Auckland International Campus Strategic Management Report

This report, prepared for a Strategic Management course at Auckland International Campus, focuses on Green Cross Health Limited and undertakes a comprehensive stakeholder analysis. It identifies internal stakeholders like employees and managers, and external stakeholders including customers, shareholders, and the government. The report meticulously examines the expectations of each stakeholder group concerning environmental sustainability, business ethics, and leadership. It also delves into global environmental considerations, cultural aspects, and the workplace environment. Furthermore, it discusses the creation of competitive advantages, reflecting on a previous assignment, enhancing responsiveness, and identifying determinants of competitive advantages such as innovation, employee management, and customer preference patterns. The report culminates in the formulation of a strategic approach, providing a detailed and insightful analysis of strategic management principles.

Running head: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
Strategic management
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Identification of the stakeholders.....................................................................................................3
Internal stakeholders....................................................................................................................3
External stakeholders...................................................................................................................4
Determination of the expectations of stakeholders..........................................................................4
Environmental sustainability.......................................................................................................4
Business ethics.............................................................................................................................5
Leadership....................................................................................................................................6
Global environment.....................................................................................................................7
Culture.........................................................................................................................................8
Workplace environment...............................................................................................................9
Creation of the competitive advantages...........................................................................................9
Reflection of the previous assignment...........................................................................................11
Enhancement of the responsiveness..............................................................................................12
Determinants of competitive advantages.......................................................................................13
Innovation..................................................................................................................................13
Employee management..............................................................................................................14
Customer preference patterns....................................................................................................15
Formulation of strategic approach.................................................................................................15

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Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
Reference.......................................................................................................................................18

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Introduction
Importance of stakeholders is rapidly increasing with time for the business organizations.
This is due to the reason that more stakeholders are getting associated with the business
operations from different perspectives. It should also be noted that in the current era of customer
based business approach, determination of the requirements and issues of the stakeholders is
getting more important in order to maintain the competitive advantages. The more effective will
be the determination of the requirements and issues of the stakeholder, the more will be the level
of satisfaction and loyalty towards the particular business entity (Missonier & Loufrani-Fedida,
2014). Moreover, in the current time, the customers are also being considered as one of the major
stakeholder groups due to the reason that they are also having power and influence as the internal
stakeholders in the current business scenario. Thus, the contemporary business organizations are
having diverse sets of internal and external stakeholders to be considered and determination of
their requirement will help in gaining competitive advantages.
However, on the other hand, it should also be noted that with time, the number of issues
being faced by the stakeholders is also getting increased. For instance, issues related to the
environmental sustainability were not relevant a decade ago but in the current time, this factor is
quite evident in the business processes. Moreover, the variability of the issues are different with
different stakeholders due to the fact expectations of each of them are different. The expectations
of the customers are different to that of the employees (Brucker, Macharis & Verbeke, 2013).
Hence, it is important for the contemporary business organizations to meet the diverse
expectations of the stakeholders in order to stay relevant in the market. The business strategy of
the contemporary business organizations also depends on the expectations of the stakeholders
and their perception of organizational success.

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Green Cross Heath Limited is the leading pharmacy service providers in New Zealand
with having the majority of the market share. In the last assignment, it was already discussed that
they are diversifying their business by offering beauty products and wellness products. Thus,
range of the external stakeholders for them is also getting expanded with their business growth
strategies. Hence, it is important to determine the expectations of these external stakeholders of
Green Cross Heath Limited along with their internal stakeholders to have the understanding
about their competencies (Andriof & Waddock, 2017). In addition, this report will also discuss
about the different issues that are being faced by the stakeholders. The critical reflection of the
assignment 1 will also be done to identify the limitations and steps will be discussed on the basis
of that. The formulation of the strategy will also be done in this report.
Identification of the stakeholders
Internal stakeholders
Prior to the discussion of the expectations and issues of the key stakeholders for Green
Cross Heath Limited, it is important to identify them and the extent to which they are having
influence in the business. The major stakeholder for Green Cross Heath Limited is the
employees. They form the most part of the internal stakeholders and are responsible for the
enhancement of the business effectiveness. The skill and expertise of the employees determines
the extent to which the company will be competitive enough in dealing with the external
challenges. If the issues of the employees cannot be well determined, then their performance will
be affected and this will in turn affect the overall organizational effectiveness (Beringer, Jonas &
Kock, 2013). Managers are another important group of internal stakeholders who are responsible
for leading the employees and ensuring their maximum performance. The managers also include

