Strategic Management Report: Analyzing Australian Post's Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive strategic management analysis of Australian Post, examining its operations within the context of a changing industry landscape. It begins with an executive summary and introduction, followed by a macro and industry analysis, assessing the external factors influencing the postal service. The report then delves into Porter's Five Forces to evaluate the competitive dynamics of the industry, followed by an internal company analysis to assess Australian Post's strengths and weaknesses. A competitor analysis identifies key players and their strategies. The report then analyzes the company's current strategies and concludes with recommendations for the future, considering the challenges of digitalization and competition from other logistics providers. The report emphasizes the need for market research, digital integration, and promotional efforts to ensure Australian Post's long-term sustainability and success. It utilizes various academic sources to support the analysis and provides a table of contents for easy navigation.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Strategic Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes:

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Executive summary
Post dates back centuries. It was developed in Britain and soon spread across various
countries. It was considered successful as it was the only way of communication of the
people across the large distances. The Australian Post company, public owned bank in now
privatised and operates in the highly competitive Australian Industry. The aim of the paper is
to carry asses the internal and external aspects of operations of the company. The
sustainability initiatives of the industry are under threats from digitalisation and
modernisation. Development of digital modes of communication is the threat to the industry.
The Australian Post is one of the mist successful postal companies operating in Australia,
however, it has hardly progressed. Thus, the latter should carry out market research,
incorporate digitalisation and promote the business in order to ensure a favourable future.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Macro analysis...........................................................................................................................3
Industry analysis.........................................................................................................................4
Porter’s 5 forces analysis...........................................................................................................5
Company analysis......................................................................................................................6
Competitor analysis....................................................................................................................7
Strategy analysis.........................................................................................................................8
Recommendations and conclusion.............................................................................................8
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
It has been identified that the national post offices of countries were the medium of
transferring messages in the early days. The Royal mail of Britain has been recognised as one
of the first ever national post offices that were established (Daunton 2015). Since then many
national post offices were established. The national post offices soon became the sole
medium for transferring messages across longer distances (Chadwick 2017). This was before,
the establishment of telephones and telegram services. The industry dates back to 1526
(Amrina and Vilsi 2015). The industry has been subject too rapid privatisation with rise of e-
commerce and digital services. The Australian post was established in 1809 and the country
operated across the Sydney and Melbourne over a span of 900 km (Lannin et al 2013). As of
2008, the company served approximately over 60 million customers across the word and the
number of people that the company employed was nearly 36000 (Auspost.com.au 2019).
Apart from providing postal services, the company also provides similar services as
companies in the banking industry. The government of Australia have implemented a plan to
implement digitalisation by 2020 and electronic services are encouraged by the government
(Lilly 2016). The latter poses threats to the sustainability of the industry and that of the
Australian Post. The aim of the paper is to critically evaluate the external environment for
operation of the company, analysis of the company, the industry and the competitors and the
evaluation of the strategies that have been undertaken by the company to sustain themselves
in the industry that is deemed be changing at a rapid pace.
Macro analysis
The industry that the company is operating is threated to become extinct. The nature
of operation and the services that were offered by the industry were popular back in the day,
however, with modernisation, the nature of behaviour of the consumers have changed (Paço

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et al 2013). The services of post are considered to be slow by majority of the Australian
population, thus they choose to stick with new and modernised versions theses services. It has
been witnessed that the services that are offered by the company are subject to a high degree
of risks. One of the most highlighted risk has been located as the disapproval from the
customer community. Satisfying the needs of the customers has been recognised as one of the
most crucial standards that the companies are expected to meet on a regular basis
(Familmaleki, Aghighi and Hamidi 2015). Even if the company have been able to lead the
Australian market, they are subject to various threats from the innovation and modernisation
of the perception of the people of the Australian community. The post industry in Australia as
well in the international context have been subject to rapid privatisation (Dieke et al. 2013). It
has been identified as one of the mist effective strategies that can be adopted by companies to
sustain the initiatives of the company in the long-run. In 2010, Australian Post was partly
privatised and the 30 percent of the company’s publicly owned shares were privatised in 2015
after which the company started operating as a fully privatised company (Auspost.com.au
2019). The issues such as privatisation and rapid digitalisation of the services of similar
nature has resulted in accumulation of expenses of the company. However, they have not
been able to gain profitability as a result of the nature of the service. Hence, it can be said that
the operation of the company is under threat of the modern influencers and the threats might
be responsible for leading the industry to extinction until the company can develop strategies
to mitigate the same.
Industry analysis
The company operates in the post industry, which is evidently losing its lustre. The
rise of the industry was back in 1516 under the rule of King Henry the Sixth of Britain
(Rodrick 2018). The industry was soon on the receiving end of popularity and the services
offered by the companies in the industry became the prime mode of interchange of

