Alliances, joint ventures, and mergers with foreign companies are widely used as

Question

Alliances, joint ventures, and mergers with foreign companies are widely used as a means of entering foreign markets. Such arrangements have many purposes, including learning about unfamiliar environments, and the opportunity to access the complementary resources and capabilities of a foreign partner. Illustration Capsule 7.1 provides an example of how Walgreens used a strategy of entering foreign markets via alliance, followed by a merger with the same entity.

What was this entry strategy designed to achieve, and why would this make sense for a company like Walgreens?

Explanation / Answer

Walgreens which was founded in 1901 as single drug store through constant innovation has history of breaking new ground to meet its customer’s needs and improve their health.

Using innovation as its core strategy, led Walgreens to merge with European based alliance boots in 2014 in order to form Walgreens boots alliance inc. the first global pharmacy led health and well being enterprise. This alliance has created opportunities to bring global beauty brands to US customers and offer more value to pharmacy patients’ through global pharmaceutical supply chains and group purchasing.

As a first phase in the transformation, it has made significant transformation by offering pharmacy services to more patients. The plan of action or the strategy behind the merger is to improve shopping experience in the stores and manage the costs across the company. It has acquired around 1500 drug stores in the US with aim of making Walgreens accessible to more customers and patients.

With its brand as a foundation, it is build its business in four areas pharmacy, fro end, health & consumer services. The strategies behind all these include product assortments, new pricing approaches, helping teamers to serve better.

Why it makes sense for companies like Walgreens?

As today’s healthcare and retail markets continue to evolve, customers are redefining their value and convenience as the way they shop and adopt new technologies. Considering all these changes, Walgreens is taking its step to transform as customer led company and creating new healthcare experience. The company mainly focuses on three things namely trust, care & accessibility.

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