Free Range Foods

Free Range: A Case for International Operations

Group 5

Katherine Stone, Michael Williams, Shawn Williams, Horace L. Wynn, Scott Terry

AMBA 610 UMUC

Part A: Potential Advantages and Shortfalls of Various Globalization Strategies

Globalization strategies have been an issue for any organization that intends to increase its international presence. Free Range Foods has decided to grow operations in France, the United Kingdom, and other regions throughout the globe. The recommended strategies Free Range Foods should consider utilizing in order to strengthen its position in the international market are 1) Merger and Acquisition/ Takeover and 2) Strategic Alliances. Both strategies are effective in obtaining an entry into the desired markets including France, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Eastern Europe. We will outline the advantages and disadvantages of each strategy and provide our recommendation on how we believe Free Range Foods should proceed.

We will first look at the advantages of forming a strategic alliance(s). A strategic alliance is the decision of multiple organizations or companies to share resources in order to undertake a specific, mutually agreed upon goal (Jones, 2014). A few advantages of strategic alliances are as follows (Mansfield, 2010):

* Easier access into target markets

* Sharing financial risks

* Winning political obstacles

* Achieve synergies in marketing each other's products/services

* Cooperation in sharing facilities

* Far less expensive than purchasing a company

A few disadvantages include:

* Future profits at risk

* Distractions between companies

* Unclear communication plans

* Poor chemistry between organizations

Alternatively, Free Range Foods has the option to consider a merger or takeover of a

rival organization. Mergers and takeovers, while sometimes considered to be the same thing, are actually two separate strategies with their own inherent advantages, but are similar in...