Integrated Supply Chain Management: A Case Study of Woolworths

This case study analyzes the existing situation of Woolworths' supply chain management, including physical flow of goods, information flows and systems, and organizational and management structures. It also recommends solutions such as social media advertising, R&D improvement, innovative approach towards products, and expansion of the business.

Running head: INTEGRATED SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Integrated supply chain management
A case study of Woolworths
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INTEGRATED SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 1
1) Analysis of the existing situation in which three major issues need to be considered:
The physical flow of goods
In the supply chain management, the physical flow of goods indicates the movement
of the goods from the suppliers to the consumers and when required the return of the goods to
the suppliers take place (Büyüközkan and Göçer 2018). This movement can be either internal
or external depending on the type of product and the type of organisation. Considering the
type of products that is being sold at the Woolworths, the physical supply of the goods is
carried within the country. It can be said that the organisation supports around 20,000
individuals on a regular basis and that this include the supply of the product from the store to
the consumers. Reading Lawley et al. (2016), it has been found that Woolworths follows its
supply chain management that is built on TradeStone’s platform because the business
operation also includes overseas transportation of goods as well. Woolworths connects with
more than 6,000 suppliers and it has more than 3,200 retail stores in Australia. The goods are
transported by the means of land transport over the particular region.
The major challenge that the organisation is facing is because of the increasing
competitors along with the increased demand of supply. The organisation is not able to
supply its products to the particular retail stores or to the consumers within the stipulated
time. Moreover, the distance of the warehouses from the actual retail store is another major
problem that the organisation faces (Jie et al. 2015). It consumes a lot of time in the
transportation process. The organisation struggles in committing on the right approach
towards the supply chain process.
The information flows and systems which underpin the flow of goods
Protecting confidential data in the computing and technologically advanced age has
become a great challenge for every human and organisation. Considering the importance of

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protecting the flow of information, it has to be understood that the information has to be
made safe, and at the same time making it sure that the before and after sales services are
within the stipulated range of maintaining the confidentiality of the organisation (Thorlakson
et al. 2018). The organisation also has many consumers related and there remains a
possibility that the consumers have their personal information shared with the organisation.
Thus, protecting the data and information of all the stakeholders of the organisation is another
great challenge that the organisation faces.
The organizational and management structures which control the supply chain
Woolworths has always been in the negative list when it comes to the governing the
supply chain strategies. The leadership of the organisation has failed to identify the actual
loopholes that the organisation has been facing in order to control the supply chain activities.
The company follows a tier structure where it depends on the partners and the suppliers for
the supply of their goods. This automatically requires building a good relationship with the
partners and the suppliers and thus requires good governing or leadership. As commented by
Juan Ding et al. (2014), Woolworths lacks the collaborative approach that is required for
carrying out the supply chain activity in the right way. For the collaborative approach, all the
members or the leaders have to come down to a particular point and then work effectively in
order to minimise the risk of supply chain. For Woolworths, it has been found that the main
issue that is faced during the supply chain activity is that a large quantity of product gets
wasted during the mismanagement and the long transportation process. The company also has
to maintain a quality standard in the process of supply chain so that right and fresh products
are being sold to the customers.

INTEGRATED SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT 3
2) Implementation of Recommended Solution, including resources to be accessed, timing of
implementation and monitoring of results
1. Implementation of social media advertising: For implementing advertisement and
promotional, it is important to hire a marketing group who shall be responsible for posting
updates in various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others (Camagni
2017). Since the popularity of the social media advertising is high, the implementation
process would not take much time and the same can be implemented within 15 days or so.
However, the process is continuous and would require constant application from the
marketers. With the increased popularity in terms of number of likes and followers of page,
the result can be monitored.
2. Improvement in R&D in the liquor sector: Better research in terms of understanding the
needs of the consumers then coming up with the feasibility of implementing the same in
terms of its liquor products is needed. A group of people for R&D who shall be conducting
thorough research in the field and suggesting the best possible outcome are the required
resource (Tukker and Tischner 2017). The implementation would require a timeframe of 3
months at least. The outcome can be monitored by conducting a survey among the consumers
after they consume the drink in order to get the feedback from them.
3. Innovative approach towards its products: With the changing of consumers preferences
coming up with innovative products that would create a competitive advantage for the
organisation against other companies (Bhamra and Lofthouse 2016). This approach can be
undertaken in any product that is sold by the retailer. The increased popularity and the
increase in sales of the products are the keys to measure success. This is also a continuous
process and depends on the type of innovation involved.

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4. Expansion of the business: There is a great scope of expanding the business in other
regions of the world. The retail giant can easily enter the markets of Asia and Europe as a
means of expansion. This would call for the requirement of resources like huge investment
and a large group of people for the expansion process. This process would require minimum a
span of 1 year and might increase as well. The outcome can only be measured when the
retailer will be able to establish its business in other countries.

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Reference list:
Bhamra, T. and Lofthouse, V., 2016. Design for sustainability: a practical approach.
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framework for future research. Computers in Industry, 97, pp.157-177.
Camagni, R., 2017. Technological change, uncertainty and innovation networks: towards a
dynamic theory of economic space. In Seminal Studies in Regional and Urban Economics(pp.
65-92). Springer, Cham.
Jie, F., Parton, K. and Chan, C., 2015. Australian beef supply chain integration: case studies
of the two largest Australian supermarkets. International Journal of Supply Chain and
Operations Resilience, 1(2), pp.121-138.
Juan Ding, M., Jie, F., A. Parton, K. and J. Matanda, M., 2014. Relationships between quality
of information sharing and supply chain food quality in the Australian beef processing
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Thorlakson, T., Hainmueller, J. and Lambin, E.F., 2018. Improving environmental practices
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Tukker, A. and Tischner, U. eds., 2017. New business for old Europe: product-service
development, competitiveness and sustainability. Routledge.