Management Perspective Case Study: Coles Supermarket's Strategies

This case study report analyzes Coles Supermarket, a major Australian retail giant, focusing on its organizational structure, operations management, and the role of management in fostering diversity and culture. The report examines Coles' organizational structure, highlighting departments like finance, marketing, and supply chain, and how they contribute to the company's objectives. It delves into Coles' diversity initiatives, including the 'Better Together' program and its five pillars. Furthermore, the report assesses Coles' business ethics and corporate social responsibility, detailing its sustainability programs and commitment to ethical practices. The report concludes with recommendations for Coles to effectively manage its business in the Australian retail market, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and ethical conduct in a competitive environment. The report references multiple academic sources to support its findings and analysis.

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Executive summary
Coles Supermarket is considered to be one of the major retail giant primarily operated in
Australia. High competitiveness in the Australian market creates some important aspects
regarding establishing a good and sustainable business practice. In this regard, this report is
going to discuss the organisational structure and culture accompanied with the measures to
ensure diversity within Coles. Moreover, the role of management to consider organisational
development and CSR activities are also played a significant role in this discussion. Finally, a
recommendation part is highlighted in the conclusion section that can help Coles to manage its
business effectively in Australian retail market.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Organisation Structure and Operations Management......................................................................4
Role of Management in People Diversity and Culture....................................................................6
Accessibility................................................................................................................................7
Gender balance............................................................................................................................7
Pride.............................................................................................................................................8
Flexibility.....................................................................................................................................8
Indigenous participation..............................................................................................................8
Role of Management in Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility..............................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
Reference.......................................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Coles Supermarkets is considered to be one of the leading supermarket giants in Australia
that operates supermarket, retail and consumer services. The headquarters of the company is
located at Melbourne and it is part of the Coles Group. Coles Supermarkets was founded in 1914
in Melbourne by George Coles and in course of time established a large retail chain especially in
Australia. The organisation is now operated with more than 800 supermarkets throughout
Australia with an annual revenue of AU$39.288 billion in the financial year of 2018
(Colescareers.com.au, 2019). Currently the organisation is under the ownership of Wesfarmers.
The major strategic measure that Coles have followed in its business is related to value the
customers, Lowering price leads the company to prepare a business battle with rival companies
like Woolworths. High competitiveness in the Australian retail market is considered to be an
important characteristics that compels the retail giants like Coles Supermarkets to procure new
and unique business ideas and innovation in promotion.
Based on this understanding, this report is going to deal with the organisational structure
and planning that is associated with the operation management and the use of workplace
diversity and culture in the context of current business situation in Australia. Apart from that the
role of ethics and social responsibility in business is also discussed in the report and figure out
the position of Coles Supermarkets in those criterions.

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Organisation Structure and Operations Management
Figure 1: Organisational structure of Coles
(Created by the author)
Unlike other companies, Coles Supermarkets tries to maintain an effective and detailed
organisational structure so that each of the department has a clear vision about their roles and
objectives. The CEO Steven Cain is the head of the entire workforce and all the organisations are
responsible to share equal objectives to develop the organisation. It is evident that Coles
Supermarkets has a long list of departments that are responsible to deliver better and quality
efforts to the cause and objectives of the organisation. In this regard, it can be stated that the
financial department has been played the most crucial role under the leadership of Tony Buffin.
According to the research of Roness (2017) it can be stated that the role of the finance
department is to continue the flow of money in both the internal and the external field of
C E O
(S te v e n C a in )
CFO
(Tony Buffin) Finance property
Marketing brand & media
Grocery
Brand & media
Marketing liquor
Marketing, Coles brand
Communications
Supply chain
Merchandise
Transformation

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business activities. The external business activities of the organisation is associated with the
relationship with the suppliers or merchandise whereas the internal activities is associated with
developing physical resources and remunerations for the employees and executives. Marketing is
also contributed a lot to the development of Coles Supermarkets as one of the leading retail
companies in Australia. Maduenyi et al. (2015) opined that marketing is the first step to make
connection with the customers. Therefore, the market analysis is considered to be the one of the
key factors for the success of Coles Supermarkets. Moreover, grocery is resembled with the
practice of delivering an effective measure where the organisation puts emphasis on its inventory
management. This is the core of operational measures that Coles Supermarkets is practiced to
offer the customers with enough products and offers. Besides this, the brand and media
department of Coles is entitled to prepare advertises and promotional activities to retain its
business in the highly competitive retail market in Australia. Shafie et al. (2018) advocated that
the uniqueness and creative measures in promotion will attract maximum number of customers
and it will be proper for the business organisation to survive in the market. The role of the
communication department is to set IT driven communications within the organisation and
maintain a good relationship with the customers. Supply chain is also identified as an important
part for Coles in the retail business and continuous negotiation and healthy business relationship
will lead the organisation to formulate better organisational practice.
In this regard, Coles Supermarkets follows the open system theory where the major focus
is vested on the human resource. According to Larson and Foropon (2018) the human factor in
the open system theory of organisational structure argued that socio-cultural factors are also
drove individuals to improve the productivity at managerial levels. As a result of that it seems an
effective measure for the business organisation to ensure success by putting emphasis on the

