Leadership in Business: Challenges and Strategies for Innovation Management at Woolworths

This article discusses the challenges faced by Woolworths in implementing effective CRM strategies and the leadership approaches that can foster innovation management. It also highlights the barriers to innovation management within organizations and the importance of a modernized CRM system.

Running head: LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
Assessment 1
Part 1A (1.1)
In the globalized era, organizations are encountering intense competition and challenges
in attaining growth in the market. Woolworths known as Australia’s largest supermarket chain of
grocery and fresh food products comprises various loyalty schemes and strategies for sustaining
its market share as well as position in the Australian retail market. The organization operating
over 933 stores provides various discount fuel offers, regular rewards along with frequent
shopper club in order to generate greater degree of loyalty from consumers and further sustain
proper customer base1. The company has been leveraging exceptional data assets in order to
generate new insights along with competitive advantage which are not yet being accessible to
other retailers.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) primarily entails evolution and integration
of marketing ideas and knowledge, technologies and tends to concentrate on developing and
maintaining effectual long-term associations with well-chosen customers. CRM could be applied
to systematically leverage consumer-related ideas and information in order to skilfully align new
product development (NPD) with marker demands and requirements, further condensing new
product rates. Nicuta et al. suggested that manufacturers in globalized era must implement
advanced technologies such as digital analysis, customer information methods and service
centres to explicitly understand and establish communication base with the buyers2. Furthermore,
organizations are able to show rapid responsiveness to the requests and demands of customers
who seek new product innovation. Thus, renowned enterprises must implement technology-
1 Woolworths.com.au. 2018. Woolworths.Com.Au. https://www.woolworths.com.au/.
2 Nicuta, Alina-Mihaela, Florin-Alexandru Luca, and AndreeaApetrei. "Innovation And Trends In Crm-Customer
Relationship Management." Network Intelligence Studies 11 (2018): 21-25.

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based CRM endorses product innovation to maintain their competitive advantageous position in
the Australian retail sector3.
Though Woolworths has been applying significant CRM strategies, the customer
relationship management of the company has not been effectual enough to successfully retain
customers and attain long term loyalty. Furthermore, the customer retention regulations and
policies implemented by the company are not underlined by the CRM system. Thus the
modernized CRM system by Woolworths can facilitate it to develop rapid responsiveness to
customers’ increasing demands and shifting preferences and successfully offer enhanced
customization if provided with accurate knowledge from the purchasers through technology-
based CRM practices4. Further to this, various marketing strategies could also be developed for
specific targeted customer groups. Thus, innovation based CRM system is recognized to have
constructive impact on marketing innovation of Woolworths. Author observed that developing
IT systems with strong consumer focus enhances services quality along with the level of
customer satisfaction. However applying data mining tools, organizations such as Woolworths
are able to develop insights attained from their data warehouse to efficiently increase sales and
offer new and improved products and services to their buyers5.
Challenges-
Reports by Jalali (2015) reveal that Woolworths has been facing a slow profit growth in almost
two decades and must focus on reducing its product price range in order to compete with its two
3Garrido-Moreno, Aurora, Nigel Lockett, and Victor Garcia-Morales. "Exploring the role of knowledge
management practices in fostering customer relationship management as a catalyst of marketing innovation." Baltic
Journal of Management 10, no. 4 (2015): 393-412.
4 Gu, Vicky Ching, Marc J. Schniederjans, and Qing Cao. "Diffusion of innovation: customer relationship
management adoption in supply chain organizations." International Journal of Quality Innovation 1, no. 1 (2015): 6.
5 Wang, Ping, XuMeng, and Brian Butler. "How Do Community Ecology and Structure Shape Digital Innovation
Strategy?." (2015).

