Leveraging Technology and Engaging Millennial Workforce for Sustainable Competitive Advantage: A Case Study of Riverwood

This report discusses how Riverwood can leverage technology while engaging a millennial-dominated workforce to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. It includes an external and internal environment analysis, research question formulation, strategic capabilities, proposed solution, implementation plan, risk assessment, and performance evaluation plan. The report proposes recommendations and management tools to solve the identified management challenges faced by Riverwood.

Executive Summary (200 words)
Global spending on technology has exploded in the past decade as companies seek to bring
increased efficiency, improve product quality and expand employee skill-set. As the wave of
retirement throughout the current workforce approaches, the challenge of incorporating
millennials looms.
The main concern for Riverwood is leveraging technology while engaging millennial-
dominated workforce to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. The external environment
analysis indicates that Riverwood has ___. Besides, the strengths and weaknesses of the
internal environment identified from this report point out that Riverwood ___.
The research question – “How can Riverwood leverage technology gain a sustainable
competitive advantage while engaging a millennial-dominated workforce?” was
formulated. The Porter’s generic strategy was applied to align Riverwood’s activities to the
prior intentions of ______ that aims to ________.
A strategic implementation plan accompanying with the timeline and its associated risks were
proposed. Moreover, we suggested <no. of recommendations> with the application of
relevant management tools such as ______ to solve the issue of ___ - (1), (2), (3) and propose
beneficial outcomes for Riverwood to exceed their competitors, locally and globally.
Table of Contents (LAST)

1 Introduction (150 words)
The analytical theories like PESTEL and Porter’s 5-Forces were applied in the previous tasks
that revealed insightful information and recognising Riverwood’s management challenges.
This report aims to address and solve the identified management challenges faced by
Riverwood based on formulated research question and application of various
recommendations that Riverwood can undertake to achieve growth in the market.
This report begins with the discussion of management challenge and research question
formulation followed by proposing of the solution according to Riverwood’s current strategic
capabilities. The implementation plan and timeline will be crafted, proposed solution and its
associated risks will be assessed next. The SAFe framework and Balanced Scorecard will
evaluate the implementation plan and its performance for Riverwood to ensure company to
achieve success in this competitive market consists of a millennial-dominated workforce.
Hence, a definitive implementation plan and recommendations will be supported with
theoretical frameworks towards rectification of the management challenge.
2 The Management Challenge and Research Question (500
words Max)
2.1 The Management Challenge (Summary of A1 and A2) (250 words Max)

Similar to several organizations, Riverwood integrated logistics solutions have identified the
potential in e-commerce in the early years and adopted it into their business plan. Their
ability in recognizing such opportunity and devising forward-looking strategic capabilities
has accelerated their growth, ascertaining their presence in the logistic industry whilst
collaborating with great multinational companies like Amazon.
Through exponential growth, Riverwood faced difficulties managing their growth strategy.
Although their key competency for success is technology, it also serves as a challenge for
them. One such challenge would be to continuously integrate and advance technology into
operation while taking cost into account. Meanwhile, the employees are the backbone to the
success of the organization; acquiring, managing and retainment of employees in this
millennial age serves as another concern for the management.
2.2 Research Question (250 Max)
“How can Riverwood leverage technology gain a sustainable competitive advantage while
engaging a millennial-dominated workforce?”
<you can explain why this research question, derive from your a1&a2, internal/external
analysis>
3 Strategic Capabilities
3.1 Riverwood’s Strategic Capabilities
Riverwood’s strategic capabilities were identified in the first task and being capable in two
areas - (1) seeking opportunities with the ability to develop a sustainable logistics industry,
with undying vision in maintaining its market position and (2) adapting changing needs and
tapping onto potential opportunity in the market with employee’s expertise and available
technology, which shown in Appendix 1 . Essentially, Riverwood recognises the significance
of being forward-looking by exploring possibilities in the industry and well-prepared for the
future.
3.2 Discussion VRIO
VRIO framework is considered as an effective tool for evaluating the organisational
resources as well as allows the company to gain competitive advantage in business. The
various resources are considered based on the dimensions including the value, rareness,
imitability and organizational arrangement (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). The questions that
arise from the VRIO framework are:
Is it valuable?
Is it rare?
Is it difficult to imitate?
Is the organisation organised and structured?
leveraging technology while engaging millennial-dominated workforce to gain a sustainable
competitive advantage
3.2.1 Valuable
The value is derived by managing a millennial dominated workforce for leveraging
the technology and gain sustainable competitive advantage in business. A strong brand name
and image is established by gaining the award for Software Solution case study of the year by

