Strategic Planning and Management: Coles Capability Analysis

This case study analyzes Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd, focusing on its internal resources and capabilities within the competitive retail industry. The assignment employs the VRIO framework (Value, Rarity, Imitability, Organization) to evaluate the company's strengths, including its marketing and promotional campaigns, strong store presence across Australia, human resources training programs, and diversified product range. The analysis demonstrates how these resources contribute to Coles' competitive advantage, examining aspects such as low prices, patriotic taglines, social media presence, employee skills, and product variety. The study concludes that the effective utilization of these resources is crucial for Coles' continued success in the global retail market. The analysis provides insights into how Coles can maintain and enhance its competitive position through strategic planning and resource management.

Running head: STRATEGIC PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
Strategic Planning and Management
Name of the Student
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Author Note

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Introduction:
The competition level of the retail business industry is increasing in significant
manner in the recent years and an important factor that is influencing the intensity of the
business is observed to be the increasing number of entries of the new organizations in the
global retail industry (Rothaermel, 2013). Under such situation, the senior management of the
companies face the necessity of managing the business operations of the company with
precise utilization of the resources of the company (Noe et al., 2017). Hence it becomes
essential for the managers or the decision makers of the company to investigate the
application of the resources of the company and the significance of the resources. The
application of the tools such as the VRIO framework, Resource Based View or the SWOT
analysis have great significance for the managers in evaluating the capability of the
companies in coping up with the business competition of the retail industry (Knott, 2015).
The paper identifies the internal resources of a chosen company named as Coles and provides
important information regarding the ability of those resources in providing the competitive
advantage. In order to conduct the capability analysis, the paper includes the application of
the VRIO framework.
Company Description:
The selected company is Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd and the trading name
of the company is known as Coles. The organization was established in the year 1914 and is
able to conduct a successful business over 105 years in different industries such as the
consumer services, retail and supermarkets (Coles.com.au, 2019). Other than this, the current
headquarter of the company is observed to be in Hawthorn East, Victoria, Australia. Along
with this, one of the key personalities of the current management team of the company is
Steven Cain, the managing director of the company (Coles.com.au, 2019). In addition to this,

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the company is seen to designate Curtis Stone as the brand ambassador of the company and
that provided a significant boost to the business reputation of the company (Coles.com.au,
2019). The excellent leadership of the management team of the company is able to contribute
in the success of the company in a notable manner and that is visible with the ability of the
company in generating 39.288 billion Australian dollars in the year 2018 (Coles.com.au,
2019). However, the operating income of the company is seen to slightly decrease as it
becomes 1.414 billion Australian dollars in the year 2018 (Coles.com.au, 2019). Two of the
important factors that have contributed to the success of the company are also the skills of
112298 number of employees of the company along with the store presence of the company
in 807 different locations (Coles.com.au, 2019).
Internal Analysis:
With a precise look at the breakdown of the concept of VRIO, it is evident that the
framework incorporates an investigation that is usually conducted for evaluating the impact
of the resources that a company possess. The framework has the expertise of evaluating
whether a particular resource of a company has the capability to provide the competitive
advantage to that particular organization with precise evaluation of the aspects such as the
value, rarity, inimitable and organization (Pesic, Milic & Stankovic, 2013).
Considering the business operations of Coles Supermarkets Australia Pty Ltd, it is
evident that the strengths of the company in marketing and promotional campaigns is capable
of providing the much required competitive advantage to the company. With a precise focus
on the modern retail industry and the dynamics of the market, it is understandable that
majority of the retail organizations and the supermarket chains are facing an intense level of
competition from the part of the competitor organizations. The increasing force of the
business competition is playing a crucial role in increasing the difficulty level for the