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information for people. People across all income groups could use the services offered by the
industry as they were fairly cheap. Furthermore, it became popular as people did not have to
move physically from one place to the other to transfer information. The mail or the letter
were transported by the help of postmen in the early days after which the mode of
transportation shifted to road, rail, and ships and finally air (Thatcher 2014). The industry
was considered blooming and thus great deal of innovation followed. The service was then
segregated into telegraph, post and currier. This resulted in differentiation of effort of the
companies in the industries some parts of which are more popular than the others in the
current scenario. The industry is subject to high levels of threats from modernisation,
digitalisation and changing perceptions of people. It can be opined that the industry is in a
declining stage.
Porter’s 5 forces analysis
Porter’s five forces analysis helps in determining the nature of the industry in terms of
the power of the suppliers, the power of the buyers, internal competition in the industry,
threat of entry of new entrants in the industry and the threats to substitution of the services
that are offered in the industry. The same will helps in determining the aforementioned
factors for the operation of the Australian Post company;
Internal rivalry: The rivalry in the industry is considered to be high. Apart from factors such
as modernisation of the perception of the people of the community, threats to the existence of
the AP company is posed by numerous suppliers such as FedEx, DHL, TNT, Bluedart and
others (Sekhar and Gudimetla 2017). High amount of competition in the industry is supposed
to help incorporating innovation in the given sector.
Buyer power: The bargaining of the customers in the particular industry is deemed to be low
as the products that are offered for consumption are fairly cheap. The prices of the tickets of

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the stamps and that required for availing the services of the industry and the company are
considered cost effective. Thus, the income inelastic consumers of Australia not of have
power for bargaining, they do not need to bargain.
Supplier power: The industry is characterised by high degree of competition among the
suppliers. Thus, they do not have control over the price that the materials of the product are
supplied at. The power of the suppliers in the industry is low.
Threats of New Entrant: The nature of operation of the industry is subject to extinction in the
near future. Thus, attention of new competition is seen to be lacking in the industry as a result
of which the threats of new entrants in the company is deemed to be low.
Threats of substitution: The number of companies operating in the industry is limited.
However, the services, that is offered by the Australian Post is limited. However, with the
rise of digitalisation in the country, similar services are available in digital mediums. Thus,
the services offered by the company is substitutable. The threats of substitution is low.
Even though the industry has a traditional aspect incorporated into it. However, it has
been witnessed that there are threats to the sustainability of the industry in the long run. The
industry cannot be considered to be attractive.
Company analysis
The aim of the company is directed towards achievement of success in contribution to
the society. It has been recognised by the company that the stakeholders of the company are
the most important contributors to the viability of the company in the long-run. However, the
changing trends in the market have resulted in changing receptions to the company and
similar companies operating in the same industry. The strategic operations of the company
are aimed towards the achievement of sustainability of the company and the industry in the
long-run. Moreover, the company has gained awareness regarding the sustainability of the

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stakeholders of the company. The Australian Post company employs nearly 36000 workers
who are associated with the departments of post, financial services and the other departments
were the company operates in. The nature of operations of the company. The services of the
company are spread across 15591 street post offices apart from 4406psot offices and 48 retail
stores across the country. There are approximately 10,000 thousand delivery contractors who
are engaged in the operations of the company. Thus, key importance needs to be paid by the
company in the achievement of their sustainable initiatives. Hence, the achievement of the
strategic goals of the company would result in contributions to the sustainability of the
employees who are engaged with the company. The company has been recognised as the only
company who were previously public owned in the past. Thus, corporate social responsibility
is incorporated into the operations of the company.
Value YES. The services offered by the company are valuable in term of
sustainability of the practices of the business and that of the employees
engaged.
Rarity NO. The services offered by the company are also offered by various
other companies.
Imitability YES. The service and products offered by the company are duplicable.
Organisation YES. The processes within the company are organised.
Competitor analysis
The main competitors of the company are FedEX, TNT express, DHL, Toll Holdings
and others. Fed Ex, has been recognised as a company who have been successful in supplying
their services throughout various industries in the world. The nature of operations of the
company’s competitors are not aligned to the nature of operations of the services that are
offered by the company. The aforementioned companies in the industry have been positioned
in the industry as companies who offer curriers and services related to logistics (Christopher

