Developing an Operational Plan for Wesfarmers: Strategy & KPIs

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Wesfarmers Limited, a leading Australian conglomerate, focusing on its key business operations and strategies. It begins with a company overview, highlighting Wesfarmers' diverse operations across retail, chemicals, and industrial products. The report the...Read More

Operational plan

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Company overview.................................................................................................................1
Key operations of the Wesfarmers and it relation with company’s strategy, its competitive
priorities, and the key performance indicators.......................................................................2
Relevant operation model to define key operations...............................................................3
Critical review of key operation and its management that in relation to future improvement
and contribution to the company’s competitive priorities......................................................4
Operational Plan.....................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
References:.......................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Every business performs certain operations in their day to day activities that result in completion
of goals and objectives of the company (Parmer, (2020). Therefore, managing the business
operations is the essential task for the business to increase efficiency and effectiveness of the
operation in order to attain higher productivity and profitability. With the help of systematic and
structured operational plan the enterprise can gain extreme capabilities to achieve their future
objective and also can acquire financial benefits. The present report is based on the leading
organisation of the Australia i.e. “Wesfarmers”, The company is one of the Australian
conglomerate because it operates in several industries like retail, chemical, safety products, etc.
The report outlines the products and services of the selected organisation and the brief overview
of the company. Father key operations of the company as well as the strategies are defined for
the critical application using the relevant models related to the key operations are presented in
the study. Indian the appropriate operational plan is been developed for the company.
MAIN BODY
Company overview
For the current study the most leading organisation of Australia is identified i.e. Wesfarmers
Limited. It is the public limited company that operates under the conglomerate industry and is
headquartered at Perth, Western Australia. The company was founded in year 1914. The
company is the multinational organisation and serves its product and services in the countries
like Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland. The different industry in which Wesfarmers is
operating is chemical, industrial and safety products, energy and fertiliser and retail. Wesfarmers
is the largest employer and shareholder of approximately 484,000 in organisation of Australia.
The primary aim of the company is to provide satisfactory return to their shareholders
(Wesfarmers, 2021). The team of the company has key concern and focus in ensuring that each
department has strong management abilities and capabilities which is accountable for the
development and execution of the strategy and also for the day to day operational performance.
The four core values of the Wesfarmers as per their business model are Integrity, openness,
accountability and entrepreneurial spirit. With the great strategy and strategic plan the company
also contain the talented and outstanding workforce, empowering culture, social responsibility,
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commercial excellence, innovation etc. due to such massive business operations and strategy the
company has become leading diversified organisation in Australia from the so many years.
Key operations of the Wesfarmers and it relation with company’s strategy, its competitive
priorities, and the key performance indicators
In context of current annual report of the company and the business description it has been
analysed that the management of the Wesfarmers is maintaining the effective business
performance from ancient times (Taryana, et al.. (2021). In order to create the sustainability
innovation and to robbers to the financial capabilities of the company the company has opted
outstanding strategies and it strategy is underpinned by the strategic planning framework
improve the opportunity for each individual in the business. As Wesfarmers is the conglomerate
organisation that has different products and services to deliver to consumers for which company
has key business operations that are discussed below:
Supply chain operations: the Wesfarmers is the large size organisation with large number of
product lines which automatically develop the supply chain operation in the company. With a
growing technology the company is able to improve and enhance traditional methods of the
supply chain operations within organisation. The company has the stores in which become
humans can physically see the products in order to purchase but with the growing demand of
online retailing the company has also expanded its products over the online mediums. According
to the official website, annual report and mobile applications the customers of the Wesfarmers
are now more easily increasing the demand for the products and services on online medium. This
new supply chain operation of the Wesfarmers has made the customers capable to purchase the
products of different segments such as chemicals, retail, and fertilizers all through one
application thereby saving time of the customers. This improved supply chain operation of the
company has is done with the help of digital technology strategy to secure growth opportunities
through entrepreneurial actions.
Quality management operation: Quality management is very important operation within an
organisation in order to deliver the quality products to the customers (Jamza, et al. (2020). In
Wesfarmers the quality operation team focuses on improving the quality of chemicals, energy
and fertilizers in order to avoid any harmful reactions. Responsibility of Quality management
operation team is looking at the quality of the industrial and safety products of the company. It
was found that is very essential to provide the best quality of chemical energy and fertilizer
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products as any misconduct in the quality can result into the harmful effects on the human body.