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strong rivals Coles and Aldi.
Absence of core CRM team- One of the critical areas Woolworth’s has faced is implementing
CRM strategy with the assumption that it is an IT project. However the organisation must
employee of course CRM team which works with the organisation stakeholders, customer
support executive, senior executive as well as end users in order to essentially understand the
requirements and demands6. With comprehensive understanding and clear
objectives,Woolworths can facilitate the IT team to initiate the CRM innovationimplementation
procedure.
Defining the CRM strategy processes-The process to implement a successful CRM should be
well comprehensive to ensure the success and attainment of the proposed CRM project.
Woolworths must practice to efficiently create universal repositories that is accessible to all
which stores all process definitions. The fundamental processes that the company need to define
from the initial stage can involve change management procedures and further feature revaluation
process.
Studies on universal idea-to-launch practices state that around 90% of most efficient
performers in NPD exhibit distinct NPD procedures with comprehensively defined performances
at each stage along with a precise decision making outline. However in order to successfully
develop innovation in a NPD, Woolworths have incorporated customer response in the process
of innovation process7. It has been identified that CRM software facilitates to generate ideas
either directly or through customer responses. To execute process of idea generation,
6 Jalali, Seyed Mahdi, and MasoudSardari. "Study the effect of different aspects of customer relationship
management (CRM) on innovation capabilities with mediator role of knowledge management (Case study: Mahram
company)." Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences 6, no. 6 S6 (2015): 343.
7 Spillan, John E., and Howard G. Ling. "Woolworths: An Adizes Corporate Lifecycle Perspective." In Business
History Conference. Business and Economic History On-line: Papers Presented at the BHC Annual Meeting, vol.
13, p. 1. Business History Conference, 2015.

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Woolworths sales executive have used performance records in CRM in order to record ideas and
innovation offered by customers and further incorporate appealing attributes of competing
products, potential complementary services and products as well as physical characteristics.
1.3)Leadership Approaches Fostering Innovation Management
There are strong indications that leadership is vital for innovation. Leadership tends to
play acrucial role in improving organisational creativity introducing and driving innovation
projectsalong with implementing innovation assignments and overcoming resistance.
Emphasisingon the impact of transformational and transactional leadership approaches it can be
statedthat both these approaches tend to influence business performance. However, D’Innocenzo
et al. posited that transactional leadership approach is unconstructively associated two
businessperformances and innovation which involve two forms of transactional
leadershipcontingent reward and management by exception passive active8. However due to
itsnegative impact on innovation procedure, the other form of approach that istransformational
leadership technique is seen to be vital for organisations innovation.
Transactional leaders tends to influence on the decision making procedure on
launchingnew ideas innovation as well as specific objectives and encouraging forms of
innovation.However both transformational leadership and organisational learning house
simultaneousinfluence on process of innovation organisation learning process a stronger direct
impact oninnovation in comparison to the direct impact of transformational leadership on
innovation.As a result it can be stated that both organisational learning and transformational
leadership can foster innovation procedure and the direct influence of organisational learning
oninnovation procedure and creative ideas are regarded to be more crucial than the
8 D’Innocenzo, Lauren, John E. Mathieu, and Michael R. Kukenberger. "A meta-analysis of different forms of
shared leadership–team performance relations." Journal of Management 42, no. 7 (2016): 1964-1991.

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directinfluence of transformational learning on innovation9. However contemporary managers
areof the opinion that they seek innovative leaders to take risks and think ‘out of the box’
ratherthan deriving ideas from the past or emphasising on intellectual stimulation.
Furthermorethere can be witnessed a positive association between transformational leadership
andinnovation to organisational learning Where are there can be identified a direct butdiminutive
positive relationship between transformational leadership and innovation. Thishowever
underlines that transformational leadership fosters innovations in a positive way. Evaluating the
willingness of modern leaders to embrace risk
Strategies and errors have beenthe initial steps for launching innovation within an
organisation. Further to this, facilitatingorganisational members in launching and implementing
knowledge in a constructive internalenvironment are important approaches towards innovation
for organisations10. Thus emphasising on transformational leadership, it can be stated that this
approach tends to advance leaders and organisations to the Future which are core determinants
forsuccessful innovation process.
Shared leadership approach- It is important to know that shared and distributed
leadershipapproach tend to challenge the assumption of formal leadership techniques that
signified‘an individual in charge and the others will follow”11. However, shared leadership
approachhas been considered as a dynamic unfolding interactive factor for individuals there by
theprimary aim is to lead one another towards the attainment of collective goals.
9 Jaiswal, Neeraj Kumar, and RajibLochanDhar. "Transformational leadership, innovation climate, creative self-
efficacy and employee creativity: A multilevel study." International Journal of Hospitality Management 51 (2015):
30-41.
10 Li, Voyce, Rebecca Mitchell, and Brendan Boyle. "The divergent effects of transformational leadership on
individual and team innovation." Group & Organization Management 41, no. 1 (2016): 66-97.
11 D’Innocenzo, Lauren, John E. Mathieu, and Michael R. Kukenberger. "A meta-analysis of different forms of
shared leadership–team performance relations." Journal of Management 42, no. 7 (2016): 1964-1991.

