Comprehensive Report on Risk Management Initiatives at Woolworths

This report provides a comprehensive overview of Woolworths Supermarkets' risk management initiatives. It details the company's consultation and communication strategies with stakeholders, including suppliers, employees, shareholders, the government, and investors. The report identifies and analyzes various risks faced by Woolworths, such as political and technological pressures, economic factors, environmental regulations, social issues, legal challenges, and competition. It also includes a SWOT analysis, highlighting the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The risk analysis covers marketing risks, regulatory risks, stakeholder participation, communication issues, resource insufficiency, demand understanding, health and safety measures, economic fluctuations, product quality, and operational failures. The report further presents a risk register plan, action plan, and monitoring plan to mitigate these risks and ensure the smooth functioning of Woolworths' operations. Desklib provides access to this and many other solved assignments for students.

Running head: RISK MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES
RISK MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1RISK MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES
Table of Contents
1. Company Overview.....................................................................................................................2
2. Consultation and Communication...............................................................................................2
3. Identification and analysis of Risks.............................................................................................5
3.1 Establishment of the Context and Identification of Risks.....................................................7
3.2 Risk Identification.................................................................................................................8
3.3 Risk Analysis, Evaluation and Prioritisation.......................................................................11
3.3.1 Identification of risks....................................................................................................11
3.3.2 Explanation of risks......................................................................................................12
4. Risk Register Plan......................................................................................................................13
Action Plan....................................................................................................................................20
Monitoring plan.............................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................23
Appendix........................................................................................................................................25

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1. Company Overview
The concerned organization for the report is Woolworths Supermarkets which is an
Australian supermarket chain owned by Woolworths Limited. The organization was founded in
the year 1924 and since then the modifications in the organizational offerings has helped the
same in maintaining the efficacy of the operations. The concerned organization undertook a
duopoly with Coles, which constituted of around 80% of the Australian retail markets (Aven
2016). The diverse range of offerings of the organization (groceries, DVDs, health related
products, household products, baby products and stationery commodities) has helped the same in
adhering to the needs of wide range of customers in the market. On the other hand, the
modifications in the line of product offerings of the business have helped the same in
maintaining the efficacy of the operations.
The concerned organization currently holds around 1000 stores, 976 supermarkets and
around 19 convenience stores in order to support their smooth functioning in the different
regions of the Australian markets (Creeden et al. 2013). Diverse range of technological
innovations that are undertaken by the organization has helped the same in upholding the
competitive advantage of the same. The revenue of the organization was calculated to be A$
56.726 billion as was computed by the end of the fiscal year 2018 (Aven 2016). The different
aspect of change that is undertaken by the organization has helped the same in maintaining the
efficacy of the operations of the same while operating in diverse regions of Australian markets.
2. Consultation and Communication
Stakeholder Role Stakeholder’s agenda for Risks

3RISK MANAGEMENT INITIATIVES
Suppliers The suppliers of the
organization plays a major role
in upholding the smooth
operations of the business
The agenda of the suppliers is to
provide the organization with
information on the inventory of raw
material and finished products
Employees The employees of the
organization helps in
facilitating the smooth
functioning of the processes
that are planned by the
management for supporting the
competitive advantage
(Seuring and Gold 2013)
The employees undertake the
collaborative operations of the same
in order to meet their individual
targets for avoiding the risks
(Loorbach and Wijsman 2013)
Shareholders Shareholders of the
organization aim at providing
the business with financial
resources for the smooth
functioning of the Woolies.
The total holdings that are
undertaken by the shareholders
contributed to the revenue
The profitability of the business is
one of the guiding force that
influences the shareholders of the
business

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streams of the corporation.
The Government The regulations that are framed
by the government in the
nation help the organizations in
guiding their activities. On the
other hand, the government of
the nation plays a major role in
supporting the activities of the
organization in the homeland
as it helps in enhancing the
economic position of the
nation (Armstrong, Cools and
Sadler‐Smith 2012).
The government’s agenda is to
impose different regulatory
frameworks in order to minimize the
financial and other risks that might
be faced by the business
Investors The investors support the
business of Woolworths
through capital investments.
The capital investments helped
the organizations in
maintaining the efficacy of the
operations
The agenda of the investors are based
on the profitability of the
organization. Profitability of the
organization is one of the major
priorities of the investors as they
invest their capital on the venture.

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The organization currently undertook AUS 2005; 113 risk management method, which
helped the same in identifying the risks, and thereby allocate preferable resources as per the
criteria. The organization is planning to undertake different communicative measures through
meetings with the stakeholders for transmitting all the important information on different
changes that are planned by the business for avoiding certain risks. The risks that are faced by
the concerned organization is based on the lack of international presence of the same. Franks et
al. (2014) stated that the globalization has offered the organizations in making aggressive
expansion in the different international markets. Currently the organization undertook
consultation with the board members before implementing a change. The risks in the
organization are assessed as per the research of its undertakings in the different markets.
However, the organization is planning to undertake the rational decision making process in
order to assess the risks and thereby implement different changes in the processes. The
organization undertakes consultation with different consultancy organizations and the
stakeholders that are well aware of the market situations and negotiate with the same.
3. Identification and analysis of Risks
The risks that are faced by the organization are based on the quality of the undertakings.
The key elements of change that are undertaken by the organizations are based on the
identification of the risks and the manner in which they might be mitigated in order to facilitate
the smooth functioning. Paape and Speklè (2012) stated that the culture of the organization helps
in understanding the risks that might be faced by the same while operating in diverse economies.
The concerned organization, Woolworths, has taken steps to prioritize the customers over the
other stakeholders in order to maintain the sustainability of the same. The organization is
certified with the ISO quality assurance, which helped the same in retaining the loyalty of the

