An Analysis of Advanced Technologies and Morrison's Performance

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Morrison's use of technology and its impact on the company's performance. It begins with an introduction highlighting the importance of technology in the modern retail sector, particularly in the context of increased competition. The report then delves into a case study profile of Morrison, followed by a value chain analysis that examines the primary and support activities within the company. Key areas of focus include the use of robotics, artificial intelligence, and other technologies to improve operational efficiency, customer service, and overall business performance. The report also includes a SWOT analysis, Porter's Five Forces model, and an examination of Morrison's customer portfolio, market intelligence, market trends, and competitor analysis. Finally, the report proposes a research proposal to further explore the impact of advanced technologies on Morrison's performance, offering valuable insights for students and professionals interested in business development and technology adoption.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Case study Profile of Morrison...................................................................................................4
Value chain analysis....................................................................................................................5
SWOT Analysis..........................................................................................................................9
Porter five force model.............................................................................................................10
Customer Portfolio....................................................................................................................11
Market intelligence....................................................................................................................12
Market Trends...........................................................................................................................17
Competitor Analysis.................................................................................................................19
Research Proposal.....................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
In this modern world it is essential for the companies to make the effective use of latest
technology. The reason underlying this fact is that if the companies will make use of latest
technology then this will improve the performance of company to a great extent. This report is
all about technology and the impact which this creates on the performance of the company
(ALKAN, 2019). In the recent global market, the competition is at highest and to manage it the
use of technology will improving working efficiency of the company. The report is being taken
on the advance technology being used in the retail sector. The present report is based over the
company Morrison which is a major retailer in UK. In the current report the analysis of the latest
technology being used by company will be analysed and how this will improve the working of
companies and employees will be discussed.
Aim of research
“To analyse the impact of advance technologies over performance of company. A study on
Morrison.”
Objectives
 To understand the concept of technology in business and its impact over company's
performance.
 To analyse the use of robotics in Morrison and the benefits of using this technology over
the employees and their performance.
 To analyse other different technologies which are assistive to Morrison in order to
improve working efficiency of company and employees.
The major advance technology on which the research will be focusing is the use of
robotics within the company. This is a type of technology under which computer science and
engineering are integrated to with help of it robots are created. These robots are assistive to the
company in order to manage and improve the performance of the company to a great extent. For
Morrison the technology of robotics is of much utility as this will assist the company in
managing all the work in proper and effective manner. In every field of Morrison whether be it
supermarket, clothing or any other business line the company requires use of robotics. In
Morrison if they will implement the technology of robotics then it will be more convenient for
the company to manage consumers and their requirement within the business.

Further the research is being based on Morrison because this is a large company in retail
sector of UK. The company is already making use of different types of technology within the
company in order to improve performance of overall company and the employees as well. The
supermarket chain of Morrison is using the artificial intelligence to a great extent in order to
improve the proficiency of the company to a great extent (Udekwe and Andre, 2017). In addition
to this the company is also making the use of the Blue Yonder Replenishment Optimisation
solution in order to automatically forecast the order per store and the order per SKU. This
technology will assist the company in predicting the need and demand of consumer with help of
the technology. Further with the help of the cloud based technology the company is in position to
save the data and respond to the issues of the consumer. This is particularly because of the reason
that with cloud based technology all the information of consumer is being recorded and this will
assist the company in dealing with consumer requirement in proper and effective manner.
MAIN BODY
Case study Profile of Morrison
Morrison is a public limited company which is the fourth largest retailer chain of
supermarkets in United Kingdom. The company was founded in 1899 by William Morrison and
now has headquarters in Bradford, West Yorkshire and England. Initially the company was
started a business of egg and butter merchant in Rawson market. After that in 1952 his son Ken
Morrison took over the company. In 1958 Morrison opened a small shop in the city centre which
was the first self-service store in Bradford. Then in 1961 Morrison opened its first supermarket,
Victoria in the Girlington district of Bradford. Morrison became a public limited company listed
on London Stock Exchange in 1967. Currently Morrison Served around 11 million customers
every week and company has approx. 494 supermarkets stores across England. Company's vision
is to be “Different and Better than Ever" it captures the key initiatives that will help the Morrison
to be different from others
Currently Morrison is dealing in more than 400 products in their stores (Perry, Kent and
Bonetti, 2019). Company deals in food and grocery, clothing’s, fruit & veg, bakery & cakes,
books, magazines, beers, wines & cold drinks, CDs and DVDs. In the financial year 2018-19
chosen firm was generated a turnover of 17.7 billion British Pound in the UK by selling these
products. Quoted firm is operating its business from more than 122 years. The chosen firm has a

