Analysis of Coles Group's Strategic Resource and Operations Management

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Coles Group's strategic resource and operations management. It begins with an overview of the company, highlighting its commitment to delivering quality products and excellent customer service. The report then delves into the day-to-day operations of Coles Group, focusing on its supply chain management process, which ensures efficient delivery of goods to end-users. It emphasizes the importance of inventory management and the use of technology, such as tagging systems, to streamline logistics. The report also examines the linkage between Coles Group's practices and the LB523O theories, particularly in the context of strategic planning and global market strategies. Furthermore, it explores the sustainability of Coles Group's value chain, outlining the key steps involved in product planning, development, manufacturing, and return processes. The report concludes by emphasizing the effectiveness of Coles Group's supply chain in ensuring customer satisfaction and maintaining a strong market position.

Running Head : STRATEGIC RESOURCE AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Strategic Resource and Operations Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Overview of the company................................................................................................................2
The day-to –day operations of the company....................................................................................3
Linkage between the activities of Coles Group and LB523O Theories..........................................4
Sustainability of the Value Chain....................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

2STRATEGIC RESOURCE AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The operations management can be broken down as the administration of the business
related practices for creating the highest level of efficiency. It is possible in an organization and
clearly concerned with transforming the raw material and the labor into the goods and services.
A well –structured operation management helps to maximize the profit of a particular
organization (Baldwin & Lopez‐Gonzalez, 2015). In an organization, the operations management
teams manage the balance costs with the revenues for achieving the highest possible operating
costs. It involves the utilization of the resources from the staff, equipment and the technologies
too. A major part of the operations management is the supply chain and inventory handling. In
this report the chosen organization is Coles Group (Australia).The report will identify and
analyze the value chain of the company along with its integration between the inbound logistics,
the operations, he outbound logistics and the customers. It will identify the linkages with the
theory of managing strategic resource and operations.
Discussion
Overview of the company
The Coles Group Ltd. is an Australia based retailer which has been continuing to deliver
the good quality products along with outstanding customer service carrying great value to
millions of Australians. The long term commitment of the company to help Australia develop
has led them to work towards a sustainable future. It has focused on forming lasting relationships
with the customers, the farmers (Christopher, 2016). It supports the local jobs in the food

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industry. In the year 2014, Coles group celebrated its 100th birthday. It celebrates 100 years of
serving the Aussie families with the products which they need for a healthy home life with the
prices which they can afford. The founder of the company is GJ Coles established a store which
would lower the costs. The first store opened in Collingwood, Victoria. The goal of the company
is to expand in every corner of the world so that everyone can avail the fresh products
(Thecoegrp.com, 2019). The mission of the company is to best quality products at best prices.
They support the community and charity partners across Australia by food donations, financial
contribution and fundraising. Their local community programs support the clubs, the schools, the
groups and charities by raffles and community days along with other activities.
The day-to –day operations of the company
Since Coles is a reputed and established company, the day –to –day functions are
difficult to manage without any proper structure. Hence, the firm does this through their supply
chain management process. They are focused on maintaining the effectiveness of their supply
chain (Cooper, 2017). It helps them a lot to ensure that the goods are reached to the end users
within a specific period of time. It has eliminated the middle management and also empowered
their employees for effective services in their own unique way. They also concentrate on their
inventory management for maintaining their position (Eskandarpour et., 2015).In Australia, it is
believed that the supply chain of a grocery shop is the most essential part of their whole
management system. The approaches to the supply chain must be followed by other retailers in
order to survive in the highly competitive global market.
The Coles group maintains a well –structured supply chain management in their
everyday operations for reaching the end users in a specific time frame. The logistics operations

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are managed through putting two centers in operation for the purpose of receiving, dispatching
and processing of the goods. The aim is to reduce the supplier costs by streamlining the product
delivery to the supermarkets and retail shops. A Smooth flow of merchandise is maintained to
the retail shops and for avoiding problems. A good communication with the buyer is always their
concern and order is dispatched/ delivered within three days of ordering. The warehousing and
distributing centers are there for keeping the stocks of the goods aligned with the demands of the
customers (Eskandarpour et al.,2015). Their effective inventory management system is helpful in
tracking the stocks for meeting the customer needs. The collaboration with the suppliers has
helped the company to expand their supply chain. The daily operations of the group also includes
the in-store picking services and home delivery options. The supply chain of Coles group has
become stronger because since the day of leaving the manufacture house, the product is kept
under track through the tagging system. The accuracy of the delivery location and increased
merchandise volume has helped the company to save time (Heizer et al., 2017). The tagged
products help to guide the product pickers regarding the accurate location and saving the delivery
time too. It serves better customer experience. The storage is maintained by temperature
controlled warehousing. The company is engaged with global distributors. The suppliers supply
the goods to the Coles warehouse. Here the goods are picked and packaged well to reach the end
users.
Linkage between the LB523O Theories and Coles Group
It has been found that the LB5230 theories consist of the management of the strategic
resources and the operations in the strategic planning the company. The course is about the
Australian perspective under the “operations management”. The company is able to sell their

