The retailer opened its first store in 1960 (Mintel, 2013) and emerged as market leaders in 2014 by using contrasting strategies to supermarket giants Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s. Aldi have mastered a successful business model that places emphasis on providing premium quality products at low pries. Lidl are the closest discount-retailer rivals and adopt a similar structure of a …show more content…
The first UK and US store opened in 1990 according to Mintel (2013).
Aldi have a distinctive approach compared to traditional retailers; private-labelled products in store account for nearly 95 per cent of items (Brandes and Brandes, 2012: p109). The firm carries 700 lines of stock, in contrast to a large Wal-Mart supercentre that contains 100,000 items or 25,000 in a regular supermarket (Kumar and Steenkamp, 2007: p62); this partly reveals the efficiency behind Aldi’s operations.
In this report, relevant theory will be applied to empirical data collected on Aldi, which allows for a comprehensive strategic analysis of the organisations strategy. The corporate and business strategy will be examined including an internal and external analysis, whilst evaluation will be considered along with any appropriate recommendations for changes. Any sustainability issues and the CSR policy will be reviewed to create a full understanding of where the company …show more content…
According to Mintzberg (1987: p71), strategy formulation ever-increasingly depends on an organisations ability to gather and analyse quantitative data with stress placed on competitive advantage and less on meeting customers’ needs.
Johnson, Scholes and Whittington (2008: p7) describe three levels of strategy; operational strategy, business-level strategy and the top-level, corporate-strategy. The top-level strategy includes the overall scope of an organisation and how value can be added at different parts. This includes issues of geographical coverage, diversity of products or services and how resources are allocated.
Aldi’s medium to long-term strategy formation is to operate efficiently by adopting several Japanese business philosophies and production strategies. Continuous improvement (Kaizen), Just In Time (Kanban) and Lean manufacturing (Muda) are all evident. This allows Aldi to utilise competitive pricing resulting in a dominant competitive advantage over rivals. This is reiterated by the company slogan, “Spend a little. Live a