Implementing Effective Inventory Management to Drive Business Growth

The Woolworths group requires a certain IT management strategy to handle matters within the organization, which includes a systematic and proper structure incorporating different committees. The corporate governance process aims to utilize IT management skills in constructing policies and implementing them properly. To improve its sectors, the organization develops a plan for 2-3 years, focusing on inventory management, cost reduction, customer satisfaction, and employee training.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
IS strategy of Woolsworth Company
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

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Executive Summary
The purpose of the summary is to state about a business firm and analyze its IS strategy and
IT management. The organization chosen here is the Woolworths Company of Australia,
which elaborates on the nature the business of the organization. The organization was
described on the facts of its corporate governance. There are various committees, which carry
out specific functional process in the field of IT and others. It follows a strict trading policy in
order to align itself with the guidelines of the organization. The governance structure is being
seen through its regulatory requirements in terms of technological process. The
improvements for the Woolworths Organization are needed to be followed to make the
corporate governance of the organization to do better performances in future.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Governance structure, process and policies...............................................................................4
Governance structure.............................................................................................................4
Governance process of Woolsworth group............................................................................4
Governance IT based policies of Woolsworth group.............................................................6
The corporate officers and their roles........................................................................................7
Regulatory requirements............................................................................................................9
Risk Management.....................................................................................................................11
Improvements...........................................................................................................................13
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................14
References................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
Woolworths Limited in regarded as one of the companies having a vast retail interest
throughout New Zealand and Australia. It as well follows particular IT strategy to carry out
their business with the implementation of the modern technologies to carry out their work
(woolworthsgroup, 2017). It is the most attractive supermarket based on the program of
loyalty. It has the biggest chain of supermarket and it has its operations in 996 stores across
the country Australia. It is considered the second largest company of Australia. It has
specialty in grocery, which focuses on delivering the best quality based products to the
customers. It is the house of favorite brands of Australia and they are committed in giving the
lowest prices to Australians every day (woolworthsgroup, 2017). The aspiration of the group,
which makes the customers and team to work safely together and safety, is termed as an
important value and it makes sure that the business is carried out in a more systematic way
through the implementation of the proper IS strategy (Van & Broos, 2012). The mission of
the organization is to deliver the value and quality to their customers. In order to fulfill the
needs of the customers, the supermarket employ more than 21, 0000 team members who
would be in the position to serve 30 million customers across the brands every week.
Woolworths is also a trustworthy business partner of the local manufacturers and farmers.
The Woolworths store in the world, which uses the registers of cash, gives its customers its
print receipts (woolworthsgroup, 2017). To keep this nature of business in mind, it is
important to discuss the structure of the governance and its policies in the organization (Van
& Broos, 2012). The important roles that are being played by the corporate officers in the
organization. Along with this, it is significant to point out the governmental policies and
structures, which reflects on the regulatory requirements. In what ways the organization
addresses and mitigates risk. Lastly the impacts and internal changes in the organization,
which might affect the working of the organization.

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Governance structure, process and policies
Governance structure
The Governance structure of the Woolsworth organization has set forth a number of
important documents and policies (woolworthsgroup, 2017). The structure of the organization
reflects on the working of the organization of Australia and how they accordingly carry out
the processes of business.
The Board Committees of the Woolworths group of Australia includes
 Audit Committee
 IT committee
 Compliance and Risk Committee
 Committee on Sustainability
 Ethics and Social Committee
 Committee of Nominations
 Committee of Remuneration
 Board Charter, terms of Governance and Reference Policies
Governance process of Woolworths group
The Board’s act is regarded as an important custodian of the corporate governance
which incorporates the ethical responsibilities and principles based on ethics, which drives a
set of directions in a route where the specific areas of the governance are needed to be
approached, conducted and addressed through the process of IS strategy (woolworthsgroup,
2017; Van & Broos, 2012) . It has remained responsible to the transparency and accountable
to the fundamentals that would give safeguard to the values of the stakeholders. The group
contains a unitary board, which consists of 15 directors, among them ten is regarded as the

