Strategic Information Systems at Coles Supermarket: HI5019 Review

This literature review examines the strategic information system of Coles Supermarket, an Australian retail chain. It covers the organizational structure, operational problems (particularly with online sales and employee conflicts), and the system acquisition method (ERP). A system flowchart of sales procedures is presented, along with potential control problems and fraud risks. The review also discusses the adoption of accounting software packages like Xero, Coles' market size and position relative to competitors like Woolworths, and identifies challenges such as high prices and declining market share. Recommendations are provided to address these challenges, including price reductions, improved marketing, and conflict resolution strategies, highlighting the importance of effective strategic planning and information systems for organizational success.

Running head: STRATEGIC INFORMATION SYSTEM
Strategic Information System: Coles Supermarket
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Background of Coles Supermarket........................................................................................2
Part 1......................................................................................................................................4
Organizational Structure of Coles Supermarket................................................................4
Operational Problems of Coles Supermarket.....................................................................5
System Acquisition Method of Coles Supermarket...........................................................5
System Flowchart of Coles Supermarket Sales.................................................................6
Control Problems in the System and Frauds......................................................................7
Part 2......................................................................................................................................8
Adoption of Accounting Software Packages.....................................................................8
Current Market Size...........................................................................................................8
Identification of Market Leaders........................................................................................9
Identification of Challenges and Relevant Suggestions...................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The significant planning or activity that is utilized to properly help any particular
organization for the proper identification of all types of strategic applications and also for
aligning the strategies of that organization with the help of effective communication is known
as strategic information system or the planning of strategic information system (Cassidy
2016). The improvised systems for making the strategies within any organization are
extremely crucial as well as critical. If there is any type of problem within the strategies, the
organization could be a major failure and the organization might face huge losses. The
usability of the information system or information technologies leads to the advancement and
enhancement of success within the organization. In short, it is the core process by which any
organization is benefitted by successfully integrating the wider range utilization of all the
applications for fulfilling their purposes (Galliers and Leidner 2014). The most efficient
strategic information system helps the company in achieving the goals of the business. The
software packages of accounting help the organization in dealing with accounting
transactions.
This review would be describing about the strategic information system and
accounting information system of an Australian organization, Coles Supermarket. The details
regarding all the areas including structure, problems, suitable software will be described here.
These relevant details help to understand the position of the organization in today’s market.
Discussion
Background of Coles Supermarket
Coles Supermarket Australia Pty Ltd. is the popular retail or chain of consumer
services. The parent company of this organization is Wesfarmers and the headquarters are in

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Melbourne (Coles Supermarkets. 2018). This supermarket was eventually founded in the year
1924 and currently it is operating more than eight hundred supermarkets in the entire
Australia with popular brands. The number of employees within this organization is more
than one lakh and it is ruling the entire market of groceries. Over eighty percent of the total
market shares are being taken by Coles (Coles Supermarkets. 2018). They even provide
online services by allowing online shopping. The total assets of this organization are 22.1
billion dollars.
Figure 1: Strategies of Coles Supermarket
(Source: Coles Supermarkets. 2018)
The above figure provides a brief description about the strategies of Coles
Supermarket.

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Part 1
Organizational Structure of Coles Supermarket
Figure 2: Structure of Organization in Coles Supermarket
(Source: Coles Supermarkets. 2018)
The structure of the organization helps to determine the various managing bodies and
important persons of that particular organization (Simkin, M.G., Norman and Rose 2014).
Moreover, this type of organization structure is responsible in the successful identification of
all the duties or responsibilities of the employees or the management levels. For the Coles
Supermarket, the top management level comprises of President, vice president, general
manager and executive vice president. The middle management level comprises of the
pricing coordinator, IT manager, operations manager, secretary and treasurer and many more
(Belfo and Trigo 2013). The lower level management comprises of the salesman, accounting
operators, assistant operations manager and many more. The three levels of management in
Coles Supermarket are described with three different colours.