When the customer realizes the quality in the product they are able to analyse the benefits
attached to it making the product and company more valuable. The quality management team of
Wesfarmers includes the roles like quality checking, quality improvement methods etc.
Human resource planning operations: the workforce of an organisation is considered as the
key assets important for the organisation to consider the operation like labour planning within
their organisation. Wesfarmers organisation an operating into a different industry with large size
of workforce there for the company’s main focus is to have effective strategies for the labour
planning operation in order to develop proper staffing within each division of the company.
Human resource planning operation also has some key roles such as developing and
implementing the human resource policies such as anti discrimination employee rights health and
safety policies that helps an employee to get motivated and satisfied with the security and the job
position there was making the employee more capable and efficient in gaining the performance
within the organisation (Vorontsova, et al. (2021). Human resource planning also include the
strategies related to the hiring and recruiting of the skilled labour as that are capable in the
different departments of the Wesfarmers.
In order to measure the satisfactory returns Wesfarmers Total shareholder return (TSR) us
the performance Indicator used by company. Company compares the TSR of the Wesfarmers
with the TSR of broader Australian market. The TSR is a key performance indicator that helps
West farmers to determine the share price and the factor that are affecting the company in the
outside environment therefore the company also focuses on the internal performance indicator
like return on equity (ROE).
Relevant operation model to define key operations
In relation to the modules the different models relevant for the key operations are the operation
transformation model, total quality management model and design model.
Operation transformation model: it is the model that is effective in focusing on how to convert
the inputs of the organisation to be high quality products and services. In this model the raw
materials management technology capital labour input for the organisation as they help in
conducting the different supply chain operations of the Wesfarmers. It is very necessary to
manage transformation process of the Wesfarmers as it is highly reactive will raw materials and
any unnecessary wastage or dumping can lead to accident. In order to maintain efficiency and
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accuracy in the supply chain of the Wesfarmers the transformation process must be completed
using the operation transformation for order in order to deliver high quality finished goods into
the warehouses (Sokiyna, & Aqel, (2020). For the key operation of supply chain management the
operation transformation model is highly beneficial for Wesfarmers in maintaining the
competitive dominance in the market of Australia.
Total quality Management (TQM): Operation of quality management total quality
management model is considered as the most appropriate one as it helps Wesfarmers to analyse
and identify the quality of raw materials and finished goods. When working in the industry
where the raw materials are like chemicals fertilizers energy safety products it is very essential to
identify the quality in order to develop safe and secure finished goods. Total quality management
model is a process in which Wesfarmers are able to concentrate on the planning, process
management, customers, total participation etc. Model the management of the Wesfarmers as a
capability to generate the massive profits and also help in gaining the efficiency in their
manufacturing process over the time. This also helps in mitigating the risk associated with the
quality of the product. It is helpful model in improving the current quality management operation
of the company.
Critical review of key operation and its management that in relation to future improvement and
contribution to the company’s competitive priorities
In respect of the supply chain operation of the Wesfarmers there are some following
impacts on the business performance that are critically evaluated:
With help of the key operations the management of the farmers will able to maintain high
inventory turnover as it is very essential for the business of Wesfarmers to sustain proper
inbound and outbound logistics in orders to expand and improve their current supply chain
management operations.
Therefore, company has return on capital (ROC) as a performance indicator that helps different
divisions of the business in increasing their earning in capital by boosting the productivity.
Supply chain management operation the companies able to develop their logistics and supply
demand also the online retailing of the Wesfarmers is developing effectively with the help of the
business consultants also through this company avoids conflict issues between the customers,
delay in the delivery of products etc (Azadegan et al. (2020).
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Operational Plan
To develop and execute a suitable operational plan the Wesfarmers must consider following
factors:
Allocation of Human resources: this is one of the factors in which human resource of the
organisation the particular persons will be assigned to responsibility for all the activities of
supply chain management within the organisation (Hendriarto, (2021).
