Strategic Management Report: An Analysis of Woolworths Strategies

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Woolworths' strategic management, exploring the company's strategies for growth and its response to market challenges. It begins with an executive summary and an introduction to the importance of strategic management in the retail sector. The report delves into the internal and external factors influencing Woolworths, including a detailed SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) and a PESTEL analysis (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors). The findings highlight Woolworths' market position, competitive advantages, and sustainability strategies. The report also examines the importance of effective strategy implementation, leadership, and organizational structure. It concludes with recommendations for Woolworths' future strategic development, including suggestions for global expansion and adaptation to market changes. The report uses various academic sources to support its analysis, including books and journals.

Critical Analysis

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
FINDINGS.......................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Strategic management means developing effectively strategies for growth and dealing
with challenges. In this report, it is shown that how strategy management is followed by
organisation. Also, the importance of strategies is shown. Also, it is described that how
developing effective strategies help in growth of organisation. This report will throw light on
micro and macro factors that affect the expansion of business.
INTRODUCTION
Every business requires different strategies in order to grow and develop in the market. It
is because; the success of business depends on strategies. The development of strategies is based
on several factors that include internal and external environment (Hill, Jones & Schilling,
2014). These factors can affect the business to expand their operations. Strategic management
refers to formulation of goals and objectives by top management. They also decide strategies
through which these goals will be achieved. Moreover, they allocate resources to each
department for attaining their goals. This report will show how strategic management is followed
by organisation. Also, what factors are considered in this will be explained. For the present
report, organisation selected is Woolworths. It belongs to retail sector and operates in Australia.
FINDINGS
Woolworth is an Australian supermarket chain store that was found by Woolworths in
1924. It covers almost 80% of market share in Australia. The company majorly deals in products
such as vegetables, fruits, packaged food, etc. It has also engaged in selling products like DVD's
household products, etc. (Hitt & Duane Ireland, 2017). The number of stores in Australia are
1000. Currently, company has started a service known as Homeshop and home delivery service.
Company was found in September 1924 under the name of Wallworths Bazaar limited.
The main goal of company is to provide groceries to people at low price. The top management
has focused on home delivery service to people. This has attracted a large number of people and
also provided a strong competitive advantage in the market.
It operates in market where a lot of micro and macro factors can affect its growth. So, it
is important for the management to consider those while developing strategies. Micro factors

refer to internal environment of organisation while macro refers to external environment. These
are described as below:
Internal factors – It includes SWOT analysis of company that is as follows:-
Strengths
 It is one of the oldest super market stores in Australia and so, it is having a strong brand
image in the market (Bettis & Mitchell,(2015).
 It almost has 1000 stores that operate in entire country and so, it is having a large
customer base and market share.
 It provides a variety of products and services to people.
 It is having both online and brick and mortar concept of selling that give a strong
competitive advantage. It contributes to society and have an effective CSR program that has significant impact on
people’s mind.
Weaknesses
 It only operates in Australia and so, there is no international presence (Ginter, Duncan &
Swayne, 2018).
 Many new companies have emerged in retail sector that are providing competition to
Woolworth. Due to this, it is losing competitive advantage. It came very late with the concept of online selling.
Opportunities
 It can expand its operations in different countries to grow and develop. It can also use digital marketing in order to attract a large number of people. This will
help in increasing the sales and profits. Also, it will help in retaining customers and
making them loyal.
Threats
 The growth of ALDI in Australian market can give tough competition to Woolworth.
This will reduce their market share.
 It has engaged in war with Coles. This can be a threat and will affect the brand image of
company (Ethiraj, Gambardella & Helfat, 2018).

External factors - It contains PESTEL that is as follows:- Political – It is operating against the pressure of duopolistic nature of retail nature. This
means that any change in government will directly affect the retail sector. Social- It has been able to build a positive image in the society. This is because of highly
involving in CSR activities. But in the recent era, there is change in relationship with
suppliers. This is changing the way of doing business. Economic- The laws and regulations to enter in retail sector have been made easy by
government. This has resulted in many new entrants. It is affecting the economy of
country. Technological – Change in technology has forced retail business to install the latest tools
and equipment (Wheelen & Bamford, 2017). Similarly, SAP system is implemented to
improve the merchandising system. Legal – Woolworth is facing several issues with the government of Australia. It has
involved in the battle with ACCC. Also, strict rules are implemented by NFF
 Environment- Government has imposed some laws and regulations to protect the
environment. This has forced company to use the renewable resources.
It is important that strategies are developed at corporate and functional level. This is
because; it will help organisation to survive in the market for long run. Also, their common goals
are determined. Moreover, each function have different goals. They work together so that overall
objectives can be effectually achieved.
Competitive advantage and sustainability are interrelated to each other. It is necessary for
the firm to have strong competitive advantages. It means that company is having a distinct image
of its products and services (Meyer, Neck & Meeks, 2017). Company is having a strong
competitive advantage in the market. It is because of variety of products and services that are
provided by company to people. Developing an effective strategy will help in sustaining for long
term. Moreover, it will help Woolworth to expand operations at the global level. More a firm is
having strong competitive advantage, more it can sustain in the industry for long time.
In the recent era, there are many mergers and acquisitions occurred. Small and new
businesses are joining hands together to grow and develop. The impact of this can be observed in

