Management 1 - Assignment 1 Part B: Aldi's Strategic Management Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Aldi's business operations, focusing on its vision, mission, and strategic management approaches. It delves into Aldi's mission statement, emphasizing its commitment to providing high-quality products at low prices. The report examines external factors...Read More

Running Head: Management 1
Assignment 1: Part B

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Contents
Ans1. Vision and mission of Aldi....................................................................................................3
Literature on mission...................................................................................................................3
Ans2. External factor.......................................................................................................................4
Technological factor....................................................................................................................4
Theoretical framework.................................................................................................................5
Technology managed by Aldi......................................................................................................7
Ans4. CSR and ethics in Aldi..........................................................................................................8
CSR in Aldi..................................................................................................................................8
Ans5. Organizational culture...........................................................................................................9
Organizational culture of Aldi.....................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................11

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Ans1. Vision and mission of Aldi
The company Aldi is the famous German based retail store which was established in the
year 1948. This company is the biggest food retailer company in all over world. The company is
having around 700 stores across the world. The aim of the company is to provide best quality of
retail products with the affordable prices to the customers. For this manner, the company has set
vision and mission so that it can achieve its objective accordingly. The vision and mission
statement of the Aldi is as follows:
Mission statement-
The company Aldi has clear business viewpoint along with the various guideline
ideologies. Those viewpoints can be summarized in one statement called vision statement i.e.
high level of quality with low prices-guaranteed. So, the company has five basic ideologies i.e.
huge savings, outstanding value, excellent quality, special buys and buy with trust and
confidence. So, the mission statement of the company Aldi is to provide opportunities to the
customers to buy everyday products with the highest quality and the lowest prices for the
products.
Vision Statement-
The core vision of the company Aldi is to provide incredible high quality products at the
impossibly low prices to the customers (IBIS world, 2016).
Literature on mission
Mission is the important part of managing the business. The mission should be defined
before developing the strategy for operating the business. Developing the mission statement
should be based on the various decisions. The main aim of the mission statement should be based
on the target audience. The companies need to should clearly identify the communication
potential and target audience in the mission statement. There should be nine components in a
mission statement of the company i.e.
 Consumers (target market),
 Geographic markets,

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 Product or service offerings,
 Concern for the growth, profit and survival,
 Technology used to produce and promote the specific product,
 Viewpoints i.e. company’s value, ethics, and beliefs,
 Employees,
 Public image i.e. community, and
 Effective strategy to operate better than competitors (Papulova, 2014).
Based on the above literature review, the core mission and purpose of Aldi is to grow its
share in the market in the grocery market. The focus of the company is to provide same quality
products to the customers as its competitors are providing. The company relies on its customers
for the success and growth in the market. Aldi is committed in satisfying its customers and the
customers in the market have positive response towards the company in terms of quality retail
products (Chung, 2015).
Ans2. External factor
The environmental factors are an important part to analyze the efforts of the company.
The external factors include the identification of environmental change opportunities, trends, and
threats in the political, legal, ecological, technological and socio-cultural segments in the market.
In case of the company Aldi, one of the external factor i.e. technological factors has taken for the
discussion.
Technological factor
It is well known that the development of technology has changed the lifestyle of the
people. Online and mobile are becoming necessary part of daily lives of the individuals. The
developed technologies are impacting the business of retail companies as there is the need to be
advanced by the companies with the growing trend of technology. The technological
infrastructure is the main part of the supply chain in the modern business. There are some points
by which it can be analyzed that the technological factors have strong impact on the business
operations of Aldi. The e-commerce and internet have increased the global competitiveness in
the Australian retail market (Zakić, Jovanović & Stamatović, 2008). There are many Australian
companies using the internet based technology to develop their business into the international
market. The country Australia is well connected with the domestic and international market. So,

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Aldi has to adopt new technologies to attract the customers in the international market. In the
retail sector, it is important to improve its efficiency and the quality of the products by Aldi.
There are some technological factors affecting the retail business include internet activity,
wireless charging, existence of 3D technology, computer system, and automation. The adoption
and development of the mobile technology provides many opportunities to the retail company.
by this technology, the company can make the customers aware about the offers and discounts.
Further, the growing desire of internet connectivity has provided the opportunity to the retail
sector to rebrand their stores and deal with the competition. Now, the mobile payments are being
introduced that is more attractive for many customers.
Theoretical framework
It is important to understand the impact of technology in the marketing practices by the
company. It is also necessary for the differentiation of the marketing strategies. Some scholars
have identified segmentation, targeting and position in the marketing strategy. The involvement
in the technology in the marketing strategy is beneficial in improving the communication, better
product development and establishing strong relationship with the consumers in the market.
Technology such as internet is helpful in building the brand image to connect with the consumers
and to give the strong competition to the other companies in the same industry. The brands
which are connected with the customers are able to communicate them in the better way
(Alghamdi & Bach, 2014).