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Furthermoreinnovation procedure in most organisations primarily focus on the value of coaching
andguidance in ensuring that teams are working on the appropriate track12. Thus, the
importanceof rewards and recognition in enhancing enthusiasm among distributed leaders can
help insetting up a linkage between distributed and instrumental leadership approach.
Leadership Approaches Hindering Innovation Procedure
Studies of Snihur et al. with comprehensive insights about the way transactional on
instrumental leadership have been especially implemented into innovation projects for
organisations. It has been noted that leaders tend to distinguish their subordinates or followers’
demands andaccordingly formulate exchange procedures on the basis of those requirements.
Howeveremphasizing on incentives on continuing rewards that is identifying success
andaccomplishments and for the management by exception that is active and passive search
fordeviations from current regulations and standards tends to be critical for launchinginnovation
for any organisation. Typically, transactional leadership is perceived as means tosustain things
on track at the time of implementation and less appropriate for the stimulation of creative and
innovative ideas. As result author noted that incremental innovations mighthave the propensity to
be better regulated by transactional leaders where as radicalinnovations might be led by
transformational leaders in an improved manner.
Barriers to Innovation Management within organizations
Studies indicate that several companies implement proximate indicators related to
innovation achievement. However these measures exclusively functions when applied to
developed and consistent markets rather than innovation13. Studies state that several innovators
12 Snihur, Yuliya, Llewellyn DW Thomas, and Robert A. Burgelman. "The Performative Power of Words: How
Business Model Innovators Use Framing for Strategic Advantage." (2018).
13 Rodriguez, Michael, Robert M. Peterson, and HayaAjjan. "CRM/social media technology: impact on customer
orientation process and organizational sales performance." In Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing
the Old, pp. 636-638. Springer, Cham, 2015.

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encounter critical forms of challenges while launching any new change or enhancing the existing
ideas. However the application of CRM innovation can undergo critical challenges.
Dilemma regarding real importance of CRM
Obtaining all necessary information about clients and stakeholders often results
organizations to avoid in using CRM innovation. Though, Woolworths with wide range of
diverse clients might obtain some perfunctory factors of client-base, the company requires a
comprehensive CRM innovation. CRM system not only maintains computerised records on
considerably static information about its clientele such as maintain basic contact records of
clients. A modernized CRM system maintains a 360 degree outlook of each and every interaction
of a client with the business enterprise. Such innovation could claim shifting interests along with
up-selling potential which will integrate the clientele to the business firm.
Employee resistance against Innovation
Internal resistance against innovations exposes conflicts of motives between organization
and its employees. Though it tend to reinstate the level of competitiveness of the organization in
the future, employees resist those changes which pose threats to leave them in the short run by
failing to collaborate in strategized innovations in the hope to preserve the old order. Typically
endeavours, capital and financial resources are invested before improving the system and all
implications are distinct. However, during investment, it is indistinctive if the training efforts
have adequate revenues. Consequentially, internal employee resistance against innovations are
higher when it is unclear that the expense of improving the current system is compensated after
the application of the innovation. CRM is not exclusively related to technology, but has
implications on employees and business functionality aided by appropriate technological
solutions.

