MGMT1101 Research and Analysis: George Weston Ltd Management Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of George Weston Ltd, a major Canadian food and drug retail company. It begins with an introduction to the company, its establishment, and its position as a large private sector employer. The report then delves into a SWOT analysis, examining the company's strengths (employment, brand image, expansion, and economies of scale), weaknesses (rising competition and internal labor issues), opportunities (growing middle class and diet food trends), and threats (competition and rising costs). The analysis extends to environmental constraints, including political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors impacting the business. Stakeholders are identified as employees, customers, and the community, with a focus on how George Weston Ltd generates value for them. The organizational structure and design are presented, illustrating the relationships between George Weston Ltd, Loblaw, Choice Properties, and Weston Foods. The report then addresses employee motivation using Alderfer's ERG theory, and outlines controls to evaluate progress through business plan reviews and tracking systems. Finally, the report offers recommendations for improvement, emphasizing innovation, addressing internal labor issues, and capitalizing on market opportunities. The report concludes with a list of relevant references.

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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
SWOT-Formulating Strategies..............................................................................................................2
Environmental Constraints....................................................................................................................3
Stakeholders..........................................................................................................................................4
Organizational structure and Design......................................................................................................5
Motivating employees...........................................................................................................................7
Controls to evaluate progress.................................................................................................................7
Recommendations.................................................................................................................................8
References.............................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
George Weston Ltd is one of the Canada’s major company signifying largest food and
drug retail businesses through Loblaw and Weston Foods. The company was established in
1882 and currently having 200,000 employees which makes it the largest private sector
employer. The report is going to address management of George Weston Ltd comprising
SWOT, environmental constraints, stakeholders analysis, organizational structure and design,
motivating employees and controls to evaluate progress.
SWOT-Formulating Strategies
Strengths
Employment: George Weston Ltd has employed over 6500 employees in more than 60 sites
in Australia and New Zealand.
Brand image: The company is having bigger brand image with the popular products like
Weston milling, Tip Top, Jasol, KrCastlemaine and more.
Expansion: George Weston Ltd has expanded business overseas in the countries like
Australia and New Zealand. The company is liable for a range of activities comprising
manufacturing, innovating, marketing, selling and distributing products.
Large economies of scale: The company has attained large economies of scale as it is able to
produce more units of goods on the large scale with the less input costs.
Weaknesses
Rising competition in Australia: The rising competition in Australia is creating problem for
the company.
Managing internal labour issues: The company has to manage internal labour issues. It puts
impact on the production of the organization (Gürel & Tat, 2017).
Pressure of the perishable nature of the home produced goods: The consumable nature of the
home produced goods put pressure on the inventory costs.

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Opportunities
Growing middle class: Growing number of middle creates opportunity for the company as
they are likely to buy products of the high brand which are offered by the George Weston
Ltd.
More focus on the diet food: The trend of diet food is continuously growing because of the
enhancing preferences of the consumers. Therefore the company can add more product line to
its category.
Expansion of its current product line: In order to attract customers, the company can add
more products. The expanded and new current product category is always appealing to the
customers (Phadermrod, Crowder & Wills, 2019).
Threats
Higher amount of the competition with other kinds of food chains: The increasing number of
the companies producing home goods has created competition to the company.
Higher raw material costs: The higher material costs has increased the manufacturing cost of
the company. Therefore the profits of the company suffer.
Environmental Constraints
Political factors: The new government policies have role in improving the investment in the
services sector. George Weston functions in the several nations and forms policies based on
the specific country’s retail industry requirements. The company has attained political
constancy in the current markets (Nevitte, 2017).
Economic factors: The increasing liberalization of the trade policy assists company to
capitalize into the provinces which are off-limits to the company. The unstable altercation
rates impacts to the George Weston investment plans in both short term and long term.
Social factors: The presence of the customers offers higher preferences to the experimental
products than the out-dated value offer in the services sector. The company can influence this
tendency to form products which offer improved customer experience.

