Organisational structures and international expansion

This report discusses the impact of digital technologies on the international expansion strategy of Sainsbury, a UK-based supermarket organization. It also explains how organizational structures and functions can facilitate expansion. The report covers topics such as the hierarchical structure of Sainsbury, the role of different functional areas, and the impact of digital technologies on communication and research and development.

Organisational
structures and
international
expansion

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
The organizational structures and functions are suitable to facilitate the expansion. ................3
Explain the impact of digital technologies on the international expansion strategy :.................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES:...............................................................................................................................8
Books and Journals:....................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Internationalisation means to the firm which focuses on enhancing its footprints or gain
the larger market area outside of its national boundaries by tapping into the global markets. The
trend of international corporate towards the globalisation has assisted in the betterment of the
economy of world into the province of internationalisation, in which world's economy can be
majorly linked because of the cross nation finance as well as commerce. They are highly affected
by each others country practices and also the improvement of the economy (Adnan Bataineh,
2019). The following report is based on the company Sainsbury which is one of the largest
supermarket organisation specialises in groceries. The respective firm is founded in 1869 The
following report will cover about the organizational structures and functions are suitable to
facilitate the expansion. Moreover to this, it will include about the impact of digital technologies
have on their international expansion strategy.
MAIN BODY
TASK
The organizational structures and functions are suitable to facilitate the expansion.
Overview of the organisation:
The report is based on Sainsbury which was founded by John James Sainsbury in the
Dury Lane, United Kingdom. Organisation is one of the top retailer of England. The respective
firm is planning to expand their retail business in Indian Market in order to increase their brand
value as well as profitably. In addition to this, respective firm is focusing on adopting several
strategies in order to appropriately expand in the market share of India.
Organisational Structure:
Organisational structure refers to the specific practices which are delegated in accordance
to accomplishment of the goals and objectives of the company (Fainshmidt and et. al., 2020) . It
focuses on the roles and obligations of the workers in the firm. In addition to this, the more
responsibility as well as authority a worker have, they will be more higher on the structure of the
company. Moreover, if the structure of the company is more organised then the working of firm
will be more efficient. In context to the company Sainsbury, management is working on the
hierarchical structure. This structure means to he chain of command of the organisation. It
function on the basis from the higher level management to the general workers. In simple words,

this type of structure applies to the company with the single leader and underneath it the flow of
associates as well as general employees below them (Roberts, 2018). Moreover to this, in order
to expand their business in the market of India. This structure is very helpful as in it, roles and
responsibilities of the workers in this structure are allotted in accordance to their skills and
experience so this can help firm in expanding their operations in the Indian Markets with ease. In
addition to this, with the help of this structure company can send their expatriates in the new
market area which can help them in providing training to the workers of the respective market.
The existing structure of the company will allow the management to instil its organisational
values as well as work ethic in the new market. This will allow the company to position positive
organisational structure as well as assist the worker in motivating them.
Organisational Functions:
In order to expand a business, organisation requires to have a appropriate expansion plan.
A healthy business function refers to the working and taking care of the several domains of the
organisation. Such organisational functional areas combines tasks as well as skill in order to
manage the characteristic of the company which possess their own understanding. Few of the
common functional areas are like finance, sales, marketing, human resource, customer service
which is required by all the organisations in order to be more successful for the long term. In
context to the Sainsbury, these functions can assist firm in making sure that all the essential
commercial practices in order to expand in India are carried out effectively as well as efficiently.
In accordance to determine that these functional areas can support in expansion in the new
market area is mentioned below briefly :
 Human Resource Department – Human resource is the section of the company which is
obliged with finding, monitoring, hiring and providing training to the employees and also
working on the employee benefit programs (Luo and Tung, 2018) . Human resource have
an essential role in supporting firms to function with the dynamic environment of the
business and it offers the major need for the quality as well as talented workers. This
division of the company is focused in increasing the performance and productivity of the
workers as well as it prevents and solves several conflicts which might arise in the staff
of the firm. The division of the human resource adapts several human resource techniques
which has an essential role in the smooth internationalisation. In context to the Sainsbury,

 Research and Development Department – This division is also known as R&D and it is
obliged for conducting research of the market and evaluating various ways of
development. The following department functions on researching from the rival. The
effectual operation of this division is to offer a company with the edge over their
competitors from different companies by evaluating and researching the growth ways. In
case of the respective firm, management can conduct the appropriate research in order to
know and understand the needs and wants of the consumers in India which can help them
in introducing such products or services that can be majorly preferred by the people in the
new market area (Beugelsdijk, Ambos and Nell, 2020) . Company also need to conduct a
proper research regarding the modification of the product in accordance to the spending
capabilities of the people in the new market share. So, it will support them in smoothly
expanding the firm in India.
 Finance Department – This division is majorly accountable for managing the monetory
activities in the firm and utilising effectually and efficiently in several types and areas.
This division is also responsible for maintaining the books of the company in which they
can record all the business transactions. It also functions in investing their revenue in
different modes. In relation to the Sainsbury, this department can support the firm in
allocating the funds in order to expand in the new market area as well as on the basis of
the current performance of the market in India, this department can assist in making
several financial strategies which can be applied in the business expansion such as
making the financial budget, conducting the risk assessment and many more.
 Customer Service Department – This division is accountable for enhancing the
satisfaction of the consumers. It is the done with the purpose of engaging as well as
retaining the group of people and also assist the consumers in after sale services in order
to make them more satisfied with the brand by solving their issues regarding the product
or service. Also, the focus on taking essential feedback regarding the product and the
services of the company. In context to the Sainsbury, moreover, the consumer satisfaction
helps the business for the purpose of globalisation as the satisfaction of the customer
retains them to the services of the business which ultimately aids in the growth of the
business (Reuber and et. al., 2018).

