I have been asked  to write a feasibility study to determine the
viability of opening a new supermarket chain in the Middle East.The
piece of work will involve I believe market research on competition in
the region and a summary report detailing a Go/No Go decision. How do
I best go about researching this and how do I best lay out my report
i.e. a draft template?

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Request for Question Clarification by ephraim-ga on 05 Nov 2002 22:10 PST

Can you be a little more specific when you say "Middle East"?
Specifically which countries are you researching?

A feasibility study is a tool to help decide whether a product or
business idea can be implemented profitably.

To decide whether a new idea is worth pursuing, three major categories
are researched and analyzed: (1) market potential, (2) financial
aspects and (3) technical requirements. Marketing and finance are
concerns for any proposed idea. A technical analysis is necessary in
new product or manufacturing environments.

A good overview of a feasibility study, Feasibility Studies: Go or no
go?
By Jean Zimmerman, may be found at
http://www.kcsmallbiz.com/old/9705/p08.html

You'll find excellent guidance and examples of studies on the St.
Louis University site
"Entrepreneurship Education on the Web"
http://eweb.slu.edu/feasibility_studies.htm


another 'how to" site on  Conducting a feasibility study
from the FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
deals specifically with food production but many of the concepts apply
generally
http://www.fao.org/docrep/W6864E/w6864e09.htm

A copy of an actual supermarket feasiblity study in the City of
Woodland, CA
http://www.westplanning.com/docs/woodland/pdf/market_report_05_2002.pdf.

Search strategy: "marketing research" feasibility study; "feasibility
study" supermarket

Personal comment based on professional experience in marketing
research:
Feasibility studies for projects as large as yours require
sophisticated data collection and analysis techniques.  Many, many
dollars are risked based on based on feasibility studies. I strongly
urge you to seek consultation from a professional in this field who is
familiar both with supermarkets and with the particular country
involved.

Nellie Bly