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customers. Currently the organization identifies, analyzes, evaluates and ranks, treats and
monitors the risk for facilitating the smooth functioning of the processes. However, the lower
international presence of the organization has affected the wider customer base of the business.
Woolworths operates in the different regions of Australia. The organization did not take any step
for expending in the other economies, which limited their customer base within the regions. On
the other hand, the new entrants in the retail; industry and the threat of the substitute products
resulted to risks relating to the sustenance of the business. Hofmann et al. (2014) stated that the
fluctuations in the global economies also pose a serious threat to the organizational operations.
The risks that are encountered by the concerned organization has affected the performance of the
same in the relevant market sections.

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Figure 1: The progress made by Woolworths as per the identified risks
(Source: Bromiley et al. 2015)
3.1 Establishment of the Context and Identification of Risks
Political Technology
 The political pressure towards a
duopolistic retail markets has restricted
the functioning of the business. The
unstable political situation of the
Australian markets has affected the
objective of uninterrupted functioning of
 The introduction of SAP based
technology in the retail markets has
enhanced the competition in the
duopolistic markets.
 The technological innovations in
retail markets have helped in

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the business in the different market
sections in Australia.
enhancing the rate of competition in
the markets.
Economic Environmental factors
 The free trade policies of the
organization have enabled the
growth of the new entrants in
the Australian markets.
 The environmental regulations that
are induced by the Australian
government have restricted the
smooth functioning of the
organizations.
Social issues Legislation
 Poor relation with the suppliers and
other stakeholders of the organization
has affected the smooth functioning
objectives of the same.
 The legal issues with ACCC
(Australian Competition and
Consumer Commission) have
restricted the activities of the
organization relating to expansion in
the duopolistic retail market situation
(Vilko and Hallikas 2012).
Competitors Other
 The different competitors of the  The other issues that are

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business are Aldi, Amazon, eBay,
Coles Group, Walmart and Tesco. The
competitors of the business have
affected the expansion objectives of the
same while operating in the different
parts of Australia.
faced by the organization are
based on the lack of proper
communication with the
customers, which has
restricted the designing and
marketing capabilities of the
same.
3.2 Risk Identification
 Strengths Weaknesses
 Well known brand image of the
organization
 Wider range of products and services
 Efficacy in the CSR activities of the
organization has helped the same in
gaining the trust of communities (Kern
et al. 2012)
 Enhanced quality of the products and
services offered by the organization has
helped in retaining the loyalty of the
customers
 Lack of suitable international presence
and marketing capabilities of the
organization
 The growing competition in the
Australian retail industry has affected
the processes of the business
Opportunities Threats

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 The growing potentiality of the
developing economies might assist the
organization in undertaking expansion
 The organization might provide the
customers with better promotions in
order to retain the loyalty of the same
while operating in different economies
 The organization might undertake
social media integration initiatives in
order to maximize the customer
engagements (Colicchia and Strozzi
2012)
 The heavy loss of customers by the
end of the financial year 2017 has
affected the business processes that
are planned by the same.
 Aldi’s aggressive expansion in the
different parts of market has affected
the competitive edge of the concerned
business venture (Alhawari et al.
2012).
 The slow growth of the online retails
in the Australian markets has
restricted the growth of the
organization while operating in the
diverse regions. The slow growth of
the industry has also restricted the
demand that is faced by the business.
 The new entrants in the Australian
retail markets have affected the
growth of the concerned business.
 The threat of substitute products has
resulted to switching customers, which
affected the profitability of the venture
while operating in the Australian

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markets.
As per a report, the petrol pumps owned by Woolworths and Coles were affected through
a allegation by the Chairman of ACCC against the petrol shopper dockets, as the scheme was
believed to hurt the interests of many fuel retailers (Ghadge, Dani and Kalawsky 2012). The
intervention of the ACCC restricted the smooth functioning of the concerned organization due to
enhanced competitiveness. On the other hand, introduction of ERP (Enterprise Resource
Planning) systems in the organizational processes helps in maintaining the efficacy of the
operations that are undertaken by the organizations. The ERP technology has helped the
organizations in facilitating inventory management. Inventory management of the organization
helps in maintaining the smooth functioning of the supply chain operation as per the priorities.
However, regulations relating to the reduction of the carbon foot prints and emissions has
maximized the costs that are incurred by the concerned organization while operating in diverse
regions of the Australian markets. The implementation of different monitoring and emission
controlling devices has resulted to maximization of the operating costs of the organization.
Alternatively, lack of suitable collaboration with the stakeholders like the suppliers and the
distributors has affected the supply chain and logistics department of the concerned business.
The different environmental regulations have restricted the smooth functioning of the businesses
while operating in diverse international markets. Therefore, the different issues that are faced by
the organization restricted the smooth functioning of the same to support the objectives of
sustenance.