Strategic Planning and Management Analysis

The assignment analyzes Woolworths' strategic planning and management, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It also discusses cost-benefit analysis and risk management, providing insights into the company's operations strategy and global strategic management. The document reviews relevant literature on strategic management and provides a summary of the key findings.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Strategic Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive Summary
The report has helped in analysing the various kind of strategic plan analysis required for
Woolworths. Proper analysis of mission, vision and core values has been identified of
Woolworths Supermarket that has helped the company in understanding and developing
solutions with implementation of internal and external analysis of different competitors in the
market. Proper cost benefit and risk mitigation analysis has been done in the report to
understand the different issues and solve them effectively.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Vision and Mission of Woolworths...........................................................................................2
Importance of Stakeholders in Woolworths...............................................................................2
Strategic Plans............................................................................................................................4
Market Analysis of Woolworths................................................................................................4
SWOT....................................................................................................................................5
Competitors in the entire market................................................................................................5
Strengths and Weaknesses of Competitors................................................................................6
Key Strategic Goals....................................................................................................................7
Prioritizing different strategies...................................................................................................8
Action Plan.................................................................................................................................8
Strategic control and monitoring................................................................................................9
SWOT analysis for first two strategies......................................................................................9
Strength and Weakness of Wesfarmers....................................................................................10
Risk Mitigation Plan................................................................................................................11
Cost benefit analysis................................................................................................................12
Impact of Legislation...............................................................................................................12
Conclusion................................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................15

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Introduction
The entire report helps in identification of the business strategic plan of the respective
supermarket named Woolworths that is based in Sydney, Australia. It will help in analysis of
the mission, vision and core values of the company along with stakeholder analysis as well.
The competencies of Woolworths Supermarket have to be analysed and identified as well that
will help in understanding the position of Woolworths in comparison to the competitors.
The main aim and purpose of the report is to identify the SWOT in comparison with
the different other competitors such as Wesfarmers and ALDI. The strategic analysis is
required to be done as this will create risk mitigation, action plan and cost benefit analysis for
Woolworths.
Vision and Mission of Woolworths
The main mission of the respective company is to provide the different customers
affordable and healthy kind of food to the entire community (Woolworths.com.au., 2018).
The main mission is to provide the customers a unique experience by offering proper quality
along with service-based attention and commitment to their customers as well.
The vision of the supermarket is to be innovative and the respective supermarket
envisions healthy and affordable downtown wherein all the individuals will be able to access
the different kind of services as per the financial condition of the individuals. The values of
the respective supermarket are to generate sustainability by train the employees through
commitment along with honesty.
Importance of Stakeholders in Woolworths
There are different kind of stakeholders in Woolworths Supermarket who plays an
essential role in the success of the organization. The different stakeholders create huge

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influence on the organization in a direct or indirect manner. The stakeholders of the
respective company are as follows:
Suppliers
Government
Employees
Customers
Media
There is huge importance of the stakeholders in the respective organization where
they are the investors in the company and they help in determining the outcome of the
different decisions of the business. Proper implementation of different kind of policies will
help in creating direct impact on the employees along with customers as they help in
providing their viewpoints in analysing the quality of the products and services delivered by
the individuals (Slack, 2015).
Furthermore, the different suppliers of the respective supermarket help in identifying
the changes with implementation of different policies and procedures of the government. The
government regulations are necessary in the firm as there are different policies such as
licencing and regulation policies on selling of liquor to the customers (Gamble & Thompson,
2014).
It is essential in nature that the supermarket abide to the different policies and
procedures as this will help the company in implementing positive image on organization
with the implementation of different policies and procedures. There are different kind of CSR
activities that is performed by Woolworths in collaboration with NGOs in an effective
manner. It is required for the companies to follow the policies as this can create huge
negative impact on the stakeholders.

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Strategic Plans
Helfat & Martin, (2015) stated that strategic plan is essential in company as this
comprises of various activities in improving the sustainability practices in an effective
manner. The various sustainability practices have to be identified by Woolworths as this will
help them in implementing the competitive advantage in the entire competitive market.
Strategic planning is essential in nature in providing sense of the direction as to identify goals
and achieve them effectively.
Woolworths needs to implement strategic plans as this will provide different kind of
direction and facilities in developing action plan for the organization. The strategic plan will
help in prioritizing different kind of goals with allocation of resources as this will help them
in achieving goals. The accountability and timeframe are essential as this will help in
increasing communication along with commitment level in entire company. Proper and
accurate framework is essential in nature as this will help in maintaining and facilitating the
decision-making process.
Market Analysis of Woolworths
Woolworths is the largest supermarket that is based in New South Wales based in
Australia. The positioning strategy has been applied by the company in an effective manner
wherein it helped in gaining competitive advantage. The positioning of the different products
and services wherein the different customers who has been targeted are the households who
purchases different kind of items of grocery. The price strategy applied by the respective
company is lower than the different competitors who are present in the market and this
helped in gaining competitive advantage (Bromiley et al., 2015).

