Strategic Market Entry Evaluation: Highland Spring's Expansion into the Chinese Bottled Water Market

This case study examines Highland Spring’s potential entry into the Chinese bottled water market. As the United Kingdom’s leading domestic bottled water brand, Highland Spring has built a solid position at home but has little activity abroad. With the UK market already well developed, the company now faces limited room to grow locally, which makes international expansion an important consideration. The case requires students to evaluate whether Highland Spring should expand into China, determine the appropriate entry mode, identify target customer segments, and design a marketing strategy that balances standardization with local adaptation. Students analyze Highland Spring's internal capabilities using SWOT and product life cycle frameworks, assess the UK market environment to understand the push factors for internationalization, evaluate China's attractiveness using PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces, and develop recommendations for segmentation, targeting, and positioning. The case is designed for global strategic management and international marketing courses, where students need to bring together several frameworks to develop practical and well-reasoned market entry recommendations for a premium consumer brand.