Carrefour in China

Carrefour entered China in 1995 with its first store opening in Beijing. It entered the market with the main objective to mix its modern western store concept with the local preferences; thus providing a store assortment mixed with Eastern and Western elements in food and design. A well-managed planning and careful management of operations, allowed Carrefour to become the number-one foreign retailer in China; consequently, China became the company’s fifth largest market.
This paper illustrates the challenges that Carrefour faced when deciding to open its first green store in China. Challenges were due to a limited time line, budget constraints, and constrained resources; the fast growing market and the high competition were making the situation even more difficult to handle. All these factors and other operational problems led to an increasing complexity for new project developments. This paper discusses this matter by analyzing the competition and operational environment, using the so-called Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. Based upon this analysis, an integrated strategy for go green is formulated; taken into account internal and external factors and forces.