Accounting, Behavior, and Organisation: Woolworths Limited Report

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Woolworths Limited, a major Australian retailer. It examines the company's organizational structure, highlighting its hierarchical nature and key components such as the food group structure and responsibility centers. The report delves into Woolworths' business strategy, including its mission, competitive advantages like supply chain management and low-cost leadership, and environmental responsibility initiatives such as reducing plastic use and carbon emissions. Furthermore, it explores the company's performance measurement and reward systems, focusing on short-term and long-term incentives linked to sales, EBIT, and shareholder returns. The report concludes with recommendations for enhancing performance management and overall business development within Woolworths Limited. The report also includes an overview of Woolworths' competitors, business missions, and competitive advantages.

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Woolworths Limited – Accounting, Behaviour, and Organisation
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Executive Summary
The organisation Woolworths Limited is one of the largest retailers in Australia and they
effectively maintain the hierarchical organisational structure to perform their activity in the field.
The performance level of the firm is also maintained by the effective value of business process
and the activeness within the market. It could be viewed from the entire performance
measurement and the reward system of the field that the business has increased their sales
growth by the sustainable development of the working process within the market.
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Organisation background...................................................................................................................3
1.2 Theme background............................................................................................................................3
1.3 Competitors.......................................................................................................................................3
2.0 Business strategy...................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Business mission...............................................................................................................................3
2.2 Competitive advantages.....................................................................................................................4
3.0 Organisational structure.........................................................................................................................4
3.1 Structure diagram and work unit type................................................................................................4
3.2 Decentralisation.................................................................................................................................5
3.3 Responsibility center.........................................................................................................................5
4.0 Literature Review (Environmental responsibility).................................................................................6
5.0 Performance measurement and reward system......................................................................................6
6.0 Recommendations.................................................................................................................................7
7.0 Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................7
References...................................................................................................................................................8
Appendices................................................................................................................................................10
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1.0 Introduction
The primary purpose of the paper is to focus on the organisational chart and their responsibility
center to perform the activity within the market. The paper will also provide the focus on the
environmental responsibility utilised by the firm to perform their activity in the field and develop
working process.
1.1 Organisation background
Woolworths Limited is the primary Australian company that has the extensive retail interest
throughout the area of Australia as well as New Zealand (Woolworthsgroup.com.au, 2018). By
the term of revenue, this is considered to be the second largest firm in the country. It can be seen
that Woolworths is one of the largest takeaways of the liquor retailer within the country. They
are also the largest hotel as well as gaming machine operator as well as the 19th largest retailer in
the world. The company is having the workforce of around 205,000 and their revenue for the
year 2017 was 55.669 billion Australian dollar.
1.2 Theme background
Environmental responsibility is the responsibility of the firm towards the natural resources that
help to minimise the damage as well as it ensures the resources for the future generations. The
responsibility of the firm within the field and also the environmental factor for maintaining the
valuable process within the field.
1.3 Competitors
The major competitor of the firm is the Walmart, then the Coles group, Tesco and the Target
Corporation. The competition level is high in the retail industry and for that, there are numerous
other retailers who have got the valuable field within the field.
2.0 Business strategy
2.1 Business mission
The business provides the valuable process within the retail sector that help to provide numerous
working function within the field. The primary mission of the company in the market is to build
the customers as well as store-led culture along with the team (Johnston, Stafford, Pierce, &
Daube, 2017). They are also evolving the sustainable sales momentum within the food market.
Another business mission of the company is to evolve of drink business for providing the value
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as well as convenience to the customers. They are also in the process of becoming the lean
retailer with the help of the end-to-end process as well as the system excellence.
2.2 Competitive advantages
The major competitive advantage of the firm within the market is the ability for ensuring the
freshness as well as the quality of their products with the help of effective supply chain
management. It can be seen that the winning strategy of the company is too anchored within the
sustainable competitive firm. The competitive advantage of the firm consists of a single strategy
that is based on the low-cost leadership strategy along with the differentiation strategy within the
firm (Bailey, 2017). Another competitive advantage of the firm is to provide a high quality of
products to the people and also to develop effective working function within the field. The
company focuses on the food strategy to provide the most valuable and effective view of the
growth as well as the efficiency of the product within the field (Okanga, & Drotski, 2016). The
quality of products and the business process effectively provides the view of the development of
business within the market.
3.0 Organisational structure
3.1 Structure diagram and work unit type
Woolworths is having the numerous group and for that their organisational structure have also
different variable within the field. The food group organisation structure of Woolworths Limited
have the support system then the HR director as well as the Woolworths loyalty in the market.
