. Journal of
Services Marketing 30(2) pp.129-132.
Hovhannisyan, N. and Keller, W., 2015. International business travel: an engine of
innovation?. Journal of Economic Growth 20(1) pp.75-104.
Marquis, C. and Raynard, M., 2015. Institutional strategies in emerging markets. The Academy of
Management Annals 9(1) pp.291-335.
Miklian, J. and Rettberg, A., 2017. From War-Torn to Peace-Torn? Mapping Business Strategies
in Transition from Conflict to Peace in Colombia.
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978-3658078836). Springer.
Parc, J. and Kawashima, N., 2018. Wrestling with or Embracing Digitization in the Music
Industry: The Contrasting Business Strategies of J-pop and K-pop. Kritika Kultura (30/31)
pp.23-48.
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Paul, A., Lang, J.W. and Baumgartner, R.J., 2017. A multilevel approach for assessing business
strategies on climate change. Journal of cleaner production 160 pp.50-70.
Wild, J.J., Wild, K.L. and Han, J.C., 2014. International business. Pearson Education Limited.
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practiced by marketing managers. International Business Review.
Online:
Italy: Reaching The Consumer. 2018 [Online]. Available through:
<https://en.portal.santandertrade.com/analyse-markets/italy/reaching-the-consumers>
Man, G.P., 2017. Dune hires international director in overseas push. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.drapersonline.com/news/dune-hires-international-director-in-
overseas-push/7026452.article>.
King, C, 2014. Top Ten Italian Shoemakers. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/top-ten-italian-shoemakers>
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