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Thus proper communication is fundamental in such circumstances whereby innovation is
forthcoming. The employee base must be involved into a discussion whereby they must be
explainedthe proper definition of CRM and changes in procedures required for the attainable
goal. Employees must be offered proper avenues to share ideas and knowledge about their
misinterpretations as well as potential issues which may emerge during or post implementation14.
1.4 Five Principles for CRM Success
Principle 1- CRM is a strategy
CRM innovation solutions facilitate organizations to gain better ideas about their
clientele and consequentially respond to those demands and needs. Woolworths aiming to
renovate its CRM system must consider that CRM will pertain to be a successful production
strategy which involves proper strategic configuration of business procedures15. Thus to develop
a comprehensive CRM innovation strategy, Woolworths must realize the Australian retail
market, sector and consumer which persuade the selection and implementation of its products
and services. Woolworths must further recognize its competitive environment that consists of
Coles Supermarket, Aldi and identify factors which can differentiate it from its competitors
through improved customer experience.
Principle 2- Proper Application of CRM innovation success
Business procedures are not constant. Furthermore, Woolworth ‘s competence to
reconfigure procedures rapidly in response to the changing needs, demands and preferences can
produce vital competitive gains. Furthermore, an innovative CRM solution set up on flexible
expertise platform can effortlessly be adjusted to go with the recent employee base of
14 Ali, Zaman, IshakuIshaya, and Haslinda Hassan. "The Critical Success Factors of e-CRM Implementation to
Small and Medium Enterprises." In International Conference on E-commerce. 2015.
15 Alexe, Cătălin George, Cătălina Monica Alexe, and Gheorghe Militaru. "Idea Management in the innovation
process." Network Intelligence Studies 11, no. 2 (2014): 4.

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Woolworths.
Woolworths must derive increased value from it CRM innovation system to standardize,
modernize and refine these processes. In certain cases, Woolworths is enabling itself to leverage
its CRM system in order to mechanize conformity with shifting system, policies and extending
the importance of its investment.
Principle 3- Define assessable CRM Advantages
Efficiently determining the influence of CRM system of any business, baselines for
fundamental company evaluation measures needs to be formed as an initial point. Such an
evaluation helps to guarantee that gains are suitably credited to developments impacted by CRM
system instead of other dynamics. For example, improved cross-selling price reductions and
consumer pleasure evaluation can be used by Woolworths in the return on investment (ROI)
examination for a project. However, comparing actual evaluation in order to establish metrics
will enable the company to determine whether there proposed CRM innovation strategy is
effective and the way it will generate utmost efficiency.
Principle 4 Consider Total Cost of Ownership
Enterprise function software costs can be exorbitant to a number of companies as the
majorproportion of cost are ‘upfront’ and license fees product, services and induction. All of
these however are incurred before the software illustrates measurable and evaluative
businessoutcomes. However,organisations typically estimate the expenditure in the first year,
whichare usually over 60% of the overall project expenditure16.For successful management of
cost expectations over time, it is essential for Woolworths to analyse the total cost of ownership
and conduct with the distinct perception of all the overallstrategic expectations for the CRM
16 Elena, Cerchia Alina. "Social Media–A strategy in developing customer relationship management." Procedia
Economics and Finance 39 (2016): 785-790.

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innovation project.
Principle 5- Choosing suitable partner
Efficiency seeking a CRM solution that suits a company's needs and demands is one of
the essential features and determinants for establishing a CRM strategy. Implementation
andsupporting a CRM system is further identified as a vital and sizeable project along with
thefactors, which in its achievement must be extended beyond the method to the CRM
Companywith along with the variety of sustaining services they provide17.However, while opting
for a CRM solution it is typical for companies like Woolworths to focuson preliminary
implementation18. However, it is also important for the company to think aboutexposed
implementation needs as well.
1.5
Brainstorming-This process primarily involved engendering a substantial number of solution
for a particular idea with a significant focus on the series of Ideas generated by the innovators in
the organisation. It is noted that in the process of brainstorming there can be identified no
evaluation of ideas19. This would lead employees in Woolworth’s to offer their ideas without any
ambiguity and fear of criticism.
Mind mapping-this process is referred to as a graphical technique for imagining
connectionsbetween various sections of Information and ideas. In suchprocess each fact or idea
is documented and then linked by ideas to its minor or major factor idea by building an important
17 Magnusson, Peter R., Erik Wästlund, and Johan Netz. "Exploring users' appropriateness as a proxy for experts
when screening new product/service ideas." Journal of Product Innovation Management 33, no. 1 (2016): 4-18.
18 Frow, Pennie, SuviNenonen, Adrian Payne, and KajStorbacka. "Managing co‐creation design: A strategic
approach to innovation." British Journal of Management 26, no. 3 (2015): 463-483.
19 Kalargiros, Emmanuel M., and Michael R. Manning. "Divergent thinking and brainstorming in perspective:
Implications for organization change and innovation." In Research in organizational change and development, pp.
293-327. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2015.

