Santini
Six decades after opening its
first store, the Santini brand surpasses all three competitors on
brand recall and recognition
rates. Santini possesses a growthpotential that experts consider
extremely significant. This will
enable it to reach new markets.
In the beginning, we mentioned
that Santini’s aim for the future is
to grow step-by-step, meaning in
a gradual and sustainable way.
For the journey to come, Santini
wants to involve everyone – coworkers, managers and, above
all, customers – to making its future enduring.
However, there are a lot of
uncertainties with regard to Santini’s growth strategy. First, it is
unsure whether Santini considers
going global. Second, the compa-
ny left open possible entry modes
into new markets. Third, it remains to be seen whether Santini
is able to retain its company image throughout its expansion.
Santini will initiate growth by
opening new parlors in Portugal.
Given its success in cities like Porto, no striking troubles are to be
expected from its national
growth strategy. However, when
going global, the company will
have to take tough decisions. Regarding entry modes, Santini is
likely to engage in a franchise system, such as the one adopted by
Amorino. Possible downsides
could be a lack of innovative spirit regarding flavor variety as well
as a lack of local responsiveness;
global coordination problems,
and possible impairments of Santini’s culture. Moreover, Santini’s
customer base is mostly Portuguese. There is a potential danger
for Santini, failing to attract
enough international customers