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directors of non-executive and five executive directors (Scholes, 2015; Tricker & Tricker,
2015).
Audit Committee: The function of the committee is to provide an overall view of the
effectiveness about the controls of the internal financial matter, in order to give assistance the
board in monitoring to understand the adherence of the Annual Financial statement of the
company and the related external reports.
IT committee: The role of the IT committee is to look through the proper capital projects and
can make the proper development and implementation, which is related to IT. It checks the
growth of the important indicators of performance which incorporate the delivery of the
money (Slack, 2015).
Risk and Compliance committee: The role of the committee is to give assistance to the board
to set a direction about how risk would be approached and mitigated while embracing the
inclusiveness of the approach of stakeholders
Committee on Sustainability: The primary role of the committee is to give assurance about
the strategies of sustainable development’s position in the group as the leader in the retail
where its presence is operational. It also makes sure that the initiatives based on
sustainability, its objectives are properly taken into consideration into the functions of
business, and to make sure the group operates in a more responsible manner while aligning
with the needs of society.
Ethics and Social Committee: The role of the committee is to make sure about the activities
of the group which are intended to be responsible citizen of corporate world. To give
assistance to the board of an ethical organizational culture, by overseeing the conduct of a

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group, its approach and the manner in which the business would be conducted
(woolworthsgroup, 2017)
Committee of Nominations: its basic role is to give assistance to the boards with nominations,
elections and appointing the directors to make sure that a transparent and process of
accountability to indicate the composition of the board and committee (Slack, 2015).
Committee of remuneration: The significant role of this committee is to give assurance that
the value proposition of the employee promotes responsible, transparent and reasonable
practices of the employment while adopting the policies of remuneration. It also makes sure
that the establishment of perfect framework of remuneration and also adopting the policies of
remuneration (woolworthsgroup, 2017).
Board charter: The deliberations of the board are to give guidance and support by the
authority of delegations, both of which have been annually reviewed. The authority of
deliberations set forth the matters of delegation by the board to its committees and the groups
of the executive officers.
Governance IT based policies of Woolsworth group
Continuous Disclosure policy: It assists the company with its obligations under the act
of Corporations Act of 2001 and the listing rules of ALX. It establishes a framework to allow
the Woolworths to provide the market and shareholders with direct, timely and equal access
to the information, which has to be relevant about the company. It promotes in the confidence
in the investor while integrating with the Woolworths and its securities.
Trading Policy: Trading with the organization follows Transaction Delivery Network,
which is regarded as an important electronic document (woolworthsgroup, 2017; Bodie,
2013). The B2BE TDN also initiates the connection between the other B2BE solutions and

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products. The group’s trading policy maintains and promotes the reputation of the company.
The policy details out the law, which are related to the trading insider, and details of the
requirements of the company is related to the dealings of both Woolsoworths and other
companies. The policy applies to the group of directors, employees and officers, consultants
as well as the contractors (Wintoki, Linck & Neter, 2012).
Safety and health policy: the organization cares about the safety and health of the
customers, team members, visitors and the business partners. They follow the principles of
actively showing care to each other, being responsible for the decisions, which are needed to
be taken. The company looks forward to apply the risk management to prevent the illness and
injuries (woolworthsgroup, 2017). The organization looks forward to align with the laws and
the other external requirements. The organization as well looks forward to provide
information, instructions on training and the supervision so that the members of the team
carry out the work appropriately and safely. Also the organization makes sure that the safety
and health information is available (Wintoki, Linck & Neter, 2012).
Communication policy: In addition to initiating a communication on the regular basis
with the stakeholders through the use of websites, the company utilizes its Annual General
Meeting (AGM) as an opportunity to engage with the company’s stakeholders and seek their
work on the company’s management. Woolworths also provide stakeholders who cannot
attend the meeting with an opportunity to give the questions when the meeting is in advance.
The company through this policy also allows the stakeholders lodge their electronically
proxies (Bodie, 2013).
The corporate officers and their roles
Gordon Cairns as Chairman: The role of the chairman is to manage and provide
leadership to the Directors of Board of the company (Goetsch, 2014). He is accountable to

