Business Management and strategic management

The report analyzes the strategic capability of Woolworths through VRIO framework. It assesses the resources of the organization and identifies key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report proposes strategic initiatives for product and service innovation and development.

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Business Management and strategic management

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Business Management and strategic management 1
Executive summary
The report will consider the strategic capability analysis for which the resources of the
organization will be assessed through VRIO strategic framework to assess which of the resources
of the organization can lead to competitive advantage for the firm. From the previous
assignment analysis it can be found that the technological environment and environmental
factors could provide opportunity to the company. Moreover the opportunities identified were
significant growth, implementation of carbon taxation, strategic acquisitions.
From the resources that have analysed in the previous section it can be said that the key strength
found for Woolworth that have reflected a sustainable competitive advantage for the company
are distribution network, financial resource, employees of the company and patents that the
company acquired. The key opportunities and found for the Woolworth through which
Woolworth would turn out the competitive disadvantage into competitive advantage. One of the
strategic initiatives that are recommended to Woolworth is product and service innovation and
development. It has been identified that one of the threats for the company is lack of research and
development due to which the company has not been able to innovate to larger extent while
offering products to the customers.

Business Management and strategic management 2
Contents
Executive summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
VRIO analysis..................................................................................................................................4
Financial resource........................................................................................................................5
Human resource...........................................................................................................................5
Food products..............................................................................................................................5
Patents..........................................................................................................................................6
Cost structure...............................................................................................................................6
Distribution network....................................................................................................................6
Research and development..........................................................................................................7
Swot analysis...................................................................................................................................7
Generic business strategy................................................................................................................8
Proposal strategic initiative............................................................................................................11
Product innovation and development........................................................................................11
Service innovation and development.........................................................................................12
Suitability of your strategic initiative............................................................................................13
Strategy implementation plan........................................................................................................14
Balanced scorecard........................................................................................................................16
Strategy map..................................................................................................................................20
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................22
References......................................................................................................................................24

Business Management and strategic management 3
Introduction
The external and internal environments are most relevant aspect for an organization to consider
while assessing the strategy of a company. The report will consider the strategic capability
analysis for which the resources of the organization will be assessed through VRIO strategic
framework to assess which of the resources of the organization can lead to competitive
advantage for the firm. From the report the key strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats
from the resources identified for the Woolworth will be conducted in the report further. After
analysing the resources and external environment of Woolworths the current business strategy
will be analysed on the basis of porters generic business strategy (woolworths, 2019). From
analysing the internal environment of Woolworth a strategic initiative will be proposed which
will be suitable for the organisation and the environment, for which the strategy implementation
plan will be prepared while scheduling the activities that need to be a team to implement that
plan through Gantt chart. Another strategic framework is like a balanced scorecard and strategy
map will be prepared for Woolworth in order to analyse the strategy proposed and to be
implemented for the company (woolworthsgroup, 2018).
Woolworth is one of the popular Australian retail chain companies which initiated while
providing affordable groceries to the residents of Australia, which has expanded the business
internationally in various regions. From the previous assignment analysis it can be found that the
technological environment and environmental factors could provide an opportunity to the
company. Moreover the opportunities identified were significant growth, implementation of
carbon taxation, strategic acquisitions (woolworths.co.za, 2018). However the threats identified
were increasing raw material, rivalry among major retailers and very buyer purchasing
behaviour. Moreover the industry was analysed with the help of porters five forces model which
reflected that the threat of new entrants and rivalry among the competitors are the key threat for
Woolworth in near future which must be considered while preparing strategy implementation
plan in the report further (woolworthsgroup, 2016).

Business Management and strategic management 4
VRIO analysis
The resources of an organisation can be competencies for that company as it can turn into a
sustainable competitive advantage for an organisation. In order to assist the strategic capabilities
of Woolworths VRIO analysis will be considered (Chatzoglou & Chatzoudes, 2018). The four
major criteria on which the resources will be analysed into new valuable that reflect the value of
the resourceful an organisation, imitable which reflects the degree to which competitor can
imitate that resources, rare which reflect the rareness of the resource for an organisation. Fourth
criteria include organisational capability that will reflect the capability of an organisation to turn
raw material into an asset or optimum utilization of the resources available (Choi & Park, 2016).
The resources of Woolworth to be analysed include
Resources Valuable Rare Non Imitable Organizationa
l capability
Competitive
advantage
Financial
resource
Y Y Y Y Sustainable
competitive
advantage
Human
resource
Y N N Y Temporary
competitive
advantage
Food
products
Y N N N Temporary
competitive
advantage
Patents Y Y Y Y Sustainable
competitive
advantage
Cost
structure
N N N N Competitive
disadvantage
Distribution
network
Y Y Y Y Sustainable
competitive