The organisational structure also provides an effective view on the Woolworths supermarket
management team where the store's director, digital general manager, then support of the GM
commercial within the market (Jie, Parton, & Chan, 2015). The organisation is having the most
effective and valuable process where a hierarchical structure is being followed by the firm to
perform their activity in the market. The Woolworths management structure provides an
effective view of the working process and the development of value within the field. There are 5
non-executive directors and a chairman and also the Group managing director of the business
process. The entire management working function of the firm needs to provide their valuable
process in the field (Shauki, 2016). The director of the supermarket then the Human resource
managers and also the corporate service of the field needs to develop their business. The
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organisational structure of Woolworths Limited varies with the working process and the
development process in the market.
3.2 Decentralisation
Decentralisation is generally referred to as the pushing down of the functional authority as well
as the power regarding the decision-making to the very much lower level of the organisation.
The degree of decentralisation in the organisation is associated with the costliness of the decision
then the uniformity of the policy, size of the firm, history of the organisation, management
philosophy, availability of the managers and the control technique (Devin, & Richards, 2018).
This all effectively provides the view of the development process and the working function in the
business. It can be seen that the degree of decentralisation of Woolworths Limited is quite
effective in the market. The costliness of the products, as well as the product quality, needs to be
performed effectively within the field. It can be seen that the entire business process of the firm
needs to be developed for the activity in the field. The size of the firm is quite effective for
maintaining their products as well as service within the field (Zutshi, Creed, Holmes, & Brain,
2016). It can be seen that the entire process needs to be performed effectively to maintain the
process in the field. History of the enterprise also helps to provide the valuable and suitable
working function within the market to provide valuable business process.
3.3 Responsibility center
The responsibility center is the subunit or the part of the company for which the manager is
having the authority as well as the responsibility. The organisation chart of the company
provides an effective view of the determining of the responsibility centers (Klettner, Clarke, &
Boersma, 2014). The four type of center within the firm is the cost center then the revenue
center, profit center as well as the investment center. The revenue center of the organisation
consists of effective managers of the financial department who effectively provides the view on
the growth of revenue of the firm in the field. The revenue of the firm in the recent years have
reached the amount of 55 billion dollars that is eventually maintained by the financial and the
revenue manager in the market. It can be seen that the profit center is also determined within the
field of managers to provide their valuable working function within the market. In the retail
industry, the responsibility center plays the vital role in the development of effective and
valuable working process within the field (AO Dos Santos, Svensson, & Padin, 2014).
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Woolworths Limited is having the most effective organisational structure that describes the
working function of the managers and the non-executive of the firm where they maintain the
responsibility in the most valuable way.
4.0 Literature Review (Environmental responsibility)
The organisation needs to maintain effective sustainability in their products and their service to
maintain the environmental responsibility in the market. Woolworths Limited maintain
sustainability in their working function and also in the various products and the supermarket
chain (Berning, 2014). In the recent world where the environmental protection is the biggest
concern for the firm, they are effectively providing valuable and sustainable activity in the field.
The organisation lives up to their strategy for developing the sustainability approach within the
field to maintain the value of the firm. They are in the process for removing the single-use plastic
bags from their various business and also they are announcing the commitment for not selling
any of the plastic straws by the end of the year 2018.
The company is also in the process of removing the unnecessary packaging where almost 180
tonnes of production has been removed within the last 12 months (Morioka, Evans, & de
Carvalho, 2016). This is one of the best processes that has been utilised by the company to
maintain their environmental responsibility in the field. The organisation is also working on the
effectiveness of reducing the carbon emission level from the business by almost 13%. The
organisation has also identified the climate change as the primary issue that is relevant to the
environment. They are also planning for the diversion regarding the wastage of food in the field.
The organisation is in the effective way to provide the valuable process for increasing the value
and the environmental activity in the field (Cheng, Green, & Ko, 2014). The firm maintains their
effective sustainability strategy within the field to maintain the responsibility of the firm within
the market. The organisation has also introduced the green reusable shopping bags for the
betterment of the environment and also to reduce the usage of plastic in the market.
5.0 Performance measurement and reward system
The Woolworths Limited remuneration committee is primarily responsible for the overall
remuneration policy that is associated with the executive and the non-executive of the firm. The
remuneration committee within the firm has effectively provided a valuable working function to
develop the business process within the market (Grimmer, 2018). The performance level of the
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firm can be effectively measured with the help of valuable business process within the market.
