Stakeholder Analysis of Coles Supermarket: A Business Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Coles Supermarket, one of Australia's leading grocery stores. It begins with an executive summary and introduction outlining the company's background and the report's objectives. The core of the report involves an external analysis using PESTEL, examining political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors influencing Coles. Internal analysis employs a SWOT framework to evaluate the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report details the roles of internal stakeholders (employees, shareholders, managers) and external stakeholders (customers, suppliers, government), including their power and interests, and presents a stakeholder matrix. It also compares Coles' stakeholders with those of JB Hi-Fi. The analysis considers the impact of economic downturns, technological advancements, and environmental concerns. The report concludes with a summary of findings and a reference list.

Running Head: COLES SUPERMARKET 0
Internal and External Stakeholder Analysis
Coles Supermarket
Student’s details

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Executive Summary
The following report discussed the internal and external stakeholder analysis of Coles
Supermarket which is one of the leading grocery stores of Australia. The report covered
following topics in this:
 Background of the company
 External analysis of Coles
 Roles of Internal and External stakeholders of the company
 Power and interest of stakeholders
 Stakeholder matrix
 Internal analysis of Coles
 Comparison of Stakeholders with other company
For the external analysis, report used PESTEL and for the internal analysis, report used
SWOT.

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
PESTLE Analysis........................................................................................................................................3
Political factors........................................................................................................................................3
Economic Factors....................................................................................................................................4
Social Factors..........................................................................................................................................4
Technological Factors..............................................................................................................................5
Environmental factors..............................................................................................................................5
Legal Factors...........................................................................................................................................6
Roles of Stakeholders in Coles Supermarket...............................................................................................7
Stakeholders Analysis..............................................................................................................................7
Employees...........................................................................................................................................7
Shareholders........................................................................................................................................8
Managers.............................................................................................................................................8
Customers............................................................................................................................................8
Suppliers..............................................................................................................................................8
Government.........................................................................................................................................8
SWOT Analysis...........................................................................................................................................9
Strengths..................................................................................................................................................9
Weaknesses...........................................................................................................................................10
Opportunities.........................................................................................................................................10
Threats...................................................................................................................................................10
Stakeholder Comparison............................................................................................................................10
Similarities and dissimilarities between stakeholders of Coles and JB Hi- Fi........................................11
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
Reference List...........................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
Coles Supermarket is Australia’s first supermarket which has developed from a small
variety store in 1914, founded by George Coles. It is retail and customer service chain,
headquartered in Melbourne (Colesgroup, 2019a). In 2007, Coles Group limited was acquired by
Wesfarmers which is a Western Australian public company and now Coles Group Limited is
second- largest retailer of Australia behind the Woolworths Limited. Coles operates 807
supermarkets in Australia and it has more than 113,000 employees (Colesgroup, 2019b).
The following report will analyze the internal and external environment of the Coles
Supermarket which identifies the nature of its competitive advantage. For the external analysis,
the report will use PESTLE which is a tool to analyses the macro- environmental factors that can
impact the business of Coles Supermarket. And for the internal analysis, SWOT is the best tool
because it can help to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the
company. SWOT analysis will also help to compare stakeholders of Coles with any other
company. In addition to these, the report will cover the roles, interest and power level of internal
and external stakeholders and also create the stakeholder matrix.
The mission of Coles Supermarket is that establishes the supermarket as leading trade
outlet in Australia and avail the products at affordable prices to the consumer (Colesgroup,
2019b). To achieve this mission, analyzing the market condition is very important.
PESTLE Analysis
There are many factors that can influence the decisions of managers of any company.
These include new laws, tax changes, demographic changes, trade barriers and changes in
government policy, macro changes, and all these main factors are contained in the PESTLE
(Miller, Vandome, & McBrewst, 2011).
Political factors
Political factors refer to the policies and rules of the government in which the main
factors are: What is the degree of government intervention in the economy? What are its primary
requirements for business and professional support? The governing rules and regulations related
to logistical adherence can impact the profitability of Coles Supermarket. Because of these,
Coles can face problems in distribution of products. There is one more factor that can impact the

