s, consumer services, brewing and various consumer product segments. Other threats include the potential brand dilution from diversification into consumer products such as fitness, preschool nurseries, home nursing, and optical services.
Opportunities include the ability to spin off unprofitable assets that do not meet the trading property assets formula. Expanding core businesses in the hotel and beverage sectors at the global level are opportunities that should be addressed. The new vision statement suggests that vertical integration is now being pursued. The Sheppard strategy as described by Sadtler and Campbell (54-55) has resulted in the establishment of Grand Metropolitan as a major player in the brewing sector and the food sector and a less substantial player in the retailing sector.
Throughout much of its history, the strategies of Grand Met were derived in large measure from founder Max Joseph's basic theme of purchasing trading property assets with the idea "that the cash flows of the properties acquired should be sufficient to cover the cost of the debt taken on to acquire them. Good management would increase the cash flow and the value of the assts would rise because of inflation and the increasing demand for hotels" (Sadtler and Campbell 42). It is important to r
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