The organisation is having the effective performance level within the field where they have
achieved high revenue and also a high-income level in the field for the year 2017. The reward for
the current year performance level in the field is to maintain the working function and in this, the
short-term incentive provides valuable performance level of the firm. The short-term incentive of
the company is paid for the performance of the employees and also it is based on the individual
along with the business performance outcome (Sewell, Mason, & Venter, 2017).
In this system, the annual cash payment is being performed effectively to maintaining the value
and the reward system within the market. The measure of the business performance is done with
the help of sales, then EBIT, customer satisfaction, safety as well as the working capital. Te
reward system for the long-term sustainable performance supports the effective and valuable
reward system for the strategic business drivers as well as the shareholder's return (Price, 2016).
This is one of the best reward systems that has been utilised within the field where the
performance of Woolworths Limited is counted after every three years. The long-term incentive
performance measure relative to the share price of the gateway to maintain their activity in the
field. The return on the fund employed in the organisation needs to be created for the valuable
process.
6.0 Recommendations
The performance management and the working function of Woolworths Limited need to provide
the valuable and effective development of the process. It is recommended to the firm that they
need to enhance their sustainability as well as the environmental responsibility within the market.
It is also suggested that the organisation need to keep their employee satisfied for maintaining
their performance level as well as the revenue sector of the market. This is one of the most vital
and the crucial activity to perform the valuable and most effective business process within the
field.
7.0 Conclusion
The paper eventually concludes the fact that Woolworths Limited is having the effective
performance level in the term of business and also in the term of highly essential working
function within the field. The paper also provides the fact that business has eventually
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maintained their performance level and their environmental responsibility in the market to
develop numerous and effective business process.
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References
AO Dos Santos, M., Svensson, G., & Padin, C. (2014). Implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of sustainable business practices: framework and empirical
illustration. Corporate Governance, 14(4), 515-530.
Bailey, M. (2017). Absorptive Capacity, International Business Knowledge Transfer, and Local
Adaptation: Establishing Discount Department Stores in Australia. Australian Economic
History Review, 57(2), 194-216.
Berning, A. (2014). Sustainable supply chain engagement in a retail environment: the case of
Woolworths food suppliers(Doctoral dissertation, Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University).
Cheng, M. M., Green, W. J., & Ko, J. C. W. (2014). The impact of strategic relevance and
assurance of sustainability indicators on investors' decisions. Auditing: A Journal of
Practice & Theory, 34(1), 131-162.
Devin, B., & Richards, C. (2018). Food waste, power, and corporate social responsibility in the
Australian food supply chain. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(1), 199-210.
Grimmer, L. (2018). The diminished stakeholder: Examining the relationship between suppliers
and supermarkets in the Australian grocery industry. Journal of Consumer
Behaviour, 17(1), e13-e20.
Jie, F., Parton, K., & Chan, C. (2015). Australian beef supply chain integration: case studies of
the two largest Australian supermarkets. International Journal of Supply Chain and
Operations Resilience, 1(2), 121-138.
Johnston, R., Stafford, J., Pierce, H., & Daube, M. (2017). Alcohol promotions in Australian
supermarket catalogues. Drug and alcohol review, 36(4), 456-463.
Klettner, A., Clarke, T., & Boersma, M. (2014). The governance of corporate sustainability:
Empirical insights into the development, leadership, and implementation of the
responsible business strategy. Journal of Business Ethics, 122(1), 145-165.
Morioka, S. N., Evans, S., & de Carvalho, M. M. (2016). Sustainable business model innovation:
exploring evidence in sustainability reporting. Procedia CIRP, 40, 659-667.
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Okanga, B., & Drotski, A. (2016). Integrated business model for mitigating e-retail information
security risks. Journal of Contemporary Management, 13(1), 1364-1393.
Price, R. (2016). Controlling routine frontline service workers: an Australian retail supermarket
case. Work, employment and society, 30(6), 915-931.
Sewell, W., Mason, R. B., & Venter, P. (2017). Socio-economic developmental strategies as
retail performance indicators: A balanced scorecard approach. Development Southern
Africa, 34(3), 365-382.
Shauki, E. (2016). Is this a case of self-enlightened interest or genuine accountability: a study of
different reporting media in the Australian retail industry. Asia Pacific Journal of
Accounting and Finance, 2(1), 51-76.
Woolworthsgroup.com.au, (2018). Retrieved 13 September 2018, from
https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/icms_docs/195396_annual-report-2018.pdf
Zutshi, A., Creed, A., Holmes, M., & Brain, J. (2016). Reflections of environmental management
implementation in furniture. International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management, 44(8), 840-859.
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Appendices
Figure 1: Organisation structure of Woolworths Food Group
Figure 2: The management team structure of Woolworths Supermarket
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