Strategic Report: Market Share Expansion Strategy for Maisons du Monde

This report provides a strategic analysis of Maisons du Monde's plan to increase its market share in Birmingham, UK. It begins with an overview of the company, followed by internal and external strategic audits that identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Based on this analysis, the report explores strategic options such as market penetration, market expansion, and product development. It selects market penetration as the most suitable strategy, focusing on attracting customers through advertising and competitive pricing. The report then details the strategic implications of this choice, including targeting middle-aged women and housewives, and suggests a promotional strategy centered on search engine optimization (SEO). Finally, it outlines the implementation needs for the SEO strategy, emphasizing keyword selection, meta tags, and high-quality content creation. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of leadership and team support in successful strategic implementation. This document is available on Desklib, a platform offering a wide range of academic resources for students.

Running Head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN MAISONS DU MONDE
Strategic Management in Maisons du Monde
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN MAISONS DU MONDE
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the company........................................................................................................2
Strategic Audit Overview (internal)........................................................................................3
Strategic Audit Overview (External).......................................................................................4
Strategic Options.....................................................................................................................5
Strategic Selection...................................................................................................................6
Strategic Implication................................................................................................................6
Promotional Strategy...............................................................................................................6
Implementation Needs.............................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................9
Appendix........................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
It has been found that strategic management can either make or break a company. There
are instances of companies failing due to wrong strategy. The leaders with a strong vision can
well visualize what a company needs in order to stay dominating in the market and always
receive the competitive edge over the market rivals. They understand that the task of setting
business goals and connect them with the vision of the company (Hill 2017). With the growth of
the company, the strategic plan can support it with certain benchmarks and evaluate its success.
The strategic plan can be considered to be a blueprint for the success of a particular organization.
A strategic plan includes objectives, goals, mission, visions, target customers and important
stakeholders. However, it is not that a strategic plan would be stagnant or fixed. It might change
as the company moves forward and catches a significant market share in the industry.The role
and importance of appropriate leadership in strategic implementation also cannot be ignored. The
present report will deal with the case of Maisons du Monde which is a furniture company. It will
further choose a strategy for Maison du Monde to expand their market share in Birminghm. It
will justify the chosen strategy after analyzing the internal and external environment of the
company.
Discussion
Overview of the company
The Maisons du Monde is a French based company basically dealing with furniture
materials. It specially makes home decor furniture. The company was founded in the year 1990
holding the hands of Xavier Marie. The company grew fast and by the year 2015, it established
more than 250 stores around the entire nation and beyond too including Spain, Italy, Belgium,

3STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN MAISONS DU MONDE
Switzerland, Luzembourg and Germany (Maisonsdumonde.com 2018). The company became
successful in generating almost E323 million in sales and by the year 2015, more than 5,500
people got connected with the organization. The company has most of the stores in France that is
193 in number. There are 30 stores in Italy and 16 stores in Luxemburg and Belgium. Notably,
the company has least number of stores in United Kingdom and one each in Birmingham,
Manchester, London and Leicester. The company needs to have choose a strategy to increase its
market share in UK, particularly in Birmingham.
Strategic Audit Overview (internal)
Strengths- In the end of the year 2017, the
Misons du Monde company generated E210
million online sales across almost 11
countries of Europe. The growth in sales is up
to 24.2% as compared to the previous year.
The net income in the year 2017 of the
company is 63E millions. The Restocking of
stores is a strong business model of the
company and they have a strong concept of
offering well –designed and functional
products.
Opportunities- It is considered as an
environmentally friendly company that
focuses more on the sustainability and
reduced usage of water leaving low carbon
footprints. This is what the UK shoppers are
looking forward to.
The company can deal and manufacture its
own products when the suppliers hike their
prices. Since the UK, market has become
welcoming for the furniture products,
especially in the household numbers and
activities related to the housing market, the
UK market will be a potential place where the
company would be flourishing

4STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN MAISONS DU MONDE
(Birminghammail.co.uk. 2018).
Weakness- The company makes use of the
road transportation in order to reach the
customers of other regions. The Group’s store
locations are based in agreements with the
landlords. The company invests a huge
portion of its funds on the catalogues and
serves it to the clients for free (Gudivada, Ra
and Paris 2015). The customers in UK are
not that familiar with the brand.
Threats – An increase in the occupancy costs
in future can negatively affect the profitability
of the company. The amount of wood used in
the Maisons du Monde company furniture
production is a threat that soon the civilization
in few parts of the world will run out of
wood.
Strategic Audit Overview (External)
Threat of
Substitutes
Power of
Suppliers
Power of
Buyers
Threat of New
Entrants
Market Rivalry
Substitutes are
those products
which are
identical and
serve the same
purpose. Buyers
easily accept
even the high
prices when
Suppliers do
effect the
smooth business
operations of a
company
because without
the supply of
raw materials, a
company cannot
The power of
buyers is high in
the furniture
market of UK,
because of the
existing market
giants. Since the
company has
limited number
The threat of
New entrants is
relatively low
for the company
in Birmingham,
UK, because
entering in an
established
industry requires
The market
rivalry in UK
will be high
because of the
existing players I
the furniture
industry such as
the Aaron’s, Inc,
Alfa Vega,

5STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN MAISONS DU MONDE
substitutes are
not available in
the market.
Since furniture
are essential in
the households,
there are low
chances of
threats from the
substitutes
(Bailey et al,
2018.
stand up to the
expected
production.
Since the
Maison du
Monde company
holds the ability
to manufacture
its own products,
this threat is also
low.
of stores there, it
will have to
build a strong
customer base to
earn their favor.
huge financial
investment and
essential
expertise. It has
been proved that
even if 40% of
the new entrants
survive in the
first year, by the
second year they
become distinct .
Artesania 1810
Trading
Company
Limited,
Badcock Home
Furniture and
many others.
Strategic Options
According to the internal and external analysis of the company, it can choose from four
options to enter the market of Birmingham (UK) in full-fledged form. The options are as follows:
Market Penetration
The company can allure the customers of Birmingham’s market by the help of heavy
advertisements, cutting down the prices, distributing intensively. This can be done by observing
the strategy of the existing competitors and achieve a competitive advantage.
Market Expansion

6STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN MAISONS DU MONDE
The company can target the non –users or the lapsed users in order to expand the business
or strengthen the customer base. The usage rate of the product of the company can be increased
by offering what the customers actually demand.
Product Development
The company can develop new products or modify the existing products to provide the
potential customers greater choice and options. The existing product will be benefitted with new
features. This will promote innovation in the organization.
Strategic Selection
Since the number of stores in Birmingham, UK is limited and most of the people in that
country do not even know about the Maison du Monde company which is relatively famous in
other regions, the company must adopt the market penetration strategy to increase the number of
users of the company products that can subsequently heighten its familiarity.
Strategic Implication
The strategy will focus on the attention of the company on a particular target market. In
the case of Maison du Monde, the company must focus on the middle aged women or
housewives who might get attracted towards the modified furniture products of the company.
The needs of the customers will be focused on in order to fulfill their demands and preferences.
The usage rates of the company in Birmingham will be increased and there will be scope for the
company to open more retail stores.
Promotional Strategy
There are so many ways by which companies promote their business in other regions and
increase their customer base. According to the results found after the analysis of the Maison du

7STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN MAISONS DU MONDE
Monde company, the best method for it to promote their brand name would be the search engine
optimization process.
Search Engine Optimization
It is a process that helps to tweak the website, web pages and key words to reach up to a
first-page listing in the search engines. The most effective search engines are Google .com and
Yahoo (Ruelle et al. 2015). The company will have to get some expert who has specialization in
the search engine optimization around Birmingham. The web designers can also come in help.
The company can buy the internet traffic software in order to track the results (Ledford 2015).
Implementation Needs
In order to implement the search engine optimization strategy successfully, the Maison
du Monde company will have to set effective keywords. It must be based on what people search
mostly and want to explore. The Meta tags are another important aspect by which the keywords
are reflected on the title. The content is the most driving area. Hence, the quality of the content
has to be increased addressing all the possible queries of the customer and also must be written
in attractive language that educates the customer (Schmale, Seidl and Cristia 2015). It should
contain the pictures of the products with previous achievements of the company. Lastly, but not
the least, it must have a proper mission statement like “we are made to decorate your world “.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be said that The selection of a strategy is not
sufficient. The implementation of corporate strategy needs the assistance and support of team
members of the company along with a suitable leader to guide the process. In the entire change
management, each person of the organization has his/her own responsibilities and the whole

8STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN MAISONS DU MONDE
organization need to understand the role of leadership guidance for the effectiveness of the new
strategy.

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References
Bailey, C., Mankin, D., Kelliher, C. and Garavan, T., 2018. Strategic human resource
management. Oxford University Press.
Birminghammail.co.uk. 2018. Birmingham Live - Birmingham news, features, information and
sport. [online] Available at: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018].
Cushman, M., 2018. Search engine optimization: What is it and why should we care?. Research
and Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, 2(2), pp.180-181.
Gudivada, V.N., Rao, D. and Paris, J., 2015. Understanding search-engine
optimization. Computer, 48(10), pp.43-52.
Hill, T., 2017. Manufacturing strategy: the strategic management of the manufacturing function.
Macmillan International Higher Education.
Ledford, J.L., 2015. Search engine optimization bible (Vol. 584). John Wiley & Sons.
Maisonsdumonde.com. 2018. Furniture - Home Décor and Accessories | Maisons du Monde.
[online] Available at: https://www.maisonsdumonde.com/UK [Accessed 13 Dec. 2018].
Ruelle, E., Delaby, L., Wallace, M. and Shalloo, L., 2015. Using models to establish the most
financially optimum expansion strategy for Irish dairy farms. Grassland and forages in high
output dairy farming systems, p.119.
Schmale, R., Seidl, A. and Cristia, A., 2015. Mechanisms underlying accent accommodation in
early word learning: Evidence for general expansion. Developmental science, 18(4), pp.664-670.

10STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT IN MAISONS DU MONDE
Wheelen, T.L., Hunger, J.D., Hoffman, A.N. and Bamford, C.E., 2017. Strategic management
and business policy. pearson.

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Appendix
Search engine optimization process