Vinculum. The logistics operations are easily managed with the help of this model, i.e.,
Riverwood, which can not only enable adaptation to changes, but will also facilitate the e-
commerce technology. It has been highly praised by the Prime Minister and with the
partnership working between the YoJee and Riverwood has further enhanced the operational
effectiveness (Robson 2015). YoJee is a provider of Australian Logistics Artificial
Intelligence, which has worked with Riverwood and this should reduce the production costs
along with enhancement of user experience all across the business operations.
3.2.2 Rare
The management of warehouse expansion along with increased numbers of vehicles
used for the transportation purposes could also benefit the business. Focus on the automated
systems of operating could also make the organisation make preparation for the future and
create a sustainable future by gaining competitive advantage in business. The numbers of
vehicles used for transportation could also ease down the management of supplies and
furthermore ensure that the demands are met properly (Pesic, Milic and Stankovic 2013).
The rarity is depend on the availability and it is important to make sure that the resources are
properly available for meeting the requirements and ensure successful production along with
decrease in the costs of operations.
3.2.3 Inimitable
Often it becomes difficult to imitate things and it can be difficult for managing the
resources used for capital management along with management of good brand image and
reputation. The advanced technologies and automated systems used by Riverwood could
assist in meeting the standards and requirements set by the Government, furthermore ensure
that the demands in the future are met wisely and effectively. It is also important to maintain
the quality standards and ensure that the organisational requirements are met and proper
functioning is enabled through integration of automated systems with the goals and objectives
to be achieved in business (Mathur, Jugdev and Shing Fung 2013). The imitability enables
that the resources are capable of being imitated in case there is lack of availability of
resources or the resources may not be found. If it is difficult to imitate, there might be
questions arising related to the cost disadvantage to an organisation that has aimed at
obtaining, developing and copying the resources and core competencies of the organisation to
sustain competitive advantage in business (Hinterhuber 2013).
3.2.4 Organisational Support
The organisational support means enabling proper support for gaining better control
over the operations, furthermore provide the employee with enough scopes and opportunities
to increase the production level, promote innovation and enhance the productivity of the
organisation as a whole. It will also assist in managing the supply chain activities and
logistics operations, furthermore enable proper control over the management of inventories.
Organisational support will be promoted through management of training and developmental
programs along with proper recruitment and selection processes for facilitating the human
resource management with ease and effectiveness (Jurevicius 2013).
Resource/capability V R I O
Logistics and supply
chain

Research and
development skills

Employee benefits
and compensation

Partnering with 

other businesses
Corporate social
responsibilities
 
Product mix related
to quality
 
Quality based
product mix
 
Good brand
exposure and
identity
 
Purchasing power of
buyers
  
Costs of production   
Artificial
intelligence and
Government
involvement
  
CORE
COMPETENCIES
Level of innovation    
Customer
relationship
management
   
Corporate
leadership and
management of
expert employees
   
Great Logistics
operations
   
Positive brand
image and
reputation
   
4 Strategic Identification
4.1 Business-Level Strategies
4.2 Corporate-Level Strategy - Ansoff’s Matrix
4.3 Industry LifeCycle
5 The Proposed Solution (1500 words)

6 Proposed Implementation Plan (500 words)
6.1 Implementation Change
6.2 Why should it be implemented?
6.3 Timeline of Implementation Plan
6.4 Budget
7 Assessment of Proposed Solution (500 words)
Suitability :
Opportunities
 As government subsidies will create more potential enrolments, an influx of new
enrollments parents will also demand a higher quality of service provided by service
providers.
 In reference to SWOT analysis, opportunities tapped on the increasing demand of
families being more conscious on quality of care and learning are tapped on.
Threats
 By developing new products and services, not only does it align to the national
quality of framework but also retain customers as they feel valued from our efforts
to enhance the quality of service.
 Aforementioned, focusing on enhancing the quality of child learning than acquiring
centres will help G8 remain competitive in the industry and reduce the issue on the
oversupply of centres.
Industry Life-cycle
 As G8 is in the Growth stage, where in this stage , marketing strategy is to deliver
products and service that differs from their competitors. In order to do so, funds is
required to launch new products and services whereby G8 Education is capable as
they have strong financial resources to sustain our strategy.
Acceptability
Risk Level & Mitigation
 Moderate level of risk for this development will be incurred as it involves high
investment capital and systematic planning.
 The company can overcome any obstacle along the way by using a company’s
financial strength and resources.
 G8 Education should form strong alliances with current partners like Macquarie
Telecom to innovate and improve customer journey experience.

