Individual Report on Lidl: Key Issues, CSR, and Brexit Impact

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INDIVIDUAL REPORT OF LIDL
An Individual Report of LIDL
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INDIVIDUAL REPORT OF LIDL
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Key issues of LIDL and recommendations................................................................................3
Benefits of CSR project of LIDL...............................................................................................3
Impact of Brexit on Lidl.............................................................................................................4
Group presentation- individual reflection..................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................5

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INDIVIDUAL REPORT OF LIDL
Introduction
This report consists of key issues faced by Lidl, which is a Germany based Supermarket
Company. The importance of corporate social responsibility to be linked with strategy is
discussed in the report. The impact of Brexit on the organisation is mentioned with the
experience of working in a team to deliver this presentation.
Key issues of LIDL and recommendations
The major issue faced by Lidl, is the threat form weak pound. Most of the products of Lidl
are from the continent as compared to their rivals, and gets affected by the slumping of
sterling, since the European Union referendum (Geppert et al. 2015). The highest discount is
given by Lidl as compared to any other supermarkets in Europe, and so the fall in sterling
will make raise the price for the organisation. The expansion of Lidl stores has created
circumstances, where new outlets are cannibalising existing sales, which weakens the return
if under-estimated (Lang and Schoen, 2016). This issue gains height and becomes prevalent
as the number of stores of the supermarket increases. Many of the Lidl stores will not be
developed because of this impact and the supermarket has to face major problem (Lidl UK,
2019).
The company should use the contingency management theory to overcome these obstacles. A
single management approach cannot solve the problems each time for every organisation.
Lidl should increase the percentage of their shares in the UK market. The company should
provide more promotional offers and keep the cost low to focus on their own products. Lidl
must use different techniques to manage the organisation and introduce new products, which
are manufactured by the company, to increase their profit (Gómez-Lobo et al. 2015). The
company need to introduce new packaging techniques to the customers and lower the impact
of weak pound by gaining high profit. The company should continue expanding in other
nations, increase their market growth with opening new stores, and minimise the problem in
UK.
Benefits of CSR project of LIDL
According to Lang and Schoen (2016), Corporate Social Responsibility describes the efforts
of the company to help improve the society. The endeavours made can vary from providing
capital to the non-profitable organisations to executing environmentally friendly approaches

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INDIVIDUAL REPORT OF LIDL
in the working environment. The customers of Lidl have a great trust towards the company
and products. This makes the company aware of its social responsibilities and supports the
community (Parviainen, 2011). There are many initiatives made by the company to support
CSR. These include STV Appeal, which helps to change the lives of vulnerable young people
of Scotland in a sustainable way, Health Factor Programme, which makes people aware of
the benefits of exercise and healthy eating, Environmentally Friendly Practices, under this the
company recycles cardboard and plastic bags (Lidl UK, 2019).
The company supports fishing by one of its initiatives termed Marine Steward Council and
supports the Fairtrade movement by Fair globe initiative. The company gets better brand
recognition and a positive reputation towards the business by implementing the CSR project.
CSR promotes the sustainable environment by utilising most of the available resources and
keeping the non-renewable resources safe for the upcoming generation (Śmigielska and
Oczkowska, 2017). It helps Lidl to act in a sustainable and responsible way to find more
investors for the company, attract the media and gain positive attention, enhances the
relationships with local authorities that reduces regulatory burden and identifies the
opportunities for the development of new products (McFarlane et al. 2018). Lidl meets the
demand of the present generations and conserves for the future generations by implementing
practices like Environment Friendly and Health Factor Programme.
Impact of Brexit on Lidl
Brexit will raise the prices of food and force the customers to the organisations, which
provide more discounts to them (Galán-Ladero and Galera-Casquet, 2015). A high tariff
would be imported on the goods imported from EU to Britain. This would lead to raise the
grocery prices and push Lidl to increase their prices and lower the discount, gaining fewer
profits. The company has drastically increased their sales with fresh offers and sales with
accounts for more than 50%. The company would like to follow the legacy and gain high
profits, after Brexit too. The German based supermarkets are to be benefitted the most by
Brexit. The company manufactures most of its products in the domestic market as compared
to its rivalries, which import them from EU (Verdonk, 2018). The exit of Britain from EU
will help Lidl when the prices of fresh meat and groceries will rise. The factors such as
limited range, economies of scale and the leanest supply chain will help Lidl to consume the
rise in prices and inflation. The investment plans of Lidl remains to be unchanged by
investing over £1.5bn in building new stores, developing the stores and renovate the old

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INDIVIDUAL REPORT OF LIDL
stores. Therefore, it seems that Lidl would not be affected much due to Brexit, as indeed they
may get benefit from this.
Group presentation- individual reflection
Functioning with a group is often very challenging in colleges. Yet, it was very interesting to
work on the report, share our views and gain such experience. I personally, enjoyed a lot by
working in this report and learnt many new challenging things quickly. The meetings that we
held were productive and the result can be concluded from our report. It was difficult for me,
from where to start and how but then the support of team members encouraged all of us and
we came with a beautiful presentation. Each one of us was assigned a different task and was
given enough time to get the enough details of the chosen topics. Many situations came when
each of our ideas were different about a topic and faced problems, but somehow, we defeated
the obstacle and concluded. In these situations, the teamwork helped us a lot in selecting the
best topic and delivering the presentation. I feel that I did a good job, but I could have
performed better by developing my skills like communicating, listening and managing the
conflicts. I was not able to present my opinions well to the members. I would try to develop
my skills and become an effective team member by practicing more.
Conclusion
As stated in the report, Lidl needs to work on its key issues and overcome those by
implementing the mentioned recommendations. The CSR strategy of Lidl is powerful to
attract customer and helps to maintain a sustainable environment. As mentioned in the report,
Brexit would help the company and achieve more benefits.

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INDIVIDUAL REPORT OF LIDL
References
Galán-Ladero, M.M. and Galera-Casquet, C., 2015. The role of the retailers in cause-related
marketing: a reference to the Spanish case. Ekonomski vjesnik/Econviews-Review of
Contemporary Business, Entrepreneurship and Economic Issues, 28(1), pp.97-109.
Geppert, M., Williams, K. and Wortmann, M., 2015. Micro-political game playing in Lidl: A
comparison of store-level employment relations. European Journal of Industrial
Relations, 21(3), pp.241-257.
Gómez-Lobo, A., Jiménez, J.L. and Perdiguero, J., 2015. The entry of a hard discount
supermarket: price effects.
Lang, T. and Schoen, V., 2016. Food, the UK and the EU: Brexit or Bremain?.
Lidl UK. (2019). Lidl UK | Food, Non-Food, Wine and Recipes. [online] Available at:
https://www.lidl.co.uk/en/index.htm [Accessed 24 Mar. 2019].
McFarlane, G., Lewis, T. and Lang, T., 2018. Food, Brexit and Northern Ireland: Critical
Issues.
Parviainen, K., 2011. Institutional strategy and corporate social responsibility of the new
entrant in the grocery retail market: Case Lidl Finland.
Śmigielska, G. and Oczkowska, R., 2017. Retailers’ responsibility towards consumers and
key drivers of their development in Poland. Administrative Sciences, 7(1), p.3.
Verdonk, T., 2018. The regulation of unfair trading practices after Brexit. LSE Brexit.