Waitrose Strategy Essay

This afternoon I made use of Jim and Tom’s recent blogs relating to Waitrose to have a fascinating strategy discussion with my A2 students.

As a basis for discussion we used the following question:

This Wednesday John Lewis will publish its half yearly results; these results will indicate that market conditions have been much tougher since it posted a 20% rise in annual profits in January. Waitrose continues to be the strong point of the company’s portfolio.  To what extent do you agree that today’s announcement of ‘Little Waitrose’ coupled with the recent £15m revamp of the Canary Wharf store is nothing more than business greed coupled with over ambition?

It was interesting to tie in a number of factors including the overall corporate objectives, economic conditions, spending patterns during a recession, profitability, completion, importance of location amongst others.

My students will now complete this essay under timed conditions later in the week.

Rising to the top of the milk [22 May 2012]
Marketing analysis: the UK supermarket battleground [3 May 2012]
Vodafone and Cable and Wireless Worldwide [25 Apr 2012]
Flaws in Tesco’s strategy [24 Apr 2012]
Sony - Hirai’s Turnaround Strategy - in Video Clips [13 Apr 2012]
VW targets growth markets [26 Feb 2012]
Barriers to entry for business expansion to Brazil [23 Feb 2012]
Glenstrata - Glencore proposes merger with Xstrata [3 Feb 2012]
Success for the Daily Mail’s online strategy [30 Jan 2012]
Leadership - Tough decisions to turn Starbucks around [29 Jan 2012]
What’s gone wrong for Kodak? [19 Jan 2012]
Still more praise for the “John Lewis model” [17 Jan 2012]
International operations decisions - Adidas trainers for $1? [26 Nov 2011]
Pining for Success - Heston’s mince pie innovation [13 Oct 2011]
Shoppers switch stores as income patterns change [11 Oct 2011]
Virtual shopping - Tesco in South Korea [6 Oct 2011]
Selling Bread - Classic Adverts [6 Oct 2011]
Coming to a petrol station near you - Little Waitrose [12 Sep 2011]
Olaf takes the knife to management hierarchy [5 Sep 2011]
How can Tesco’s be “Unscalable?”-First lesson/research task into companies in different markets [31 Aug 2011]
ResearchBuster: New Leaders and Strategic Change [16 Jun 2011]
Howard Schultz - A Changed Starbucks. A Changed C.E.O [13 Mar 2011]
Michael Porter - Shared Value and the Limitations of CSR [15 Feb 2011]
What strategy should HMV employ next? [6 Jan 2011]
Dominos Pizza - Growth & Strategy (Part 1) - Driving Competitive Advantage [26 Nov 2010]
Leadership in action - A Day in the Life of Willie Walsh [25 Oct 2010]
Rationalising & Redeployment at Alliance Boots [9 Oct 2010]
Strategy in Action: “Buying Growth is Not a Strategy” [20 Sep 2010]
Can new leadership revive Nokia’s fortunes [12 Sep 2010]
Can small firms shrug off their recession trauma? [2 Sep 2010]
Strategy in action - Mitchell & Butlers stays focused [9 Aug 2010]
Essential business reading for the summer! [5 Aug 2010]
Rising industrial unrest in China [29 Jun 2010]
BUSS4 - Recession Strategy Lessons from Four Female Entrepreneurs [6 Jun 2010]
Are fringe benefits being cut? [5 Jun 2010]
Strategy in Action - the Return of External Growth [28 May 2010]
Strategy Case Study - Asda Nets Netto [28 May 2010]
Strategy Case Study - Vauxhall/Opel restructuring [24 May 2010]
Book wars! [5 May 2010]
Unilever in the recession - the CEO on strategy [25 Mar 2010]
Motivation and management at John Lewis [11 Mar 2010]
Strategy in a recession - Don’t Panic Mr Mainwaring! [25 Feb 2010]
Strategies for the Recession - Insights from Six Restaurant Group CEOs [19 Feb 2010]
