Global Strategic Management: A Strategic Analysis of Morrisons

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Morrisons' global strategic management, examining the company's existing strategies, internal strengths and weaknesses through SWOT analysis, and external environmental factors using PESTLE analysis. It identifies opportunities and threats facing Morrisons in the competitive retail market and offers strategic recommendations for improvement, including enhancing online presence, expanding geographic reach, implementing effective marketing approaches, and investing in research and development. The report also touches upon contemporary strategic issues such as globalization, applying relevant theories like Porter's Five Forces and Blue Ocean Strategy to provide a holistic view of Morrisons' strategic challenges and potential pathways to success.

Global strategic management

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
Existing strategy of Morrisons.........................................................................................................3
Recommendations ...........................................................................................................................7
Contemporary strategic issues, application of relevant theories......................................................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The global strategic management essence plays a vital role in the marketplace, the
concept relating to it emerges from a combination of globalization and its implication on the
world of business. To be successful every business establish effective global strategy which
allows them to diversify business risks. The present study will be based on Morrisons which is
one of the most popular brand in the retail sector of UK, England. The company provides various
types of products or services online and offline both. It includes clothing, drink and food items,
homeware, books, petrol and magazines. The current report will provide detailed information
about strategy used by company taking into account the internal and external environment along
with advantages and disadvantages. In addition to this, the study will also provide important and
relevant recommendation to improve on their strategy. Lastly, it will analyse the different
contemporary strategic issues by applying relevant theories such as Blue oceans and Porter five
forces.
Existing strategy of Morrisons
Morrisons is one of the leading company in the world in relation to food supermarket, it
is successful because of its continuous focus on food retailing and has delivered on overall
strategy very rapidly (Guo and Wang, 2019). With the support of staff members and their
motivation level the company is achieving its desired goals and set objectives. The company
focus on providing quality fresh products to customers and this makes them different from other
brands in retail market. With this effective strategy the company achieves competitive advantage.
Talking in relation with pricing strategy of Morrisons the company focus on using low prices
strategy which attract more customer every year. Not only this, it also employs a competitive
pricing strategy. The reason behind choosing this strategy of price is that nowadays customers
are more concern about price as they want to buy groceries from company who is offering them
products at affordable price.
SWOT ANALYSIS (internal environment)
with the help of this method, the company can easily identify about their strengths and
weaknesses (Swot analysis, 2022). On the basis of that the managers can easily find out about
opportunities which can help to deal with threats.

Strengths- Morrisons is one of the largest supermarket in the world which has good
market position in the UK having 500 stores with an employee strength of over 130000 who
work effectively for the betterment of firm. In addition to this, company has an efficient
distribution network through which it attracts more customers (Swot analysis of Morrisons,
2022). With this they are able to offer a large number of products portfolio to customers such as
clothes, food and beverages. Not only this, it has efficient supply chain management which helps
to increase their business all over the world. Plus, the company has skilled workforce which
makes it unique from other supermarkets. The firm focus on building their strengths with the
support of staff members and seeks to protect its market share from the ever growing threat of
the new players who are providing discounts and offers. The firm has strong marketing
campaigns which leads to attract many customers as it helps to being referred to it relatives,
family and friends.
weaknesses- As compared to other companies such as Sainsbury, ASDA, Tesco and
Amazon, online presence is weak. So, it is essential for the company to focus on expanding its
business as it is unable to benefit from the international exposures. At the time of COVID-19
pandemic, the company was over reliance on the market of UK which may be costly for them
and hinders their performance at global level. Another weakness includes poor customer
satisfaction, as the firm was ranked number 9 which shows that it needs to adopt effective
strategy to enhance the customer satisfaction and work on improving its brand image.
Opportunities- As we all know that in today's business world, the customers are
attracting towards using organic products and rising demand for private labels creates
opportunities for the company. While implementing any new strategy the firm needs to adopt
these opportunities. Also, international business expansion of stores especially online stores can
increase the market position and boost the business at global level.
Threats- the major threats includes: in today's world where competition is very high
companies have to be very active as it creates pressures on Morrisons to adopt new technology
and innovative ideas (Benzaghta and et.al., 2021). Also, increase in market share of competitors
can negatively impact the margins for Morrisons. In addition to this, changing policies of
government and increase in tax rates can hinder the performance of business.

