Waitrose: Business Organisation, Environment, and SWOT Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Waitrose, a British supermarket chain. It begins with an introduction to business organization and focuses on Waitrose's history, tracing its evolution from its inception in 1904 to its current status as a major grocery retailer in the UK. The report then shifts its focus to the business environment of Poland, considering political, cultural, economic, financial, and legal factors influencing potential expansion. A detailed SWOT analysis is conducted, highlighting Waitrose's strengths (e.g., brand recognition, quality products), weaknesses (e.g., competition), opportunities (e.g., market expansion), and threats (e.g., economic instability). The report concludes with an overview of Waitrose's strategies and recommendations for future growth.

Business Organisation

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Background of Waitrose.......................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................5
2.1 Information about business environment of Polonia............................................................5
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
3.1 Analysis of Waitrose:............................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
.......................................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Business organisation means collaboration of large number of people to attain the
organisational targets. There are two types of organisations, one is working for earning profits
and another one is running business for the benefits of public. These types of firms are called as
non-profit organisations (Aldin and de Cesare, 2011). In the present report, Waitrose is chosen
that is the chain of British supermarkets which deals in food retail sector. It is the company
which is working to earn profits for the owner. In this report discuss about, background of
organisation, Business environment of the country where they wants to expand their business and
the analysis of the environment prevailed in country.
TASK 1
1.1 Background of Waitrose
History of Waitrose: In 1904, the shop was opened by the Wallace Wyndham Waite,
Arthur Rose, David Taylor at high street. That time, they got success in selling a wide range of
grocery products. To increase their sales, there is huge contribution of quality of products and
low pricing of the products. After Two years, Taylor left the business and only two remained i.e.
Waite and Rose which forms the company names Waitrose Ltd. In 1908. After working of more
yearsin UK, they get more success to buy more shops in same area. This enables the company

to expand their business and creates chance to earn higher profits. In 1924, Rose died and Waite
remains the only member to run the business. In 1940, the company does the partnership with
other company to maintain high standard of the quality of their products. Through this
partnership, 10 shops and 160 staff members are joined the company which helps in expanding
the business of the company. The major change in the company has happened in early 1950, they
started self-service shopping. This helps company to attract more customers and to expand
activities of business.
Current coverage of Waitrose: Company joins the supermarkets with specialist shops
which have expertise to sell high quality grocery products. This company is largest dealer in
Britain which provides high quality food products and grocery items. This is the first
organisation which introduced fresh meat, fish and cheese in 1981 and started first major
supermarket chain which sells the organic food in 1983. From here the company grows very fast
and acquires the whole grocery market, In present it becomes the largest company and expands
its business many countries. The countries where it starts its business includes Somerfield,
Morrisons, Woolworths. This company also make the partnership with Alliance Boots which
allows them to open the branded pharmacies in Waitrose stores. This company is not only
expanding its business but they also started to do various diversified activities. This tactic helps
them to cover larger market share and to attract more customers towards company. The strategy
used by Waitrose is to provide unique products which are good in quality. This strategy helps
company to increase their sales (Anker Jensen, 2011). To addition of sales, they use various
methods to advertise their products. They also sponsor the cricket series of England cricket team
for three years from 2013-2016. It also used the media to advertise their products like print
media, online and on national television. All these things helped company to attract a large
number of customers. This increases the revenue of company drastically.
Also, there is high improvement in financial condition of company. In 2010, the total
revenue generated by company is 4.3 billion British pound and in 2017, it has been increased to
6.3 billion British pound. At present, Waitrose is the seventh largest grocery retailer in UK. It
also take over the smaller markets which are operating in the UK. This helps company to reduce
the competition in the market and to capture high market share.
In 1937 this company has 10 stores and 160 staff members which are handling the activities of
the company. In 1944, this company purchased south Essex grocery business which had 12 shops

