Westpac: Sustainability and Corporate Strategy

This assignment examines Westpac's commitment to sustainability and its impact on corporate strategy. Students will analyze provided resources, including articles about Westpac's social responsibility initiatives, leadership, and financial performance, to assess the bank's approach to ethical business practices and sustainable development goals. The analysis should consider the role of brand value, supply chain management, and stakeholder engagement in shaping Westpac's overall strategy.

Running head: STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary:
The purpose of the report is to shed light on the strategic development of one of the biggest bank
in Australia. The report focuses on the bank Westpac and follows the method of detail
explanation of the company’s past and current strategies for business development. The
conclusion is based on the internal and external analysis of the company along with the brand
values and mentions the sustainability of the same.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................4
General Information:.......................................................................................................................4
Mission:.......................................................................................................................................4
Vision:..........................................................................................................................................4
Core Competencies:.....................................................................................................................4
Successful Strategies:..................................................................................................................5
Current Strategies:.......................................................................................................................5
Contingency Approach:...................................................................................................................5
Strategic Partnership:.......................................................................................................................6
Controversial Business Practice of Westpac:..................................................................................6
Remuneration Package of Westpac Boss:...................................................................................7
Unethical Land Grabbing:...........................................................................................................7
Determination of the internal environment of Westpac..................................................................8
Resource based analysis of Westpac.............................................................................................10
Human resources.......................................................................................................................10
Brand value................................................................................................................................10
Organizational culture of Westpac................................................................................................11
Leadership styles being practiced..............................................................................................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12

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References:....................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction:
The report is focused on the strategic development of Westpac Bank, which is one of the
‘big four’ banks in Australia. This organization is one of the best and major financial service
providers in the Australian region and the same is headquartered in Westpac Place, Sydney. The
company has been successfully operating its business in Australia for more than 200 years and
has approximately 13 million customers at present. The following report will highlight strategic
activities of the company.
General Information:
Mission:
The mission of the company is to establish an effective and meaningful relationship with
the communities in order to enlighten the lives of the community people (Westpac, 2018). The
company aims to provide financial services to the backward communities as well as to the
general people of the country.
Vision:
Westpac’s vision is to be the part best financial service companies across the world, help
the customers and the communities and to support growing people (Westpac, 2018). The
strategic vision of the company includes achievement of the financial requirements of the
customers along with the expansion of the business.
Core Competencies:
The core competencies of the company comprise of the strategic advantages of the same
in supporting and helping the communities along with the existing customers. The company is

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has succeeded in gaining potion within the top four backs in Australia and this creates an
advantages for the organization in terms of the reaching more customers. The partnership with
various non-government organizations for community support and flexible business strategies
can be counted within the core competencies of the company. In fact, the organization has been
sharing relationship with the Mission Australia to support and address the homelessness and
deliver affordable housing.
Successful Strategies:
One of the most vital strategies that had been undertaken by the company is based on the
relationship shared by Mission Australia and Westpac back in 1800s. In 2014, the organization
announced to support the Missionbeat service of Mission Australia with a three-year sponsorship
deal worth $1.305 million (Westpac, 2018).
Current Strategies:
The current strategies of Westpac are based on the performance discipline, service
leadership, digital information, targeted growth and workforce revolution. The strategic
objectives of the company are to meet potential challenges existing in the current environment
and balance the growth of the business with that. Hence, the present strategy is focused on the
achievement of the vision with the providence of superior return for the stakeholders, building of
enduring and deep customer relationships and being the leader of the community transformation
(Westpac, 2018).
Contingency Approach:
The contingency approach is one of the successful and major strategies undertaken by the
managers of the organization in terms of achieving the business as well as the organizational

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objectives (). The contingency approach is entirely based on situations and the adaptation style of
the managers accordingly (Wu et al., 2014). There are various risks such as sustainability risks,
insurance risks, compliance risks, equity risks and many more which are faced by the
organization (Bosworth and Rich, 2013). The managers who are the leaders of the organizations
successfully applied this theory of contingency approach towards the salutations mitigate the
same. Though, being of a hierarchal organizational structure, each unit is independent for
performing their responsibilities. Hence, the issues are solved easily through the contingency
approach.
Strategic Partnership:
Strategic partnership is another major strategy undertaken by the organization to
accomplish the mission and aims of the company (Al Jerjawi, 2015). Back from 1800s the
company has acquired the strategy of collaboration with Mission Australia to help the
community people. As mentioned there has been number of instances for Westpac on the
strategic partnership (Callinan, 2012). The support of the communities and sponsorshipof various
events with the Mission Australia for the same has been proved an effective strategy for the
company in terms of reaching wide range of customers with financial requirements.
Controversial Business Practice of Westpac:
There are several controversial and unethical business practices of Westpac which have
been criticized by the media, government and the customers of the organization. The two most
discussed issues are:

