A cup of Tim Horton’s French Vanilla coffee in hand today sparked an interest on Tim Horton’s plans to go global, briefly mentioned during one of my first COMM101 classes.
Picture taken 10/2010
I supported Tim Horton’s plan during that class. Canada’s fast-food coffee mecca has an incredible potential for success in the international breakfast/snack market. Global News reports on Tim Horton’s global aspirations here.
These were the points I made:
- Easy market to dominate – not necessarily uncompetitive, but very there are very few cafes which share a similar menu to Tim Horton’s.
- Novelty of a “Western franchise” – I cannot support this with data, but certainly with first-hand experience in bustling Starbucks and similar franchises in urban cities such as Beijing.
- Price – cheap. Period.
- Excellent reputation in Canada so far.
- Convenient.
- A balanced mixture of conventional and unique products, i.e. TimBits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_Tim_Horton%27s_in_NYC.jpg
However, the article makes a good point on how to approach the global market: “‘[The CEO] said its international growth strategy will be tempered by the knowledge that huge markets like India and China are ‘littered with people who jumped in too quickly.’” In other words, Tim Horton’s needs to analyze their setting before establishing branches overseas to minimize risks.
I “blogged” a response to yours! Please read it and let me know what you think. I think what we’ve discussed in class has been directly represented by what you said. Let see what they do next! 🙂
Hi! I found this an interesting topic to mention in my post regarding Strategy vs. Tactics. You have been mentioned here: https://blogs.ubc.ca/dorfammirgharavi/2011/10/09/stratics-tactegy-still-confused-welcome-to-strategy-vs-tactics-101/ . Feel free to comment or add any thoughts.