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Technological factors: 5G and its effective use can assist company in expansion and
augmentation of user experience with the enhanced speed and entrée.
Environmental factors: The environmental laws are varying the significances of the product
invention. The products of the company are manufactured on the basis of the environmental
standards and anticipations than supplying the traditional value propositions. The Paris
Climate Agreement has created real goals for the government of Canada to follow, therefore
the company is also required to obey the same. It has created consequences for George
Weston Ltd in the form of the greater scrutiny of the environmental standards. Add on, the
waste management has been focused by the company. George Weston Ltd has even come up
with the more efficient waste management after the strict norms of the waste management
announced by the Canadian government (Zeleňáková & Zvijáková, 2017).
Legal factors: The legal factors have great role in the retail business. The environmental laws
are required to be followed by the company along with following privacy issues and
intellectual property rights. The appropriate management of waste has created opportunities
for the company to produce more at minimum wastage.
Stakeholders
George Weston Ltd pursues long term and steady growth in the functioning segments
by constant capital investment. The company is dedicated to generating worth for its
stakeholders. George Weston Ltd has key stakeholders in the form of employees, customers
and community. The company supports the community in which the related activities take
place. George Weston Ltd makes use of the several operating strategies in order to convey
long term value to the stakeholders. The company focuses on the brand advancement, low
functioning costs and preserving wide customer base with the aim of offering best outcome to
the customers (Vidler, et al. 2018).
George Weston Ltd has prioritised to the employees as the stakeholders of the
organization. It is because the satisfied employees contribute 100% to the organizations. This
way, customers of the organization will also be loyal. The customers also conclude the
outcome of the business decisions. They have stake in the success and incentives of the
company (Doorey, 2019).

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Organizational structure and Design
George Weston Ltd
Weston
Choice Properties
Loblaw

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Weston is having 47% ownership in Weston, 6% ownership in choice properties and
100% ownership in Weston. The company pursues long term steady growth from its
operating segments concluded the constant capital investment. The company is dedicated to
generating value for its employees and shareholders along with the communities in which it
operates. George Weston Ltd believes in delivering long term value to the shareholders
through several operational strategies. The company mainly focuses on the brand expansion,
low operating costs and preserving wide customer base with the aim of offering best bakery
explanations to the customers. Loblaw emphasis on the food retailing with the goal of
offering customers with best in one stop spending for the routine household requirements.
The experiences and skills of the functioning divisions are perilous to implementing
key ingenuities and approaches of the organization. The management team conveys several
years of experience to the leadership of Weston. Meanwhile they have advanced in-depth
understanding and attained experience which is essential to leas effectively in the particular
operating divisions in the coming years (Teece & Leih, 2016).
Weston Foods: The management of Weston foods comprises six persons at the senior level.
Luc Mongeau is the president, Tina Murrin is chief financial officer, Anthony Booth is chief
customer officer, Roy Benin is president (category- strategy and innovation), Linda Gillespie
is senior vice president (human resources) and Alan Forsyth is senior vice president
(operations, integrated supply chain) of Weston foods (Juvalta, et al. 2015).
Loblaw companies limited: Galen G. Weston is the chairman and chief executive officer,
Sarah R.Davis is president, Dareen Myers is chief financial officer, Jocyanne Bourdeau is
president (discount division), Robert chant is senior vice-president (corporate affairs and
communication), Barry K. Columb is the president (choice financial), Gordon A. M. Currie is
the executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, Ian Freedman is President (Joe Fresh),
Mike Motz is Chief Operating Officer, Garry Senecal is Chief Customer Officer, Mark
Wilson is executive Vice President (Human Resources and Labour Relations), Rob Wiebe is
Chief Administrative Officer, Jeff Leger is President, (Shoppers Drug Mart) and Greg Ramier
is executive Vice President ( Market Division).
Motivating employees
Alderfer motivation theory has been used by George Weston Ltd for the employees
within the company. This theory identifies three classifications of the needs, existence,