Business Management and strategic management 5
advantage
Research
and
development
N N N N Competitive
disadvantage
Financial resource
A financial resource is a first and foremost resource that is highly valuable and has been able to
support investment into external opportunities identified by the company in order to combat
external threats. Since these resources are available with the competitors as well these resources
are not rare as per the VRIO analysis however different sources are not available with all the
companies and are only possessed by small number of companies in retail industry (Huggins &
Thompson, 2015). Similarly the financial resources could be costly to imitate by the competitors
as raising finance through prolonged profits are difficult for new entering companies and
competitors in the industry however this resource is not a major imitable resource (Muller &
Nagle, 2017). In addition, financial resources are optimally organised by Woolworths which
reflect organisation capability criteria is also considered and this resource is found to be
sustained competitive advantage for the company (woolworths, 2019).
Human resource
As per the statistics in 2016 human resource of Woolworths were found to be 1,15,000 people
only in operational department of Woolworth in Australia which reflect that the human resource
teams in the company are very large and strong and create value to the company as highly
trained employees can be a major cause for productive output in an organisation. Moreover the
retention level of the employees in Woolworths is high which a valuable resource is also for the
company. In addition to this human resource are found to be a rare resource for the organisation
as availability of skilled and trained employees or not acknowledged with all the new entering
and competitive companies. However, the human resource is not costly to imitate, which reflect
these criteria to provide temporary competitive advantage for Woolworth (Javed, 2015).
Food products
Food products are procured by the company through local suppliers which reflect it as a valuable
resource, the reason being the company has been invested into grocery and the procurement

Business Management and strategic management 6
products turned out to be highly differentiated from its competitor us. However the evidence
suggests that these resources are not rare as it can be used by Woolworth competitors in the
similar manner that is to procure local food product which can also imitate due to low cost of
imitation. However these are optimally organised by the Woolworth which reflects that local
food products are temporary competitive advantage for Woolworth (Amabile & Rigolizzo,
2015).
Patents
Patents of Woolworths include licenses and help the company to earn licensing revenue which
reflects a valuable resource for the company to trade it products and services without any
interference of competitors which resulted into higher revenue for the company. Since patents
are not available easily, these are rare resource and costly to imitate for the competitors and new
entrant companies. Moreover the organisation was able to organise in order to capture the value
of patents which reflect sustainable competitive advantage for Woolworth and one of the
relevant resources that can change potential of the company and sustain competition of
advantage (Mitchell, 2018).
Cost structure
The cost structure is an identified source of Woolworths that found to be not a valuable resource
for the company and can cause the higher cost to the company and could result in a too
complicated disadvantage for the company. This also reflects that this is not a rare resource and
could turn out to be competitive advantage for the competitors instead of Woolworth which
reflect one of the threats or competitive disadvantage of Woolworths (Andersson, 2016).
Distribution network
The distribution network of Woolworth is found to be valuable resource which has enabled the
company to reach out to large number of customers into various nations and increase the revenue
of the company. The distribution network was also able to make sure that the promotional
activities in which the Woolworth has invested are turned out into sales figure for the company.
Moreover distribution network is found to be a rare resource as this with technology amount of
time and investment by the competitors to introduce a better distribution network which can only
be possessed by some of the large companies or competitors in the retail industry (Dewald &