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Board and performs as a direct communication between the management of the company and
the board, through the CEO.
Brad Banducci as a managing director and CEO: The leadership of a CEO is
ultimately responsible for the day to day decisions of the management and also implementing
the long and short term plans of the company (Goetsch, 2014). It acts as a communication
between the management of the company and board and communicates to the board on the
behalf of management (woolworthsgroup, 2017).
William Stone as IT manager: The company follows IS strategy which incorporate the
human capital management, cost management, Management of hardware and software and
also looks forward to mitigate on the risk management. He works closely with the budget of
business and other departments of legal within the sphere of organization.
Julian Broadbent as an Independent non- executive Director: He is not engaged in the
management on the day-to-day basis, but he is involved in the process of policymaking.
Addition to this, the directors who are non- executive has the responsibilities to incorporate
the monitoring of the director and acting according to the interest of the stakeholders of
company (woolworthsgroup, 2017; Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014).
Holly Kramer as an independent non-executive director: Its role is to create a
contribution to the board by giving an oversight of constructive challenges to the directors.
Kenneth Jones as policy maker must be engaged in the consultation process. The role
of the policy maker is to procure information in a careful process through the process of
consultation. The development of the policies inculcates the collection of the statistical
information, chairing the forums based on discussions and trying to seek information from
the outside of the organization.

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Richard Dammery as a Chief Legal Officer: A chief legal officer which started trading the
company in order to minimize its risks by giving advice to the officers of the company and
the board members on any types of regulatory or legal issues (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014).
Regulatory requirements
The Governance wants its vendors to align with their lawful obligations in every
respect. This is a condition, which is based in supply. The standard of WQA is not
determined to carry out its operation as a replacement for the vendor which gives assurance
about the compliance with all the regulatory products based on safety labeling the
requirements and compositional (Hall, Gardner & Faraone, 2012). By rendering the standard
of WQA, the organization cannot realize the Vendor from the obligations in order to comply,
in the field of respects with those requirements, which are statutory. By following the act of
Gramm-Leach-Bliley, it renders protection to the privacy and security about the customers
and letting the customers not to disclose their information. The proper IT strategy is to
maintain certain important points in mind (Hall, Gardner & Faraone, 2012). To establish and
implementation of the controls
 Give protection to the compliances issues.
 Identify and correct the deviations and vulnerabilities.
 Providing report which can give proof on the compliance of the organization.
The references below would provide about an overview of the regulatory considerations for
the business of Woolworths.
Food

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 FSANZ developed the standard of food and joint codes of practices with the
industries which is covering the content about the food labeling which would be sold
to Australia and New Zealand.
 The NMI implements the measures of trade in relation to Australia.
Products for the consumers: Australia
 The TGA is the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) which is providing
safeguard to the public health and safety through the regulation of the medical
devices, medicines, tissues and blood (Coffee et al., 2015).
 Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, which stands for ARTG, is a database
of computer of the goods, which are therapeutic.
 The Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) is an
authority of Government who is responsible for assessing and registering the
pesticides and the veterinary medicines for their regulation to incorporate the
points of the sale of retail (woolworthsgroup, 2017).
 ACCC which stands for Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
which is an authority of statutory which is responsible for ensuring the individuals
and being compliance with the business with the competition of the
commonwealth, protection of the consumer laws and a fair trading.
 The payment Card industry and the information of the cardholder security
program (CISP) and the main purpose is to render protection against the exposure
of the card holder which ensures the merchants, members and the service holders
to control the information of the highest security standard (woolworthsgroup,
2017).

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The Governance structure of the organization reflects on the proper regulatory requirements
and it also focuses on the fact that with the maintenance of the proper regulations with the
channels of communication and rendering protection to the customers as whole.
Risk Management
The Board of the Woolworths Group accepts the responsibility for the risk of the governance.
The Board takes into account about the risk management as an important business which
incorporate
 Balancing of the risks and giving rewards to both new and existing initiatives
 Protection of the organization against any kinds of hazards and uncertainties.
 It takes into consideration about the exploitation of the opportunities which can bring
improvements to the performances of the group.
 It focuses on the strategy, operational and financial risks.
The responsibilities on the day to day basis have been identified and management of the
risks stays with the management (woolworthsgroup, 2017; McNeil, Frey & Embrechts,
2015).
The management is responsible for the designing of the board, implementation and
monitoring the system and the process of the risk management to unite with the activities
on the day-to-day basis. The risk management has been decentralized into the operations
of business functions. The management of risk has turned into a standardized discipline
business and its application is consistent throughout the group (Wintoki, Linck & Neter,
2012; McNeil, Frey & Embrechts, 2015). The process of the risk management is added
with the business and strategic planning which is embedded through the management of

