Grimaud: A Case Study Analysis Case Studies Examples

Grimaud is a classic example of a family business created from scratch. Driven by co-founders' passion for knowledge and ambition, Grimaud is a glocal business which sets an early example of local businesses going global. According to co-founder Joseph Grimaud, Grimaud's success is attributed to five factors: people, research, investments, quality and international development. Indeed, if anything, Grimaud's five success milestones are manifest in company's history since inception. Each and every business decision and strategy is, in fact, informed by Grimaud's sound moves in uncharted waters of local and international market conditions.
Given Grimaud's ad hoc business beginnings – manifested in choosing duck breeding and incubation based on personal readings and business acumen, rather than sophisticated marketing research strategies applied by businesses – Grimaud has gone a long way to create and develop her market niche based, primarily on an unrelenting motivation for being good at whatever is done, i.e. quality.
A series of business decisions has helped, moreover, set Grimaud out on long path of growth and expansion. Realizing competitiveness and business advantage would not be maintained by conventional local market expansion as competitors grow more fierce and bigger in numbers, Grimaud opted for partnerships with research institutes and hiring highly qualified management-level personnel and hence has proven true to her success milestones of people and research. Grimaud's actual business innovation came in as she chose to invest in genetic selection in response to changing poultry consumption patterns from wholesale to portions. The genetic selection strategic move is, in fact, an ideal example of vertical integration by which Grimaud chose to consolidate her business processes and operations. Identifying Barbary ducks as a business accelerator is, moreover, an indication of Grimaud's genuine, organic partnerships with research institutions.
True to her international development milestone, Grimaud's strategic decision to, first, expand locally by furthering her acquisition portfolios and, later, by full international market presence is informed most of all by her deep understanding of both her local and global market positioning. Early in 1970's, Grimaud realized her international presence could only be made possible as a species selector and profit on research studies would be viable only if Grimaud went global. Grimaud's sound and acute understanding of her local and global positioning has led her to identify four milestones for international expansion: (1) consolidation of home market position, (2) assigning globe trotters for potential market openings, (3) setting up sales offices (as opposed to full subsidiaries) abroad staffed by locals who are most knowledgeable of local markets and cultures, and (4) localizing and creating companies in order to cut back on supply chain bottlenecks and waiting lines.
For investment, Grimaud has shown a great strategic insight and advantage on longer range. By reinvesting all company's profits into development, Grimaud has been able to free up her cash for more acquisitions, further research and, of course, availing a financial cushion when business is hit hard at crisis times.
The Grimaud case is, indeed, an interesting one. Probably, most important of all Grimaud's contribution to and management style learnings is her capacity for resilience and agility as well as strategic innovation over extended periods – a now mandatory asset for companies competing on a glocal scale. By her pursuance to ISO 9001 certification, Grimaud has expressed a capacity for seizing advantage of potential assets not urged by pressing competition or urgent market demands but by a clear understanding of core values, self- and continuous learning in particular.
Moreover, Grimaud has show great resilience against unfavorable, external market conditions in many instances. For example, by surveying biotechnology industry, Grimaud has come to learn how to convert a potential risk into a real opportunity by creating a specialized structure of protein production and hence re-gearing her investment portfolio from a downstream to an upstream orientation. As well, Grimaud's investment in animal health is an indication of Grimaud's commitment to her investment creed, i.e. investing for growth, against a broader pharmaceutical disinterest in animal health, a crucial area of Grimaud's line of business.
For limitations, Grimaud's very immediate business milieu is both an asset and a liability. By catering for local business needs by local, rural constituents, Grimaud has an immediate, well-known market. The sheer rurality of Cholet region lends a great credibility to family businesses and is an alternative business model to big city's. Conversely, family-led businesses and closely-knit circles of business associates and officials stand as a great challenge in face of greater, global expansion. This is manifest in co-founder's admission to weakness of French companies abroad (and hence extensive reliance on local expertise), a great liability in an increasingly globalized market place. Further, Cholet's very nature is not a replicable example everywhere. True, few examples exist elsewhere (like Italian family businesses). However, changing demographics are making classic examples of family businesses an increasingly extinct breed.
As just noted, Grimaud's family business model is similar to Italian one. The Vittorio-owned group of businesses, for example, in Northern Italy shows ups and downs similar to Grimaud's. A printing and media company, ILTE is facing great challenges particularly in face of disruptive digital print technologies. True, ILTE has responded by starting a new ILTE.net, however, like Grimaud, Vittorio is challenged by scale economy model of multinationals which are at better able to capture market shares at far quicker pace and larger sizes. Like Grimaud's foray into genetic selection and biotechnology, ILTE has responded by an innovation but is still struggling to keep up at bigger scales. Further, as generational gaps widen, family businesses like Grimaud and ILTE are set for more challenges as more educated and knowledge economy-oriented family members enter business – or just break away with family business altogether and hence reduce local and/or international presence.