Business Management and strategic management 7
Osiyevskyy, 2015). In addition to this a better distribution network is very costly to imitate by
the competitor which also reflects that the distribution network of highly organised by
Woolworth and are a major source of sustainable competitive advantage for the company and a
resource that need to be maintained by the company in order to gain and competitive advantage
in long run (Betton, 2017).
Research and development
Research and development is found to be one of the most important resources that a company
require in order to be innovative and increase the production efficiency of the company, which is
not found effective for Woolworth as the research and development is not a valuable resource for
the company and the company has not invested a large amount in this resource which could be
one of the competitive disadvantages for the company as other competitors in retail industry are
working towards innovation through research and development process only (Javed, 2015).
Swot analysis
Strength Weakness
 Distribution network
 Financial resource
 Patents
 Human resource
 Cost structure
 Lack of research and development
 Increased competition that will impact
the imitability of resource
Opportunity Threat
 New product development
 Cost minimization
 Product diversification
 Food products
 Supplier availability
 Increase in cost of raw materials
Strengths
 Distribution network – The value chain reflect effective distribution network, helping in
better supplier relation

Business Management and strategic management 8
 Financial resource – Strong financial resource help the company to increase investment
opportunity
 Patents - These are rare resource and costly to imitate for the competitors and new entrant
companies
 Human resource – Strong human resource has improved the operating opportunity, and
better organizational performance.
Weakness
 Cost structure – The cost structure of the company is not supporting the cost leadership
strategy of company
 Lack of research and development – The investment in Research and development is low,
which decrease the innovation level.
 Increased competition – This has impacted the imitability of resource
Opportunity
 New product development – This will include increase in innovative products and
services through store offering
 Cost minimization – This will help the company to support cost leadership strategy
 Product diversification – This may include investing in new product rage and
diversification.
Threat
 Food products - Food products are procured by the company through local suppliers
which are not rare as it can be used by Woolworth competitors.
 Supplier availability - The Company deal in grocery, where supplier availability at all the
international location is major threat to conduct effective business.
 Increase in cost of raw materials - The raw material cost will directly affect the cost of
production for the company, decreasing the profit margin for the company.
From the resources that have analysed in the previous section it can be said that the key strength
found for Woolworth that have reflected a sustainable competitive advantage for the company is
distribution network, financial resource, employees of the company and patents that the company

Business Management and strategic management 9
acquired. However there have been some weaknesses identified like cost structure as the cost
structure was found to be competitive to disadvantage for the company and lack of research and
development investment was also identified which resulted in a lack of innovation among
Woolworths (Asfaw et al., 2015).
Therefore the key opportunities and found for the Woolworth through which Woolworth would
turn out the competitive disadvantage into a competitive advantage. This includes investment in
research and development in order to search for new product development or innovation through
the services and cost minimization activities in order to structure the costs better and gain
advantage through that organisational capability (Baker & Bowen, 2015) (Liedtka, 2018).
Generic business strategy
Woolworth’s generic business strategy type that has been implementing can be analysed through
the stated strategy statement of the company. The company has built this strategy on the major
six strategic focuses that the company is willing to drive and which will set the business while
delivering in future that will return to sustainable value and long-term profitable growth for the
stakeholders of the business (woolworthsgroup, 2018). The six strategy focuses include
Build stronger
Considering this strategy the company is focusing over the increase in customer relationship as
the evidence suggests that the data drive and customer insight of the company are key to business
decisions by the company as Woolworth have become customer obsessed company. Therefore in
order to enhance the customer retention and customer loyalty the company is looking forward to
achieving this strategy with leading the market in customer loyalty isn’t spending by the
customer increase in detention and membership of the customers (woolworthsholdings, 2019).
Towards connected retail
Another focus of the company considering its strategy is offering services relevant to digital,
engaging and inspiring journey through the in-store experience and digital experience that will
also help the staff of the Woolworths to deliver a brand aligned and consistent customer
experience while also collecting their customers from installing to digital at home (Puck &

Business Management and strategic management 10
Mudambi, 2016). What is the company is looking forward to both be ideal customer experience
by services, format on channel. Moreover the company has been working towards driving online
see you and continue to develop the digital channels with increasing mobile application shopping
experience for the customers (Nyberg et al., 2016).
Be a leading fashion
Another strategy that has been followed by the company and is working to watch the strategy of
being differentiated as the company work towards the quality fashion that the customers must be
looking for in order to have a clear segmentation, innovation, quality ranges and design lead.
Moreover, the company is working towards different shaping the product that we need in the
industry considering the sustainability, quality and innovation (Bailey, 2018).
Becoming a big food business
Another strategy that has been identified is the food business of Woolworths for which the focus
is to provide best quality food products and great value to those goods through flavours freshness
and innovation (Bombiak, 2018).
Driving synergies
Another strategy that has been identified for Woolworth is driving through synergies that are
working towards integration in the business operations across the organisation which will drive
the efficiencies of the company and maintaining the focus on group profitability, cost control and
adding significance to the operations (Bruns, 2013).
Embedded good business journey
The strategy of the company is working towards a good business journey which will make a
difference for community, people and environment of the organisation. The company
encompasses the problems that will matter for a consistent approach and to be stakeholders in
order to maintain sustainability across the value chain of Woolworths (Weisberg, 2006).
From examining current strategies and strategy statement of the company have been using it can
be said that Woolworth has been working towards the cost leadership strategy as per the Michael
porter’s generics strategy grid. As per this strategy, the company is gaining competitive