strategy to deliver sustainable long growth by building on their strengths of Fresh food, quality
value and services, which attracts the customers.
Morrison is known for selling quality fresh food across UK and has expanded its business
by Organic growth in food and grocery sector. Its strategy is mainly based on selling same
products at lower price and attract the customers of competitors. Quoted firm's competitors are
Sainsbury's, Tesco, ALDI, Waitrose, Asda, Boots, Walmart etc. Mainly the firm will focus on
the satisfying its customer needs by providing them fresh and quality foods. Company's
marketing strategy will target on lower pricing and winning promotions. Besides of this company
was more focusing on customer’s services and loyalty. It has own fresh produce distribution
centres with fast delivery. The chosen firm was also operated in rural areas, so buyer easily
access them. Currently company employs more than 114,000 members of staff in stores,
factories, and distribution centres and head office administration. The major reason before
Morrison lacking behind its competitors is that the resources and financial condition of company
is better as compared to Morrison. In addition to this all the competitors are having much better
facilities and access to technology as compared to the competitors and due to this it is lacking
behind.
Morrison considered different criteria in order to segment its customer on the basis of
demographic information such as value for money (price), convenience (location), freshness
(Quality) and service (timely availability of food items). Company can segment its customers in
accordance with income level, those persons who are looking for lower prices company was
targeting that customers and providing them same. For clothing department company was focus
on the high income level customers so firm will generate more revenue from that customers.
Rather than that chosen firm mainly target on households who are looking for fresh foods and
ensures that everyone who shops with them receive outstanding value and service.
Value chain analysis
It is the process in which a firm identifies its primary as well as supporting activities
which in turn add value to its final products. Along with this, it also analyzes these activities
which in turn assist to reduce the cost and then increase differentiation. Therefore, with the help
of this model, Morrison examine different activities along with its technologies that helps to
increase the customer service within a business. The main aim of using this model is to increase
production efficiency so that company may deliver the maximum value for the least possible

cost. Similarly quoted firm is also dealing at different countries and that is why, to gain
competitive advantage within market, there is a need to use such frameworks that assist to
increases the productivity (Razak and Vattikoti, 2018). In this, primary activities describe
inbound activities, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales and services. Whereas
support activities include firm infrastructure, Human resource management, Procurement and
technologies.
In the recent time, retail sector faces many competition and that is why, companies have
to implement strategies in order to stay ahead within business so that range of customer will have
attracted so that it cause positive impact upon business performance. Therefore, to support the
same primary activities within Value chain analysis used that creates unique image from other
businesses. On the other hand, these activities usually the source of cost advantage in which cost
can be easily identified for each activity which are further managed as well.
With the analysis of the value chain it was seen that there are two major activities that is
primary and support activities. The primary activities of Morrison involve inbound logistics,
operation, outbound logistics, marketing and sales and services. All these activities are of
importance to the company as if these activities will not be fulfilled in proper and effective
manner then this will affect the operations and working efficiency to a great extent. In relation to
fulfill the primary activities the most important thing for the company is that they must focus on
the use of advance technology. The major reason for this is that when Morrison will be using the
latest and advance technology in its operations and related services then this will improve the
working to a great extent.
For instance, when company is using the robotics in the operations then the work will be
undertaken with less error. Hence, this will result in increase in operations and the efficiency of
the operation will increase. In addition to this if company will employ the use of latest
technology then this will improve the working efficiency of employees as well. This is
particularly because of the reason that when the company will be using technology then
employees just have to oversee the technology and they can use their productivity in other areas
of business as well.

