Value Innovation in Export Marketing Strategy: The Case of a Canadian Firm in Japan

Abstract

Maple Leaf Foods Inc. maintains a market leadership in Canada for its food processing and export business and sustains its relatively high growth. MLF has an innovative approach to strategy as it reduces head-to-head competition with other major pork exporters in Japan and raises its premium image with an innovative food safety program. MLF is creating a new market segment in Japan's pork market by positioning itself between the domestic premium segment and the import commoditized segment and attracting consumers who are interested in both brand and price. This article illustrates how MLF innovates value in a competitive marketplace, using Kim and Mauborgne's blue ocean strategy framework.

Keywords:

• Export marketing strategy
• value innovation
• blue ocean strategy
• Japan
• Canadian firm

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research reported is funded by Hanyang University, and the author would like to thank Hanyang University for supporting her research project.

Notes

The research is funded by Hanyang University, and the author would like to thank Hanyang University for supporting her research project.

1 Maple Leaf Foods also has subsidiary companies with operations in animal nutrition, hog production, and rendering.

2 Manufacturing intensity is the value added to a product by manufacturing, calculated and recorded as a percentage of the value of the manufacturers' shipments.

3 The IX Knowledge and NTT Data Institute of Management Consulting

4 Maple Leaf Foods (MLF) Company Web site, 2006. http://www.mapleleaf.com/

5 TSX Company Snapshot: MFI-T, 2006