ACME Mexico City expansion: planning and risk management strategy

ACME Mexico City (AMC).

The possible expansion of the ACME outlets into the city of Mexico has been seen as a perfect avenue to help the mother company reach its profitability targets as well as expand the brand name to international levels. This is the first branch that will be done in the Mexico region and hence needs a lot of proper planning and careful implementation of the project plan in the identified region.

The AMC project will involve the building of a structure that will house the ACME products and offices as well as the contraction of a two level parking lot for the numerous cars that are expected. There are various factors that need to be considered as below;

Risk management

Being that ACME is planning to expand from the U.S.A. and into Mexico, there is a wide cultural difference between these two zones hence the possible cross cultural conflict emanating from the low levels as the workers at the site and stores, to the top management or even the organization with the community. There is hence need to have a cross cultural sensitization and education as well as a team set up to handle such situations if they come up.

According to the project charter, the excavation of the site and setting of the foundation will be in the month of February and the dry wall stage will be in September. During this period, the weather in Mexico is bound to significantly vary hence must be considered as a risk to the process and be well planned for.

There is also the risk of difference in standardization in the building process as well as the employment of the staff that will run the organization on a day-to-day basis. ACME may want to use the standards that they are used to in the U.S. and yet the legal standards for Mexico could be different. In this case, there will be use of local registered architects and contractors to work in collaboration with the ACME specialists. There will also be the constant consultation with the local HR consulting firms to enable ACME to adhere to the regulations and standards that are acceptable in Mexico.

Advertising and marketing

The marketing of the products that are deemed to be foreign in Mexico will need proper acumen for the local market and the deep understanding of trends of the market in the region and the accompanying dynamics of the market. The AMC will need to have two important players on board; an advertising agency with high rating and significant influence over the consumers, one that understands trends and the intricacies of the Mexican consumers and advertising space. Secondly there will be need to have a contracted consultant on marketing, one that will enable the company to push the products into the Mexican consumer space especially during the first one year and help the AMC products gain acceptance in the local market. AMC needs to employ the services of FCB, which is a multinational advertising agency that understands the Latin American region and the market trends therein as much as the U.S. market (FCB Worldwide Inc., 2016). With the knowledge of these two relevant regions, it will use the background of where AMC is originating from and combine it with the knowledge of the target market to give a balances service and enable market penetration with ease. AMC will use the TV, and print media for its advertisements but most significantly will be the use of radio since it is one of the most widely used form of media contact in Mexico and has a 99% national penetration according to PWC, (2015).