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Figure 1: Involvement of technology in marketing
(Source: Alghamdi & Bach, 2014)
The use of internet and various search engines are evolving technology that has made the
business less costly and allowed the markers to get important information for the business. With
the advanced technology such as emails, mobile and telephone and the electronic networks, the
companies are able to improve their market research capabilities in the business. There are
internet protocol technology including television, cell-phones, and touch screen responses are
helpful for the marketers to gather the data about the customers who purchase the products and
visit the company’s website (Grant et al, 2014). The information collected from various
technological sources is useful in understanding the changes in the consumers’ demands and
market. By analyzing inquires, comments in the blogs and comments on the social media, this
can be done effectively. Companies are now using interactive technologies such as internet and
mobile phones to interact with the customers, bloggers and retailers to make the decisions on
brand (Fifeld, 2012). According to the research, customers are now turned to the online shopping
channels. The changes in the technology are the cause of wide use of mobile devices along with
the internet connection for the communication reasons. So, companies in the various industries
are using internet and smart phones to improve their marketing tactics, collect information of
customers, gain competitive advantage and tackle the competitors easily. Various technological
factors provide many different ways to deal with the core business functions and competences.
The technologies such as internet and search engines allow the companies to search potential

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candidates for their products and services. Along with this, the technological factors allow
existing customers to use the URL of the company and its promotions to check out new products,
services and announcements (Russell-Jones and Jones, 2014).
Technology managed by Aldi
The technological factors have brought many new opportunities for the Aldi in the
Australian market. There are two main developments in the company due to the technology
advancement. First is the development and introduction of the online shopping along with the
home delivery facility. Second, self service checkout points are provided to the customers for
their convenience so that the operational cost can be reduced. Along with this, Aldi has invested
high amount of time and money on the energy efficiency projects to achieve long-term objectives
of the business (Peñaloza, Toulouse & Visconti, 2013).
Customers need high tech experience and more convenient while shopping of the
products. Technology plays an important role in improving the user experience and cost
effective. In store media, self checkout, electronic advertising displays, proper shelves are the
recent innovations in retailing (Solomon, 2014).
Retailers need to target the new customers through internet and web such as blogs and
community networks. Along with this, tablets and smart phones are becoming integral part of the
individuals. So the mobile app should be created by the company for the online shopping.
Further, there is the trend ‘green’ IT. Technology is the key macro-environment variable which
has significant impact on many of the Aldi products. The advanced technologies have benefits
for both customers as well as company. By the use of technology, services can become more
personalized, customer satisfaction can rise and shopping can become more convenient (Stacey,
2011). The stores of Aldi use following technologies in its business operations:
 Intelligence scale,
 Self check-out machine,
 Wireless devices,
 Electronic self labeling, and
 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

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Based on the above discussed literature about the technology, it is observed that the
technology has important role in developing marketing strategy for the successful business. in
the company Aldi, Loyalty cards are offered to the customers which are also technological
influence. With the help of loyalty cards, the Aldi stores are offering incentives to keep the
existing customers loyal and to attract new customers in the market. Further, company is also
using social media sites by which the customers are able to give their feedback on the products
and services provided by the company. It is also providing non-grocery online services to
improve the possibility of retaining and attracting the customers by the technological innovation.
The services include e-books, non-grocery sales, music streaming and video-on-demand
services. Based on the above theoretical discussion on technology, it can be said that technology
is crucial for marketing and Aldi is focusing on the effective marketing strategy with the
technological advancement to attract the customers. Although, the new and advanced technology
has impact the business of Aldi as the customers are advanced now, but by adopting those
technological factors, Aldi is able to meet the requirements of the customers effectively
(Naslund, 2013).
Ans4. CSR and ethics in Aldi
The CSR and ethics are the crucial part in the organization for the effective business
operations. There are some theories related to the business ethics and CSR that must be
implemented by the organizations. One of the theories of CSR is the shareholder value theory
which is the most effective theory (Rahul, 2012). This value argues that the social responsibility
of the business should be developed for the profit with some legal norms. The functions of
business should contribute to the society and the economy. Along with this, the business
functions must not be confused with the other social activities performed by the organizations.
The theory believes that the managers and corporate owners are the important stakeholders and
their duty is to serve the interest of the shareholders (Freeman, 2010).
CSR in Aldi
The company Aldi has effective approach for CSR practices in terms of stakeholders.
Stakeholder is the groups that have high level of interest in the success of business. In the
stakeholder group of the company, there are customers, suppliers, employees and society in
which the company is operating. Aldi is focused on its stakeholders and providing the profit

