Management Assignment 2022

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Company Profile:.......................................................................................................................2
Organization Structure and Presence:........................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis:........................................................................................................................4
Strengths:................................................................................................................................4
Weakness:..............................................................................................................................5
Opportunities:.........................................................................................................................5
Threats:...................................................................................................................................5
Recommendations:.....................................................................................................................6
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................6
References:.................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction:
The paper is related to the business operations of one of reputed global retail business
organization named as Coles. The organization is present across many cities in the form of an
efficient supermarket chain. The paper identifies the mission and vision of the company and
along with that, the paper also delivers an important investigation regarding the structure of
the company. In addition to this, the paper identifies the strengths, weakness, threats and the
opportunities of the company with the application of the SWOT analysis. With a detailed
emphasis on the findings of the investigation, the paper provides a set of crucial
recommendations for the further business improvement of the company.
Company Profile:
As mentioned earlier, the selected organization operates in the global retail and
supermarket industry from more than 100 years as it was established in the year 1914
(Coles.com.au. 2019). The company is currently headquartered in Hawthorn East, Victoria.
The company has the required expertise to operate across the various regions of Australia and
the strong emphasis on the Darwin is pretty prominent with the efficient store presences and
the establishment of the online business activities in that region. The company currently
operates with more than 800 store locations which increases the efficiency of the company in
connecting to the customers with their goods and services in a well-organized manner
(Coles.com.au. 2019). Considering the administrative team of the company, Steven Cain, the
managing director of the company is seen to lead the organization with visionary leadership
skills which is pretty prominent with the increment in the revenue of the company to 39.288
billion Australian dollars in 2018 (Coles.com.au. 2019). Having said that, the operating
income of the business is seen to decrease to 1.414 billion Australian dollars in 2018
(Coles.com.au. 2019). With the help of the strong support from the part of parent

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organization, Coles Group, the company is able to develop an efficient business in the global
retail industry where 112298 number of employees are currently employed (Coles.com.au.
2019). Considering the mission of the company, it is evident that the senior management of
the selected organization is dedicated in providing a shop to the people of Australia which
they can trust (Colescareers.com.au. 2019). Along with that, one of the prime aim of the
company is to deliver quality and valuable services to the people of the country. Other than
this, the vision of the company is to make sure that they provide valuable services to their
customers where their main focus is to effectively align their business operations with the
values that they have. Considering the values of the company, the company’s consideration
towards their customers is optimum and at the same time, the company has the capability to
help others in doing productive things (Coles.com.au. 2019). Other than this, the vision of the
business is to always strive for the betterment of their services.
Organization Structure and Presence:
The company is largely functional across the various cities of Australia which makes
it primarily a local organization. Considering the structure of the company, it has a partially
hierarchical structure. Steven Cain, the chief executive officer of Coles Group is the
managing director of the company. Being the parent organization, the management team of
the Coles group has strong presence over the executive management team of the company
where the participation of Leah Weckert, Chief Financial Officer of Coles Group, Greg
Davis, Chief Executive - Commercial and Express of Coles Group, Matthew Swindells, Chief
Operations Officer of Coles Group, Thinus Keeve, Chief Property & Export Officer of Coles
Group, Lisa Ronson, Chief Marketing Officer of Coles Group, Kris Webb, Chief People
Officer of Coles Group, Roger Sniezek, Chief Information & Digital Officer of Coles Group,
David Brewster, Chief Legal Officer of Coles Group, Cathi Scarce, Acting Chief Executive
Liquor & Hotels of Coles Group, Alister Jordan, Chief Executive Online & Corporate Affairs

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of Coles Group, Ian Bowring, Group Executive, Transformation of Coles Group and Daniella
Pereira, Company Secretary of Coles Group is pretty prominent (Colesgroup.com.au. 2019).
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths:
The significantly strong brand reputation of the company in the liquor and food
market of the nation is able to provide the desired competitive advantage to the group in
conducting a sustainable business in the retail market of the nation. The excellence of the
branding is pretty evident with the existence of the patriotic slogans such as “Proudly
Australian since 1914” which is able to influence the purchase intention of the customers of
the country in efficient manner (Coles.com.au. 2019). Other than this, the company has the
competence to highlight their ability in applying the low prices with various marketing
slogans.
Apart from this, one of the significant strengths of the company is seen to be their
ability in applying the low pricing (Zolnowski, Weiß and Böhmann 2014). The company is
able to attract their customers with significant promotional offers and frequent price cuts
(Coles.com.au. 2019). The success of the company in manufacturing the cheaper rate
products helps the business group in targeting the customers belonging to the low income
groups (Li, Xu and Li 2013).
Other than this, the diversified skills and competencies of 112298 number of
employees of the company plays a crucial role in increasing the service reputation of the
company and enables the company in producing value for their clients through their products
and services (Coles.com.au. 2019). Along with this, the achievement of different skills with
the help of several forms of training activities conducted by the company, plays a important
role in enabling the employees of the company for the design and manufacturing of the

