Strategic Management of Woolworth: Analysis and Recommendations

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Executive Summary
The paper analyses the strategic management of Woolworth, an Australian retail giant.
At the very beginning of the study, the researcher provides a brief introduction to the
topic followed by the discussion on the environment which the organisation may belong
to. Such discussion will entail the critical analysis of both internal and external
environment of the business base on the relevant established theoretical framework,
such as PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces Model etc. In the subsequent sections of the
paper, the researcher attempts to identify the competitive advantage the business has
in the market segment and thereby derive the strategic challenges that the management
may face while framing the relevant policies in this regard. Based on such discussion,
the researcher chalks out strategic options available to the management of the said
business in order to implement the same for attaining the corporate goal in long-term.
Finally, the report, in its last part, provides a recommendation for the management and
thereafter, wraps up the discussion by way of concluding note.

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction..................................................................................................................4
2.0 Evaluation of Organization’s Environment..................................................................5
2.1 External Analysis......................................................................................................5
2.1.1. Porter’s Five Forces Model...............................................................................5
2.1.2 PESTEL (Social and Technological)..................................................................5
2.2 Internal Analysis.......................................................................................................6
2.2.1 Core Competencies...........................................................................................7
2.2.2 Value Chain Analysis.........................................................................................7
3.0 Analysis of Competitive Advantage.............................................................................8
3.1 Strategic Framework................................................................................................8
3.2 Competitive Rivalry................................................................................................10
4.0 Strategy Formulation and Choice..............................................................................12
4.1 Vision......................................................................................................................12
4.2 Goals......................................................................................................................12
4.3 Initiatives.................................................................................................................12
5.0 Recommendation.......................................................................................................14
6.0 Conclusion.................................................................................................................15
References.......................................................................................................................16

1.0 Introduction
Business strategy may be considered to be one of the most discussed and
widely evaluated topics in the studies of business research. The process of business
strategy formulation and thereafter implementation of the same may require
consideration of several aspects that are not only internal but also external to the
business organisation (Block, Kohn, Miller & Ullrich, 2015). A well-defined and
articulated strategy sets may largely help the management of a business to implement
the same in the operation on a real-time basis and thereby achieve the desired goal of
sustainability in a most ideal and optimum way. The instant report delves into the
analysis of corporate strategy in the context of a real word organisation, Woolworth, an
Australia based retail company. The analysis considers the implications of real-world
strategic positioning and analysis of the same against the established theoretical
framework in this regard.