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human resources (Enya, Pillay & Dempsey, 2018). In case of Coles Supermarkets all the
departments are inter-connected and try to deal with the practice of establishing an efficient
organisational environment where the interests of the organisation will be served out of
paramount importance. As a result of that an integrity and unified structure can be seen in case of
Coles Supermarkets and the organisation is acknowledged the value of its employees and human
resources. Therefore, any change in any department will affect the entire string of organisational
structure. There are both the advantages and disadvantages of such practice. However, it is the
responsibility of the CEO to ensure the continuation of the efficacy of the organisation.
Role of Management in People Diversity and Culture
Diversity and culture are identified as the important factors that can help an organisation
to create better image in the intensely competitive market. It is primarily associated with the
practice of dealing with the employees and the suppliers on whom the success of the company
depends. From the research of Meyers and Vallas (2016) it can be stated that putting emphasis
on the employees is referred as the most important part of an organisation as it is resembled with
the objectives and values of an organisation. In case of Coles Supermarkets, both the interests of
the employees and the suppliers are taken into considerable importance and analyse the efforts to
cope with their aspirations extensively. Inclusion of diversity within the business organisation is
identified as one of the important part for Coles Supermarkets through Better Together Program
(Colescareers.com.au., 2019). Acknowledging and sincere response from the Coles management
illustrate the need to do best for the communities and encourage and value diversity of the team
members and customers as well. It means the organisation is not only put emphasis on its
customers but the employees are also took part into the diversity program. In this regard, the

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organisation launched the Better Together program in 2017 based on five pillars in terms of
accessibility, gender balance, flexibility, pride and indigenous participation.
Accessibility
The Accessibility Action Plan (2018-2020) is responsible to deal with digital accessibility
and modifying car parks for the customers in order to shape the organisational image. Moreover,
improving the Coles Supermarkets stores, sites, workplace and digital assets are also
incorporated into the Accessibility Action Plan in accompanied with Australian Network on
Disability (AND) (Colesgroup.com.au, 2019). It seems an effort on behalf of the Coles
management in order to bring equality and diversity in organisational practice. There are three
key areas that the Action Plan is focused in the form of Community engagement, workplace
environment and quality of the products and services.
Gender balance
The gender balance or actions against the gender discrimination is also a principle aim for
Coles Supermarkets to make a balance in gender in every sphere of the organisation. According
to the research of Hideg and Ferris (2016) gender equality or anti-discriminatory activities are
the basic features of current business environment. The advent of globalisation changed the
shape of business perception so dominantly that gender balance is no longer a philanthropic
practice. It becomes a mandatory and important aspect that the organisation should follow in
order to bring efficacy and sustainability in business. As a result of that the same practice is
found in course of the company-wide initiative of Coles where the organisation fixed its goal to
achieve 40% representation of women in leadership by 2022 (Colescareers.com.au, 2019).

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Pride
The pride of Coles Supermarkets is associated with the practice of delivering supportive
environment on LGBTI topics, driving awareness, educational engagement and the behavioural
changes. The internal policies, communication, community engagement and the internal events
are played crucial role in order to bring efficacy into the organisational perception and the Pride
in Diversity measure paves the way for Coles to conduct a national level not-for profit employer
support program for all the LGBTI employees. It is the first initiative that has been taken by any
business organisation in Australia. Moreover, in 2017, the Gender Affirmation and Transition at
Cole’s guidelines also enhance the pride of Coles Supermarkets extensively.
Flexibility
As far as flexibility is concerned, Rojo et al. (2018) articulated that employee wellbeing,
job satisfaction, engagement and performance are identified as the most important aspect that an
organisation has to deal with in order to get strategic advantage in the competitive market. The
Coles Group also establishes a flexible IT Working Group to review and update the IT
infrastructure to continue and improve ability to work remotely and create an advanced
organisational environment with futuristic aspirations.
Indigenous participation
Coles Supermarkets is referred as the largest corporate sector in Australia comprised of
indigenous people. Out of the total workforce 3.5% represents indigenous employees who are
highly skilled and trained enough to cope with the organisational objectives effectively.
Moreover, diversity of suppliers and indigenous community engagement through the corporate
initiatives are also identified as effective measure that the Coles management is followed to get
more competitive advantage.