in its chain. In 1971 first supermarket opened by Waitrose. In 1955, this company has opened
another supermarket in London and expand the business activities in all over the London.
TASK 2
2.1 Information about business environment of Polonia
Poland is the country in central Europe. It is the sixth most populous member state of
European Union. To understand the business environment of the country it is necessary to
understand about their economy, political conditions, culture, financial systems, stability of the
government, etc. All these factors help in determining the nature of country and business
environment persists there (Beamish, 2013). This analysis helps company to expand their
business in that country effectively because company now makes policies according to the
conditions persists in that continent. Business environment of Polonia is described as below: Political condition: It covers the conditions of politics which persists in Polonia. This the
major factor which affects the decision of company for expansion of business in that
country (Stutely, 2012). If political conditions are not good then it affects the policies of
country regarding the continuation of business which is not possible for company to
adjust in frequent manners. On the other hand, if conditions are good then it is favourable
for company because it works as a supporting factor for the company. It is analysed that
the condition in Polonia is favourable for business. Waitrose has a good chance to expand
their business in that country (Bennett and Joyce, 2013). It is possible for company to
attract a large number of customers by operating their supermarkets there.
 Culture: The culture of country has large effect on decision making of the management
of companies regarding expansion of activities in that country. In Polonia, culture of
the country is not much developed. There is the need to make investment by the big
companies to attract a large of customers. This will help nation to improve livelihood of
citizens. The company also gets benefits because of the quality products at less price.
The less competition in market is also beneficial for Waitrose to capture whole market
easily. But frequent changes in culture, effectsdecision making ofcompanies and
provides measures to change in policies according to them.
 Economy: Economic factor persists in the country have major effects on the business
environment of the country. There re lots of economic factors includes inflation rate,

foreign exchange rate, fiscal policies which have the huge effect on the decision making
of the companies for the expansion of their activities in that country. In Polonia, the
economic conditions are not good because of the instability of the government in country.
The policies framed to grow the economy are not appropriate for the country. In this
country exists poor foreign exchange policies, fiscal policies. Also the income of the
persons in that country is very low. Waitrose has the large investment in that country ton
start the business but the economic condition are not supportable there. This makes
difficult for the company to earn profits there. Waitrose is the company which provides
the grocery products and quality food items (Storey, 2016). The low income of citizens of
the country affects their sale4s figures because they are not is the situation to afford them.
This will adversely affect the image of the company if they are not get success. So, it is
very important for the company to understand the economic conditions before starting
their activities.
 Financial system: Financial systems have large impact on business environment of
country. It is very important that the country has good financial system because the new
company requires the fund which are satisfied by the financial systems of the country. If
the country doenot have appropriate financial system it effects the implementation of the
company in country. In Polonia, doesn't have the good financial system because they are
underdeveloped country. The country doesn't have appropriate resources to provide the
funds to Waitrose to implement their supermarkets. So, it is very difficult for the
company to start the business in Polonia. Every company needs huge requirements of
funds to start business for they approach the financial resources of that country to provide
the finance to them (Beynon-Davies, 20132). Due to lack of the financial resources
sometime the company also needs to drop the idea of the expansion fog the country in
that country.
 Stability of the government: It is also one of the important factor which affects the
business environment of country. Non stability of the government always put the
businessman in the situation of the confusion that if the government change the policies
also change it is difficult for the company to change their policies so frequently. Every
businessman needs that they do their business where the policies of the government are
stable because this situation provides the certainty to their business policies. In Polonia,

there are also the issues related to the government and their policies which affects
business environment of that country (What Is a SWOT Analysis, 2017). Waitrose also
has to face the problems related to the expansion of the business in the Polonia.
 Legal: If the legal rules and regulations of the country also has the major impact on the
business environment of the country. It has both positive and negative effects on business
environment. If the legal policies of the country are liberal then it is beneficial for the
company to start their activities in that country. But on other hand, if the legal policies of
the country are strict then it effects the decision of the company to start their business in
that country (Parvin and Kabir, 2011). In Polonia, the legal policies of the country are
favourable for the companies who wants to start the business in that country. This will
helps the company to take the advantages of the condition persist in country and start
their activities there.
TASK 3
3.1 Analysis of Waitrose:
It is necessary for the company to analyse the internal strength, weakness, opportunities
and threats which they possess. It helps the company in identification of the problems and
provide the solutions regarding them. This improves the overall performance of the company.
This company is wants to expand there business in new country, for this purpose the company is
required to study the internal and external factors which affects the expansion of the company
(Bridge and O'Neill, 2012). For the purpose of doing internal analysis SWOT of the company is
necessary to do. SWOT analysis of the company is described below:
 Strengths: There are many strengths of the company which gives the highest position to
them in market. One of the major strength of the company is that it has more than 300
stores in UK. This helps the company to earn higher profit by increasing their sales
figures. Too many stores in UK increases the popularity of the Waistrose in between the
customers. They also sponsor the English cricket team which is also the big strength of
the company. It is the big advertisement measure which is used by the company which
brings the brand image of company higher. More than 1 lakh employees are working in
the company on which the growth of the company depends. The manage4mnt of the
company provides them rewards as per the performance of the employees which is best