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profitability of Coles, which is rules and regulations related to Food standards code because
Australia’s each state have some food standard codes such as packed food must have information
of nutrition on the label showing the protein, quantity of energy, carbohydrates, saturated fats,
sodium and sugar with percentage of suggested daily requirements. This rule indulges the
Australia’s supermarket to display the all information to avoid fatness (Perera, 2017).
Economic Factors
Economic factors are each one of those that relate to the economy of the nation. For
example, the rate of foreign exchange, the rate of inflation, interest rate, and the current
condition of economic cycle (Select Knowledge Limited, 2015). The factor which can impact the
Coles is economic downturn of Australia. In this condition, customers of Australia have become
very delicate and spending very less amount on shopping. The financial crisis led to a reduction
in disposable revenue in households of Australia, thus decreasing their power of purchase. The
buying performances have also changed because of the increase in the living costs where people
or customers are more liable towards low-cost products, decreasing their consumption of luxury
products and healthy products (Blokdyk, 2018).
To attract the customers and fulfill their needs, Coles has started a huge range of products
with very less margin and trying to decrease the cost of the products. Not only this, Coles avail
the combination of various products to reduce the shopping cost of customers. But, apart from
Coles, many other companies adapt this strategy which started the “Price War”.
Social Factors
There are some social factors handled by coles that affect society as a whole and like
other aspects, they are recognized as a direct reflection of society (Zou, 2011). Coles incorporate
attitudes, culture values, and beliefs as these factors are mostly adopted by the population and
community. All factors of Coles have a great impact on society as well as its marketing. Due to
which its direct effect is also visible on its organization. Coles have full knowledge of the needs
and desires of the customers as well as Coles understand the customers' lifestyle very well, which
increases the trust of society on Coles and on this basis their enterprise is achieving success.
Gender, age is first determined by population, which product is made for which age and
for which gender, so that it can be known how much product should be produced, such as make-

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up if the product will be produced. So it will be produced keeping in mind the women customers
from this they will not include the male population. And their goal will be towards a defined
class.
Technological Factors
Technology plays an important role in the success of businesses across world. A firm
should not only do technological analysis of the business yet in addition the speed at which
technology interrupts that industry. Moderate speed will give additional time while quick speed
of technological disturbance may give a firm brief period to adapt and be beneficial. Coles has
also made good use of technology as everyone knows that with the help of technology many
companies have taken their industry to the peak (50MINUTES.COM, 2015). New technology
can take any business to a certain height in a given time and in other aspects, they can also take
out any competitor from the market so that their profit also doubles. Along with this, they can
also become market leaders and also lead the market. Technology is the means by which new
products can be easily brought into the market and the market outlook can also be changed.
These all depend on technology.
If Coles adopts a new technology or encounters a new technology, it is possible that the
Coles industry sector is gaining a new dimension and gaining popularity, then it becomes
necessary that Coles reach this level then Keep and monitor that level. At the same time, it is also
important not to let the competitor advance and keep incorporating new technology in the
industry from time to time.
Environmental factors
All industries have started giving importance to environmental protection, and keep its
standard level in mind. In today's time, all companies have started giving utmost importance to
the environment from that there is no pressure on them, neither from the government nor from
any organization. If the company is unable to meet any kind of standard then it has to bear the
boycott and reproach of the people and sometimes it happens that companies have to shut down
their business as well, every company needs to be aware of the environment (Miller, Vandome,
& McBrewst, 2011).

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Current weather conditions affect Coles highly because if the weather changes unexpectedly then
it has a bad effect on the resources and finished products because unexpected weather changes
can spoil their products or delay the product's market and they become outdated (Berry, 2017).
As the climate is changing, some products are becoming useless, this has also impacted
on Coles because due to global warming, the winter is now coming down and hot clothes come
in the market for a short time, hence also the impact of the environment, it falls on business.
Legal Factors
If a new business is started in any country, then the entire format of that business is in the
hands of the government, all government bodies definitely affect a business in some way,
including technology as well as legal methods, are also included and all these are covered under
PESTEL (Robertson, 2015).
Having its operations in Australia, Coles has to comply with varied legal provisions
covered under Corporations Act, 2001 that acts as a guidance for different activities of company;
including director duties, related part provision, reporting norms and the like. Further, the
company has to comply with competition and fair trade norms covered under the Competition
and Consumer Act 2010. Any breach or non-adherence of these provisions can result in severe
penalties.
Coles is also not insulated from these policies, if coles want to increase their work then
it’s have to accept all the rules of all these bodies. Also, if Coles wants to recruit new skilled
workers in their organization, then the rules of Coles will not be fixed on them, but government
rules will also have to be accepted.

