Case Study Report: Woolworths Strategic Development Plan Analysis

This case study report analyzes the strategic development plan of Woolworths, an Australian retail company. It examines key business initiatives undertaken by Woolworths, focusing on customer, product, and operational insights to support these initiatives. The report delves into the importance of strategic management in a competitive market, highlighting Woolworths' efforts to improve customer experience, optimize online retail, and leverage customer feedback. It discusses the significance of customer, product, and operational insights, providing examples of how Woolworths can utilize data from various sources, including customer surveys, product reviews, and operational monitoring tools, to enhance its strategies. The report also explores both internal and external data sources that can provide valuable insights for identifying risks and opportunities within the food retail industry, concluding with the importance of strategic management for business success.

Running head: STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN
STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN
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Introduction
Strategic issues can be described as certain trend or development in the external or
internal situations of the business organization which can impact the smooth running of the
business operations. Strategic planning is the process of planning resource allocation for
supporting the infrastructure and production of the organization. Woolworths Limited is one of
the major Australian companies operating in the retail market of Australia. The overall business
strategy of the selected company Woolworths is designed in such a way to maximize its
effectiveness in operating its business and dealing with the customers by minimizing the cost
(Antonelli, Crespi and Scellato 2013). The purpose of this report is to discuss the strategic plan
of the selected organization Woolworths. It analyzes the business initiatives taken by the
business organization. It determines the customer, product and operational insights which would
help the company to support production and operation. Lastly it concludes the assignment.
Discussion
Key business initiative taken by Woolworths
Strategic management is considered to be one of the critical factors for the success of any
business organization. Woolworths has been facing high level of competition in the market,
product quality has been decreasing and it has been facing slower growth outlook. It has been
facing tough competition from other organizations in the retail sector such as Coles and Aldi.
Therefore, the companies have taken initiatives to address the issues faced (AO Dos Santos et al.

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2014). It has analyzed strategies and concepts to deliver right shopping experience to the
customers and provide them with quality products and services through its strategies to the
customers. In order to overcome its poor performance in the past years, it has taken initiative to
focus on online retail operations. Further, it has taken initiative to provide entertainment
offerings. In order to gain potential customers, the company plans to promote its offerings and
services through massive advertising campaign to boost the confidence of the consumers. It
undertakes plans to upgrade its technologies along with the changing needs and demands of the
customers. It undertakes marketing strategies like money back guarantee offer to the customers
while improving the service and the quality of goods offered to the customers. It has been
developing a “customer and store-led teams and culture” (Ceschin 2013). The strategies to be
implemented by the company are strategically aligned with the goals and objectives of the
organization. Moreover, the company has been developing certain tools and techniques by which
the customers can offer them their feedback. The company has been taken various steps for ac
(Bailey et al. 2015)ieving the objective of the organization. Woolworths has taken initiative to
take customer feedback from the customers by introducing a program known as “strong voice of
the customer”. This will help to obtain and analyze the customer feedback based on their
experience. It has adapted the strategy to build a multi-optional retail organization in terms of
quality, low price and better store experience in order to meet the needs and demands of the
customers (Dos Santos, Svensson and Padin 2013). Therefore, it has been analyze that the
company has taken major steps, actions and initiatives to tactfully address the issues faced and
achieve its objective to generate sustainable sales in the food and staples industry.

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Insights to support the targeted business initiative
Customer insights:
Customer insights involve understanding and analyzing the data, behaviors and feedback
of the customers. By analyzing and collecting data about the customer behavior and their
feedback, the organization can use this data for improving the service and quality of products
offered to the potential customers. Customer insights are essential to gain information about the
existing needs and demand of the customers (Frank, Mashevskaya and Ermolina 2016).
Woolworths can collect customer insight and strategically align the needs and demands of the
customers with the objectives and goals of the business. The customer insights can be collected
through various sources like market research, focus groups, product reviews and purchase
history. It can develop strategies to support the “strong voice of the customer” initiative taken by
the company such as presenting help centre or support information (Hamilton 2016). It can
update its products and other offerings upon observing the areas of concern the customers have
reported.
Product Insights:
Product insights offer a deep understanding of the consumer choices and their
preferences. It can offer various metrics to helping a business organization to set a benchmark
and identify the success of the product (Nieto-Rodriguez 2016). The likelihood of purpose,
likeability of the product and the repurchasing probability of the product are some of the
indicators for analyzing the level of satisfaction gained by the consumers from the product. by
analyzing the metrics through every segment consumers and channel, the consumer habits and
preference of the product can be gained. A proper actionable product insight will help the

