Our client was a Japanese manufacturer of electric appliances interested in the market potential for high-end home appliances in Russia and looking forward to learning from successful European competitors. Argentum Bullet Consulting has been tasked to evaluate the market potential for high-end home appliances in Russia, analyze how European market leaders are operating on the market, conduct a survey of the industry experts in European headquarters, and assess how Japanese manufacturers could fit in on the Russian market.
| Project goals | A large Japanese manufacturer wanted a significant position in the US market of commercial cold-chain equipment. Their initial hypothesis was to buy a small American player and grow it to market leader. They wanted to validate this approach and survey a potential M&A target for further actions (pre-M&A due diligence, etc.). |
| Execution (methods) | Review and discussion of the market analysis done previously by the client. Addition of our outlook to the analysis. Interviews and discussions with the client’s stakeholders about possible strategic options for approaching the US market. On-site inspection of the market situation in the USA. Interviews with related industries (cold-chain, retail, wholesale, logistics, etc.) experts in the USA. Competitive intelligence through interviews with experts that knew the situation in target companies. Formulation of the strategic recommendations for the client. Discussion of these recommendations with the client. Final conclusions. |
| Major outcomes | After market analysis, the initial approach was discarded in favor of acquiring a more prominent market player. A potential M&A target has been recommended and accepted by the client. An initial survey of the M&A target was performed. |
| Next steps | The client had been successfully working on the project. |
| Notes | Elements of the Pre-M&A due diligence survey had been employed. |