Business Management and strategic management 11
advantage through targeting a broad market considering costs as the key aspect and keeping costs
and prices of the products are the minimum range in order to attract more customers (Solman,
2017). There are four alternative strategies as per this model, which work towards either the
broad market target or the focused narrow market. Moreover, another factor considering the
generic strategy is focus of the company towards cost or differentiation of the product and
services. The four possible strategies include differentiation focus, cost leadership, cost focus,
and differentiation leadership (Tidd & Bessant, 2013).
However, it has been identified that the company has also integrated the differentiation
leadership strategy in order to game competitive advantage. One of the key issues identified
while analysing the strategy of the company is that the competitors of the company like Aldi and
coles have found to be adopting similar generic strategy that is of cost leadership and since the
company is working towards differentiation and product quality as well the cost leadership
strategy found to be depleted (Tukker & Charter, 2017).
Figure 1: (Source: (Aksoy, 2018)

Business Management and strategic management 12
Proposal strategic initiative
After analysing and the resources that have turned into competitive advantage for Woolworth
and key opportunities and threats, and examining the current generate type of business strategy
of Woolworth it can be said that one of the strategic initiatives that is recommended to
Woolworth is product and service innovation and development (Jaworski, 2018) (Camison &
Fores, 2016).
Product innovation and development
It has been identified that one of the threat for the company is lack of research and development
due to which the company has not been able to innovate to a larger extent while offering
products to the customers. This is the key reason for this strategic initiative for the company to
be recommended (Schlegelmilch, 2016). This may include investing into the product ranges to
be offered to the customer through this retail chain, products like home appliances, home decor
range the reason being the company has always been focused what’s the food products and
selling clothes which reflect limited product range to be offered to the customer whereas the
competitors in the retail industry are dealing in large number of goods for examples amazon
which is the main into every possible consumer goods across the globe (Davis et al., 2016) (Hitt
& Xu, 2016). Through this strategy proposal one of the changes that can be recommended to the
company includes pricing strategy of Woolworths and decision making process. The needs of the
customers must be accommodated to the pricing strategy of the company by making products
available and affordable prices however not compromising the product quality (Coulson-
Thomas, 2017). The change in decision making process would include distinguishing the root
cause of the issues identified in the business process and searching for correct solutions including
innovative solution for improving the business process of decision-making process of the
company. Other than developing product for me market in which the company has been
investing by now, the strategy could also include market development strategy that is to also
good to the market which has not been targeted by the company yet. It has been identified that
the global presence of Woolworth is not as strong as other competitors like Wal-Mart, this
reflects on reports strategy option for the company (Chari & Feng, 2018).

Business Management and strategic management 13
Service innovation and development
Other than the product innovation the proposed strategy recommendation also includes the
service innovation that is providing high-quality products along with good services to the
customer in order to enhance their in-store and digital experience with the company. Considering
today’s consumer behaviour, the customers are looking for services more than the product. For
example one of the services that can include it is Omni channel distribution network that is
distributing products and services through in-store experience, online shopping and the
combination of online and pick up services combination (Quirke, 2017). This service may
include ordering online and picking up the products through nearby stores which will increase
the sales of the company as the customer will be benefited of online sales promotion but can pick
up the product so as to get quick product availability through nearby Woolworth store (Oral,
2014). Thus it can be said that the company needs to work upon the research made to analyse the
consumer behaviour and consumer needs in order to enhance its pricing strategy, types of
services to be offered to the customer and consumer preferences in order to improve the decision
making process of the company, this will eventually affect the level of innovation within the
organisation and combat threats by gaining the opportunities (Pinto & slevin, 1987).
Suitability of your strategic initiative
From external environment analysis done previously, it has been identified that the consumer
behaviour in Australia is looking for various different products and the companies are found to
be focusing over the customer services and marketing due to which the threat of new entrants has
been increase in retail sector of Australia. This reflects one of the best suitability for investing in
research and development in order to search for new products and consumer me so as to offer
new products and services to the customers. This would also increase the innovation level among
the company by offering various services and game competitive advantage and decrease the
threat of new entrant (Menon & Edison, 2015).
Another identified aspect of external environment analysis is rivalry companies increasing
competition that includes Cole’s supermarket. The increasing competition is also because of the
limitation of the product focus by the Woolworths and less diverse range of products. Moreover
online retailers like amazon who has been working towards diverse range of products and all the

