Square Solar Inc. is a company located in Vancouver, Canada, which specializes in innovative industries and production of solar energy equipment. The company was founded as a startup in 2021 by Derek Yu, and currently has around 30 employees (“About,” 2022). They sell detachable solar panels and solar panel accessories that could be used to harvest solar energy (“About,” 2022). The company engages in solar energy research with the purpose of developing of affordable and available solar panels to be offered to the general public for the purposes of saving energy and switching to renewables.
There are four global strategy levels, such as business-level strategy, corporate-level strategy, international strategy, and entrepreneurial strategy. The first type of strategy concerns itself with how Square Solar would compete with other companies in the renewable energy sector (Iruthayasamy, 2021). Square Solar’s distinct advantage in that regard lies in its modular, Do-It-Yourself way of installation as well as attractive prices. However, being a relatively small business, it does not have the same reach and influence as the older players in the region. Therefore, it should invest in advertising to firmly claim its market share.
Corporate-level strategy for Square Solar lies in defining, planning, and achieving its specific business goals. The company’s objective for the next 5 years should be to become one of the premier providers of solar panels to the Canadian and US populations. This could be achieved not only by advertising the product, but also by expanding the production capacity for the solar panels and paraphernalia (Iruthayasamy, 2021). Achieving higher exposure and reaching for a greater piece of the market share requires the ability to offer more of the product to the market.
The international strategy for Square Solar should mirror its mission and its modus operandi, with a focus on adaptability. Pursuing a global strategy would mean the company would have to change its pricing policy from one region to another (Pehrsson, 2020). The product itself is adaptable to many different markets and environments, but not every nation would be able to buy it at a Canadian price (Pehrsson, 2020). As Square Solar grows, it may be necessary to provide the products at a different range of price tags to make it more available for low-income or growing economies.
Finally, the entrepreneurial-level strategy for Square Solar would have to reflect on its mission and establish long-term patterns of strategic behavior. As it stands, the company focuses on modularity, availability, and affordability (“About,” 2022). With the company expanding into the international and domestic markets, it may need to maintain these goals while increasing production capacity (Amit & Zott, 2020). Moving production to countries with cheap labor, such as India, China, or Vietnam, would allow Square Solar to maintain low prices and affordability both domestically and abroad.
To summarize, Square Solar is an innovative start-up company that provides a useful and highly-relevant product of modular solar panels to the Canadian market. The company is currently small but has a potential to advance and expand. It should focus on capturing a larger share of it and expand into the US before going international. The pricing strategy to pursue should reflect the situation in different regions to which it expands to. Moving production to the Asian regions would help the company pursue a low-price strategy and deliver the promise of modularity and affordability to all of its customers.
References
About. (2022).
Amit, R., & Zott, C. (2020). Business model innovation strategy: Transformational concepts and tools for entrepreneurial leaders. John Wiley & Sons.
Iruthayasamy, L. (2021). Understanding Business Strategy. Springer Singapore.
Pehrsson, A. (Ed.). (2020). Competitive International Strategy: Key Implementation Issues. Routledge.