Company profile
- Industry
- Convenience store retail
- Founded
- 1927
- Headquarters
- Dallas, United States
- Ownership
- Subsidiary of Seven & i Holdings Co.
Profiles are auto-generated and infrequently updated.
Decisions on record
3 verified Decision Cases on 7-Eleven, and the casebook each one belongs to.
| Fork date | Decision type | What 7-Eleven chose | Where it stood | The story | Casebook |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Vertical-Integration Bet | Contractual exclusive supply network | 172 factories across Japan (2024-02) | Read the story → | Vertical-Integration Bet Casebook → |
| 1987 | Founder Doctrine | Leveraged buyout to go private | Seven-Eleven Japan launched a tender offer for the remaining 27.7% it did not own, completing the buyout (2005) | Read the story → | Founder Doctrine Casebook → |
| 1991 | Vertical-Integration Bet | Acquire the licensor | Seven-Eleven Japan bought out the remaining minority and folded 7-Eleven, Inc. into a wholly owned subsidiary under Seven & i Holdings (2005) | Read the story → | Vertical-Integration Bet Casebook → |
Run one of these yourself
The decisions 7-Eleven faced, as kits you can run.
Each pack takes one of these decisions and gives you the framework, a deck for the room, a model that resolves to one number, and the sourced cases behind it. $499, one-time.
The analyses
The Asset-Light Model · Boundaries of the Firm
7-Eleven Looks Asset-Light. Its Fresh-Food Ambition Is Quietly Heavy.
On paper 7-Eleven hands the risk to franchisees and skims 50–60% of gross profit. But importing Japan's fresh-food magic to the U.S. means commissaries, bigger stores, and a ¥56.7B loss closing the ones that don't fit. The light model is buying a heavy dream.
8 min
The Asset-Light Operator · Boundaries of the Firm
7-Eleven Built the Lightest Franchise Model in Retail. Then the Franchisee Bought the Company.
7-Eleven's master-franchise model is supposed to let the licensor scale the world for free. But its biggest international partner, Japan, ended up owning the American parent outright—proof that in this model, the licensor may hold the weaker hand.
8 min
The Market-Entry Gambit · Growth & Portfolio
The American Company That Got Bought by Its Own Licensee
Everyone calls it a Japanese invasion. It wasn't. The Texas parent borrowed money from its Tokyo licensee to stay alive, then defaulted on roughly $4 billion of buyout debt — and the licensee bought 70% of it for $430 million.
8 min
The Vertical Integration · Boundaries of the Firm
Freshness by Contract: 7-Eleven Japan's 172 Factories and Four Delivery Chains Since 1979
7-Eleven Japan's freshness looks like a brand promise. It's really a contractual supply machine built since 1979 - 172 dedicated factories, four temperature-separated delivery chains - that earned ¥222.5 billion in operating income. A rival can't copy it; it had to start in 1979.
7 min
Tools to try
- Ansoff move finderFramework: Ansoff Matrix
- Business model canvas builderFramework: Business Model Canvas
- Change readiness checkFramework: Kotter's 8-Step Change Model
- Five Forces scorerFramework: Porter's Five Forces
- SMART goal builderFramework: SMART Goals
- SWOT builderFramework: SWOT Analysis
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