Business Management and strategic management 14
consumer goods under one platform have increased competition, which reflects the suitability of
the proposed strategic initiatives that is new product development and innovation (Osman, 2016).
Another identified threats from the external environment analysis included increasing raw
material prices, moreover from the resources also it has been identified that one of the threat is
increasing prices of raw material by the suppliers which eventually reflect that the company
needs to have agile supply chain or alternative to offer to the customer so as to decrease this
threat. This reflects the suitability for the product and service innovation as an increase in
number of products and diverse range of product could decrease the monopoly among the
suppliers that are the local food product suppliers in the market and help the company to
maintain the cost leadership strategy that is currently being implemented (Procter, 2014).
Technological environment of Australia and across the globe has provided an opportunity for the
company to invest into information communication technology in order to increase the efficiency
of the services of the company to be offered to the customer. This also reflects the suitability of
the proposed service innovation strategy that will include use of digitalization that is integration
of technical and physical product availability to the customers through Omni channel distribution
system (Pyka, 2017).
The objective of the company for the next three years includes increase in profitability and
increase in customer retention through the strategic initiative. This objective of the company
reflect the suitability of the proposed strategy that is to introduce with new service and product to
be offered to the customer that will eventually increase the customer satisfaction and increase the
customer loyalty due to availability of the products, the customer will not switch to another
retailer for purchase of the consumer goods. Therefore it can be said that the proposed strategic
initiative is suitable for the Woolworth and as per the external environment and internal
environment of the company (Liedtka, 2018).
Strategy implementation plan
The key objective through the strategic initiative includes an increasing number of products to be
offered to the customers, advanced technical use to increase service innovation and increasing
level of services to be offered to the customer. Another objective include increase in profit of

Business Management and strategic management 15
whom were and costs minimisation as one of the major threat identified was well cost structure
of the company, therefore through better decision making process the company can minimise the
cost implement cost leadership strategy affectively (Alves & Sousa, 2018).
In order to implement the proposed strategic initiative, the changes that need to be implemented
include
Use of technology
As discussed in the previous section, one of the service innovations will include Omni channel
distribution that can be implemented with increase or updated technology, which will include
development of technology and improvement of technology by providing services to the
customer that will be integration of online and offline services (Doole & Lowe, 2008).
Brainstorming activities
Innovation is one of the major activity that needs to be implemented within the organisation in
order to implement this strategy, as the major source of innovation is human resource of the
company who can come up with new idea generation related to new product and service
development, for which brainstorming activities will be an effective activity that could lead to
new ideas which can turn out to be new product to be offered to the customer. This may also
enhance the decision making process of the company because of which the cost structure is also
poor of Woolworths (Greer & Ford, 2005).
Training and development
One part of the proposed strategy can you shit it is to provide high-level services to the customer
in order to improve the customer experience through online and off-line services. For this one of
the better implemented activity to be included in the implementation plan for training and
development to the employees of the company (humancapitalreview, 2017). Services directly
related to the employee efficiency and implementation of competencies of the employees,
therefore in order to enhance the store experience of the customer training needs to be provided
to the employees in order to ensure that the service provided to the customer are suitable and
affected to provide needs of the customers (Hunt & Bicen, 2017)