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2017). On the other hand, the services that are offered by Australia Post are highly different
to those offered by the aforementioned competitors. The services that are offered by the
above-mentioned companies are diverse, however, it is limited to the services related to
logistics. The services are also accessible by digital and mediums. Even if the competitors of
the company pose threats to the sustainability of the Australian Post in the long and short run,
the wide array of services that are offered by the latter help in achievement of competitive
advantage in the Australian market.
Strategy analysis
The company has been successful in identifying its internal strengths and are aware of
the resources and the services that they are capable of. It has also been identified that the
company is competing with firms who are well resourced and have been established in the
global industry (Costes and Colin 2017). The strategy that should be undertaken by the
company should be aligned to the motive and trends in the industry. It is suggested that the
company should incorporate a degree of digitalisation in their operations. It would help in
gaining appreciation from of the modern users of similar services. It will supposedly boost
the effectiveness of the operations of the company.
Recommendations and conclusion
Back in the day, post was a service that was highly popular as it was the only way of
communication with people who were placed distance apart from each other. National post
offices were first in the line of providing postal services in the country. The emergence of
digitalisation led to change in the behaviour of the people who used the postal services. The
Australian post has identified various hindrances to regular operations as a result of the same
and due to the emergence of competitors. It has been opined that the company should

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incorporate digitalisation in their operations in order to sustain itself in the future. Following
is recommended for the sustainability of the company;
 By promoting competition
 By carrying out market research to identify the needs of the consumers
 Incorporating marketing and sales promotion.
 Digitalisation of the services

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REFERENCES
Amrina, E. and Vilsi, A.L., 2015. Key performance indicators for sustainable manufacturing
evaluation in cement industry. Procedia Cirp, 26, pp.19-23.
Auspost.com.au, 2019. Fast facts about Australia Post. [online] Auspost.com.au. Available
at: https://auspost.com.au/about-us/news-media/fast-facts-about-australia-post [Accessed 18
Apr. 2019].
Chadwick, A., 2017. The hybrid media system: Politics and power. Oxford University Press.
Christopher, M., 2017. New directions in logistics. In Global logistics and distribution
planning (pp. 47-58). Routledge.
Daunton, M.J., 2015. Royal mail: The post office since 1840. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Dieke, A.K., Bender, C., Campbell Jr, J.I., Cohen, R.H., Müller, C., Niederprüm, A., de
Streel, A., Thiele, S. and Zanker, C., 2013. Main developments in the Postal Sector (2010-
2013). Bad Honnef: WIK Consulting.
do Paço, A., Alves, H., Shiel, C. and Filho, W.L., 2013. Development of a green consumer
behaviour model. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 37(4), pp.414-421.
Fabbe-Costes, N. and Colin, J., 2017. Formulating logistics strategy. In Global Logistics And
Distribution Planning (pp. 83-104). Routledge.
Familmaleki, M., Aghighi, A. and Hamidi, K., 2015. Analyzing the influence of sales
promotion on customer purchasing behavior. International Journal of Economics &
Management Sciences, 4(4), pp.1-6.

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Lannin, N.A., Anderson, C., Lim, J., Paice, K., Price, C., Faux, S., Levi, C., Donnan, G. and
Cadilhac, D., 2013. Telephone follow-up was more expensive but more efficient than postal
in a national stroke registry. Journal of clinical epidemiology, 66(8), pp.896-902.
Lilly, M., 2016. The future of Australian apprenticeships. Australian Industry Group.
Rodrick, A.B., 2018. The History of Great Britain. ABC-CLIO.
Sekhar, G.S. and Gudimetla, V., 2017. Hurdles to The Speed of Express Cargo Industry A
Case Study of Gati Corporation Ltd.
Thatcher, M., 2014. From old to new industrial policy via economic regulation. Rivista della
regolazione dei mercati, 2, pp.6-22.