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Operational Problems of Coles Supermarket
Coles Supermarket, although being the popular supermarket, often faces various
operational problems within their systems. The first operational problem within the system of
Coles Supermarket is for the online shopping category (Worrell, Wasko and Johnston 2013).
The business is facing major problems due to this. The online retail supply chain of the
organization is responsible for providing huge popularity to the company and the customers
are getting benefit from them. Only two percent of the entire grocery sales are coming from
the online sales (Demski 2013). Since, it is extremely low percentage; the organization is
suffering through various significant problems. The other e commerce retailers are getting
benefit and more sales from their online retail supply chain. Coles has become a loser in this
sector as they are not being able to satisfy their customer. The most significant reason for this
is that the products are not available (Collier 2015). Due to the lower availability of the
products, the customers are not getting all the products online and hence they are avoiding
this supermarket. This is eventually leading to the lower shares of the organization. The other
operational problem of Coles Supermarket is that there are conflicts amongst the employees
of the organization (Lucia 2013). One lakh employees are working here and thus this type of
conflict is extremely dangerous for the company.
System Acquisition Method of Coles Supermarket
Coles Supermarket has acquired the market of Australia by providing various goods
and services. The method of system acquisition in any company helps them with several
advantages (Galliers and Leidner 2014). The most significant advantages of system
acquisition method mainly include reduction of data redundancy, reduction of errors,
increment of consistency, huge integrity of data, improvised access to data, improved security
of data, reduction in entry of data, reduction in data storage and reduction in all types of
retrieval costs. There are various types of system acquisition methods that are used by any

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organization. They are enterprise resource planning, commercial software and customer
software. Amongst the three, Coles Supermarket has taken ERP as the method of system
acquisition (Cassidy 2016). It is the most likely method for them and thus they are benefitted
from this by gaining all advantages of ERP. The major advantages of ERP are streamlining
business processes and improving productivity.
Figure 3: Advantages of ERP in Coles Supermarket
(Source: Coles Supermarkets. 2018)
System Flowchart of Coles Supermarket Sales
Coles Supermarket is providing various products to the clients. The flowchart of sales
provides all the processes of sales of the organization.

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Figure 4: Sales Flowchart of Coles Supermarket
(Source: Coles Supermarkets. 2018)
The flowchart of sales for Coles Supermarket starts with the ordering of services.
Then the next step is to complete the purchase from requisition form. The third step is to
verify whether it is approved or not. If the answer is yes, it is checked whether the payment
mode is cash or card (Cassidy 2016). If not, the requisition is rejected. If the mode of
payment is cash, payment is taken and invoice is prepared and if the mode of payment is
card, the CCPR is filled out and then invoice is prepared. For the modes of payments, after
successful transaction, the product is delivered to the customer.
Control Problems in the System and Frauds
The problems within Coles Supermarket are as follows:
i) Conflicts: The conflicts amongst the employees have become a major issue in the
organization. These conflicts should be resolved as soon as possible.

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ii) Price: The cost of the products and services are higher than other supermarkets and
hence the clients are not happy with them.
iii) Shares: The shares have gone down and thus Coles Supermarket is facing
problem with the competitors.
There could be several frauds in the organization of Coles Supermarket. The main
types of frauds are fake emails, fake transactions, hoax SMSs, spoofing and many others.
Part 2
Adoption of Accounting Software Packages
The adoption and implementation of accounting software package help any company
to deal with the financial transactions easily and promptly. The various types of accounting
software packages are present like Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Myob and many others
(Simkin, Norman and Rose 2014). Coles Supermarket has implemented Xero in their
business. This particular software has provided various advantages to the organization by
simply supporting the clients within lesser time, by providing financial reports and also by
making the collaboration extremely easier. Coles Supermarket is trying to get over their
situation with the help of Xero.
Current Market Size
The current market size of Coles Supermarket is as follows:

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Figure 5: Market Size of Coles Supermarket
(Source: Coles Supermarkets. 2018)
This above graph shows the position of Coles Supermarket amongst all others.
Wesfarmers is the parent company of Coles Supermarket. They are in the third position after
Woolworths with 3.50% turnover. .
Identification of Market Leaders
The market leaders are those companies, who produce maximum shares to the
customers and competitive advantages to the company.