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the board of directors and the owners of Green Cross Heath Limited who are also having interest
in the organizational affairs.
External stakeholders
In terms of the external stakeholders, the most important one for Green Cross Heath
Limited is their customers. This is due to the reason that they are customer based and focused
company and they are enjoying the market leadership status in New Zealand due to the
customers. Changes in the preference pattern and trends of the customers will determine the long
term viability of the business of Green Cross Heath Limited. Furthermore, shareholders of Green
Cross Heath Limited are also their external stakeholders due to the reason that it is a public
limited company and capital invested by the shareholders is the major sources of revenue
(Olmedo-Cifuentes, Martinez-Leon & Davies, 2014). Government is another important external
stakeholder for Green Cross Heath Limited due to the reason that they are responsible for the
authority and formalities in the business operations. In the case of pharmacy business, the
extended societies will also be considered as the external stakeholder due to the reason that
pharmacy services are associated with the social health and wellness.
Determination of the expectations of stakeholders
As discussed earlier, expectations of the different stakeholders are different from
different perspectives and issues. The following sections will discuss about each of these issues
and the expectations of the respective stakeholder groups from it.
Environmental sustainability

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In terms of the environmental sustainability, the major expectations are evident from the
side of government, shareholders and society. This is due to the reason that government is the
only stakeholder group in the business operation of Green Cross Heath Limited, which is not
driven by the profit maximizing objectives rather they are concentrated towards achieving social
goals. Thus, the government and authoritative councils expect that the business operation will be
environmentally sustainable and will have lesser impact on the nature. In view to this, there are
number of regulations and legislations initiated by the government in ensuring the environmental
sustainability of the business. According to Kohtala and Hyysalo (2015), societies are having the
expectations of environmental sustainability in order to have lower negative impact on them.
This factor is more relevant for the pharmaceutical sector due to the reason that there are number
of instances identified in the past about the negative impact of the operation on the environment
and surrounding communities. Hence, the larger section of the society expects that they will face
lower implications due to the business operation.
Business ethics
In the current business scenario, business ethics are one of the major issues as well as
challenges for the entities due to the fact that it is having long term impact on the stakeholder
relationship management. According to Pearson (2017), it is the expectations of the customers
that products of Green Cross Heath Limited will have maximum value propositions for them and
will serve the promised value as well. Hence, it is important for Green Cross Heath Limited to
maintain their ethical approach in delivering the value to the customers. Moreover, the customers
also expect the ethical approach in terms of product quality. They seek transparency in process of
transactions and customers should be managed in proper ethical manner. Shareholders are also
having expectations in terms of the business ethics from the organization. According to

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Michaelson et al. (2014), it is important for the business entity to initiate the ethical behavior in
managing the operations in order to have the long term sustainability. Moreover, the
shareholders also expect that their invested firm will not indulge in the unethical incidents and
will not be accused for the same. It is also expected that ethical approach should be followed in
providing the value to the shareholders without getting in to fraud and irregularities.
Expectations of the government include the ethical business approach of the entity. They will
follow all the ethical standards and will not have unethical obligations in any of their operational
areas especially in the case of employee management.
The extended societies are also expecting the socially responsible behavior from Green
Cross Heath Limited in terms of their ethical approach. The effectiveness in managing the
surrounding communities including the socially responsible activities will determine the extent
to which the expectations of the societies regarding business ethics will be met. In terms of the
internal stakeholders, employees are having expectations in regards to the ethical behavior. As
per Swailes (2013), ethical approach is expected in managing the employees in the workplace.
This includes the proper representation of all the employees and cultural considerations.
Moreover, it should also be noted that Green Cross Heath Limited is having diverse workforce
with having employees from different social groups. Thus, these employees expect that ethical
approach will be maintained in managing the diversity in the workplace as well as in terms of
remuneration and benefits.
Leadership
There are expectations from the stakeholders in regards to the leadership of the
organizations also. For instance, the employees are having the expectations of getting effectively

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managed by the leadership roles. This is due to the reason that the effectiveness of the internal
workplace environment is depended on the leadership approach. According to Snaebjornsson et
al. (2015), it is expected by the employees that their feedback and issues will be considered and
mitigated by the leadership approach along with meeting their growth potentiality. The authors
have also stated that the entire effectiveness and efficiencies of the employees are being
determined the extent of proper leadership approach. Expectations from the leadership are
evident from the side of shareholders also. This is due to the reason that shareholders expect that
the organization will get success and gain long term sustainability with proper leadership
approach and vision. They expect that the leadership in the company will be able to deal with the
different external business challenges.
Auh, Menguc and Jung (2014) stated that relationship is there between the customers and
leadership due to the reason that the more effective will be the leadership approach, the more
will be their positive impact on the employee engagement and this will reflect on the better
customer service. Moreover, it is also being stated by the authors that the customers are also
having the expectations of having proper leadership that will act as the trust factor for the
company. The same are the expectations of the societies regarding the leadership approach.
According to the authors, societies also expect the trust factor from the leadership approach of
the company. In addition, they also expect that the leadership roles will be visionary enough in
meeting the social goals and objectives.
Global environment
Expectations regarding the global environment are getting more in the recent time due to
the increasing impact of globalization and international business. The major expectations

