Woolworths Competitive Market Analysis

This assignment requires a comprehensive analysis of Woolworths' competitive standing within the Australian market. Students are tasked with identifying key competitors, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, and proposing strategies for Woolworths to enhance its operational efficiency and performance. A specific recommendation is to leverage cloud computing and cloud-hosted applications as a means to achieve these goals.

Running head: INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
Information System Management and Strategy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the Woolworths...........................................................................................................2
Competitive Environment................................................................................................................3
Maturity of Information Security.....................................................................................................3
Role of ICT......................................................................................................................................4
Stocking of the items:..................................................................................................................4
Data collection.............................................................................................................................5
The efficiency of the operations..................................................................................................5
Helps in communication..............................................................................................................5
Methods of overcoming resistance to change:.................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................9

2
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
Introduction
In this new world of technology, ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is
playing a very vital role in enhancing the performance of the organization. Information security
is the greatest concern for any organization implementing ICT within the organizational
structure. The purpose of this report is to put emphasis on the competitive environment of an
organization and relative measures to overcome such issues and reach top of the organization.
For this Woolworths has been the chosen organization on which the research has been
progressed and relative data and information has been presented. Woolworths is and Australian
retail company that is one of the oldest retailers, which is playing important role in enhancing the
way of living standards of the organization. This report explains an overview of the Woolworths
and relative competitive environment for the organization. This report also focuses on the
methods that could be helpful for the organization in coping up with such competitive market.
ICT and information security are the major objects that are being covered in this report.
Overview of the Woolworths
The very first store was opened in 1924 in Sydney as a bargain basement outlet and till
now it has become one of the largest supermarket chains in Australia through the expansion and
acquisition with 31% market share (Rose 2017). Major brands those are being operated under
Woolworths ltd. are Dick Smith Electronics, Big W, Woolworths/Safeway supermarket, Tandy,
Dick Smith Powerhouse, Dan Murphys’ and many others. It is one of the largest retailers among
the Australian supermarkets in terms of related to the number of supermarkets, sales revenue,
and geographic area coverage. Across all over NewZeland and Australia, there are almost 3,200
stores with approximately more than 840 supermarkets within Australia. It has been reported in

3
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
2016 that Woolworths made a full-year profit of $ 1.53 billion and estimated a growth of 3.6
percent (Urwin, Dwyer, and Carr 2016). Metcash Limited, Aldi GmbH & Co.KG Essen, and
Wesfarmers Limited are the strongest competitors of the Woolworths.
Competitive Environment
The competition for the Woolworths seems to be increasing day by day as more groceries
and food stores are being establishing stores in Australia and as mentioned above, Spar,
Shoprite/Checkers, and Pick n Pay are the most dominating competitor in the market. It has been
borne out through the research on the market of Woolworths that indicated that larger the
customer proportion in LSM 9 and 10 and majority of the groceries and food stores of the
Woolworths related revenue, shop at Checkers and Pick n Pay than this organization (Bariacto
and Nunzio 2014). It is not possible for the Woolworths to compete these large retail chains on
the topics related to the prices and discounts because of the differences in scales. It can be
recommended that Woolworths should seek to give competition to these competitors through a
complete and differentiated product offering and should focus on innovation, brand, and location
of the product offerings (Lawley, Brich and Craig 2016).
Maturity of Information Security
Better late than never, Woolworths after a long time appointed CISO (Chief Information
Security Officer) in 2025 in manner to empower the information security of the organization.
Peter Cooper had been appointed as the IT risk manager. The CISO has the responsibility to
maintain following objectives of the Woolworths (Ploesser 2013): directing and organizing the
availability, planning, confidentiality of the organization’s IT networks, procedures and systems
in manner to led down the objectives and met them with the perspective of commercial and

4
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
secure manner (Riemer et al. 2017). Cyber securities are being provided high concern within the
system of the information exchange between the stakeholders.
Role of ICT
ICT plays a very important role in the retailer sector. The information gathered by the
retailers helps them a lot in taking important decisions(Piotrowicz and Cuthbertson 2014). For
example, if we consider a customer in a store takes some goods and moves on to the billing
department. The attendant at the billing desk scans the data and checks whether the customer is a
part of the “store’s loyalty program” or not. When it is confirmed that that the customer is a part
of the customer loyalty program after the customer provides the store card. After paying the bill
the customer leaves the store. For the customer it was a routine purchase but the retailer gained a
lot of information from that transaction. The advantages that the retailer gets from any type of
purchase are listed below by the implementation of ICT.
Stocking of the items:
The bought item provides the information of the goods that has been purchased from the
retailer thereby resulting in analysis and decision making for the ordering the item again and
make a plan for the merchandise.in case if the information is passed to the manufacturer then it
will help the manufacturer to decrease the time for production of the items(Mishra 2014).
Technology helps a lot in the collection of the data and the transmit the information. Analysis of
the sales can be done very easily. The difficult situations like running out of stock can be avoided
easily by the use of technology and regular making of the products.