Strategy Person Responsible
Operating chemicals and laboratory utensils Chemical engineers
Research of raw materials to produce products Scientists
Repairs, improves and implement new solution
to digital supply chain
IT team
To innovate and manage the risk regarding
flaws in supply chain operations with better
strategy
Business Consultant
Budget and other management support for new
supply chain operation
General manager
expand and implement enhanced action plan
for supply of material within time
Supply chain manager
Allocation of financial resource plan: the location of the financial resources is clearly aims to
evaluate the budget amount for the supply chain operation plan as for the efficient operational
plan it is very necessary for the management to choose enough amount that can recover all the
necessary and needful requirements of the business (Zabalawi et al. (2021). Assume that there
are 4,000 employees involved in the supply chain in operations and company has expected
budget of $ 80, 00,000. The factors included in the financial resource plan of Wesfarmers are
shown below:
Annual Budget
Particulars Amount
Purchase of raw materials $500000
Purchase of equipments $450000
Salary of staff $4000000
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Transport $700000
IT assistance $400000
Rent on laboratories $300000
Legal assistance services $5,50,000
Others $11,00,000
Total annual budget $80,00,000
Cash Management plan
Option Management plan
Cash inflows Raise of sales volume
Managing the outflow of cash Decrease the rate of borrowings
Gains Interest and other income are considered
Liquidity of cash Reduce the cash wastage
Setting timelines: time is a sensitive factor when working on a operational plan. Therefore, it is
very essential for the business to implement timeline for each activity. The timelines assist
people involved in the operation plan to complete the operation plan within the time limit or
before the time limit ( Dokulil & Popesko (2020). Timelines for the supply chain operations
plan of Wesfarmers is displayed below:
Strategy Timelines
Implementation of supply chain strategy and
plan
4 weeks
Identification of KPIs of supply chain 8 weeks
Training of staff 10 weeks
Solutions for the improvement of traditional
process
5 weeks
IT team in tracking the logistics and supply
chain shipments
20 weeks
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Set performance indicators: measuring the performance is a part of revaluating the plan that
has been executed (Villar. & Alcala (2021). Therefore in order to measure the performance
indicators are the effective tools as they assist the management to understand what activities are
at priority and required to be done using some strategies some of the key performance indicators
for the supply chain operation plan are given beneath:
Strategy Performance indicator
Monetary (Cash) worth Cash- to cash time cycle
Delivery performance efficiency Premium Freight Percentage
Warehouse capacity improvement Inventory turnover analysis
Transportation and route efficiency Average inbound Transportation cost
CONCLUSION
From the above study it is understood that the company has implemented the supply chain
management strategy and implemented inbound and outbound logistics approach which also
helps the company in delivery of products and Services across national borders. Also the
management of operations is essential in order to make them attain the goals of company. The
Total quality management model is highly important and effective model in improving the
quality of performance of operations. The operational plan is highly useful in deterring all the
aspects such as timeline, budget and financial resources, allocation of resources etc. that are
useful for successful execution of the work.
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References:
Books and Journals
Azadegan, A and et.. (2020). Supply chain involvement in business continuity management:
effects on reputational and operational damage containment from supply chain
disruptions. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.
Dokulil, J., & Popesko, B. (2020). Operational Budgeting in Czech Companies. International
Advances in Economic Research, 26, 193-195.
Hendriarto, P. (2021). Understanding of the role of digitalization to business model and
innovation: economics and business review studies. Linguistics and Culture
Review, 5(S1), 160-173.
Jamza, et. al. (2020). onLine BUsiness oPerationaL strategies (Glory onLine store case
stUDy). Business Review and Case Studies, 1(2), 60-60.
Parmer, L. (2020). Reviving Rebekah's Operational Plan. Business Management
Dynamics, 10(2), 12.
Sokiyna, M., & Aqel, M. (2020). The role of e-business applications software in driving
operational excellence: Impact of departments collaboration using sustainable
software. Sustainable Computing: Informatics and Systems, 28, 100445.
Taryana, T at al.. (2021). Implementation of Operational Strategy Planning in Arena Corner
Business. Journal of Multidisciplinary Academic, 5(2), 118-123..
Villar, G., & Alcala, F. (2021). Developing a SCADA master plan framework: The best
application of the supervisory control and data acquisition system's components ensure
the continuity of a water and wastewater plant's operational success. Consulting
Specifying Engineer, 58(3), 28-34.
Vorontsova, et. al. (2021). The use of information technology in the DSTU new campus business
center (life cycle operational phase management. In E3S Web of Conferences (Vol. 281).
EDP Sciences.
Zabalawi, E. et al. (2021). Risk Management: Minimizing the Triple Risks–Strategic, Financial,
and Operational. In Innovation Management and Growth in Emerging Economies (pp.
206-225). IGI Global.
Online
Wesfarmers, 2021, [Online]. Available through:https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/
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