MGMT1101: Research & Analysis of Loblaw Companies Limited

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MGMT1101: Research & Analysis Paper – Part I Assignment
Student Name:
Student Number:
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Summary of the Organization
Loblaw Companies Limited is the largest supermarket organization in the food retailer industry.
The company works under 22 regional and market banners in Canada. The operations are
undertaken in sectors like banking, pharmacies, supermarket, and apparel. The supermarket
segment provides with grocery, household items, clothing, baby products, and general
merchandises etc. The company has own brands named as President’s Choice, No Name, Joe
Fresh, T&T, Exact, Seaquest, Azami, and Teddy’s Choice (Loblaw’s, 2019). The company was
established in 1956 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The office is headquartered at Brampton,
Ontario, Canada.
The paper will focus on the supermarket segment of Loblaw's Companies Limited. The paper
will discuss the business and operations of the organization. It will also prepare to brief about
consumer base of the organization, Mission and Core values, vision, corporate level strategies,
business level strategies and SWOT analysis of Loblaw Companies Limited.
Customer Base
Loblaw Companies is the largest supermarket in Canada. The company deals in products and
services related to all the consumer goods and products. The business provides with a long range
of household products such as groceries, household materials, fresh foods, and apparels etc. The
business is established in the retail industry and operates as a supermarket and hypermarkets.
The customer base of this business supports for different types of consumers ranging from
different age groups to different basis of incomes. The customer base includes both males and
female genders. The products are a wide range suiting the choices of different age groups from
the age of 5 and above (Loblaw’s, 2019). When researching for customers in Loblaw it is

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necessary to ascertain the differences in needs and requirements of different age groups and age
bars. The business basically targets food segment and ensures a wide range of products for the
consumers. The target market is household consumers interested in a variety of food and
beverage products. The consumer base is mostly in urban and suburban areas.
Mission and Core Values
The mission of Loblaw's is to support the needs and well being of Canadians. The business aims
at Live Life Well and determines for ensuring effective living standards and levels for the
consumers in Canada. The mission statement for Loblaw’s is “Live Life Well”. The core value
of Loblaw's includes Care, Ownership, Respect, and Excellence. The value of care defines for
improving and stabilizing the health and well-being of all the Canadians. The value of
Ownership depicts for approaching the daily functions and activities with personal accountability
and commitment (Loblaw’s, 2019). The value of Respect defines acting with the utmost
integrity, respect, and openness everyday business activities. The value of Excellence commands
for leading with innovation and superior performance for the betterment of lives and people of
Canada.
Vision
The business aims to increase the supporting the needs and well being of Canadians. The
business is determined to support for improving and stabilizing the daily activities and operations
of the Canadian population by providing supportive products and services (Loblaw’s, 2019). The
company aims at giving back to society and the community by functioning ethical resourcing and
integrating the environment with the companies aims and values.

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Corporate Level Strategies
The corporate level strategy used by Loblaw's is a growth strategy. The business is determined to
increase the processes and subsidiaries to encompass international regions and boundaries. The
corporate strategy followed is growth strategy through product development strategy. In this
strategy, Loblaw's aims to increase product size and dimensions in order to present the existing
or new products to the current or new target markets. This strategy has opted as Loblaw's already
processes in different markets and its segments (Loblaw’s, 2019). The strategy has been implied
with the development of new products and services for the existing or new market. The market
size and dimensions served in this strategy may increase with the new and model appearance of
the products and services. Loblaw’s has diversified business divisions working in different
sectors to attract an extensive base of consumers on a daily basis. The business division of
supermarkets named as markets is extremely integrated with the growth strategy of product and
market development. The business derives to function with the utmost competitive advantage for
future sustained growth and development.
Business Level Strategies
The business level strategy used by Loblaw’s is cost leadership. The concepts of cost leadership
determine for maintaining a low cost of operations in the industry. The low cost of operations in
the industry supports increasing the returns and revenues for the business operations and
processes. Cost leadership derives for developing processes and business areas where the
resources are accrued at the lowest costs possible. The business processes and strategies in cost
leadership are aimed to derive maximum output with minimum input (Loblaw’s, 2019). The
practice of cost leadership is based on the size, scale and level of business conduct its activities.