PESTLE ANALYSIS (external environment)
Basically, it is a tool and effective method which can be used by company in order to
gain a macro picture so that industrial environment can be known. With the help of pestle
analysis the company can form an impression of the factors that might negatively impact a
business functioning in the sector in which they are operating (PESTEL Analysis of Morrisons,
2022). By using this tool the company can easily make decision about what should be done in
order to improve functioning of business and developing of strategy. Also, by understanding the
impact of external factors such as social, technology, political, economic, environment and legal
the manager of the firm can plan better for future success.
Political- Talking in relation with the political factors, this has a major impact on
business performance. It includes tax policies, trade restrictions, tariffs and fiscal policy that
influence the business environment whether in positive or negative way to a great extent. Due to
changing policies made by government can impact entire revenue generation and structure of
company might change to a great extent. In food retail sector, there is a huge impact of multiple
legislation which is made by government. Therefore, Morrisons needs to keep track on changing
policies and follow all the legislation and rules to work in a smooth way.
Economical- There are different types of economic factors such as inflation rate, interest
rates and exchange rate. The expansion of supermarket chains directly influences economic
factors such as an increase in the rates such as inflation rate, decrease in consumption and so on.
As we all know that due to Brexit businesses in UK has highly impacted. It causes significant
fluctuation in currency, due to which living standard of people also get impacted. Plus, it creates
inflationary pressure on Morrisons. The consumer spending their purchasing habits and growth
rate of the firm also get impact due to these policies. Changes in currency rate can also
negatively impact the buying attitudes of people which can have a huge effect sales of the firm.
Social- In today's world social trends is rapidly changes which creates pressure on the
company to adopt effective strategy to meet the customer needs. Nowadays, customers are
attracted towards those companies who provide them organic products, healthy meals, quality
and branded products as per their convenience (PESTEL Analysis of Morrisons, 2022). This
factor is challenging for company because they have to adopt strategy quickly without wasting
time. Hence, it is said that consumer attitudes and social awareness influence the purchase
motivation of people. This also motivates other people nearby to buy branded products and

healthy meals. A variety of social variables which involves cultural values, demographics and
population's income, age have an impact on the business culture.
Technological- Technology the term says it all, every business want to achieve success in
their specific field. Technology is very essential especially in retail sector because customer data
needs to be handled by using technology only. The application of technology and innovative
ideas in the retail sector has advanced significantly (PESTEL Analysis of Morrisons, 2022).
Every person in the world is using internet and wants to buy things online and make payment via
cards and internet banking which makes easy for them and saves lots of time. This changing
technology trends creates pressure on business to use effective technology. However, the firm is
using machine learning technology and updating its sales based ordering system across all stores.
To be more successful, Morrisons needs to adapt technological development as rapidly as
possible and keep track on technology used by competitors. so that they can easily achieve
competitive advantages in the marketplace.
Legal- Every business needs to adopt legal compliance and policies made by government
in order to protect product from manipulation and smuggling. In a number of countries, there are
legal compliance which needs to be followed by company to safeguard property rights. Before
entering any country the company needs to perform extensive due diligence. If the company does
not focus these factors that it would impact competitive edge in a negative manner. Obtaining
permission from the local council is very important for Morrisons so that they can easily
construct any store and collaborating with local government agencies will allow them to provide
job opportunities to people.
Environmental- every business needs to follow policies made by government relating to
environment protection. In order to manufacture the product, Morrisons needs to be aware of the
changing environmental change. However, the company reduce use of poly boxes in supply
chain by launching returnable bins for fish products. Plus, zero waste was directed to landfill in
the sites where manufacturing happen. The company is also offering eco-friendly products such
as plastic free fruit and vegetables which can provide benefit to health of customers. Before
entering in new markets the company needs to consider the criteria relating to environmental
factors so that they can easily operate in the regions.

Recommendations
 Talking in relation about the strategy which needs to be improved, Morrisons needs to
focus on implementing some plans that could make them more successful in the
marketplace. As nowadays people are spending more time on internet using social media
platform such as Instagram and Facebook (Mason, Narcum and Mason, 2021). This is a
great opportunity for the company to promote its products or services to reach its target
audience. This can help company to build strong relationship with customers.
 Morrisons needs to extend its geographic reach too because it is now only operating in a
small number of locations as compared it is competitors. By doing so, the firm will be
able to achieve a more competitive position in the global market through business
operations and effective strategies. For this, the company can use methods to enter into
the market such as merger and purchase of the firm. It is also suggested to acquire minor
retail businesses in both the UK and another location in the globe, they must focus on
online store so that people can search things online and purchase it by making payment
online without waiting in a long line at physical store.
 To offer a brand name and detailed information about products the company must
implement an efficient marketing approach such as digital marketing, advertisements,
viral marketing and sales promotion. The reason behind suggesting these methods
because the rivals that have implemented these successful marketing plan and strategy are
currently enjoying a dominant position in the market.
 The firm needs to provide effective training and development sessions to staff members
so that it would foster the working environment. Establishing a cross department
workflow will be helpful. The reason behind this is that a happy employee or a satisfied
team can help company to meet their goals.
 The company also needs to focus on research and development, as this can help in
introducing new products such as organic products which helps to increase in sales
because people are attracting towards healthy and organic items for staying healthy. It is
also essential to keep track on changing technology and innovation as it can attract
customers.