 Marketing Department – This is one of the most essential division of the organisation.
As it is made to let the customers of the company to be advised regarding the brand and
its offerings. In order to perform all such practices, the department utilises several kinds
of methods. Few of the methods which this department utilises to advertise about the
offerings of the company as well as bran awareness in the market. In regards of the
respective firm Sainsbury, management can focus on making various promotional
activities of the new market area of the company. It will help them in increasing their
brand value and goodwill of the organisation which will lead to the more sale of the
company. So, it will help the firm in expanding their business in new market area which
can lead to the success as well as growth.
Explain the impact of digital technologies on the international expansion strategy :
Digital technology is the use of technological innovations that are digitally usable such as
computing, mobile phones and online gaming. It is highly trending as considered as the future of
the world. People are getting relayed on these innovates to perform their daily routine work as it
has became as part of their life (Hannibal and Knight, 2018) . It is contained of all the electronic
devices, automatic systems that can work in storing and generating information. All the new
technologies – websites, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and other block chain
technologies. These keep on upgrading rapidly with the time that is promoting the process of a
evolving world. The up gradation is done with the motive of proving the users with higher
amount of satisfaction with more value and making the process of communicating, storing and
some other processes as easy and efficient.
Internationalisation is the process of a business entity to increase in presence in other
parts of the world with the motive of targetting a larger marketplace. It is a complex process that
high amount of investment in establishing a manufacturing plant, distributing stores or
researching the market. To assure the return of the investment used, certain strategies are made
to follow a strong path. The forming and implementing of these strategies for expansion of the
presence of the company, is known as international expansion strategy. This are made by
considering the demands and culture elements of the consumers of the new market as different
market has different types of wants and satisfactions level. Digital technologies are highly used
by the multinational companies in their process of international expansion strategy forming to

build effective strategies. The impact of these digital technologies is high and considerable.
Some of these impacts have been mentioned and discussed in the following points :
 The mobile phones and social media are some type of digital technology tools make the
communication process easy and efficient. The global expansion need a strong
communication with the headquartered or other presence of the company to be aware of
the changing policies and methods of the company. The communication modes of digital
technology highly helps in this and make the easy communication between different parts
of the world.
 Research and development is a basic and developmental function of a business entity that
has the responsibility of researching the changing trends of the new markets and
developing and modifying its product / services according to them. The different types of
digital technological tools such as websites and artificial intelligent greatly help a
company to read the market which is a very hard and complex process when practised
physically in the market without using these type of digital tools (Sklyar and et. al.,
2019) .
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that internationalisation refers to the company that
concentrates on expanding the operations of the business outside of the national boundaries of
the company. In addition to this, organisational structure refers to the practices for like allocation
of the work and monitoring the guided towards the accomplishment of the goals of the company.
Moreover to this, an appropriate organisational function means to the functioning of the various
departments of the company. Furthermore, effect of the digital technology on the strategy of the
international expansion is also very much essential for the growth and success of the company in
the new market area.

REFERENCES:
Books and Journals:
Adnan Bataineh, K., 2019. Impact of work-life balance, happiness at work, on employee
performance. International Business Research, 12(2), pp.99-112.
Beugelsdijk, S., Ambos, B. and Nell, P.C., 2020. Conceptualizing and measuring distance in
international business research: Recurring questions and best practice guidelines.
In Research methods in international business (pp. 449-498). Palgrave Macmillan,
Cham.
Fainshmidt, S and et. al., 2020. The contributions of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to
international business research. Journal of International Business Studies, 51(4),
pp.455-466.
Hannibal, M. and Knight, G., 2018. Additive manufacturing and the global factory: Disruptive
technologies and the location of international business. International Business
Review, 27(6), pp.1116-1127.
Luo, Y. and Tung, R.L., 2018. A general theory of springboard MNEs. Journal of International
Business Studies, 49(2), pp.129-152.
Reuber, A.R and et. al., 2018. International entrepreneurship: The pursuit of entrepreneurial
opportunities across national borders. Journal of International Business Studies, 49(4),
pp.395-406.
Roberts, J., 2018. Multinational business service firms: The development of multinational
organisational structures in the UK business services sector. Routledge.
Sklyar, A and et. al., 2019. Organizing for digital servitization: A service ecosystem
perspective. Journal of Business Research, 104, pp.450-460.