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Figure 6: Competitors of Coles Supermarket
(Source: Coles Supermarkets. 2018)
The above provided graph shows the clear image of the shares of Coles Supermarket
and all the other popular supermarkets of Australia and New Zealand (Worrell, Wasko and
Johnston 2013). It is clearly demonstrated that, Woolworths Supermarket is in the top
position with maximum shares of 40.3% in 2006. No other supermarket is able to beat this
percentage with their shares. In 2015, it is 38.3% and still they are on the top. The second
position is of Coles Supermarket. They started with 37% in 2006 and gradually have gone
down to 31% in 2015 (Collier 2015). The third competitor of Coles is Aldi with only 11.6%
and that of IGA is only 9.6%. Thus, the market is taken mainly by Woolworths and Coles
Supermarket and they are the market leaders.
Identification of Challenges and Relevant Suggestions
There are several recommendations for Coles Supermarket for their challenges or
problems. The first problem is higher price of products. The suggestion to reduce the price of

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the products by checking with their raw materials and logistics partners. This would be
effective and the customers would be happy again. The second problem is the shares
downfall. They should check with a financial advisor. Moreover, the marketing should be
more effective and a conflict resolving technique should be incorporated for their problems.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, conclusion could be drawn that any
organization becomes successful with the help of excellent strategies. If the strategies of the
organization are not effective, there is always a high chance that the organization would
never be successful in its goals. Information system is the most important part of any
organization. They are responsible for any type of operation of confidential as well as
sensitive data and information of the company. All strategies could be achieved with the help
of proper and effective planning. The failure in planning can even lead to the wastage of
resources and time. Moreover, the strategies could be short term or long term. The
information system has the most effective role of strategies within any organization. The
regular activities or actions are recorded within the information system. Strategic information
system is the amalgamation of information system and meaningful strategies. The major
objectives of this strategic information system mainly include gaining competitive
advantages, developing new strategies, enabling new methods for the purposes of
management and organizing processes and finally improving the performance as well as
productivity of the business. These strategic systems are utter necessities of strategies for the
development and growth of business. The literature review provided above is a clear example
of strategic information system in any organization. The examples taken here is Cole
Supermarket. Relevant details are provided about this Australian organization and finally
significant recommendations are being provided.

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References
"Online Accounting Software – Free Trial, Free Support | Xero". 2018. Xero Accounting
Software. https://www.xero.com/.
Belfo, F. and Trigo, A., 2013. Accounting information systems: Tradition and future
directions. Procedia Technology, 9, pp.536-546.
Cassidy, A., 2016. A practical guide to information systems strategic planning. CRC press.
Coles Supermarkets. 2018. Coles.Com.Au. https://www.coles.com.au/.
Collier, P.M., 2015. Accounting for managers: Interpreting accounting information for
decision making. John Wiley & Sons.
Demski, J., 2013. Managerial uses of accounting information. Springer Science & Business
Media.
Galliers, R.D. and Leidner, D.E. eds., 2014. Strategic information management: challenges
and strategies in managing information systems. Routledge.
Lucia, P.P., 2013. ACCOUNTING, AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF THE
INFORMATION SYSTEM. Annals of'Constantin Brancusi'University of Targu-Jiu.
Economy Series, (1).
Simkin, M.G., Norman, C.S. and Rose, J.M., 2014. Core concepts of accounting information
systems. John Wiley & Sons.
Worrell, J., Wasko, M. and Johnston, A., 2013. Social network analysis in accounting
information systems research. International Journal of Accounting Information
Systems, 14(2), pp.127-137.

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Bibliography
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