Crossroads Inc. (Part A): Entering the Indian retail market

This is part of a case series. For the last few years, India had been the most attractive retail destination due to its enormous untapped potential and huge manpower supply. Organised retail was projected to grow by over 40% in the next few years and still reach just 7% market share of the entire retail industry depicting the enormous business potential for local and foreign retailers. Crossroads Inc had decided to enter the Indian retail space and Jeff Mitchell, CEO, had to develop the company’s market entry strategy for India. The entry of foreign players in the front end was still not allowed and hence Crossroads Inc had to partner with an Indian player or follow the wholesale (Cash & Carry) model of Metro. The target audiences for the case are BSc and MSc students and management trainees who are interested in learning what a Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) strategy implementation in the Indian retail sector looks like. Students need to have some basic understanding of the different international entry modes of firms, country specific FDI regulations with special reference to India, supply chain concepts and the challenges of doing business in emerging markets (eg diversity of business infrastructure, cultural differences, educational voids, workforce skills etc).