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regarding the global environment are from the side of the managers due to the reason that they
are responsible for tapping the maximum opportunities from the global environment along with
dealing with the challenges. Managers expect that the global environment will be favorable for
business and with having fewer barriers in the process. It is also expected that the internal
processes and practices will be in line to the global environment (Mishra, Boynton & Mishra,
2014). From the perspective of the shareholders, it is expected that the company will be
compatible enough to deal with the global challenges and survive in the global environment. In
the case of Green Cross Heath Limited, their operating environment is highly competitive with
number of global competitors. Thus, the shareholders expect that Green Cross Heath Limited
will be able to cope up with the trends in the global environment and can gain competencies.
Customer expects the better value proposition from the business, which will be in line to the
global trends. With the increased impact of the globalization, customers are expecting more
globalized products and it is important for to offer the global level products and technologies to
their customers. In the current era of globalization, employees are also more aware about the
international trend in management and thus they are also expecting better workplace
management (Adlakha et al., 2015). They can now compare their workplace systems with that of
the global standards.
Culture
Organizational culture is mainly having direct impact on the internal stakeholders. Thus,
in terms of the employees, it is expected that effective and fruitful organizational culture will be
followed and maintained in the workplace. The organizational culture will be considerable
towards their preferences and views and they will have higher involvement in the organizational
affairs. From the perspective of the shareholders, it is expected that healthy culture will be

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maintained in the workplace that will further ensure the better performance from the employees
(Hogan & Coote, 2014). As per the expectations of the shareholders, promotion of proper
organizational culture will be beneficial in having the maximum output from the employees.
Even though the cultural factors are having lower sets if impacts directly on the external
stakeholders but it is expected from the side of the customers a better and proper culture should
be maintained. This is due to the reason that proper and healthy organizational culture will
ensure that customer service process is effective.
Workplace environment
Safe and hygiene workplace environment is expected by all the stakeholders but this
factor is also majorly relevant with the internal stakeholders. In terms of employees, it is
expected that workplace health and safety will be maintained with having all the required
equipments for emergency. They also expect that proper infrastructure will be promoted for
them, which will help them in their job (Patterson-Silver Wolf et al., 2013). In terms of the
government, it is expected that all the rules and regulations regarding the workplace health and
safety will be followed and implemented.
Creation of the competitive advantages
There are number of areas based on which the internal and external stakeholders of Green
Cross Heath Limited expects different variables and issues can get emerged. These expectations
and issues of the stakeholders should be managed not only for the preventing the issues from the
side of the stakeholders but also for gaining competitive advantages. This is due to the fact that if
the expectations of the stakeholders can be fulfilled, then the probability of gaining
organizational citizenship from their side will also be more (Barney, 2015). For instance, the

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employees are expecting that Green Cross Heath Limited will have proper workplace
environment that is fit for human beings. If this expectation of them can be met, then the
employees will be more motivated and carry positive impression towards their workplace, which
will further ensure that their performance will get enhanced. It should be noted that Green Cross
Heath Limited is having number of pharmacies across New Zealand, which are also the touch
points with their customers. Thus, meeting the expectations of the employees for having proper
workplace environment will help to motivate them and enhance the customer service delivery
process. This will lead to the gaining of competitive advantages in terms of service delivery
process. On the other hand, it is also identified that societies are expecting about having the
environmental sustainability from Green Cross Heath Limited (Henisz, 2017). Thus, if the
environmental sustainability can be gained then Green Cross Heath Limited will have positive
and favorable impression among the larger societies. This will help them in targeting the newer
customer segments because of the positive brand value in the market. In the current business
scenario, positive word of mouth plays an important role in customer retention and new customer
acquisitions. Thus, Green Cross Heath Limited will gain the competitive advantages in terms of
their brand value and identity to tap the new customer segments.
Organizational culture will also be beneficial for Green Cross Heath Limited in gaining
competitive advantages. This is due to the reason that the more effective will be the
organizational culture in the workplace, the more will be the effectiveness and performance of
the employees. This will help Green Cross Heath Limited in enhancing their average level of
production and gaining economies of scale (Urbancova, 2013). Thus, they will have the
competitive advantages of offering the products in competitive price points compared to their
competitors. This will also help in maintaining the market leadership status in the long term.