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companies in conducting a sustainable business. Hence the importance of the marketing and
promotional campaigns for majority of the retail companies is increasing in significant
manner. The senior management of Coles has proper idea of the fact and is able to utilise
their infrastructure for the effective management of the marketing and promotions of their
business operations. The marketing team of the company has the idea regarding their
capability of applying the low prices and has the expertise of designing the taglines for their
promotions in accordance to that. The success of the promotional campaigns is pretty
prominent with the patriotic taglines such as“Proudly Australian since 1914” for instigating
the sentiments of the people of the nation (Coles.com.au, 2019). Along with that, the
promotion of the their capability in applying the low prices is pretty prominent with taglines
such as “Why pay more”, “Extra Value for You — and Me” and “Cheap Groceries” and has
the capability to influence the purchase intention of the customers (Coles.com.au, 2019).
Other than this, the company is able to establish their presence in various social media
platforms for effective customer interactions which plays a crucial role in gaining the
customer inputs for designing their best seller products. In addition to this, the company is
observed to be capable in communicating the news of their products, services and discounts
through the e- mail subscriptions. The capability of the company in communicating to the
customers regarding their products and services is playing a crucial role in attracting the
customers. Hence, the mentioned competency is valuable for the company. Along with this,
the establishment of the infrastructure, creative mind set and the network for the promotional
campaigns is rare in modern business world and associates significant amount of cost as well.
The company’s efficiency in conducting the marketing campaigns and the reflection of the
success in the increment of the revenue of the company is pretty significant in stating the well
organization.

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Other than this, the strong store presence of the company has great significance for
the success of the company. The company has their presence in 807 number of locations
(Coles.com.au, 2019). The significant presence of the company across Australia plays a
crucial role in gaining the capability to reach out to the customers with their products and
services. In addition to this, the outlets of the company also contribute in the marketing and
promotional activities of the company and that increases the effectiveness of the promotional
activities of the company. Hence, the store presence of the company is valuable for the
increment of the sales of the company and at the same time, the infrastructural requirement
for setting up such high number of stores not only makes the competency costly to imitate for
the company but also makes it rare in the retail business world.
Other than this, the human resources of the company is considered as one of the most
significant resources capable of providing the much required competitive advantage to the
company. The company is able to establish the training facilities in such a manner that it
contributes in the improvement of the skills and competencies of the employees. Some of the
important benefits that the training of the company is able to incorporate are excellent time
management, problem solving, strong interpersonal communication and along with that, the
training helps the employees in retaining the customers, motivating themselves for the
improvement of their performances, reducing the job stress, reducing the customer turnover,
improving the morale in the workplaces and in implementing the customer strategies of the
company in the best possible manner (Colestraining.com, 2019). Along with these, the
achievement of the technical skills helps the employees of the company in meeting the
diverse requirements of the customers in an efficient manner. Hence, it becomes valuable for
the company and contributes in creating value for their customers. On the other hand, the
focus of the senior management of the company in improving the skills of 112298 numbers
of employees is seen to be rare in the global retail industry (Coles.com.au, 2019). At the same

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time, the infrastructural set up for the training facilities is significantly associated with
monetary investment which makes it costly to imitate for the competitor organizations.
Apart from this, the diversified product range of the company provides considerable
amount ease to the selected company in meeting the different requirements of the customers.
Coles have been the first preferences for a significant number of customers in Australia for
their food and liquor products and the variety that they possess in the baby products, dairy
products, Deli, fresh fruits and veg products and meat. Along with that, the company has the
capability to deliver the optimum quality gluten free products along with Kosher
(Coles.com.au, 2019). The company has the expertise of providing the variety on the basis of
the quantity and flavours of the products which play a crucial role in managing the demands
of the customers in an efficient manner. In order to nourish this competency, the company
faces the necessity to restructure their supply chain which at majority of the times becomes
costly to imitate for the competitor organizations and becomes rare as well.
Conclusion:
Considering the strong brand recognition of the mentioned company, the perfect
utilization of the mentioned resources and the core competencies are much needed for the
success of the company. The growth of Coles in the global retail industry is significantly
dependent on the effective usage of these internal resources and the continuous improvement
in these aspects will certainly place the organization in perfect position for conducting a
sustainable business.

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References:
Coles.com.au (2019). Coles Supermarkets. Retrieved 3 August 2019, from
https://www.coles.com.au/
Coles.com.au (2019). The Coles Range | Coles. (2019). Retrieved 3 August 2019, from
https://www.coles.com.au/our-range
Colestraining.com (2019). Coles Training – The Time for Training. Retrieved 3 August 2019,
from http://www.colestraining.com/media/articles/the-time-for-training/
Knott, P. J. (2015). Does VRIO help managers evaluate a firm’s resources?. Management
Decision, 53(8), 1806-1822.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2017). Human resource
management: Gaining a competitive advantage. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Education.
Pesic, M. A., Milic, V. J., & Stankovic, J. (2013). APPLICATION OF VRIO
FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYZING HUMAN RESOURCES’ROLE IN
PROVIDING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. Tourism & Management Studies,
575-586.
Rothaermel, F. T. (2013). Strategic management: concepts. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill
Irwin.