Stockmann's Corporate Strategy in Russia: No Hurry!

Abstract

A marketing consultant and retail specialist, has been approached by Stockmann's management with a proposal to take up the regional manager position in Saint Petersburg. In his effective speech at a scientific conference the day before, Raikkonen compared retail trade in Russia and Finland, convincingly demonstrating the advantages of Finnish approaches to chain expansion: slow and conservative is always better than quick and erroneous. The management executives of the Stockmann chain had tended toward such an approach, but, since the company had a country manager position in Russia, they would need a new regional manager in Saint Petersburg to expand sales in Russia. The case is recommended for discussion among Executive MBA student groups in the 'Marketing Management' course (topics: Marketing Strategy and Distribution Management).