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network of relationships.
Transparent evaluation of ideas-Regardless of the form of Ideas being evaluated
Woolworthsmust significantly strive to make the assessment of Ideas through at most
distinctiveness among the decision makers and employees participating in the ideation. These
metrics are used forassessing ideas must be aligned with Woolworths strategic as well as
practical priorities. Transparent evaluation of Ideas will play an integral role for sustaining
employees’accountability and focusing on the two importance of company’s business procedure.
Evaluation criteria method- Organisations like Woolworths must intend to collaborate between
idea evaluation and use simple evaluation criteria like two dimensional effort scale to avoidany
kind of complex ideas which are likely to bias evaluation towards critical ideas 20.
PILOT PROGRAM PLAN:
Scope of CoffeeVille against the seven dimensions of strategic innovation
Cofeeville is a small café in Melbourne, Victoria, serves several types of coffee an coffee
related beverages with consumer selected snacks. The manage their innovation process by
allowing all the workers to share their value, knowledge and ideas. The company has weak
strategic alignment because of their weak brand recognition and absence of Corporate Social
Responsibility activity. The organization promotes the use of technological advancement in their
work process and always keeps their assists adequately for investment that gives them the ability
to take action. However, in workforce management system the organization lacks some
disciplined approaches that hinder the ultimate business growth.
Description of the pilot program:
Operation:
20 Roberts, Jess P., Thomas R. Fisher, Matthew J. Trowbridge, and Christine Bent. "A design thinking framework for
healthcare management and innovation." In Healthcare, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 11-14. Elsevier, 2016.

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CoffeeVille can initiate a pilot program with a promotional outlet through which they can serve
the stacks coffee and other products among financially backward communities. The target of this
operation will be the homeless peoples. Along with this CSR activity more than 10 temporary
stall will be build where the passerby can buy coffee to donate and directly donate for the
homeless people
Area:
The selected area of this operation will be the central and surrounding areas of Melbourne
covering the major section of the homeless population.
Departments
For this activity mainly the sales and marketing department will be involved and
distributed across the Melbourne as per the distribution of the temporary donation and coffee
stalls.
Participants
There will be no boundaries for participation any citizen can willingly participant in this
program.
Innovation goal:
 Increase the brand recognition with CoffeeVille arranged posters and flyers
 Strengthen the CSR activity of the company to influence the brad value even further
 Increase the loyal customer count by at least 30%
 Forecasted sales growth of 15% in each consecutive months
Key stakeholders:
Stakeholder Type Power Interest
Owner Primary High High
Management Primary Medium High
Employees Primary Medium High

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Suppliers Secondary Medium Medium
Donors Tertiary Low low
Target population Secondary Low Medium
Governing body Tertiary High Low
Legal compliances:
 Approval from local council for the temporary event
 Approval for temporary stall position as per Local Government Act 1993
 Approval for visual advertisement and promotional activities including hording, posters,
flyers
 Legal approval for workforce policy and procedure showing all the allocated payroll and
investments for that day
Implementation plan for innovation system pilot
Activities with timeline
Activities 1st wk 2nd wk 1st wk 3rd wk 4th wk 5th wk 6th wk 7th wk 8th wk 9th wk
Stakeholder Communication
Decision making
Budget planning
Forecasting
Collecting review
Making changes
Compliance procedure
Locating stalls
Training for events
Job allocation
Promotion of the events
Execution and marketing
Event program plan:
 Communication with local homeless individuals about their needs
 Communication with the potential consumers regarding the purpose of the event and its
significance