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organization to have a deeper understanding of the consumer preference. By analyzing the
customer feedback, it can update its products and services offered. Timely gathering of
information and insights is highly critical for product research. Product insights can be used to
understand the current position of the product in the making, the requirements for change and for
the need of product development (Palepu and Healy 2013). Testing consistency of the lifecycle
of the product is essential for creating actionable insights.
Operational insights:
The operational insights are aimed to improve the operational efficiency of the
organization for improving the customer experience and enable the organization to save money
and time. Operational insights are essential for thriving in the ever changing and challenging
business environment (AO Dos Santos et al. 2014). Having a cloud based platform in the context
of the business operations can help the business organizations to have better operational insights
and ensure corrective actions. It can capture data from different technologies such as cloud based
making is highly secure and reliable. By analyzing the effectiveness of the operations of the
business it direct the business towards timely and targeted actions (Frank, Mashevskaya and
Ermolina 2016). Having proper operational insights can help the company to improve the level
of customer satisfaction at a lower cost.
Data sources for key insights
With the advancement of technology and machine learning, it has become easier to collect
various data and insights about the customer, product and operations. There are various

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operational monitoring and analytics tool such as Informatica, which provides deeper insight into
the operational insights (Frank, Mashevskaya and Ermolina 2016). Predictive analytics and
actionable recommendations can help the business organization to improve the efficiency of the
business operations while reducing cost. Analytics tools and monitoring the operations can help
to better understand the utilization of resources and funds, manage the capacity, analyze the
efficiency of the workforce and the flow of work and overcome various challenges and issues
faced by the business organization. Customer insights can be gained by undertaking various
surveys, analyzing the customer behavior, by monitoring the product trends. Customer insights
can also be sourced through various social media platforms and engaging with the potential
customers. Customer feedbacks can be acquired (Hamilton 2016). By tracking various customer
feedback throughout multiple channels can measure the value of the customers. Customer
experiences can be measured against the metrics to align with the business goals and objectives.
This can enable the organizations to gain information about the customer experience. Experience
of the customers can be used to address the gaps and close the loops by undertaking customer
insight driven action. The “strong voice of the customer” initiated by Woolworths is an effective
tool for gathering customer insights. Valuable insights can be acquired by analyzing the data and
information generated from the operations of the organization. However, the internal data
sources can leave gaps of information (Ceschin 2013).
The external sources of data insights can be acquired by major network parts such as regulators,
stakeholders, suppliers, reseller, channel partners and others. These networks are distributed
globally and are affected by external factors like economic, political and environmental. By
analyzing the external sources the companies can determine the risks and opportunities. The
internal data sources are limited and are generated from the customers, fore-tier suppliers and

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internal operations (Bailey et al. 2015). External data sources such as competitor moves,
consumer behavior, and political events are essential as it can affect the smooth running of the
business. The external data source can be generated by predicting and analyzing the consumer
behavior and competitor moves. Woolworths can analyze the competitor moves and take action
accordingly. The food retail industry uses economic data, geo-location data, information from
suppliers, weather predictions and demand prediction, this can reduce stock outs (Dos Santos,
Svensson and Padin 2013). However, it is challenging to determine the size and complexity as
well as identifying the right information and data partners and sources.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above analysis it can be concluded that Strategic management is one
of the critical factors for the success of the business organization. The report has analyzed the
key business initiatives taken by the chosen organization Woolworths for addressing the issues
faced. The report provides the customer, product and operational insight for supporting the
targeted business initiative taken by the chosen organization. Further, it provides key internal and
external data sources that can be used by the company to indentify the key insights.

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