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based on their needs and this is the reason of the growth and success of the company in the retail
market. The approach of Aldi is to promote the quality and value in its products. The company
Aldi has established closed and long-term relationship with the suppliers, customers and
employees with believe that trust is the important part for maintaining the business relationship
effectively. According to the theory, business owners are important stakeholders for the business,
but for Aldi, important stakeholders are employees as they are physically and mentally involved
in the business operations. So, the employees in the company are supported by their time and the
company is always focused on providing training by the proper systems. Along with this, the
company also has the responsible attitude by the CSR policy for the society in which it is
operating (Bhattacharya and Korschun, 2008).
Ans5. Organizational culture
Organizational culture can be described as the shared values, perceptions and beliefs held
by the employees within the organization. The organizational culture reflects the beliefs, values
and the norms which can be used by the employees within an organization. The organizational
culture is variously defined by many researchers. It includes wide range of social phenomena i.e.
customary dress, behavior, language, beliefs, assumptions, values, symbol of status, which is
helpful in defining the organization’s norms and character. The culture in the organization is
important for the growth and development of employees as well as organization. The culture fit
is vital for the hiring process. If the employees are cultural fit, they will work within the
environment of the company (Bitsani, 2013).
Organizational culture of Aldi
The organizational culture of an organization basically focuses on the identity and unity
among the employees to achieve a business objective in the operating market. along with this, it
also provides a meaningful direction to the employees and management. The company Aldi is
focused on the lean thinking. It means that by the simplicity, the company is trying to cut the cost
in all the business functions. All the employees in the company are encouraged to provide best
quality work in the efficient manner to gain customer loyalty for the company. Along with this,
the company has effective policy of no administration. By this policy, the company is able to
achieve primary objective of the business to satisfy the customers. Further, company also has a
strictness to follow the process related to business. This strict process of the company is helpful

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to follow the passion and ensure the efficiency of the business operations. Based on the
literature, there are six main dimensions i.e. goal oriented, externally driven, strict workplace,
professional, closed system, and employee centered. These are the dimensions that make the
company Aldi unique for the employees (Büschgens, Bausch and Balkin, 2013).

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References
Alghamdi, S., & Bach, C., (2014), Technological Factors to Improve Performance of Marketing
Strategy, Accessed on 22nd August 2017 from
https://www.asee.org/documents/zones/zone1/2014/Student/PDFs/15.pdf
Bhattacharya, C. B. and Korschun, D., (2008), Stakeholder marketing: Beyond the four Ps and
the customer: Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 27(1), 113–116
Bitsani , E., (2013), Theoretical approaches to the organizational culture and the organizational
climate: Exploratory research examples and best policies in health care services: Journal of
Human Resource Management, 1(4), 48-58
Büschgens, T., Bausch, A. and Balkin, D.B., (2013), Organizational Culture and Innovation: A
Meta
‐Analytic Review: Journal of product innovation management, 30(4), pp.763-781
Chung, F., (2015), The Supermarket switch is on as Aldi takes top award in customer
satisfaction, accessed on 22nd August 2017 from
http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/the-supermarket-switch-is-on-as-aldi-takes-top-
award-in-customer-satisfaction/news-story/3ce35413bb26d01118190010c9cb0916
Fifeld, P., (2012), Marketing strategy: the difference between marketing and markets, (5th),
Oxford: Elsevier.
Freeman, R. E., (2010), Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach, (5th), London: Prentice
Hall
Grant, M. R., Butler, B., Orr, S., & Murray, P., (2014), Contemporary Strategic Management: An
Australian Perspective, (2nd), Wiley
IBIS world, (2016), Supermarkets and Grocery Stores in Australia: Market Research Report,
Accessed on 22nd August 2017 from http://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry/default.aspx?
indid=1834
Naslund, D., (2013), Keeping the Customer (relatively) satisfied: Strategic Direction, 30 (3),
P13-15
Papulova, Z., (2014), The Significance of Vision and Mission Development for Enterprises in
Slovak Republic: Journal of Economics, Business and Management, 2(1)
Peñaloza, L., Toulouse, N., & Visconti, L. M., (2013), Marketing management: A cultural perspective,
USA: Routledge
Rahul, R., (2012), Theories of CSR, Accessed on 22nd August 2017 from
https://www.projectguru.in/publications/theories-of-csr/

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Russell-Jones, N., and Jones, L., (2014), Marketing Pocketbook, New York: Management
Pocketbooks
Solomon, M.R., (2014), Consumer behavior: buying, having, and being, Engelwood Cliffs, NJ:
Prentice Hall
Stacey, R.D., (2011), Strategic Management and Organizational Dynamics: Laureate Education
Inc, London
Zakić, N., Jovanović, A., & Stamatović, M., (2008), External and internal factors аffеcting the
product and business process innovation: Economics and Organization, 5(1), 17-19