Analysis of the Corporate Strategy of Migros

Analysis of the Corporate Strategy of Migros

At first, the company itself as well as its corporate strategy will be introduced. Migros is a very well-known food retailing company in Switzerland. The brand “Migros” is the second strongest brand of Switzerland^[1] and it has stores all over the country as well as a few in neighbouring countries. It displays all information very openly to the public and therefore, its corporate strategy together with the company’s normative framework and the corporate social responsibility is easily accessible via the homepage. In the corporate strategy the overall goal is stated as follows: to improve the quality of life for all consumers, employees and society as a whole. All activities have to be aligned to this goal. It addresses all levels of population. The efforts of the company are concentrated on the following six factors which influence the quality of life: health, regionality, belonging, reliability, convenience and aesthetics. Furthermore, the firm obligates itself to offer the best price-performance ratio. The geographical centre remains Switzerland although it pursues specific growth possibilities abroad. The goal for its growth intentions is always to create value added.^[2] 

Secondly, the expectations towards the firm raised through the corporate strategy and how Migros reaches them shall be discussed. As Migros does not put profit or simply growth as the main goal of its corporate strategy, one would expect that it will not keep its profit but rather spend it for a good cause. And Migros actually states that the part of the profit, which is not used to keep the business alive and growing, is invested to improve the life of its stakeholders. This is possible due to the organisational form as a cooperative which means there are no shareholder claims. Furthermore, as one would expect Migros is dedicated in activities regarding culture, society, education, leisure and economy. The company has a certain percentage of its profits only used for cultural and social spending, which is determined in the statutes and cannot be changed. Another expectation might be a nice and responsible dealing with stakeholders. Migros wants to exceed this expectation and strives to be leading in corporate social responsibility. In 2009 Migros was elected “Most Responsible Retailer”^[3]. For them, being cooperative means to consider all the interests of all the stakeholders and bring them together somehow. What is more, an exemplary ecological footprint would be another expectation due to their goal to improve the quality of life with their business activities. This is tried to be achieved by the sustainability campaign of Migros “Generation M”. In this campaign the firm dedicates itself to binding promises which should guarantee sustainable and responsible business for the next generation. Also, according to the Oekom ranking 2015^[4], Migros is the most sustainable retailer of the world. Therefore, Migros is not only engaged with future concerns of the company but also cares for the future of its customers.