Contemporary strategic issues, application of relevant theories
From the above discussion it has been identified that the contemporary strategic issue is
globalization and changing information technology. Due to advancements in information
technology the company needs to focus on developing their strategies as it would help them to
achieve their goals. Online retail is one of the potential strategy which is essential for every retail
company because it has a lot of potential for development which makes it quite appealing. Due
to lack of information technology, Morrisons is facing issue such as decrease in competitive
position in the market.
Porter five forces
In order to deal with this strategic issue company needs to apply strategic management
tool to analyse industry (Wellner and Lakotta, 2020). By using porter five forces analysis the
managers can easily understand how the five competitive forces can influence the business
profitability. With the help of porter five forces the managers can develop a strategy for
enhancing competitive advantage of Morrisons.
Threat of new entrants As we all know that new entrants in the retail sector brings
innovation and technology. This also creates pressure on
Morrisons to do things in a new ways and lower pricing strategy
and provide new value propositions to attract customers.
Bargaining power of buyers In this world buyers are not at all satisfied they keep demanding
a lot from companies (Porter's Five Forces - The Framework
Explained, 2022). This creates pressure on the company to adopt
new technology and meet the goals. Buyers want to buy the best
offerings available by paying the price low. If the customer base
of the company is smaller then there is a higher bargaining
power of the customers to seek offers and discounts.
Bargaining power of
suppliers
Retail firms buy raw material from number of suppliers. Due to
this it is essential to have more suppliers as powerful suppliers
use their power of negotiation to extract higher price from the
companies this can affect the profitability of the firm.
Threat from substitute When a new service or products in the market meet a similar

products customer requirements in different manner then the profitability
of the firm suffers a lot.
Competitive rivalry As we all know that in this retail business world competition is
very high (Juliana and Nyoman, 2019). If the competitive rivalry
is intense in the retail industry it will drive down prices and can
hamper the profitability of Morrisons.
Blue ocean strategy
Blue ocean strategy is all about creating your own space in the market by using
differentiation and low cost. This will help to open up a new market space and creating a new
demand for particular products or services. By using this strategy, Morrisons can easily search
for a business in which very few firms are operating and there is no pricing pressure. The
concept of blue ocean strategy says that the company should focus on creating uncontested
market space rather than competition (Priilaid, Ballantyne and Packer, 2020).
CONCLUSION
To conclude, Every business needs to identify opportunities and threats to improve their
strengths and weaknesses both, this can be done via SWOT analysis. To find out forces and
factors which impact business performance, the company is using pestle analysis. In order to deal
with competitive forces Morrisons can use effective strategies such as building a sustainable
differentiation, increase collaboration with competitors so that it would increase market size. In
addition to this, it is recommended to build a large customer base by offering them discounts and
coupons as it can help to provide an opportunity to the company. Plus, it is essential to focus on
innovation of new product line as customer seek offers.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Benzaghta, M. A. and et.al., 2021. SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature
review. Journal of Global Business Insights. 6(1). pp.55-73.
Guo, L. and Wang, Z., 2019. Ratio analysis of J Sainsbury plc financial performance between
2015 and 2018 in comparison with Tesco and Morrisons. American Journal of Industrial
and Business Management. 9(2). pp.325-341.
Juliana, J. P. E. and Nyoman, Y. N., 2019. Factors influencing competitiveness of small and
medium industry of Bali: Porter’s five forces analysis. Russian Journal of Agricultural and
Socio-Economic Sciences. 89(5). pp.45-54.
Mason, A. N., Narcum, J. and Mason, K., 2021. Social media marketing gains importance after
Covid-19. Cogent Business & Management. 8(1). p.1870797.
Ofosu-Boateng, I., 2020. Influence of consumer sales promotion on consumers’ purchasing
behaviour of the retailing of consumer goods in Tema, Ghana. International journal of
trends in marketing management. (2).
Priilaid, D., Ballantyne, R. and Packer, J., 2020. A “blue ocean” strategy for developing visitor
wine experiences: Unlocking value in the Cape region tourism market. Journal of
Hospitality and Tourism Management. 43. pp.91-99.
Wellner, S. and Lakotta, J., 2020. Porter's Five Forces in the German railway industry. Journal
of Rail Transport Planning & Management. 14. p.100181.
Online
PESTEL Analysis of Morrisons. 2022. [online] available through:
<https://www.essaypandas.com/essay/Morrisons-13970-Pestel-Analysis>
Porter's Five Forces - The Framework Explained. 2022. [online] available through:
<https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm>
Swot analysis of Morrisons. 2022. [online] available through:
<https://www.researchomatic.com/swot-analysis-of-morrison-133306.html>
Swot analysis. 2022. [online] available through:
<https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/strategy/swot-analysis/>