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relatedness and growth. Maslow’s physical and safety needs belong to the existence needs of
the Alderfer motivation theory whereas relatedness can be coordinated to belongingness and
appreciation of others. The growth is identified to be same as Maslow’s self-esteem plus self-
actualization (Noe, et al. 2017).
The Alderfer motivation theory can be used by George Weston Ltd to describe the
needs of the individuals. These have become important for the organization. The existence
needs are identified by the organization as basic necessities and comprises entity’s
physiological and physical security needs. The empathy needs are identified by the
organization as a part of the significant relationships. It comprises significant relationships
like love and belongingness strived by the employees towards public fame and identification.
The growth needs will be identified as need for personal growth, self-development form
togetherness.
Controls to evaluate progress
The business plan is an inclusive paper which outlines key basics of the way company
run its business. It is mainly valuation of the market along with the rivalry, budget
interruption and short and long term goals.
The progress of the company can be appraised by generating plan review dates.
George Weston Ltd can review the business plans on the constant basis especially when the
expansion is being made. A tracking system can also be developed by the company for the
measurable goals of the business plan. For instance, George Weston Ltd can earn a specific
amount of revenue every month and can track the concerned growth on the regular or weekly
budget in order to observe and control the procedure. Further, George Weston Ltd can
coordinate business and marketing plans on the regular basis as it assists in observing and
monitoring the goals and dimensions of the plan. If one feature of the plan changes than it
puts impact on other plan. For instance, the marketing plan of George Weston Ltd calling to
promote major media campaign but the plan’s revenue forecasts are weak then it is required
to revise the whole process in order to stay on track.
Finally changes can be made if essential; the business plan is not an unalterable
document. Revising on the regular basis always help in looking ahead based on the future
projections on the past performance (Hislop, Bosua & Helms, 2018).

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Recommendations
From the above analysis, it is recommended to George Weston Ltd to improve its
weaknesses and focus more on the opportunities. The company can come above the
competition by being more innovative in offering products and services. The internal labour
issues can also be managed by offering incentives and motivations to the labours. The
opportunities can help company to widen its market and the people also in the great extent
can access the brand. George Weston Ltd is recommended to focus on needs of the middle
class people. The people now days are more concentrated on the diet food so the company
can make expansion in such product category. On the other side, George Weston Ltd can
focus more on the sustainability in order to manage wastage.

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References
Doorey, D. J. (2019). Canada’s Largest Retailer, Auditor Not Negligent in Failing to Protect
Workers at Rana Plaza: By David J. Doorey, Associate Professor of Labour and
Employment Law, York University, Toronto, Canada. International Labor Rights
Case Law, 5(1), 102-107.
Gürel, E., & Tat, M. (2017). SWOT analysis: A theoretical review. Journal of International
Social Research, 10(51).
Hislop, D., Bosua, R., & Helms, R. (2018). Knowledge management in organizations: A
critical introduction. Oxford University Press.
Juvalta, S., Post, M. W., Charlifue, S., Noreau, L., Whiteneck, G., Dumont, F. S., &
Reinhardt, J. D. (2015). Development and cognitive testing of the Nottwil
Environmental Factors Inventory in Canada, Switzerland and the USA. Journal of
rehabilitation medicine, 47(7), 618-625.
Nevitte, N. (2017). The North American Trajectory: Cultural, Economic, and Political Ties
among the United States, Canada and Mexico. Routledge.
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.
Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R. M., & Wills, G. B. (2019). Importance-performance analysis
based SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management, 44, 194-
203.
Teece, D., & Leih, S. (2016). Uncertainty, innovation, and dynamic capabilities: An
introduction. California Management Review, 58(4), 5-12.
Vidler, A. C., Stoneham, M., Edmunds, M., & Sartori, A. (2018). The illusion of choice: an
exploratory study looking at the top 10 food companies in Australia and their brand
connections. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 42(6), 519-522.

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Zeleňáková, M., & Zvijáková, L. (2017). Environmental Impact Assessment—State of the
Art. In Using Risk Analysis for Flood Protection Assessment (pp. 1-72). Springer,
Cham.