Westpac's Business Strategies and Performance

This assignment analyzes Westpac's business strategies, particularly examining their information technology (IT) investments, commitment to workplace flexibility, and contributions to social enterprises through Mission Australia. The analysis draws upon scholarly articles and Westpac's official website to evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies in driving operational performance and contributing to the bank's overall success.

Running head: INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Introduction to management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Executive summary
The aim of this report is to discus about the corporate strategies being initiated by Westpac
throughout their operational history. This report also discussed about the criticisms being faced
by them in the recent time. SWOT analysis is being initiated in this report to identify the
opportunities and the challenges being faced by them in their business. This report also discussed
organizational culture and leadership style being practiced by them. This report concludes that
Westpac is having huge brand equity and value in the Australian market due to their rich history.
It is being identified that, the strategies of Westpac in their initial stage is quite different than
what they are now following. Moreover, they are having effective and efficient organizational
culture and leadership style for their employees.

2INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Vision statement of Westpac...........................................................................................................4
Mission statement of Westpac.........................................................................................................4
Corporate strategies of Westpac......................................................................................................4
Initiation of the strategic relationship..........................................................................................4
Corporate strategy in nineteenth century.....................................................................................5
Corporate strategy in twentieth century.......................................................................................5
Corporate strategy in twenty first century...................................................................................6
Criticisms faced by Westpac...........................................................................................................6
Supporting organizations with unethical approaches..................................................................7
Breaching consumer protection repossession law.......................................................................7
Environmental analysis of Westpac.................................................................................................8
SWOT analysis............................................................................................................................8
Organizational culture of Westpac..................................................................................................9
Leadership style of Westpac..........................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
Reference.......................................................................................................................................12

3INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The current business scenario in every business sectors is challenging and competitive.
Moreover, in the current era of the globalization, the strategies being inherited by the business
organizations are much different that they had initiated in the past. In addition, some business
sectors are more competitive in nature compared to others due to the presence of more players
and other external factors. One of these intensely competitive sectors is the banking sector in
Australia (Beatty and Liao, 2014). This is due to the reason that, Australia is having number of
banking institutions currently operating including the big fours. Thus, the competition is intense,
which further lead to the initiation of the various corporate strategies by the organizations.
Westpac is one of the leading banking institutions from Australia with having their
market presence in different locations around the world. Moreover, they are being considered as
one of the leading banks among the big four of Australia (Westpac, 2018). Westpac is also
having the history of being the oldest bank of Australia situated in 1851. In all these years, they
have initiated different corporate and business approaches in order to effectively cater and
operate in the market.
This report will discuss about the strategic approach of Westpac through all these years
along with identifying and evaluating the change in the approaches and strategies. The mission
and vision statement of Westpac will also be discussed in this report. In the recent times,
Westpac faced various criticisms in relation to their business policies and for the unethical
business practices initiated by them. This report will discuss about the criticisms being faced by

4INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
them in the recent time. Lastly, the opportunities and the challenges being faced by them in their
business will be discussed in this report along with determining the organizational culture and
leadership style being practiced by them.
Vision statement of Westpac
The vision statement of Westpac stated their aim of achieving the market leadership
position in the coming years. Moreover, it is also being stated that, sustainable development is
one of the key target areas and they want to be an environment responsive company in the
market (Westpac, 2018). The interest of the employees is also being stated in the vision
statement by discussing the importance of the effective human resource management for their
employees. Thus, the vision statement of them covers all the basic aspects of their organization
and it clearly states their future goals and objectives.
Mission statement of Westpac
The mission statement of Westpac discussed about the activities that they are currently
driving. The statement states that, Westpac is having their market presence in different locations
around the world with having millions of customers (Westpac, 2018). The diverse product
portfolio of them is also being stated and discussed in their mission statement.
Corporate strategies of Westpac
Initiation of the strategic relationship
Westpac has initiated different corporate strategies in different time according to the
business need and requirements. However, they have mainly initiated the strategy of strategic
relationship. Thus, in order to discuss about their corporate strategies, it is important to divide

5INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
their approaches in different time frame. It will help to identify the changes in the corporate
strategies being initiated by them.
Corporate strategy in nineteenth century
Westpac initiated their business journey in the nineteenth century and thus in the initial
years of their operation, the objective of them is to increase their market coverage area in order
to cater to more number of customers. Thus, the strategy that they initiated in their initial years is
the network level strategy. Initiation of the network level strategy enables them to increase their
operational areas along with enhancing their brand identify and equity (Drnevich and Croson,
2013). This is due to the reason that, the more will be the market coverage area of the company,
the more will be the brand value and exposure. Thus, it is important for them to gain the required
market presence in the initial time.
Corporate strategy in twentieth century
Twentieth century is more challenging for Westpac due to the reason that, during this
time, the competition was rapidly increased along with origination of different organizational
challenges. One of the key challenges being faced by them in this century is the economic
downturn. This caused negative impact on their business operation. Thus, in order to cut off the
challenges, they initiated the corporate level strategies (Zaefarian, Henneberg and Naude, 2013).
Corporate level strategies include initiation of the strategic relationship with other business
organizations in the market. This strategy also helped them to initiate the process of horizontal
growth in the market.
During this time, they went for acquisitions and mergers with similar players in the
market. For instance, Westpac went on to acquire the commercial bank of Australia in 1982,

6INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
acquiring the trust bank of New Zealand in 1996 and some other organizations. This helped them
to cut off the competition in the market along with positioning them as the market leader.
Corporate strategy in twenty first century
This century is the most challenging for Westpac due to the reason that, more business
organizations have entered the market along with the emergence of different external factors
such as the advancement of the technologies. In accordance to this situation, Westpac has
initiated the combination of different level strategies. One of the key strategies being initiated by
them is the business level strategy (Ghezzi, 2013). This helped them to offer different products to
different customers located in different locations around the world. Moreover, the current era is
of globalization and thus, Westpac is having their market presence in different countries around
the world. In accordance to that, the market requirement for them is also different. Thus,
initiation of the business level strategy helped them to cater to the diversified requirement in the
global market effectively.
Another strategy being initiated by them is the corporate level strategy. This is due to the
reason that, with time, the competition is rapidly increasing and it is important for Westpac to
have favorable market presence in the market. This century saw the acquisition of BT financial
group and merger of St. George Bank Limited by Westpac. Thus, initiation of different strategies
helped to have holistic impact on their business operation.
Criticisms faced by Westpac
As discussed earlier, here are various criticisms being faced by Westpac in the recent
time due to their unethical business practices. This report will discuss about the top two
criticisms being faced by them.

7INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Supporting organizations with unethical approaches
One of the biggest criticisms being faced by Westpac in the recent time is having the
corporate client of them with having accusation of unethical business practices. Though,
Westpac is not directly involved in initiation of the unethical practices, but the businesses with
having unethical approaches are having the access of fund for them. This issue emerged when it
was reported that, Westpac is funding the business activities of Wilmar (Schwarten, 2018). It is
to be noted that, Wilmar is least environment friendly organization in the world. Moreover, they
are also accused for land grabbing issue. Thus, funding their activities attracted negative
impression for Westpac also.
It caused depreciation in the goodwill and reputation for Westpac. However, they were
prompt in managing the issue and tendered a public apology stating that, they will be concentrate
on determining the customer profile and will not support or fund any unethical business activities
of any of their clients.
Breaching consumer protection repossession law
Another criticism that they faced due to their subsidiary company Capital finance
Australia limited. The issue is being emerged due to the reason that, capital finance failed to
provide the customers who are unable to repay the loan or the defaulters with specific customer
information about the customers (Asic.gov.au, 2018). Thus, it is a breach to the consumer
protection repossession law. This is due to the fact that, according to this law, it is mandatory for
the insurance organizations to maintain the specific information regarding what the borrowers
are proposing to do. Due to this issue, they are being fined with USD 493, 000 under the national
credit act.

8INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
On the other hand, due to this breach, customers also faced the issue of not receiving the
information regarding the less time available to repay the loan. This caused generation of the
negative word of mouth among their customers and also de-motivated the potential customers to
avail their services. This is another major criticism being faced by Westpac in the recent time. In
this case, they have initiated the process of contacting the affected customers and communicated
the helpline in case of any customer queries.
Environmental analysis of Westpac
The previous sections discussed about the operational factors that are having negative
impact on their business profile. However, in the current business scenario, there are various
factors to be determined in terms of the internal environment of Westpac. SWOT analysis will be
used to determine the opportunities and threats of them.
SWOT analysis
Strengths  The brand value of Westpac is huge and enormous. It is beneficial for
them to further penetrate in the existing market along with entering in the
new market.
 The rich history associated with Westpac enhances the trustworthiness of
them among the customers. Thus, this helps them to attract more
customers compared to their competitors (Hasan, 2013).
 They are having their market presence in different locations around the
world. Thus, the market coverage is more along with segregated customer
segments.
Weaknesses  The recent issues being discussed in the previous sections are leading to

9INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
negative word of mouth in the market.
 Majority of their competitors are having higher and more market
presence than Westpac. Thus, they are trailing behind their competitors in
terms of market coverage (Kopel and Lambertini, 2013).
 Risk involved with the providence of the banking facilities including
attachment of huge capital as default.
Opportunitie
s
 Entering in more foreign countries will increase the market opportunity
for them along with increase in the brand exposure.
 As discussed earlier, the horizontal growth strategies initiated by them is
helping in cutting off the competition.
 Developing countries are still untapped for the banking sector and thus it
is a huge opportunity for Westpac to tap these markets (Doss, 2013).
Threats  Threats of new entrants in the market will reduce the profitability of them
(Frei, Mbachu and Phipps, 2013).
 Generation of negative word of mouth will further reduce their
profitability.
 Increase in defaulters will increase the financial risk for them (Foley-
Fisher and Guimaraes, 2013).
Organizational culture of Westpac
According to the information being available on their official website, Westpac maintains
the inclusive workplace for their employees. One of the key characteristics being identified is the
initiation of the diversity among the employees. They promote recruitment and selection of the

10INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
employees from different social and cultural areas (Chrobot-Mason and Aramovich, 2013). This
is having dual advantages for them including the enhancement of the social impression of the
brand and generating diverse and different ideas from the employees.
Moreover, they also maintain various initiatives such as ABLE, Asian Leadership Group,
Brothers and Sisters Indigenous Group and FLEX (flexible work practices). All these initiatives
are having distinctive utilities in the workplace. For instance, initiation of the FLEX enables the
employees to have flexible work timing in their workplace (Shagvaliyeva and Yazdanifard,
2014). Employees are having the options of selecting their work timing at their convenience. It
will eventually enhance the level of motivation of the employees. Along with these strategies,
gender equality is also being promoted in the organization in order to have equal representation
of the female employees.
Leadership style of Westpac
Gail Kelly, CEO of Westpac maintains charismatic and transformational style of
leadership in the organization (Zhu et al., 2013). This is the reason behind the initiation of
employee oriented initiatives in the organization. She maintains that, having the engaged and
motivated employees in place is the key source of gaining competitive advantages for the
organization. Thus, initiation of transformational leadership in the organization helps in having
effective internal stakeholders to deal with the organizational challenges.
Moreover, another advantage that is being gained from the initiation of the
transformational leadership is the providence of effective customer service. This is due to the
reason that, transformational style of leadership by their CEO enables the employees to have
effective working environment in their workplace. Thus, having the effective working

11INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
environment will motivate the employees to perform better. Moreover, having the motivated
employees in place also enable to provide effective customer service. Thus, the more effective
will be the customer service, the more will be the level of customer satisfaction and loyalty for
the brand (Choudhary, Akhter and Zaheer, 2013). This is the key motive and objective for the
leadership style being followed by their CEO. In addition, transformational leadership also
includes gathering the feedback of the employees. Hence, involvement of feedback of the
employees helps the organization to meet the requirement and expectation of the employees
effectively.
Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that, Westpac is having huge brand equity
and value in the Australian market due to their rich history. This is one of the core competitive
advantages being identified. In addition, the differences in the approaches of initiation of
corporate strategies are being identified in this report. It is being identified that, the strategies of
Westpac in their initial stage is quite different than what they are now following. It is also being
concluded that, they are facing some ethical issues in the recent time and are facing negative
impact for them. Moreover, the internal environment of them is also being analyzed and various
threats and opportunities for them are being identified. Lastly, the organizational culture and the
leadership style being followed in the organization are also being discussed in this report. It is
being concluded that, they are having effective and efficient organizational culture and
leadership style for their employees.

12INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Reference
Asic.gov.au. 2018 [online] Asic.gov.au. Available at: <http://asic.gov.au/about-asic/media-
centre/find-a-media-release/2016-releases/16-106mr-westpac-car-financier-pays-493-000-for-
breaching-consumer-protection-repossession-laws/> [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018].
Beatty, A. and Liao, S., 2014. Financial accounting in the banking industry: A review of the
empirical literature. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 58(2), pp.339-383.
Choudhary, A.I., Akhtar, S.A. and Zaheer, A., 2013. Impact of transformational and servant
leadership on organizational performance: A comparative analysis. Journal of Business
Ethics, 116(2), pp.433-440.
Chrobot-Mason, D. and Aramovich, N.P., 2013. The psychological benefits of creating an
affirming climate for workplace diversity. Group & Organization Management, 38(6), pp.659-
689.
Doss, C., 2013. Intrahousehold bargaining and resource allocation in developing countries. The
World Bank Research Observer, 28(1), pp.52-78.
Drnevich, P.L. and Croson, D.C., 2013. Information technology and business-level strategy:
Toward an integrated theoretical perspective. Mis Quarterly, 37(2).
Flexibilty | Westpac. 2018. Westpac.com.au. Retrieved 12 January 2018, from
https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/careers/westpac-difference/flexibility/
Foley‐Fisher, N. and Guimaraes, B., 2013. US real interest rates and default risk in emerging
economies. Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 45(5), pp.967-975.

13INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Frei, M., Mbachu, J. and Phipps, R., 2013. Critical success factors, opportunities and threats of
the cost management profession: the case of Australasian quantity surveying firms. International
Journal of Project Organisation and Management 7, 5(1-2), pp.4-24.
Ghezzi, A., 2013. Revisiting business strategy under discontinuity. Management Decision, 51(7),
pp.1326-1358.
Hasan, M., 2013. Sustainable supply chain management practices and operational
performance. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 3(1), p.42.
Kopel, M. and Lambertini, L., 2013. On price competition with market share delegation
contracts. Managerial and Decision Economics, 34(1), pp.40-43.
Schwarten, E., 2018. NewsComAu. [online] NewsComAu. Available at:
<http://www.news.com.au/national/oxfam-accuses-anz-nab-westpac-and-commonwealth-of-
loaning-to-firms-engaged-in-unethical-practices/news-story/
f132bcc29f27b5a301354aa9e6c558c0> [Accessed 18 Jan. 2018].
Shagvaliyeva, S. and Yazdanifard, R., 2014. Impact of flexible working hours on work-life
balance. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 4(1), p.20.
Westpac., 2018. Mission Australia | Westpac. [online] Westpac.com.au. Available at:
https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/sustainability/initiatives-for-you/social-enterprises-
mission-australia/ [Accessed 12 Jan. 2018].
Westpac.,2018 Our strategy and vision | Westpac. Westpac.com.au. Retrieved 12 January 2018,
from https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/westpac-group/company-overview/our-
strategy-vision/

14INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT
Zaefarian, G., Henneberg, S.C. and Naudé, P., 2013. Assessing the strategic fit between business
strategies and business relationships in knowledge-intensive business services. Industrial
Marketing Management, 42(2), pp.260-272.
Zhu, W., Newman, A., Miao, Q. and Hooke, A., 2013. Revisiting the mediating role of trust in
transformational leadership effects: Do different types of trust make a difference?. The
Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), pp.94-105.