Further in addition to this all the primary activities of Morrison involves the use of
technology within it (Rosales and et.al., 2017). This is particularly essential due to the reason
that the use of technology increases the working capacity of employees and this result in overall
increase in business and its productivity. For instance, currently Morrison is using the Blue
Yonder Replenishment Optimization which assist the company in managing the changes in need
and preferences of consumers (How machine learning is enabling Morrison to innovate around
its customer, 2021). This is particularly because of the reason that this technology assists
Morrison in managing and analyzing the need of consumer and tries to manage the stock level
and cost of the products of company. this technology is particularly assistive in managing
operations of the company. this is particularly because of the reason that this system assist
company in managing its level of production and which type of product are being used and need
to be produced in order to manage the working in proper and effective manner.
Along with this it is essential for Morrison to manage its inbound and outbound logistics
as well. This is necessary as company is not having proper logistic then this will affect the
overall production of the company. both inbound and outbound logistic are essential as this
relates to bringing raw material within the company and providing finished goods to final
consumer. If there will be any delay in this chain, then whole of the production will be delayed.
Hence, for this as well there are many different advance technologies which Morrison is using AI
algorithms in order to reduce the gap on shelves. With help of these technology the company is
able to manage the data in such a manner that this will record properly the incoming and
outgoing of the material and quality as well.
Furthermore, the primary activity also involves the marketing and sales of the company.
for this as well company makes the use of the latest technologies. In marketing and selling
activity there are many technologies which is being used like social media and other digital
technologies. All these use of digital technology attracts large number of consumer and this
result in the sales of the company which in turn increases profits of company. this provides a
competitive advantage to Morrison as they are able to attract a majority of consumer by
marketing the product and services in effective and efficient manner. Further the use of advance
technology in the primary activities of Morrison provides a competitive advantage of cost
leadership (Purcell and et.al., 2017). The main reason underlying this fact is that when the

company uses technology in every business activity then this decreases time of operation and
efficiency and quality of people also increases. This is a good advantage of company because of
use of advance and latest technologies into its practice.
Along with the primary activities which adds value to company there are also some
support activities which assist in proper management of business operations. These support
activities of Morrison involve activities like HRM, technology development, procurement and
infrastructure. These are the activities which assist company in managing and completing their
primary activity in profitable and accurate manner. The use of latest and advance technology will
assist Morrison in undertaking their support activities in proper and effective manner (White and
et.al., 2018). For this in order to manage the human resource of company they can implement the
different HRM software and other technology relating to the management of people working in
the company. the company can also make use of different performance management system for
the evaluation of the performance of employees and to motivate them to work in more proper
and effective manner.
Along with this the procurement activity of value chain is assistive in management of raw
material which will improve the operations of company in effective manner. The main reason
underlying this fact is that there are different technologies which assist in recording all the
procurement and when again it need to be replenished with help of technology. Hence, this will
improve the working and operational efficiency of company. this use of technology will assist
company in management of incoming and allocation of resources and the optimum utilization of
resources. In addition to this the use of technology is also essential in the proper maintenance of
infrastructure of company. This will improve the place and quality of business which will have a
good impact over the working of the business. Further this will increase the effectiveness of the
support and primary activity when Morrison will be using the latest technologies. When
Morrison will be using the latest and advance technology then this will improve the efficiency of
both employees and overall company.
From the analysis of both primary and support activity and usage of technology it is clear
that if company is using latest technology then this provides a lot of advantage to company. the
major competitive advantage is that this will reduce the cost of company and this will result in

cost advantage to the company (Vonsée, Crijns-Graus and Liu, 2019). this will save the cost of
company as with help of technology the company will be in position to effectively work in
proper way. In addition to this the use of technology will result in reduction in wastage and time
in total working will also be reduced and managed in proper manner.
Further in addition to this the use of advance technology within the business can also add
value to a great extent in management of business. This is particularly because of the reason that
when Morrison will be using latest technology then this will provide a wide range of competitive
advantage. The major benefit is that the company will be able to manage its business in effective
and efficient manner. For instance, Morrison is using the latest technology of augmented reality
for assisting consumer in finding that whether the outfit they want to purchase will suit them or
not. This is a system wherein consumer comes in front of a screen and there the outfit which they
are intending to buy comes in the same manner. With help of this consumer can see that whether
the dress is looking good on consumer or not. Hence, this will increase the interest of consumer
to a great extent towards the company and as a result of this the sales of company will increase.
SWOT Analysis
Strength:
 Firm has an efficient supply chain and distribution network, that is why, it is considered
one of the big supermarket companies in UK.
 Currently it has over 500 stores in UK along with 13000 employees that clearly reflected
that it has a brand image at international level.
 An organization is highly customer oriented with “MyView” features and 'More Card”
program that shows that it develop strategy in order to attract customers (SWOT Analysis
of Morrison, 2020).
Weakness:
 Morrison has a limited geographical reach as compared to other brands.
 It also delayed response to changes and that is why it did not come ahead in the
competition.
 Company did not focused upon loyalty programme, which affect the customer base in
adverse manner.
Opportunities:

 Focusing upon the organic products creates an opportunity for the business and helps to
increase financial performance as well.
 International expansion of its store is also assist to boost the overall business in positive
way.
 Quoted firm may also acquire small companies in order to grow in developing countries.
Threats:
 It faces strong competition in the market because of having many rivals.
 Sudden increase in taxes and change government policies is affected the business.
 Shifting customer's perspective towards online shopping is also considered another threat
for Morrison.
Porter five force model
Threat of New Entrant (low): The retail industry faces low threat of entry because it
requires lot of investment and there is no guarantee of return. That is why, most of the companies
do not want to invest upon this, if they do so then differentiate them from other others in order to
attract the customers. Similarly, by innovating new products and service, Morrison brings new
customers and stay in the competition in order to manage its brand image at international level.
Bargaining power of buyers (high): There are many supermarkets within UK and that is
why, there is high range of buyers as well. Customers also shift towards another brand easily if
they find products with high quality. Hence, to deal with the same, quoted firm focus upon

innovation and differentiation in order to attract buyers and offer loyalty programs, discounts that
assist to tackle the bargaining power of buyers (Porter five force of Morrison, 2021).
Bargaining power of Suppliers (high): There are high number of suppliers in the
industry which means that supplier have a less control over prices. Therefore they have a low
switching cost and thus makes it easier for buyers to switch suppliers. So, to tackle such,
Morrison purchase raw material from its suppliers at lo cost and they can be switch if the cost is
low. This in turn helps to develop a strong relationship between suppliers and firm which assist
to sustain the brand image.
Threat of substitute products (few): Industry faces low threat of substitution and this in
turn assist to earn high profit ratio. So, many firms offer the product at low cost than the
substitute and this in turn assist to meet gain profit. Morrison also focus upon differentiating its
products and also ensure that buyers see their products as unique and do not shift easily towards
others. Thus, it helps to maintain the customer relationship and provide the products as per the
need.
Rivalry among existing firms (high): There are many companies who operate within the
same industry and that is why, cited firm faces strong competition with all its rivals. Therefore,
to maintain own position within market, there is a need to focus upon its marketing strategy and
differentiating products that helps to grow. Also, to understand the need of customers and then
offer the same will help to tackle this force easily. As the entry on this industry is quite low
because of high cost and in the same way, the exit barrier is also high due to government
regulation and restrictions.
Customer Portfolio
It is a tool for business to business companies that helps to develop customer relationship
and the process will start by determining company's customer and evaluating them by using the
meaningful criteria as well. In the same way, the customer portfolio for Morrison is as mentioned
below:
Custome analysis and
behaviour
15 to 55 Age group people
Changing behaviour pattern
Key customer
Individuals
Middle class people Big
corporations

Expectation
Need of customer
Market intelligence
The market intelligence is being defined as all the information which is relevant relating
to the company which includes all details of the industry. For any company to be successful the
most essential thing is to analyse the industry and its trend in effective and efficient manner. The
major reason for this is that if the company will not be having any understanding or information
relating to the market and the industry trends which are going on currently (Kaur and Malhotra,
2018). This market information assists the company in analysing the current trends which are
currently going on in the market and this assist the company in making the strategies of company
to survive the competition. The major working of Morrison is in grocery and retail market and it
is essential for company in managing the working and operations of company to a great extent.
Customer retention
Loyalty programs
Discounts
Regular post on Facebook
(new arrivals, discounts)
Marketing audits
Conduct survey to identify
the
Need of customers