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 Installing stalls with appropriate workforce
 Locating homeless population and providing the products and supplies
 Collecting feedback about their experience
 Inspiring customers about donation
 Giving the donors a flyers with company details and CSR activities plan
Communication plan
WHY WHO WHEN HOW
Making decision and
permission
Owner Initiation and before
execution
Meeting, E-Mail
Decision making,
developing, planning
and execution
Management Throughout the process Meeting, E-Mail,
Phone call, message
Execution, system
update and review
Employees Execution and
evaluation part of the
event
Meeting, E-Mail,
Phone call, message
Supply goods with
quality and price
assurance
Suppliers Initiation and before
execution
E-Mail, Phone call,
message
Donating by
purchasing products,
target for marketing
Donors During and after
execution
Message, E-Mail,
Poster, Flyer, Banner
Supporting by food
products and beverages
Target population During and after
execution
Face to face
communication
Legal compliance and
ethical considerations
Governing body Initiation and before
execution
E-Mail, Phone call,
Leadership and management styles:
In this CSR event, which could also improve the brand recognition, situation leadership
can be the most appropriate leadership technique. It will allow the team leaders of sales and
marketing team take essential decision very quickly. For managerial operation, the workforce
governance and resource planning should be the most essential consideration for effective
application of the planned activities.
Monitoring the outcome

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For monitoring the outcomes, the management of CoffeeVille shoud execute appropriate
monitoring cycle while involving several evaluation phases namely feedback collection from the
participants and the stakeholders, making essential changes, developing change management
plan for further improvement. To collect the information the online and offline survey on the
participants donors can be executed. For more in depth data collection the employees can be
interviewed in a group based structure.
Assessment 2
3) Coffeeville is recognised as a local coffee chain operational organisation in Melbourne
Australia. The company has been successfully offering quality products to its wide-
rangingcustomer base. The primary focus on healthy commitments of the employers and their
effort to operate a business which facilitates and support communities have helped the
organisation to execute its business operations at both local and global scale. Coffeeville
supports community and serve certified fair-trade coffee with exclusively incorporating local
ingredients and products 21.
Coffeeville is fundamentally committed in providing the absolute highest standards of
qualityand excellence in its product and service range. The company recognises itself not only as
a coffee enterprisebut also, as a significant coffee house experience, which tends to provide
greater level indulgence to the customers. The company has been successfully offering highest
quality coffee pastries along with signature hoagies. The vision statement of the company lies on
its utmost commitment of emerging as the premier provider of government coffee and for the
ethically and socially aware Melbourne coffee consumers. The company stated that within 5
21 Coffeeville Company. 2018. "COFFEEHOUSE". Coffeeville Company. https://coffeevilleco.com/.

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years it will undergo and expansion to a number of key locations in the Melbourne CBD.
Coffeyville has a growth potential whereby consumer studies claim that a development towards a
more enhanced cafe patron22. Furthermore over recent years, Melbourne where Coffeeville
executes its operation has developed a prominence for coffee passion. This trend together with
the raw growth of population within the geographical area of the company indicates towards both
and emerging market for coffeeville and increasing potential for the company to magnetize this
market with its unique as well as compelling value proposition23. Though the company has high
customer loyalty with its food offerings, which exceed competitors’ product range in terms of
quality and wrap it was there could be identified limited marketing budget to develop brand
awareness. Thus CRM innovation system with advanced information technology is important for
Coffeeville to establish to Cater into theconsumers’needs and demands.
Brand recognition and prominence play vital determinants for business growth when customers
pay premium prices for robust brands. As marketing connects a company with its consumers and
further intense to influence consumer consumption preferences it is important for Coffeeville to
adapt marketing trends and technologies in its CRM system to add value and stabilized revenue
stream. The company must focus convenient purchase options to its customer base through
smartphone applications. Search mobile application payment option will efficiently generate
barcode to the usable in targeted stores of coffee. Furthermore, customers can reload balance
through PayPal application that is considered as one of the most flexible and reliable payment
gateway for consumers because of its rapid functionality. The CRM innovation strategy will tend
to play a major role for the potential marketing strategies and may further help the company to
22 Frow, Pennie, SuviNenonen, Adrian Payne, and KajStorbacka. "Managing co‐creation design: A strategic
approach to innovation." British Journal of Management 26, no. 3 (2015): 463-483.
23 Lendel, Viliam, ŠtefanHittmár, and Eva Siantová. "Management of innovation processes in company." Procedia
economics and finance 23 (2015): 861-866.