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products in accordance to the preferences and demands of the customers
(Colescareers.com.au. 2019).
Weakness:
The company is seen to be affected by negative publicity in a essential manner and
that is pretty evident with the hard –line negotiation with the Australian suppliers
(Coles.com.au. 2019). This affected the sentiment of the people of the nation.
Other than this, it is observed that the company has a tendency of operating on lower
margins which can be considered as a weakness of the company as well.
Opportunities:
With the improvement in the efficiency of the company’s supply chain, the company
has the possibility of improving their financial stability and that is pretty evident with the
impact of better supply chain management on the ability of the company in generating higher
profits (Christopher 2016).
The effective business expansion to the other regions of Australia and other nations
will also provide a significant opportunity to the company in generating larger benefits for it.
Considering the marketing and the advertising activities, the company has the
capability to improve its corporate image and the brand reputation through various marketing
activities such as the sponsorships (Todorova 2015).
Threats:
The intense competition faced by the organization from the part of the other
supermarket giants such as the Woolworths (Woolworths.com.au. 2019), Tesco (Tesco.com.
2019) or Walmart (Walmart.com. 2019) have the potential to force the organization towards a
business operations on more low margins.

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Other than this, the excessive increment in wage of the employees in the Australian
market has become a major concern for the company.
Recommendations:
With a precise focus on the findings of the internal analysis, it is recommended that
the company restructures the supply chain of the company for the much required
improvement in their ability of designing the best seller products.
Along with this, the company is expected to increase their product chain with the
products that are different on the basis of the amount and flavours.
Apart from this, the company is recommended to improve their human resources
management techniques with a precise focus on the factors such as wage and work time
characteristics which will be crucial in continuing a sustainable business operations for the
company.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it is understandable that the company has the capability to
become one of the largest retail giant of Australia. However, the factors such as the business
competition, concerns regarding the human resource management and the insufficient
products have become major challenges for the mentioned company. The success of the
company in eradicating these challenges is crucial in improving the sustainability of their
business operations.

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References:
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Coles.com.au. 2019. About Coles. [online] Available at: https://www.coles.com.au/about-
coles
Coles.com.au. 2019. Coles Supermarkets. [online] Available at: https://www.coles.com.au/
Colescareers.com.au. 2019. Coles Careers. [online] Available at:
https://www.colescareers.com.au/about-us/our-brands
Colescareers.com.au. 2019. Coles Careers. [online] Available at:
https://www.colescareers.com.au/students-and-graduates/our-operations-graduate-program/
about-the-program
Colesgroup.com.au. 2019. Coles Group | A trusted retailer, delivering quality value and
service. [online] Available at: https://www.colesgroup.com.au/home/
Li, Y., Xu, L. and Li, D., 2013. Examining relationships between the return policy, product
quality, and pricing strategy in online direct selling. International Journal of Production
Economics, 144(2), pp.451-460.
Tesco.com. 2019. Tesco - Supermarkets | Online Groceries, Clubcard & Recipes. [online]
Available at: https://www.tesco.com/
Todorova, G., 2015. Marketing communication mix. Trakia Journal of sciences, 13(1),
pp.368-374.
Walmart.com. 2019. Walmart.com | Save Money. Live Better.. [online] Available at:
https://www.walmart.com/
Woolworths.com.au. 2019. Home [online] Available at: https://www.woolworths.com.au/

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Zolnowski, A., Weiß, C. and Böhmann, T., 2014, January. Representing Service Business
Models with the Service Business Model Canvas--The Case of a Mobile Payment Service in
the Retail Industry. In 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp.
718-727). IEEE.