Strategic reaction to the UK recession - notes and observations [9 Feb 2010]
Companies that thrived in the UK recession - theme activity [1 Feb 2010]
What business students can learn from how businesses have handled the recession [1 Feb 2010]
Teaching strategy - Starbucks revisited [24 Jan 2010]
Customer service in action - the shop sleepover [22 Dec 2009]
Could the ‘Yes and…’ game help prepare for case study exams? [17 Dec 2009]
Breakfast for $1 tests price elasticity of demand [12 Dec 2009]
Beating the import threat - luxury furniture [16 Nov 2009]
Brompton Bicycles - Guardian Profile [9 Nov 2009]
Michael Porter - Two Minutes on “What is Strategy”? [16 Oct 2009]
Strictly and X-Factor Drive Demand for Pizza [1 Oct 2009]
Todd Stitzer’s Strategic Test [14 Sep 2009]
Is this a part-privatisation of the royal family brand? [10 Sep 2009]
Analysing the Market - Download Tim Richards CEO Presentation [2 Sep 2009]
WD-40 to diversify into…whatever customers want them to [1 Sep 2009]
Sony cuts the PS3 price to extend its life cycle [30 Aug 2009]
Marketing Objectives in Action [1 Jul 2009]
Q&A - Explain the role of corporate objectives in business strategy [1 Jul 2009]
Q&A - What are business objectives? [1 Jul 2009]
Recession Bites - new food shopping habits [29 Jun 2009]
Porter’s Five Forces hits the fish counter [10 Jun 2009]
Video case study - Rebranding acquisitions [1 Jun 2009]
Q&A - What is a sales forecast? [31 May 2009]
Business strategy video - two interviews with CEO of Virgin Atlantic [26 May 2009]
Q&A - What goes into the “marketing mix”? [1 May 2009]
Starbucks Strategy Video - Workshop Material [30 Apr 2009]
Staff retention in a recession?  Give them more holidays (and a pay cut too!) [20 Apr 2009]
Flight to value at Waitrose [15 Mar 2009]
Go Bananas for Cadbury and Fairtrade! [4 Mar 2009]
Sales promotion tactics change at Tesco and Asda [28 Feb 2009]
Monopoly - irresponsible banking rears its ugly head [20 Feb 2009]
ITV under the cosh [15 Feb 2009]
The train feels the strain [2 Feb 2009]
Video Case Study - Premium Price for Conspicuous Luxury [16 Jan 2009]
Video Case Study - Export Success for Mining Tools Manufacturer [15 Jan 2009]
How Drastic Cost-Cutting Can Bring Clarity to a Business Strategy [9 Jan 2009]
SWOT analysis for Britain’s leading high street retailers [30 Dec 2008]
No-sweat deodorant and other failures [27 Sep 2008]
Start-up case Study: Firefly Tonics [19 Sep 2008]
Pricing policy - the extra charges made by low cost airlines [9 Sep 2008]
Capacity management in action at Toyota [4 Sep 2008]
Working with suppliers - Matalan applies the squeeze [29 Aug 2008]
Marketing strategy - making the pier stand out from the crowd [13 Aug 2008]
Flat-rate mobile phone from the kings of flat-pack [4 Aug 2008]
Cash is king for small businesses in the downturn [1 Aug 2008]
Business Strategy - BA plans merger with Iberia [29 Jul 2008]
Job losses become a core part of business strategy [27 Jul 2008]
Which businesses will benefit from the baby boom? [19 Jul 2008]
Forget consultants - small businesses should focus on DIY strategy [15 Jul 2008]
Holiday giant ventures into the luxury segment [8 Apr 2008]
Startups find success with a green ethic [19 Mar 2008]
Fudges finds its niche [13 Mar 2008]
Bebo has been boughto [13 Mar 2008]
End of an era for supermarket retailing [10 Mar 2008]
British Airways warning is a wonderful strategy case for students [7 Mar 2008]
John Lewis staff bag a bumper bonus [7 Mar 2008]
Pest controller sees profits tumble [28 Feb 2008]

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