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products in America and the European countries. One factor is that the company will have to
know the business and the global scenario for tailoring their strategies accordingly. The supply
chain management rests on the principle which helps to reach the hands of every person. The
value chain can be referred to as a high-level model which determines the way the businesses
receive the raw materials (Fahimnia, Sarkis & Davarzani, 2015). The supply chain is made
more valuable through it. It has been found that the Coles Group Ltd. elaborate the supply chain
by adding proper value to it. It is done through hiring the different talent in their operations. The
business is successful because of its well –structured strategies and marketing techniques. The
coursework is helpful for the student as it makes them understand the process of critical thinking
to address the business related issues. It employs the non-technical and technical skills too for
making quick decision. It is advantageous for the students who are in the business related
professional practices. After being separated from the Myer Ltd, the Coles became the Coles
Group Ltd. The company spread in almost all parts of Australia by opening branches. They
began hiring new talents for their operation management. In the year 2001, John Fletcher was
appointed as their chief executive officer (Hugos, 2018). The business system became
redesigned by him in order to make it bigger. However, the company was helped upto greater
extent in terms of gaining rapid rise.
Sustainability of the Value Chain
In every business, the sustainable value chain has a greater impact. The value chain of an
organization should be sustainable because it determines how much the organization will be
environmental, socially, economically sustainable. A sustainable value chain helps to reduce the
ecological footprint during its operations (Eskandarpour et al., 2015). The value chain is aimed at

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the project designing and policy making along with the practicing. The value chain creates few
values to the potential field. In the Coles Group Pvt Ltd, there is a sustainable value chain. The
steps to the value chain are as follows:
The product planning and designing
The planning and the designing of the products are completed in this step. The supply
chain planning of the Coles group is done in this particular step along with the business
strategies. The primary goal is to give the best product to the end users with cheap value.
The product development
In this particular step, the product is developed. After bringing the raw materials
together, the managers develop the product (Snyder et al., 2016). The managers in the supply
chain should fix a proper delivery and the payment method with the suppliers. It also involves
the creation of the metrics for improving the relationships with the suppliers.
The project making
The planning are well implemented in this step through the managers of higher level.
There are raw materials too which are transformed into the products to be sold. The planned
product is manufactured and packaged out for delivery (Stevens & Johnson, 2016). The
activities are scheduled in this step by the managers. This is one of the most intensive step. In
this step, the output is measured by the managers along with the employee performance.
The return
In this final step, the concerns related to returns are considered. The company addresses
the questions of the customers along with their problems in this stage. It is the most difficult part

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of the company’s value chain. Notably the company is concerned about the business ethics and
never goes beyond that (Wang et al., 2016). The Coles Group adheres to the global sustainable
seafood charter and focuses on the marine eco-frameworks. At the same time, it guarantees the
long time suitability to the food suppliers.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be deduced that here is an effective supply
chain in the Coles Group Ltd. The accuracy and the management of the supply chain ensures
that the product are manufactured properly and reaches the end-users. The supply chain supports
the company
to ensure the customer satisfaction with better marketplace.

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References
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several testable hypotheses. The World Economy, 38(11), 1682-1721.
Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Cooper, R. (2017). Supply chain development for the lean enterprise: interorganizational cost
management. Routledge.
Eskandarpour, M., Dejax, P., Miemczyk, J., & Péton, O. (2015). Sustainable supply chain
network design: an optimization-oriented review. Omega, 54, 11-32.
Fahimnia, B., Sarkis, J., & Davarzani, H. (2015). Green supply chain management: A review and
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Heizer, J., Render, B., Munson, C., & Sachan, A. (2017). Operations management: sustainability
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Hugos, M. H. (2018). Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.
Mangan, J., Lalwani, C., & Lalwani, C. L. (2016). Global logistics and supply chain
management. John Wiley & Sons.

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