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establish mobile marketing as a vital channel to cater into the needs and demands of its
consumers buy emphasising on mobile devices in the marketing mix.
4)
1. Social customer engagement- With technical advancement in CRM software and the
concept and idea of social connector accessibility to social media content will facilitate
Woolworths’ to enable greater usage of the innovation24. The company has the propensity
to experience high-level reliance on social media as effective communication network in
direct and indirect B2C industry segments as well as in B2B for increasing greater
associations and community amongst its consumers.
2. Streamlining marketing and sales to drive revenue-based results- Woolworths has
focused its business on the increasing revenue while condensingexpenditure rate with the
growing current consumer relationships. The company is currentlyevaluating its
alignment of marketing and sales in order to ensure their efficiency to drivesimilar
outcomes rather than only producing activities25. CRM innovation systems will
facilitateWoolworths with its business procedure by providing continual business process
automationhigher-level access to collective data and goals with greater visibility of
actions and areaswhere activity can turn into revenue.
3. CRM development to realise greater Roy across the business- In global market the
essential focus of CRM system at a great extent to the sales and marketing functionality
within an organisation. However, these areas exclusively are unable to drive the expected
24 Norton, Andrew Lawrence. "Enterprise resource planning II-A review of critical success factors." International
Journal of Computer Science and Information Security 13, no. 11 (2015): 5.
25 Paliouras, Konstantinos, and Kerstin V. Siakas. "Social customer relationship management: a case
study." International Journal of Entrepreneurial Knowledge 5, no. 1 (2017): 20-34.
Kohtamäki, Marko, and D. Farmer. "Real-time Strategy and Business Intelligence." (2017): 11-37.

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ROI from the solution. Woolworths’ investments in CRMcan be expected to drive greater
amount of ROI and successful integration into other business critical processes. However,
CRM implementation often fail to succeed because of their deployment to a single unit,
which limits their progress to a certain extent26. As a result,Woolworths’ managers must
focus on CRM innovation as a long-term commitment with optimisation and
development activity planned in every financial year.
4. Repeatability of engagements- One of the common areas for failure of CRM innovation
system is relatedto the reinventedprocedures for each engagement and lack of revision of
the lessons, which are acquired. Asuccessful implementation CRM system along with
document management solution caneffectively drive greater ROI ability and consistency
and further review cost or enhance theprominence of engagement across a broader user
base. Thus, Woolworths’ managers must increase repeatability of CRM solutions to
standardized procedures and focus ondocument management to the customer lifecycle.
5. Improved choice demands consistency in approach-Customers and organisations are
seeking for vital stability in approach and communication. In 2015, the evolving use of
tagging and using mobile devices to scan barcodes enabled greater amount of
accessibility in comparison to company websites and competitive information given on
the internet. In order to succeed in such a competitive environment, Woolworth’smust
launch innovation and its CRM system to drive competitive advantage through consistent
customer communication at all levels and through wide-ranging channels such as web
mobile application and interpersonal communication27. However,consistent interaction
26 Atapattu, Maura R. "Customer agility, smart shopping apps and their implications: Customer relationship
management systems in the digital age." PhD diss., Queensland University of Technology, 2015.
27 Spillan, John E., and Howard G. Ling. "Woolworths: An Adizes Corporate Lifecycle Perspective." In Business
History Conference. Business and Economic History On-line: Papers Presented at the BHC Annual Meeting, vol.
13, p. 1. Business History Conference, 2015.

19LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
can be coordinated to a successful CRM system by implementing business process
automation usable information, which will facilitate service to become an increasingly
vital differentiator.
The notion of the innovative performance tends to vary from organizations and it is majorly
influenced by both the external and the internal stimulation and some of the restrictive factors
which form a significant effect on the implementation, design and the diffusion of the
innovation. In the above context, the selected workplace for analysis is the Coffeeville head
office and the need for innovation for meeting the goals and the objectives of the organization.
Despite the importance of innovation, the business organization has several barriers towards the
implication of the innovation strategy to the working environment28. With the effective
evaluation of the workplace, the project team identified one of the major barriers towards the
CRM strategy innovation at the workplace which is the workforce resistance towards any
change.
The organization in the discussion operates in a highly competitive market together with
changing customer needs, expectations, and behaviours. This has enabled the organization to
require an innovative approach for sustaining the success of business growth. The notion of the
customer relationship management or CRM is becoming increasingly essential for the corporate
strategy of the organization towards the enabling of the creation and the development of the
customer relationship base29. The concept lies in the fact that the life and the time value of the
28Lipiäinen, Heini Sisko Maarit. "CRM in the digital age: implementation of CRM in three contemporary B2B
firms." Journal of Systems and Information Technology 17, no. 1 (2015): 2-19.
29Qureshi, Muhammad Asif, Nazneen Waseem, Jawaid Ahmed Qureshi, and Sahar Afshan. "Impact of
Organizational Commitment on Readiness for Change: A Case of Higher Learning Institutions of Karachi." Journal
of Independent Studies & Research: Management &Social Sciences & Economics 16, no. 1 (2018).

20LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
customer can be readily optimized targeting the respective organizations and the customers.
As per the rating systemdeveloped in the step 3 and the attached workspace of the Appendix 1,
among all the other barriers towards the implementation of the CRM strategy in the organization
targeting the goals and the success of the organizational growth, the factors which majorly
contributes to the notion of the barriers are the wrong perceptions regarding the suitability of
CRM, Lack of vision towards the value of CRM, the changing approach of the business and the
workplace resistance towards alteration.
Innovation faces many obstacles.The application of CRM innovation undergoes some of the
critical challenges and barriers. In the case of the selected organization, one of the most essential
physical barriers lies in the changing business approaches and the workplace resistance towards
the changes due to innovation. The situation encircles with the scenario of the lack of proper
benefits from the CRM system or the strategy in case of certain departments in the organization.
This is because the concept of CRM is just never about the technology but about the process and
the people supported by the correct technological solutions30. The implication of the CRM
strategy and the process of the business optimization includes some of the major identified
reasons namely the instinctive fear of the changes, the unwillingness toward the increase in the
transparency of the work, and the inconvenience towards the changes.
6.
The notion of change management is the impetus behind the innovation, improvement, viability,
and evolution. The market and the customers are rapidly evolving and thus organizational
changemanagement is essential. In accordance with the above analysis, the identified challenges
towards the implementation of the CRM strategy in the organization according to the ratings is
30Nienhuis, J. "Using change management to improve CRM user acceptance." Master's thesis, University of Twente,
2014.

21LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
the factor of the workplace resistance towards the change. Step 4 of the assignment illustrated 5
of the design towards the need of the innovation in the domain of CRM, though these designs
furthermore include some barriers which need to be revised for an effective solution base.
Handing of the implementation of the CRM together with the innovative designs such as the
social customer engagements, the streamlining of the marketing and the sales towards the driving
of the revenue based results, the repeatability of engagements and the factor of the improved
choice demands on the consistency of the approach includes some of the barriers forming
resistance of the workforce towards the implementation of the new changes. Some of the
recommended solutions for the barrier identified are thefollowing:
The leadership and accountability in place: The belief and the willingness towards the
implementation and working ofthe CRM develop in the ladder top31. It is thus important for all
the employees irrespective of their designation to identify the potential resistance of the new
implementation and address the issues on an immediate basis.
The key is to communicate - The notion of the communication changes often an on early basis.
It is important to engage and encourage all the employees towards their active participation for
the evaluation and the input32. It furthermore must include the demonstration of their needs for an
easier transition.
31Khan, Habib Ullah, Sheila D. Fournier-Bonilla, Anjan Jinugu, and V. V. Madhavi Lalitha. "Possible challenges of
the successful implementation of CRM in the service sector: A case study of Saudi Arabia." In Northeast Decision
Sciences Institute Conference, vol. 31. 2016.
32Diala, Ify, and Samuel Ogbonnaya Ude. "Support for Creativity and Innovation, Resistance to Change,
Organizational Commitment, and Motivation." (2015).

22LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
Figure: Communication is the key in CRM
Source: (created by author)
Identification of the main causes – Apart from many of the causes, the main three causes
towards the barriers of implementation of the CRM strategy are
o The thought of lessening of the importance or termination among the employees
due to the introduction of the tool which can replace the workforce
o The dislike towards the process of visibility since many prefers to have private
controls

23LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
o The idea of general unwillingness towards the change foregoing the benefits of
the company.
Figure: The identification of the main barriers
Source: (created by author)

24LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS
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