Business Management and strategic management 16
2020 2021 2022
Tasks
/
activi
ties J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D
Resear
ch and
develo
pment
Brainst
orming
New
idea
selectio
n and
plan
Techno
logical
updatin
g
Trainin
g and
develo
pment
Imple
mentati
on of
new
service
s
Prototy
pe
testing
Launch
of new
product
s
Custo
mer
feedba
ck
Produc
t
innovat
ion
From the Gantt chart for three year plan, it can be said that the key activities identified were
research and development, brainstorming, new idea selection and plan technological
development and update, training and development, implementation of new services, prototype
testing for new products, launch of new product, customer feedback and product innovation. The

Business Management and strategic management 17
process of the implementation of this plan was from research and development in order to
understand the customer needs and external environment analysis to identify the opportunity of
new product and service. The last step after customer feedback is product innovation that will
continue as per this strategic initiative in order to sustain in the industry and act as a part of
evaluation and control of the strategy (Kaynak, 2018).
Balanced scorecard
Balance scorecard of Woolworths
Perspectiv
e
Objectives Measures Target
s
Initiatives
Financial  Cost minimization
 Profit maximization
 Economies of scale
 Profit margins
 Revenue
20%
and
30%
increase
 Apply cost
management
 New product
development
Customer  Service excellence
 Customer need
identification
 Customer increase
 Affordable prices
 Customer
satisfaction
 Revenue from
clients
 Customer loyalty
20%
increase
 Implement CRM
 Use of
technology
Business
process
 Service innovation
 The agile supply
chain system
 New product
development
 Benchmarking
 Additional
services
available
 Number of the
product range
20%
increase
 Training and
development
 Brainstorming
 Supply chain
management
Learning
and
growth
 Improved
management
approach
 Employees training
and benefit
 Market development
 Business decision
process
 Business
locations
 Productivity
 Project
completion
5%,
20%,
and
20%
 Time
management
 Training
program
 Implement of
the expansion
strategy
 Research and

Business Management and strategic management 18
development
 Innovative
organizational
culture
The balanced score card is one of the strategy tools that is used to analyse the strategy of the
company and analyse the performance management in an organisation considering the execution
of activities to implement the plan and understand the consequences of each action to be taken.
The balanced scorecard of Woolworths developed about present four perspectives for which the
strategic objectives are developed. Four perspective and their objectives include
Financial perspective
Considering the financial performance of the company the key objective from the strategic
initiatives proposed include profit maximisation, economies of scale and cost minimisation.
through new product development and innovation, the company will be working towards the
increase in revenue and with the betterment of the cost structure of the company which was one
of the thread identified because of which cost minimisation is another objective, through which
the profit margins will be increased for the company to sustain better. The objects will be
identified through sales figures that is the revenue of the company, profit margins and the target
set for these measures include 20% and 30% increase respectively (Bergin, 2017).
Customer perspective
The key strategies that the company implemented in order to work towards the perspective of the
customers of Woolworth include service excellence, which can be done through service
innovation and ask discuss this will include the integration of off-line and online customer
experience. Customer need identification which was one of the objectives through increase in
research and development investment as the company already is customer focused company
which will make this objective more suitable. Increasing customer is another objective which
reflects that the company will be booking towards attracting new customers, in order to sustain in
the market by providing affordable prices through leadership strategy. These can be measured

Business Management and strategic management 19
through customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and revenue from each client which is targeted to
be increased by 20% (fin24, 2019).
Business process perspective
Through this perspective company or organisational process will be considered through the
proposed strategy. The key object this include service innovation, which must one of the major
purpose identified for the proposed strategy. One of the threats identified was increase in price of
raw material for which the agile supply chain system is one of the objectives through the
strategy. A new product development which is the major focus of the strategy is to be achieved,
for which this objective has been developed (hunter.tafensw, 2018). These objectives can be
measured through benchmarking, identifying the additional services available to the customers
by Woolworth and number of product range increase during the time span, for which the targeted
rate is 20% increase. The key initiative taken by the company in order to attain these objectives
includes brainstorming activities, training and development and supply chain management (Chou
& Shao, 2016).
Learning and growth perspective
As per this perspective the objectives that will be working towards the assets of the company that
is the human resources of the company and growth opportunities for the companies employees
will be considered. Through the proposed strategy, the key objectives for this perspective include
improved management approach, employees training and benefit, market development and
business decision process. It has been identified from previous section it has been identified that
one of the weaknesses of the company was what business decision process for which the strategy
building work and improved business decision process will be implemented through innovation
in organisation. These objectives can be measured through productivity of the organisation;
business location of market development is one of the objectives on completion of project on
time for which the key initiatives taken by the company will be research and development,
innovation in organisational culture, implementation of expansion strategy, training program and
lastly time management activities (Chu & Liu, 2017).