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The business practices exploitation of scale of production by increasing the capacities and
exercises scales of economies. Loblaw’s has diversified business in different directions and
sector to specify the product diversification as per the needs and requirements of the consumers
and target markets. The concept of cost leadership has enabled the business to imply a
competitive advantage over competitors in the business.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Loblaw's has a market reputation and enjoys a fair share in the markets of Canada. The business
has the largest scales of operations in Canada. Loblaw's is recognized to define and restructure
the supermarket operations and functions in the retail sector industry of Canada. The business of
Loblaw does also possess a loyal share of consumers in the market. The business has a strength
of operations and functions which derives for greater revenue and profit generating operations.
With the implementation of approaches such as competitive advantage, contemporary business
models and strategies Loblaw’s can succeed in the global and regional areas of Canada
(Loblaw’s, 2019). The business can derive to directing the resources towards product and market
development through digital marketing. It will support cost-effective functions and operation for
the business altogether.
Weaknesses
The business operates in a highly competitive and dynamic business environment. It is a
weakness for Loblaw's to accommodate the changes and alterations at a faster pace. Due to large
scales of operations and functions, the business faces several difficulties and issues in monitoring
and programming the changes in an effective manner. The dynamic of the business environment

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and its ever-changing components accommodate for differences in policy development and
implementation at Loblaw's companies. It has been witnessed that large scale of operations and
functions have distracted the aims and goals oriented processes at Loblaw’s (Loblaw’s, 2019).
The business has recently observed several issues with the implementation of corporate social
responsibility and socially responsible processes. The business also lacks with effective
integration of employee’s aims or needs with the organizational objectives. It has been observed
in recent times and periods that various stores of Loblaw have observed strong employee
resistance while implying new policies and procedures which were integrated with the business
strategies and functions.
Opportunities
With increasing and diversifying functions at Loblaw’s the business can encompass various
opportunities and future growth aspects. Loblaw’s has a wide consumer base with loyal and
trustworthy brand loyalty. This can aid the business to step into new and contemporary aspects of
the Canadian economy. The business has opportunities to diversify functions and operations into
lucrative markets that will support for a strong and effective consumer base (Loblaw’s, 2019).
The business will be derived with scenarios of a lower cost of operations and an increased base
of markets by diversifying the functions in lucrative and developing markets. The business can
also look into diversifying the services provided in financial sectors. The business can focus on
emerging market trends and targets that can support social and global integration of the business.
The business can integrate concepts social security, social responsibility, and corporate quality
into the business practices to supply with a social appeal and approach in the emerging market
trends and targets.

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Threats
The business is a strong and rooted division of the Canadian economy. Although it has observed
threats such as serious competition, the emergence of new entities in the market, increased legal
and provincial restrictions etc. With the concepts of globalist ion and increased market
integration, the business has witnessed the emergence of significant market payers into the
retailing sector of the Canadian economy (Loblaw’s, 2019). The business has observed cut-throat
competition and therefore has witnessed a shift in the consumer base. The preferences of
consumers have significantly changed due to the dynamics of business which has accrued for
changes in the business plans and models. The shift from brick and mortar systems to online
forms of business has derived for significant loss of revenues and profits for the business.

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References
Loblaw’s. (2019). Purpose and Values. [Online]. Loblaw’s. Retrieved from:
https://www.loblaw.ca/en/about-us/mission---values.html.
Loblaw’s. (2019). Leadership. [Online]. Loblaw’s. Retrieved from:
http://www.loblaw.ca/en.html.
Loblaw’s. (2019). The Way We Do Business. [Online]. Loblaw’s. Retrieved from:
https://www.loblaw.ca/content/dam/lclcorp/pdfs/Responsibility/Loblaw
%202015%20CSR%20Report.pdf.
Loblaw’s. (2019). Loblaw’s at a glance. [Online]. Loblaw’s. Retrieved from:
http://s1.q4cdn.com/326961052/files/doc_financials/2015/LoblawAR2015_E_sedar.pdf.