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Roles of Stakeholders in Coles Supermarket
Stakeholder Internal External Power Interest
1 Employees Service quality,
industrial action,
staff turnover
Income and job
security, job
satisfaction
2 Shareholders Election of
directors
Growth in share
price, profit
growth,
dividends
3 Managers Detailed
information of
business and
power of
decision making
Salary, job
satisfaction,
status
4 Customers Revenue and
recommendation
Product or
service
5 Suppliers Product
availability,
pricing and
quality
Safety of their
business
6 Government Rules and
regulations,
taxation,
subsidies
Tax receipts,
legally
operations, jobs
Stakeholders Analysis
Employees
Employees are important stakeholders of the company because they have
professionalism, energy and involvement in the development of business. They have power to

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provide quality services to customers and quality is very important to sell the products and
develop the business. Their interests are mostly related to the high level of salary, good working
environment, different type of promotions, opportunities for development of business and
personal skilled programs.
Shareholders
Shareholders are most important stakeholders of the business because they invest in the
business to purchase the share. Shareholders are interested to take best return on the investment
that is made from the profits. Their main aim is increase the activities of the business but
reducing the cost from which they can earn profit (Colesgroup, 2019c).
Managers
Managers are the powerful stakeholders of the company because they directly involve in
the planned process and they can impact the important decisions for the company. Manager’s
main interest is expanding the business.
Customers
Customers helping to develop the business and they expect the high- quality products,
good value and great services from the organization. Among all the external stakeholders of the
company, customers are most important because if there are no customers then who will buy the
products.
Suppliers
Suppliers also hold a stake in the business because they provide the materials related to
products and if they provide low quality products then company also bear the loss in this
condition. They have to give the availability of products to the company at right time. They have
interest in maintain their profit and safety in business.
Government
Government is external stakeholder which can affect the every step of business.
Government has power to create new rules and regulations that can influence the business in
many ways and their main interest is legal working.

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Interest of Stakeholders
SWOT Analysis
When making strategic decisions, there are a lot of factors to consider. It is easy to get
overwhelmed by related situations, choices and statistics. A SWOT analysis, or SWOT matrix, is
a decision-making framework to focus on strategically important elements in this mess. SWOT
stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. These four categories describe
whether one aspect of a decision is negative or positive and whether it is external or internal to
the organization (Quincy, Lu, & Huang, 2012).
Strengths
Coles Supermarket is one of the leading companies in Australia and Coles has Strength to
flourish in the industry and market place (Snelling, 2012). Strengths of Coles are:
 2nd largest leading grocery store of Australia
 Environment friendly and Sustainability
 Price saving products and services
 Effective Corporate social responsibility
 Useable sold are native in nature
Meet their needs Key player
Least important Show consideration
Stakeholder
matrix
Power of Stakeholders

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Weaknesses
Weaknesses cover the negative areas of company and Coles has strength to improve upon.
Main weaknesses of Coles are:
 Lack of new technologies
 Less marketing and promotion
 Issues from management
 Determined issues from the suppliers
Opportunities
Opportunities are the part of external analysis. Company can utilizes these opportunities to
develop the level of business. Main opportunities for Coles are:
 New market scanning
 Company can grow the business in national liquor business
 Insurance opportunities
 Opportunities in finance sector
Threats
Threats are negative external factors which cannot control by the company. Main threats for
the Coles are:
 Competitor use new technologies
 Lawsuits in various markets
 Fluctuation in legal rules and regulations
 Brand identity
 Change in spending habits on food
Stakeholder Comparison
Stakeholders are persons who have power and interest in the business. Most companies
have the same type of stakeholders (Knox, 2015). But in the different industries, stakeholders
can change. In the comparison of Coles with JB Hi- Fi, it is clear that they working in the
different industries. Coles is working in supermarket industry whereas JB Hi- Fi is working in IT
industry.

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Similarities and dissimilarities between stakeholders of Coles and JB Hi- Fi
Customers are stakeholders of every company and they have same power and interest in
the company. Power and interest suppliers can be change in both companies because suppliers
play an important role in operation of Coles whereas the operations of JB Hi-Fi is mostly depend
on the technologies (Fleisher & Babette, 2015). Government is also stakeholder of both
companies because government has power to create new rules and regulations for every industry
and in this case, every company can face threats or challenges. Employees are very important
stakeholders of JB Hi-Fi as comparison to Coles because JB Hi- Fi provides services with
products which are totally depend on the working skill of employees. Managers and shareholders
have same power and interest in usually every type of company whether it is Coles or JB Hi-Fi.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the above report that Coles Supermarket is developing the
business very well but some external factors can impact the profitability of Coles. Coles has very
good reputation in the market. It is analyzed from the PESTEL analysis that no such political and
legal factor creating negative impact on the Coles because company developing the business
with following the all rules and regulation, but company can improve the business with the help
of new technologies. Economic factors create some problems for Coles but company using
business strategies to fight with this condition as well as company working for the society.
Stakeholders are very important in business because they have power to impact the
business as well as have interest in the business. SWOT analysis has shown that company needs
to build new long term relationships and improve the level of business with use of opportunities.