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Role of Management in Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
The ethics and corporate social responsibility of Coles Supermarkets is also under deep-
down investigation in order to get a clear and transparent picture regarding the role of the
organisation to deliver effective organisational practice across Australia. In case of Coles, the
social responsibility measures of the company are exclusive and dynamic enough to get strategic
advantage in Coles. Sustainability within the organisation includes a range of programs and
activities not only for the customers and the local communities but the suppliers are also feel free
to join in those campaigns. As a matter of fact, the company also conducts programs for the
suppliers and cope with their interests and aspirations. For instance, in 2014, the Coles Group
was going to launch a Grass-Fed Beef Range called Graze where the customers assured to get
100% pastures-fed beefs (Colesgroup.com.au, 2019). It is also beneficial for the farmers as they
can get profit by adding premium value to the beef production. Apart from that the BonSucro
Sugar was re-launched in 2015 with the purpose to provide environmental certification to its
business model.
However, there are some issues regarding the trolley collectors in retail companies across
Australia. Exploitation, underpayment wage and poor employment practices are considered to be
the important aspect that the retail companies are practiced all over Australia. Coles sensed its
violation towards ethical and moral responsibility and willing to meet the standards framed by
Fair Work Ombudsmen, Australia (Coles.com.au., 2019). It helps to reduce the vulnerability of
the organisation to have lack of ethical measures into its business practices that Coles was
alleged with for a long period of time. For establishing a strong commitment towards
environmental sustainability Coles Supermarkets is trying to put focus on measures like waste
and recycling, energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse emission. Sustainable packaging is

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also an important aspect of its positive steps towards environmental sustainability where Coles
Supermarkets is willing to ensure food safety, product longevity and reducing food waste. As far
as the taking adequate measures for the greenhouse gas emission, it can be stated that since 2009
the company is succeeded to reduce the greenhouse gas emission by more than 30%. In addition
to this, Coles also tries to take further steps to reduce the greenhouse gas further.
Conclusion
Based on the above discussion, it can be stated that there are some important measures
that the organisation is taking in order to get strategic advantage in the competitive market. Coles
understand the importance of ethics and cultural diversity in its business initiatives that is
coincided with the organisational structure of Coles Supermarkets. However there are some
recommendations that Coles must follow in the form of
 Managing the workplace cohesion effectively.
 Using advanced technologies to generate better environmental protection.
 Follow the government legislation extensively to make sustainable business practice.

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Reference
Ausfoodnews.com.au. (2014). Coles accepts "ethical and moral responsibility" to end
exploitation of trolley collectors | Australian Food News. Retrieved 19 July 2019, from
http://www.ausfoodnews.com.au/2014/10/08/coles-accepts-ethical-and-moral-
responsibility-to-end-exploitation-of-trolley-collectors.html
Coles.com.au. (2019). Environment. Retrieved 19 July 2019, from
https://www.coles.com.au/corporate-responsibility/sustainability/environment
Colescareers.com.au. (2019). Coles Careers. Retrieved 19 July 2019, from
https://www.colescareers.com.au/about-us/our-brands
Colesgroup.com.au. (2019). Our people | Coles Group. Retrieved 19 July 2019, from
https://www.colesgroup.com.au/sustainability/?page=our-people
Enya, A., Pillay, M., & Dempsey, S. (2018). A systematic review on high reliability
organisational theory as a safety management strategy in construction. Safety, 4(1), 6.
Hideg, I., & Ferris, D. L. (2016). The compassionate sexist? How benevolent sexism promotes
and undermines gender equality in the workplace. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 111(5), 706.
Larson, P. D., & Foropon, C. (2018). Process improvement in humanitarian operations: an
organisational theory perspective. International Journal of Production Research, 56(21),
6828-6841.

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Maduenyi, S., Oke, A. O., Fadeyi, O., & Ajagbe, A. M. (2015). Impact of organisational
structure on organisational performance.
Meyers, J. S., & Vallas, S. P. (2016). Diversity regimes in worker cooperatives: workplace
inequality under conditions of worker control. The Sociological Quarterly, 57(1), 98-128.
Rojo, A., Stevenson, M., Lloréns Montes, F. J., & Perez-Arostegui, M. N. (2018). Supply chain
flexibility in dynamic environments: The enabling role of operational absorptive capacity
and organisational learning. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 38(3), 636-666.
Roness, P. G. (2017). Types of state organizations: Arguments, doctrines and changes beyond
new public management. In Transcending new public management (pp. 77-100).
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Shafie, N. A., Sanusi, Z. M., Johari, R. J., Utami, W., & Ghazali, A. W. (2018). Effects of
Organisational Structure on Social Value: Mediating Role of Financial
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