retail sector and this has resulted in increase in competition. It has forced companies to change
their strategies as per the international standards. The example can be seen as ALDI is expanding
its operations in Australia. Due to this, market prices are fluctuating.
Developing effective strategies is not enough. Also, it has to be implemented properly. It
is the role of leader and manager to implement it in a proper way. This is because; it will help in
the growth and development (Ethiraj, Gambardella & Helfat, 2017). If strategies are not
implemented then organisation will not be able to survive. In Woolworth, strategies are
implemented at both corporate and functional level. For this, resources are allocated to them
according to their goals.
Leadership plays a vital role in the implementation of strategy. It is because; leader
provides support to organisation and guides them in right direction. They also help in taking
proper measures in right time if any change occurs in factor. A leader is responsible for
achieving goals in proper time. He applies different leadership styles according to the situation.
Entrepreneurship is related to leadership as it involves managing group of people in organisation.
This helps in increasing the efficiency of organisation as well as employees.
Organisational structure refers to how tasks and activities will be allocated that will help
in achieving the common goals. It defines the hierarchy of organisation. Woolworth is having a
specific organisational structure in which there are three levels that are top, middle and
functional (Hill, Jones & Schilling, 2014). The top level formulated goals and objectives that
have to be implemented by middle and functional level. Top management also controls the
overall activities in enterprise. Corporate governance means the rules and regulations that are
followed by firm to control their operations. It is related to stakeholder’s interest. An
organisation must work in the interest of stakeholders. This will help them to create a better
image in society.
CONCLUSION
From this report, it can be concluded that top management must consider several factors
while formulating goals and objectives. It helps in dealing with the change in those factors in the
future. Also, it helps in minimising the negative impact of micro and macro factors on business.

Strategies must be properly implemented otherwise, it will result in failure. Moreover, a proper
structure must be developed so that tasks will be performed in a systematic manner.
RECOMMENDATIONS
There are several recommendations that can be followed by Woolworth. These are as
follows:
 Woolworth must set standards so that strategies can be evaluated. It will help in finding
out what went wrong and how it can be improved in the future (Hitt & Duane Ireland,
2017).
 Woolworth should develop strategies to expand at the global level. It will help in
increasing the sales and profits.
 They can merge with small companies in order to enter in the new market. This will help
them to gain high market share easily. Also, with this, they will be able to compete with
ALDI.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bettis, R. A. & Mitchell, W. (2015). Qualitative empirical research in strategic
management. Strategic Management Journal, 36(5), 637-639.
Ethiraj, S. K., Gambardella, A., & Helfat, C. E. (2017). Reviews of strategic management
research. Strategic Management Journal, 38(1), 3-3.
Ethiraj, S. K., Gambardella, A., & Helfat, C. E. (2018). Theory in strategic
management. Strategic Management Journal, 39(6), 1529-1529.
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). The strategic management of health care
organizations. John Wiley & Sons.
Hill, C. W., Jones, G. R., & Schilling, M. A. (2014). Strategic management: theory: an
integrated approach. Cengage Learning.
Hitt, M., & Duane Ireland, R. (2017). The intersection of entrepreneurship and strategic
management research. The Blackwell handbook of entrepreneurship, 45-63.
Meyer, G. D., Neck, H. M., & Meeks, M. D. (2017). The entrepreneurship‐strategic management
interface. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, 17-44.
Wheelen, T. L. & Bamford, C. E. (2017). Strategic management and business policy. pearson.
Online
SWOT and PESTEL, 2017. [Online] Available through :
<https://www.swotandpestle.com/woolworths-limited/>
Woolworth, 2018. [Online] Available through https: <//www.woolworths.com.au/>