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SWOT
Competitors in the entire market
There are different kind of competitors in the market of Woolworths that comprises of
Wesfarmers, Coles and ALDI. It is seen that Woolworths is leader in the entire competitive
market and the other supermarkets are the followers in the market (Krajewski, Malhotra &
Ritzman, 2015). There are various organizations in the competitive market that offers
different kind of products and services and they target the same kind of audiences.
Woolworths tried to gain competitive advantage in the entire market with application
of the discount strategy. Furthermore, ALDI supermarket follows the similar kind of strategy
to gain customers and provide them different kind of products and services in discounted rate
as well (Pearlson, Saunders & Galletta, 2016).
The entire retail sector is growing in a huge manner in Australia wherein there are
different kind of players in the market that has the entire ability to make the customers
satisfied in nature by providing the same kind of strategy with the help of discounted rate.
Strengths
Pioneer among the different oldest organizationsas
to introduce model of retail trade
The brand name is strong along with efficient
operations
Weaknesses
Negligible kind of influence compared to
the different competitors
The respective brand has failed to sustain
the entire competitive advantages
Opportunities
Promote the entire brand through
promotion and sponsorship
Seeking growth thorugh acquisitions and
franchise models in the emrging economies
Threats
There is huge competition from the
international kind of players
due to the economic kind of recession, strategy
of growth has been hindered
Rising cost of the raw materials will impact
profit margins of the company as well
SWOT

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Figure 1: Comparison to different supermarkets
(Source: Pearlson, Saunders & Galletta, 2016)
Strengths and Weaknesses of Competitors
Strength and Weakness of Competitors
Coles
Strength  It has impressive kind of online order and delivery
system
 Attractive strategies of pricing along with different
kind of promotional campaigns
Weaknesses  It has lower kind of margins in comparison to the
other competitors in the entire market Frynas &
Mellahi, 2015)
 Negative kind of public surroundings and hard line
kind of negotiation
Metcash Strength  They have self-owned private label brands
 It has large economies of scale as there are different
multi source formats

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Weaknesses  The business model is highly imitable in nature that
is huge risk to the business (Frow et al., 2015)
 There are different kind of internal issues between
management and labor is major concern
Wesfar
mers
Strength  It has created varieties of suiting in every price
points (Rothaermel, 2015)
 Sales through different kind of online formats
Weaknesses  Being the market leader, there will be scrutiny for
the critical decision taken
 There are different kind of experiences that has low
geographic location
Key Strategic Goals
There are different kind of strategic goals that has been implemented by Woolworths
wherein it includes the following:
Training and development of employees in the respective organization is essential that
helps in solving different kind of issues in the tasks performed at managerial levels
(Dinnie, 2015)
Proper implementation of backward integration is essential in nature wherein this will
help in reducing the cost of production and solve such issues effectively as well
(Cheng, Ioannou & Serafeim, 2014)
Lastly, the business has to be customer centric in nature wherein it will help in
supporting the goals and objectives of the organization effectively and this will

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improve the relationship between the customers and employees as well (Hill, Jones &
Schilling, 2014)
Prioritizing different strategies
There are different kind of strategies that has been adopted by the largest supermarket
Woolworths in their company wherein this will help in gaining competitive advantage
(Haans, Pieters & He, 2016). The two kind of strategies that has been prioritized by
Woolworths as to provide customer centric services and involve the backward integration
strategy as in dealing with different issues and this will increase effectiveness in the operation
management.
Action Plan
Strategic goals Strategic Action Responsible
parties
Expected
Outcome
Timeframe
Backward
integration
plan as to
reduce the
issues and
increase
operational
efficiency
Process
identification
Chief
Operations
manager
Highly
Positive
09 days (26th
March to 3rd
April)
process cost
identification
Financial
manager
Positive 09 days (3rd
April to 11th
April)
Raw materials
identification
Operation
manager
Positive 10days (11th
April to 20th

