Abstract

The case “China’s Yili: Can it Dominate the Global Dairy Market with its Focus on Innovation and Sustainability?” discusses the various strategies used by China-based dairy giant Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Company Limited (Yili) to dominate the Chinese and global dairy markets. The case starts by taking a brief look at the history of Yili and documents its journey to becoming a market leader in the Chinese dairy industry. The company’s R&D processes are covered exhaustively, along with its key innovations that played a major role in the company’s growth in its domestic market. Yili had ambitious plans to create a strong international presence and the case provides information about its business strategy. The case also describes how an efficient supply chain management strategy and sustainable business practices gave Yili a unique competitive advantage. Domination of the global dairy industry was Yili’s ultimate aim and all the company’s strategies were formulated with that in mind. Can Xu Ke, Vice President of Yili, take the company to its desired heights and reach annual sales revenue of more than 100 billion Yuan?

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the importance of incremental innovation and new product development.
• Examine the role of an efficient supply chain management strategy.
• Scrutinize the impact of adopting sustainable business practices.
• Appraise the internationalization strategy of a company.
• Analyze a company’s marketing mix.

Keywords

SWOT Analysis; Porter’s Five Forces Model; The Innovation Matrix; Supply Chain Management; Internationalization Strategy; Green Marketing; Incremental Innovation; New Product Development; Market Challenger; Competitive Strategy; Sustainability; Innovation Process; Digitalization; Net Zero Carbon; Market Penetration