Profitability
More Customers
Automation Digitalization
Lowest Prices
Agile supply chain
employee
productivity
New idea
generation
Newl Product
Development customer loyalty
Business Management and strategic management 20
Strategy map
Financial
Custome
r
Internal
business
process
Learning
and
growth
A strategy map is another tool to assist the strategic initiative, through this strategic initiative will
be analysed through with graphical method, which will include the success measure reflecting be
monitoring and control of the strategy conceited. Considering the financial perspective one of the
key success measurable be profitability that is to measure the increase in profitability after
implementing the strategy proposed as one of the key objectives from the strategy
implementation is increase in profitability and increase in revenue through cost minimisation
activities. Therefore that the target increases in profitability includes 20% which will be
monitored through financial report of the company after a year. In case of any gap in target
figures and actual figures the reason will be evaluated and the correct measures will be taken (Du
& Bstieler, 2016).

Business Management and strategic management 21
Considering the customer perspective the four key success measures include a number of
customers, cost of the products, new product double up meant and customer loyalty. This
strategy statement of the company and the proposed strategy will be focusing towards the
customer that will include customer satisfaction. The strategic initiative of new product
development and innovation, include objective to attract new customers that will reflect through
number of customers. Another strategy objective included affordable price available to the
customers, which can be measured through the lower price of the products, cost minimisation
plan will be implemented. The objective of the strategy was to offer large and diverse range of
products for which the measuring element would be new product development and number of
new products within two year time span. Another success measured if customer loyalty which
can be measured through customer retention more and each purchase by every customer (Feng &
Chari, 2018).
Considering the internal business processes the success measure will be digitalisation,
automation and agile supply chain ask the objective identified were service innovation and new
product development. Lastly considering the learning and growth perspective the key success
measures will be employee productivity which must be improved and increased by 20% which
will be measured and controlled through standards and crew performance review in every six
months. Another success measures would be new idea generation which will reflect the number
of ideas generated by the employees depicting the effect of brainstorming activities in the
organisation (Gentile, 2010).

Business Management and strategic management 22
Conclusion
From the strategic analysis of Woolworths it can be concluded that Woolworth is one of the
popular Australian retail chain company which initiated while providing affordable groceries to
the residents of Australia, which has expanded the business internationally in various regions.
Financial resources are the first and foremost resource that is highly valuable and have been able
to support investment into external opportunities identified by the company in order to combat
external threats. The retention level of the employees in Woolworths is high which a valuable
resource is also for the company; provide temporary competitive advantage for Woolworth. Food
products are procured by the company through local suppliers. These are optimally organised by
the Woolworth which reflects that local food products are temporary competitive advantage for
Woolworth. Patents reflect sustainable competitive advantage for Woolworth and one of the
relevant resources that can change potential of the company and sustain competition of
advantage.
From the resources, the key strength found for Woolworth that have reflected a sustainable
competitive advantage for the company is distribution network, financial resource, employees of
the company and patents that the company acquired. The company has built this strategy on the
major six strategic focus that the company is willing to drive the six strategy focuses include
build stronger, towards connected retail, be a leading fashion, becoming a big food business,
driving synergies, and embedded good business journey. From examining current strategies and
strategy statement of the company have been using it can be said that Woolworth has been
working towards the cost leadership strategy as per the Michael porter’s generics strategy grid.
However it has been identified that the company has also integrated the differentiation leadership
strategy in order to game competitive advantage.
One of the strategic initiatives that is recommended to Woolworth is product and service
innovation and development. It has been identified that one of the threats for the company is lack
of research and development due to which the company has not been able to innovate to larger
extent while offering products to the customers. Service innovation and development may
include ordering online and picking up the products through nearby stores. From external
environment analysis done previously, it has been identified that the consumer behaviour in

Business Management and strategic management 23
Australia are looking for various different products. This reflects one of the best suitability for
investing in research and development in order to search for new products and consumer me so
as to offer new products and services to the customers. In order to implement the proposed
strategic initiative the changes that need to be implemented include use of technology,
brainstorming activities, and training and development

Business Management and strategic management 24
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