5
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
Data collection:
The use of technology helps a lot in collection of the data. Various data about the
customers are collected like the purchase data and many more. This type of data collected helps a
lot in the identification of the customers who shop at the retailer store thereby helping the store
to give rewards to the customers who shop frequently(Mithas Krishnan and Fornell 2013). For
example, the data collected by the retail stores can help a lot in identifying the customer’s
preferences about brands and many more.
The efficiency of the operations:
The functioning of the various departments in retail store is dependent on the ways in
which the information technology is used. The cost increases when the retail store decides to use
the technology for the purpose of continuing the business. There are many advantages of
information technology in the retail sector. The time required for doing any type of work
decreases when the process becomes fully automated by the use of certain technologies(Luo Fan
and Zhang 2012). This can be better understood by the use of an example, like when an attendant
is doing billing manually then it will take much more time than just scanning the items code in
an automated system.
Helps in communication:
The use of certain applications can help a lot in the betterment of the communication
system of the retail store. Much software like the “Lotus Notes” and many more are used for this
purpose. By application of software’s the retail store can communicate with each other or
communicate with the warehouse at any time (Keller and Heiko 2014). The use of “Electronic
Data Interchange” or EID will help a lot in communicating with the suppliers and vendors of the
retail store. The size of the organization is the main factor responsible for understanding the

6
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
needs by the retail stores. The collection of information’s helps a lot in tackling the difficulties
arising due to increased number of stores thereby helping in giving the right information to the
right person.
Methods of overcoming resistance to change:
“Good corporate Governance” is followed by the “Woolworth’s limited” so as follow an
approach that leads to the enhancement of the long term shareholder value. This implies that the
employees and the Directors of the company will act ethically and should be responsible at every
time. The statement of the “Corporate Governance plan” helps to describe the key policies of the
“corporate governance”. Each of the recommendations of the ASX Corporate Governance
Principles and Recommendations has been followed by the Woolworths group. Survey
conducted on the ways to eliminate resistances to change states two third of the employees in an
organization thinks that the people on the top of the organization is responsible for the change
management whereas one-third of the employee thinks that the peoples in the top of the
organization should be in charge of the change management(Lozano 2013). The common
methods of overcoming the resistance to change are listed below;
1. Distribution of the team members with proper responsibilities and roles so as to use the skills
of the employees for the purpose of giving more advantage to the organization.
2. The goals and the targets should be determined properly. The steps should be broken into
certain steps for better achievement of the goals.
3. The problems should be resolved more quickly and in an effective manner by the use of
“seven methods of care-fronting”.

7
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
4. Communication should be used properly for the purpose of increasing belief in the future. By
seeing the leaders changing according to the situation the employees also get adopted to the
changes more quickly with changed behavior and more dedication towards the work(Cummings
and Worley 2014).
5. The leader must encourage the employees more and more and should focus on the
opportunities. Sharing of the experiences so as to attract more attention and focus according to
the changes.
6. Proper ways should be done for the purpose of getting feedbacks and to remain flexible
according to the changes. Adopting to the changes and to find new ways of solving the problems
should be done along with encouraging peoples to be more creative.
7. The changes are uncertain so as to adopt easily according to the changes support of a leader is
needed who will inspire them more and more. The leader should have free thoughts,
communication should be honest and should be creative. The employees expect that their leaders
to have the capability of tackling the changes (Pieterse Caniëls and Homan 2012).
Conclusion
Based on the above report it can be concluded that Woolworth is dominating retail
industry in Australia and can face certain competitive environment despite of the lowest price
and better services. These services could be enhanced and improved through implementing ICT
within the organizational structure of the organization. Woolworths’ competitors are also
implementing or already implemented ICT within their organizational structure however the
advantages described in this report can help the organization in being ahead of all the
organization in their competitive market. Implementation of Cloud computing and using cloud

8
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
hosted application for the services can be recommended for the organization in manner to
increase the output and enhance the performance of the organization. This report is a presented
after thoroughly researching on the Woolworths and completely relative to the competitive
environment of it. Woolworths can practice the objectives mentioned in this report in mmanner
to advance the operational activities and enhance the performance of the organization.

9
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
References:
Bariacto, N. and Di Nunzio, J., 2014. Market power in the Australian food system. Future.
Cummings, T.G. and Worley, C.G., 2014. Organization development and change. Cengage
learning.
Keller, J. and Heiko, A., 2014. The influence of information and communication technology
(ICT) on future foresight processes—Results from a Delphi survey. Technological Forecasting
and Social Change, 85, pp.81-92.
Lawley, M., Birch, D. and Craig, J., 2016. 20 Managing sustainability in the seafood supply
chain. A Stakeholder Approach to Managing Food: Local, National, and Global Issues, 4, p.284.
Lozano, R., 2013. Are companies planning their organisational changes for corporate
sustainability? An analysis of three case studies on resistance to change and their strategies to
overcome it. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 20(5), pp.275-
295.
Luo, J., Fan, M. and Zhang, H., 2012. Information technology and organizational capabilities: A
longitudinal study of the apparel industry. Decision Support Systems, 53(1), pp.186-194.
Mishra, R.K., 2014. Role of Information Technology in supply chain management.
Mithas, S., Krishnan, M.S. and Fornell, C., 2013, May. Why do customer relationship
management applications affect customer satisfaction?. American Marketing Association.
Pieterse, J.H., Caniëls, M.C. and Homan, T., 2012. Professional discourses and resistance to
change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 25(6), pp.798-818.

10
INFORMATION SYSTEM MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGY
Piotrowicz, W. and Cuthbertson, R., 2014. Introduction to the special issue information
technology in retail: Toward omnichannel retailing. International Journal of Electronic
Commerce, 18(4), pp.5-16.
Ploesser, K., 2013. A design theory for context-aware information systems (Doctoral dissertation,
Queensland University of Technology).
Riemer, K., Hafermalz, E., Roosen, A., Boussand, N., El Aoufi, H., Mo, D. and Kosheliev, A.,
2017. The Fintech Advantage: Harnessing digital technology, keeping the customer in focus.
University of Sydney, Business School and Capgemini.
Rose, N., 2017. Community food hubs: an economic and social justice model for regional
Australia?. Rural Society, 26(3), pp.225-237.
Urwin, C.S., Dwyer, D.B. and Carr, A.J., 2016. Induced alkalosis and gastrointestinal symptoms
after sodium citrate ingestion: a dose-response investigation. International journal of sport
nutrition and exercise metabolism, 26(6), pp.542-548.