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the organization, the performance of the system of the management and the reporting
based on management.
The operation under the terms of reference which has been approved by the board, the
committee of the risk gives report to the Board which further elaborates on the risk which
are deemed necessary for the process of discussion and the evaluation by the directors.
The risk and compliance committee’s chairman are basis on the important issues to the
Board and the risky profile is given on the table yearly (McNeil, Frey & Embrechts,
2015)
The framework of the risk management was processed and designed to give assistance
to the board to give assurance that the monitor of the management continually risks and
gives report back to the compliance committee of the risk on the basis of the status of
risks.
Information technology and Governance is responsible for controlling the governance
about the other aspects of the IT, which incorporate the management risk and the
compliances. The quarterly based IT report is discussed at each committee of the Risk
and Compliance committee (woolworthsgroup, 2017; McNeil, Frey & Embrechts, 2015).
The framework of Governance, which is accepted internationally, made a confirmation
that the maturity of the process of IT is desired with the levels of maturity. The assurance
based on independence by the internal audit made a confirmation. The Group of the
organization also made the progress is developing the appetite of the risk for managing
the important risks that could be materially impacted on the business. Accordingly, the
important metrics of risks have been grown with the integration of the important
indicators which are clearly defined (Kaplan & Mikes, 2012).

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Improvements
Woolworths agreed on the three contracts to bring improvements in its business which
is earning A$1.5 billion in the proceeds of gross as the biggest grocer of Australia revenue
seeks for a return to the profitability (Laudon & Laudon, 2016).
The deal incorporates the selling of Woolworth’s hardware group and home timber to
the smaller rival name Metcash for A$165 million. Woolworths is also looking forward to
close down its sixty- one number of master properties and 20 sites of development to the
group of investors in the Home consortium (Laudon & Laudon, 2016; Easterby, Thorpe &
Jackson, 2012). The decision taken which means the management cans concenrate on the
important business. According to the CEO of the Woolworths group, the agreement provides
certainty to the master’s team of the organization, customers and suppliers. It is considered as
an appropriate resolution for the shareholders. The share of the Woolworths have nearly lost
30% of the value since the year 2014 (woolworthsgroup, 2017; Cummings & Worley, 2014).
The Woolworths needs to manage its inventory or else the shelves of the store cannot
control the proper balance between the customer demand and the appropriate amount of
merchandise and would fail to know the customer demand (Lam, 2014).
In order to maintain the margin, the Woolworths group is needed to cut out its cost in
order to satisfy the customers.
The team of the process design must continue to engage the communication of
business through the organization which is process centric and providing benefits to the
different projects (Lam, 2014). The organization must focus on the return policies, analyze
the complaints in order to reduce the problems for future use. Give training to the employees
and must look forward to work with the customers in a much more professional manner.

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Conclusion:
Therefore, to conclude it could be stated that Woolworths holding is a famous organization in
the organization and it follows certain IT management strategy in terms of handling matters
in the organization. It follows a systematic and proper structure which incorporate different
committees and how each of the committee is carrying out their work. The process of the
corporate governance likes to see forward about utilizing the IT management skills in terms
of constructing policies and implementing them properly in terms of maintaining the proper
guidelines of the organization. The corporate officers also play an important role while
carryout the functions of the organization. However, the regulatory requirements follow the
concepts of IT management while carrying out their working sphere smooth. Certain rules
and regulations are being guided by the It management to carry out the smooth working of
the firm. Next, it is been discussed how the organization would follow certain policies in
order to bring improvements in its sectors by developing a plan for 2- 3 years.

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References
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stakeholder management. Nelson Education.
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learning.
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techniques and tools. Princeton university press.
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Slack, N. (2015). Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Tricker, R. B., & Tricker, R. I. (2015). Corporate governance: Principles, policies, and
practices. Oxford University Press, USA.
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