motivating factor which works in company. All these strengths are very helpful in
expansion of the company is new country.
 Weaknesses: The weaknesses are intense competition in the market which lowers down
the margin of the company. Another weakness of the company is the news published in
the magazine about Waistrose kitchen. This damages the image of the company in market
about the quality products provided by them. In today's world, it is important for the
company to main the good image between customers because any bad news affects the
belief of customers. Another weakness of this company is that the management is not
sufficient to handle the large number of employees. This affects the efficiency of the
completion of the projects on time. Delay in projects diminishes the image of company in
between the competitors (Neubauer and Lank, 2016). These weaknesses are the major
hurdle faced by the company while expanding the activities into different countries.
 Opportunities: There are many opportunities in front of the Waitrose because of the large
market share. They have many option to invest in various diversified activities. This
helps the company to expand their activities in different sectors. The experience of
handling of large number of employees also helps the management to handle the staff of
the company in new country. A different department for each and every activities gives
them opportunity to fulfil all the regulation in new country.
 Threats: There are many threats which have to faced by the company. The main threat to
the Waistrose is other competitors in the market from which they are behind locally and
globally. Another threat, which they have to face by company is that failure towards the
clarifi9cation on free coffee scheme (Carayannis, Sindakis and Walter, 2015). As we
know that the the company has more than 300 stores in UK but the poor economic
condition of the UK has the major threat for the company because there business is
totally depends upon the UK market. All these threats disturb the management of the
company because of that they are not in the position to expand there activities of the
company in new country.
Porters 5 force model
Porter said that it is important for the companies to watch the actions of the competitors.
It is also said that they have to look beyond the actions of the rivals and identify the other factors
which affects the business environment. These 5 forces helps the company to get more

profitability by using this strategy. Porters 5 forces model in context of Waistrose is described
below:
Illustration 1: Porter's five forces
(Source: Porter five forces, 2013)
 Competitive Rivalry: It includes the identification of the competitors in market and the
identification of the qualities of the products provided by the competitors. This helps the
company to know about the problems that they have in their organisation and to measures
to solve them. If the competition in the market is high then it use aggressive price cut
policies to minimise the effects of the competition.
 Supplier power: It includes the identification the suppliers that you have in market and
their powers to increase the price of the product. It also includes the identification of the
cost incurred in shifting of the supplier in market. The more options with the company
helps them to choose the cheaper alternative (Enderwick, 2013). If the company has not
more options the suppliers have the power to charge more.
 Buyer Power: It includes the identification of the buyers in the market and their power to
lowers down the price of the product. If the company has the more customers they have

the power to manipulate the price but if the customers are less number than the buyer has
power to manipulate prices.
 Threat substitution: It includes the situation when customers find out alternative methods
to do the things. It means if the company provides automated process for something then
customers finds alternative to do same thing through manual process. It effects the profit
of the company.
 Threat of new entry: It includes the ability of the person to enter into new market. The
company needs to identify that how easy for the new person to enter into market. They
have to take care of the key technologies so it is not easy for person to enter into new
market.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that business environment of country has
great impact on the expansion activities of the company. It is important for the company to study
about the political, economical, cultural factors etc. factors of the country for the effective
implementation of activities of the organisation. SWOT analysis of the company helps them to
identify the internal factors which affects their working and helps to improve their performances.

REFERENCES
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Online
Porter five forces. 2013.[Online] Available through:
<https://www.cgma.org/resources/tools/essential-tools/porters-five-forces.html>.
What Is a SWOT Analysis? 2017.[Online] Available through: <https://articles.bplans.com/how-
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