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April)
Product
Development
Operation team Highly
Positive
30days (20th
April to 19th
May)
Analysis of
product
CFO Highly
Positive
5days (19th May
to 23rd June)
To be
customer
centric in
nature as to
gain more
loyal
customers in
the future
Conducting
meetings
accurately
customer
service
department
Highly
positive
6 days (23rd
June to 28th
June)
Identification and
discussion of
difficulties
CEO Positive 2days (28th June
to 30th June)
Developing
solutions
Board and
stakeholders
Negative 5days (30th June
to 4th July)
Implementation
of solution
CEO Highly
negative
3days (4th July
to 7th July)
Strategic control and monitoring
The strategic monitoring and control is essential in nature in organizations as this will
help in analysing resources that will help Woolworths in considerating the time span. The
project manager will be required to be appointed by Woolworths as this will help them in
completing the tasks and generating desired results (Trigeorgis & Reuer, 2017).
SWOT analysis for first two strategies
SWOT ANALYSIS OF THE STRATEGIES

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Strength  The backward integration will help the company in increasing
different kind of strategies as this will increase the amount of
profit
 The connection with the customers help in solving huge issues
Weaknesses  Huge and large amount of risk is involved in process (Grant,
2016)
Opportunities  Different kind of customer service is essential in providing
opportunities as to increase purchase
Threats  There are different kind of competitors in market who has applied
same kind of strategies and methodologies (Lasserre, 2017)
Strength and Weakness of Wesfarmers
SWOT ANALYSIS OF METCASH
Strength  Self-owned private level of brand
 There are more than 30 distribution centers of Wesfarmers
Weaknesses  Limited kind of innovation
 Imitable type of model of the entire business (Jarzabkowski &
Kaplan, 2015)
Opportunities  There is huge scope for expanding business outside Australia in
different parts
 They can implement regulations to sell their products and services
Threats  Rising inflation
 Issues related to labor

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Risk Mitigation Plan
Risks Likelihood Impact Mitigation
action
Responsibility Timeframe
Time Delay
in receiving
various kind
of materials
Low High Maintaining
proper kind of
relationship
with different
consumers
Project
manager
12th April to
26th April
Delay in
receiving
proper
approval for
backward
integration
process
High Medium Communication
plan that is
effective in
nature
Project
manager
26th April to
12th June)
Issues in
machineries
that is used
in solving
tasks
High Low Maintenance of
the machinery
in regular
intervals
Project
manager
June 2018
Unexpected
issues
Low High Cannot be
properly
analyzed
Project
manager
Any time
Cost benefit analysis
Item Details Cost Benefit Estimated

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revenue
Licensing
fee for the
entire
developme
nt of
products
used in
organizatio
n
License required
for the proper
implementation
of backward
integration
process
$8 million Profit margin
will be
increasing by
around 18%
Revenue of
Woolworths
will increase by
$55 in two
quarters
Setting up
factory in
an effectual
manner
Factory required
for proper
development of
product
$ 88million Profit will be
increased in an
effectual
manner
wherein the
operating costs
will decrease
by around 19%
It will increase
generation of
revenue by $
129 million in
less than 1 year
Impact of Legislation
There are different kind of government legislations and policies that helps in playing a
huge role in the analyzing process of the operating the business effectively. Woolworths
needs to understand the other competitors in the business that follows the different kind of
legislations as this will help them in analysing the laws and legislations effectively that are as
follows:

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Consumer Law of Australia
National kind of measurement of trade legislation
Legislation of state liquor
Retail regulations of leasing state
Furthermore, there are various licences that are required to be adhered effectively as this
will help in creating positive kind of impact on the entire business environment. The permits
and licencing are as follows:
Permits for importing goods in an effective manner
Selling different kind of products of tobacco
Permits on zoning
Disposal of different kind of wastes
Distribution and selling of alcohol
According to the different kind of legislations and regulations of the government in
Australia, the company has helped in identifying the different permits that is required to be
adopted by the company wherein the company will be able to solve such issues and
understand the different kind of import of goods in an effectual manner. the licencing is
essential in the organization as this will help them in analysing the importance of the same
and this will help the company in solving such issues in an effectual manner in the future.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that Woolworths has adopted proper strategic planning
wherein it has helped them in prioritizing the different strategic goals. The SWOT analysis
has identified the different kind of threats and weaknesses and it has facilitated them in
understanding the strategic goals and received expected outcome as well. Proper strategic
control and monitoring has been done wherein it has facilitated them in overcoming such