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Remuneration Package of Westpac Boss:
The remuneration of the boss of Westpac has been found to be the highest in New
Zealand. The union of the bank workers have branded this salary of Westpac Boss to be
unethical. The remuneration package of the George Frazis, the boss of Westpac is found to be
worth $5.59 million. The yearly remuneration as published by the annual report of the bank is
worth $4,386,308 (Parker, 2018). There have been controversies regarding this as a spokesman
of Westpac said the remuneration package was not all from the bank. On the other hand,
spokesman of Finsec, Andrew Campbell, commented that the company should not include such
extravagant package to its boss while being underwritten by the taxpayers. There has also
controversies from the Finsec spokesman regarding the economy of the country and the
unemployment. In terms of the economy of the country of New Zealand, this salary package of
the boss of the organization.
Unethical Land Grabbing:
The big four banks of Australia are found to be accused on the land grabs of the local
land owners. In order to cope with the rising food price in the global food market the chosen
company along with the other three big banks in Australia. It has been reported that the company
and the others three banks are grabbing the lands of the poor people.Westpac has been sharing
19-year-old business relation with Malaysian WTK group which is responsible for the logging
operation in PNG. In 2003, the Westpac along with the WTK logging operations grabbed the
land of the poor local land owners (Roden, 2014). There has been complained against the
logging operation in terms of the sexual misconduct with local women, use of violence,
environmental damage and possible illegal logging. Controversies and criticism raised voice
against the operations and mentioned that Westpac along with other banks are only concerned

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about their achievement of business goals and does not perform the corporate social
responsibilities. However, the company being a stern support of the communities disagree with
the allegation (Callinan, 2012).
Determination of the internal environment of Westpac
Strengths  Westpac is the largest bank in Australia in terms of the
number of branches and network. Thus, it is beneficial for
them in covering more number of customers.
 Having the brand identify of being one of the top four banks
of Australia helps them to push their new offerings along with
catering to the new customers effectively.
 Offering of diversified service offerings helps them to target
and cater to different customer requirements.
 Their extensive activities related to corporate social
responsibilities helped them to gain goodwill and reputation in
the market (Hasan, 2013).
 Huge operational history and having the status of oldest and
first bank of Australia.
Weaknesses  Competition in the banking sector is rapidly increasing with
the entry of the global players. This is further reducing the
profitability of Westpac (Clerides, Delis andKokas, 2015).
 Emergence of different issues related to their unethical
business practices has tampered their reputation.
 Not having extensive global outreach except in New Zealand.

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Thus, the market coverage will be limited.
 Increase in the amount of the bad debt hampering the business
potential of Westpac.
Opportunities  Entering in more foreign markets will enhance the business
opportunities for Westpac.
 Introduction of updated technologies will help them to
effectively cater to the new customers.
 In the recent times, developing countries are having the
highest growth rate in terms of national economy. Thus,
targeting these countries will help Westpac to enhance their
business opportunities (De Melo, 2015).
 Further strategic partnerships will enable them to cut off the
competition along with gaining more market share.
Threats  Emergence of global economic slowdowns will dent the
business potentiality of Westpac (Serricchio,
TsakatikaandQuaglia, 2013).
 Emergence of criticisms regarding the unethical business
practices will further hamper their reputations.
 Introduction of the strict regulations in the banking sector will
reduce the business flexibility of Westpac.
 Threats of new entrants.

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Resource based analysis of Westpac
Human resources
One of the key resources being identified for Westpac is the human resources. This is due
to the reason that; financial institutions are having the requirement of varied skill set of the
employees. In the case of Westpac, human resource is the core source of gaining competitive
advantages. They are having diversified workforce in their organization, which further helps
them to gain different ideas for implementation (Alfes et al., 2013). Moreover, the human
resources can be imitated by other players in the market, but their individual skill sets cannot be
imitated. The training and development programs being run by Westpac help to enhance the
competitiveness of the employees. Thus, it involves cost for other organizations to gain the same
competitive advantages from their employees.
Brand value
As earlier discussed, Westpac enjoys immense brand identity and brand value due to their
heritage and being the award of oldest bank of Australia. This helps them to attract more
customers due to the reason that, Westpac is having their market presence in Australia for
centuries and thus customers are having more brand recall for Westpac (Kirk, Ray and Wilson,
2013). This positive brand value can also not have imitated by their competitors. In addition, the
positive brand identity is rare due to the reason that, not every organization are having the same
level of brand loyalty and it can get hampered at any point of time.
The brand value gained by Westpac is also costly to imitate due to the reason that, it will
involve huge and extensive marketing activities and investment to enhance the brand awareness
among the target customers. With having the largest number of branches around Australia,