 Ensure any potential risk may take place; actively discuss with alliances on the
possible strategies that can resolve potential issues such as application crash.
Stakeholder Reaction
 G8 Education’s key stakeholders may express their doubts before approving on this
strategy.
 Investors funding in money for execution of the project by participating in the
strategy implementation.
Stakeholder Mitigation
 Reassure stakeholders by proposing realistic implementation timeline.
 Engaging high-level, reputable companies to partner for the development.
 Reassure stakeholder on the difficulty of imitation and rarity.
 Indicate estimated profitability of the application.
 Emphasize technology lowers cost.
Feasibility
Resources & Competencies
 Skilled team of professionals to manage various strategy effectively
 Strong knowledge on global market to identify potential markets
 Identifying strategic capability and monitor financial statement to assist smooth
development
 Strong network with industry experts allow them to get advices from professionals
 Reputable and high-quality brands of educational centres
 Enhanced educational service to meet educational standards
 Expand business internationally with sufficient funds
 Customer-centricity to adapt changing environment
Evaluation
The recommendation is considered challenging as it requires great effort and long-term
strategic planning. However, it is possible for G8 Education to adopt this strategy as it will
increase potential growth and strengthens the company’s strategic position. The proposed
strategy in developing a mobile-application addresses the current threats and opportunities
by capitalizing on social trend in Australia.
The successful development of the mobile-application requires sufficient internal resources
and capabilities to ensure the satisfaction of company’s stakeholders. In addition, G8
currently stands at growth-stage in the industry life cycle, which means that extra effort is
needed to implement and execute so that they can gain competitive advantage by increasing
its current strategic position.
The success of the development will determine the capabilities that G8 Education has and
profitable outcome can be achieved.
8 Assessment of Risk (500 words)

9 Performance Evaluation Plan (500 words)
10 Conclusion (200 words)
11 Appendices (Include 500 words feedback)
11.1 Feedback

11.2 Riverwood’s Strategic Capabilities
Bundled Resources
(Tangible + Intangible)
Competencies Strategic Capabilities

Financial
 Strong cash flow
 Total revenue: $3.3
million
Physical
 Extensive
infrastructure, 70
vehicles, land and
180 workers to
deliver long-term
vision
 High-profile supplier
Contracts
 Extensive network
database
Technological
 Utilising technologies
on profession
 Continual
involvement of rapid
technological change
Organisational
 Strong culture that
encourages
innovation and quick
response to
customers’ needs
 Effective strategic
planning processes
 Facilitate potential
expansion beyond
capabilities within existing
infrastructure and new sites
 Ability to raise external
capital
 Ability to access raw
materials and distribution
channels
 Ability to adopt new
advanced technologies
#1 Capable of seeking
opportunities with the
ability to develop a
sustainable logistics
industry, with undying
vision in maintaining
its market position.

Human
 Experienced and high
capabilities workers
 Strong organisation
culture for
communication
Innovation
 Research and
development
capabilities to
innovate new product
and services
 Technical and
Scientific skills
Reputational
 Strong partnerships
with key suppliers for
fairness, non-zero-
sum relationships
 Strong reputation
with customers for
quality and reliability
 Outstanding customer
service
 Innovativeness of products
and services in line with
consumer needs
 Communicating actively in
understanding the needs and
provide parenting decisions
in building worthwhile
brand experiences
#2 Capable of
adapting changing
needs and tapping
onto potential
opportunity in the
market with
employee’s expertise
and available
technology
11.3 VRIO Test
12 References
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Hinterhuber, A., 2013. Can competitive advantage be predicted? Towards a predictive
definition of competitive advantage in the resource-based view of the firm. Management
Decision, 51(4), pp.795-812.

Jurevicius, O., 2013. VRIO Framework. Strategic Management Insight, Retrieved July, 27,
p.2014.
Mathur, G., Jugdev, K. and Shing Fung, T., 2013. Project management assets and project
management performance outcomes: Exploratory factor analysis. Management Research
Review, 36(2), pp.112-135.
Pesic, M.A., Milic, V.J. and Stankovic, J., 2013. APPLICATION OF VRIO FRAMEWORK
FOR ANALYZING HUMAN RESOURCES’ROLE IN PROVIDING COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE. Tourism & Management Studies, pp.575-586.
Robson, W., 2015. Strategic management and information systems. Pearson Higher Ed.
11 Turnitin Report