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Westpac is having the ideal organizational structure and process to capture the optimal value of
their brand value.
Organizational culture of Westpac
Westpac is having inclusive organizational culture with having their considerations in
every need and requirement of their internal stakeholders. One of the key elements being
practiced is the diversified workplace. Westpac is open and welcoming to diversity in their
workforce in terms of age, culture, social backgrounds and sexual preferences. This helps them
to include employees from every sections of the society ("Flexibilty | Westpac", 2018).
Moreover, the working environment is being maintained by them in such a way that, it will
create equal opportunities for all the employees. Another important element being practiced in
the organization is the promotion of the gender equality. According to the CEO of Westpac, Gail
Kelly, gender equality is one of the most important aspects being considered.
The organizational culture of Westpac also promotes flexible work life for their
employees. Some of their flexible working culture is job sharing, part time working and work
from homes. This motivates the employees to enhance their effectiveness and productivity in
their workplace. Thus, eventually it helps the organization to have effective customer service to
be offered and increased rate of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Leadership styles being practiced
According to the leadership style of Westpac, the era of autocratic and top down
approach of driving the business is gone. This is due to the reason that, in the current business
scenario, opinions and feedback of the employees are also important for the business
organizations for seamless functioning (Kimmorley, 2018). Thus, transformational and

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motivating style of leadership is being followed in the organization in order to enhance the level
of engagement of the employees.
Conclusion
Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that, Westpac is having good and
favorable market establishment in Australia and New Zealand. This is due to the reason that,
they are having positive brand value in the market. This report also discussed about the business
environments of Westpac and concluded that; market environment is highly competitive in
nature. This report also identifies the issues being faced by them in the recent times and further
analyzed in order to overcome the issues. The internal organizational structure, process and
styles are also being discussed in this report in order to determine their effectiveness. It is being
concluded that, he leadership and organizational culture being followed by Westpac is
transformational and helps in motivating their employees.

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References:
Al Jerjawi, K., 2015. The role of human resource executives in mergers: a comparative
case study of two bank mergers, the merger of Westpac Corporation and St. George Bank
(Australia) and the merger of Emirates Bank International and the National Bank of
Dubai (UAE).
Alfes, K., Shantz, A.D., Truss, C. and Soane, E.C., 2013. The link between perceived
human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a
moderated mediation model. The international journal of human resource
management, 24(2), pp.330-351.
Bosworth, E., & Rich, T., 2013. From optimisation to resilience: The changing nature of
the risk reward conversation as seen through Westpac's capital and liquidity management
policies. Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions, 6(2), 160-166.Callinan,
R. (2012). Westpac lends to firms tied to illegal logging. The Sydney Morning Herald.
Retrieved 12 January 2018, from
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/conservation/westpac-lends-to-firms-tied-to-illegal-
logging-20120728-2346l.html
Clerides, S., Delis, M.D. and Kokas, S., 2015. A new data set on competition in national
banking markets. Financial Markets, Institutions & Instruments, 24(2-3), pp.267-311.
De Melo, J., 2015. Computable general equilibrium models for trade policy analysis in
developing countries: A survey. In Modeling Developing Countries' Policies in General
Equilibrium (pp. 141-175).

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Flexibilty | Westpac. 2018. Westpac.com.au. Retrieved 12 January 2018, from
https://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/careers/westpac-difference/flexibility/
Hasan, M., 2013. Sustainable supply chain management practices and operational
performance. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 3(1), p.42.
Kimmorley, S., 2018. Gail Kelly on what it means to be a successful modern
leader. Business Insider Australia. Retrieved 12 January 2018, from
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/gail-kelly-on-what-it-means-to-be-a-successful-
modern-leader-2017-4
Kirk, C.P., Ray, I. and Wilson, B., 2013. The impact of brand value on firm valuation:
The moderating influence of firm type. Journal of Brand Management, 20(6), pp.488-
500.
Parker, T., 2018. Banker's $5.5m package 'unethical'. NZ Herald. Retrieved 12 January
2018, from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?
c_id=3&objectid=10688154
Roden, D., 2014. Australia's banks grabbing land from world's poor. Green Left Weekly.
Retrieved 12 January 2018, from https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/australias-banks-
grabbing-land-worlds-poor
Serricchio, F., Tsakatika, M. and Quaglia, L., 2013. Euroscepticism and the global
financial crisis. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies, 51(1), pp.51-64.