Category: Woolworths

Summary

Health promotion has always been important for the needs of the community (Nnakwe, 2009). As Hitchcock, Schubert and Thomas stress, The concepts of heath promotion, health protection, and disease/injury prevention are crucial ones in relation to understanding the mission of public health and, thus, community health nursing (Hitchcock, Schubert & Thomas, 2003, 14). In the given paper, my experience at Woolworth is being discussed. By observing the ways in which a healthy lifestyle was promoted to the local community, I managed to learn valuable lessons about the way a community works, the means to promote health to the community, and the variety of marketing tools.

My Observations

As a means to become more informed on the means to enhance a healthier lifestyle in a community, the Woolworth experience is definitely worth its weight in gold. Learning about both the community health problems and the way in which an organization can help solve these problems, the given project was a real revelation. In addition, it was rather peculiar to see observe the way in which people make choices based on the means with the help of which they are being marketed to (Fenske, 2008).

What I Did

To learn the significance of health promotion for Woolworth among its clientele, it was required to evaluate the quality of the food offered in the shop as well. With such barometers of food quality as the ratio of fast food and liquor to the number of healthier food products, an objective evaluation of the health promotion importance is possible.

Considering the range of products that the Woolworth shop offers, one must admit that not all of the brands offered by the shop owner can be considered a perfect choice for a healthy diet. As it has been mentioned above, the Woolworth shop offers not only liquor, but also a range of fast food, which brings the rates of healthy dieting among the local population down and, in its turn, increases the rates of such disorders as obesity and heart issues. Therefore, to learn the importance of promoting healthy eating habits to a community, considering the range of goods sold in the Woolworth store was enough.

It would be wrong, however, to claim that the experience at the Woolworth has contributed to shaping a solely negative opinion concerning the effects of its business on the neighborhood. Considering some of the marketing techniques that the Woolworth uses, such as attracting more customers owing to clever advertisement strategy, as well as the fact that the Woolworth chain offers not only food but also a variety of other products, some of which are related to as the beauty and Health merchandise. Therefore, the given experience has contributed to understanding not only the necessity to promote health in the community but also how addressing health affects marketing strategies and buyers behavior (Kolter & Armstrong, 2010).

How I Felt about What I Did

The significance of health promotion becomes especially clear and at the same time uncomfortably controversial after specifying that, among the entire range of food provided by the Woolworth at Bondi, liquor makes a huge chunk of the total return. That being said, the health promotion issue must be addressed very carefully, which the owners of the Woolworth understand well enough. As a result, to learn about the positive effect that the goods sold at Woolworth have on the target population, it was required to consider the variety of products that the given company has to offer to its clientele.

What I Learned

In the course of my experience at Woolsworth, I learned much about the means to promote a healthier lifestyle to a community by developing a specific policy and promoting environmentally friendly goods, as well as the goods that make a healthier alternative to the fast-food the clients. In addition, the experience at Woolsworth has shown me how a community works and how important it is to make sure that each member of the community is aware of the threats to his/her health and the means to avoid these threats by consuming healthy products and following the principles of sustainability and green eating.

My Comments on the Profession

There are many ways in which such shops as Woolsworth can help a community develop. In the light of the fact that health promotion in the community is closely related to the advertising activities within the specified community, as well as the subject of its focus, it can be considered that the goods provided by the owner of a community shop should be aimed at enhancing the proper eating habits among the members of the specified community. That being said, it will be reasonable for such shops as the Woolworth to focus on the production of the food that can be considered the number one choice for healthy dieting. To evaluate the effect of health promotion on the community, gathering statistical data will be required. The quantitative research specified above can be conducted with the help of such tools as questionnaires and opinion polls. For more exact information, however, it will be necessary to refer to official statistical data concerning the rates of diseases and disorders among the target audience, as well as the rates of consumption of fast food or any other product that triggers health or environmental issues.

Speaking of which, it will be also desirable to focus on the production of environmentally friendly goods; thus, the long-term issues concerning the community health, such as the development of asthma due to the dense traffic system and air pollution (Steingraber, 2011), will also be addressed. When naming the exact products that will supposedly help raising the community awareness of the current health concerns and the means to prevent the threat to peoples health from becoming a reality, such products as natural food must be considered firsthand. With a large amount of fast food in the modern market, there is no wonder that heart disorders, obesity, and kidneys dysfunction still remain major issues. As researchers say, such a method as green health can be adopted by an organization that would like to enhance a healthier lifestyle among its members. According to Ogunseitan, As more people try to live sustainably, more organizations and communities try to operate sustainably (Ogunseitan, 2011, 141). With that in mind, it will be a good idea to offer people the goods that will help them follow the principles of a green life (Uliano, 2009), starting from eating green (Owen, 2009) to making the neighborhood look greener (Low, 2005), which will demand selling gardening tools.

Reference List

Fenske, G. (2008). The skyscraper and the city: The Woolworth building and the making of modern New York. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Hitchcock, J. E., Schubert, P. E., & Thomas, S. A. (2003). Community health nursing: Caring in action. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Kolter, P. J., & Armstrong, G. M. (2010). Principles of marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson education.

Low, N. P. (2005). The green city: Sustainable homes, sustainable suburbs. Sydney, AU: UNSW Press Book.

Nnakwe, N. E. (2009). Community Nutrition: Planning health promotion and disease prevention. Sudbury, MA: 2009.

Ogunseitan, O. (2011). Green health: An A-to-Z guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Owen, R. (2009). Growing and eating green: Careers in farming, producing and eating green. New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company.

Steingraber, S. (2011). Raising Elijah: Protecting our children in the age of environmental crisis. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.

Uliano, S. (2009). The gorgeously green diet: How to live and learn green. New York, NY: Penguin Group, Inc.

A strategic alliance is a term that has been used to describe a kind of relationship that exists between the business partners and it has been said that these are the relationships that have been seen to cover all the activities that are to be performed by the parties to achieve the goals and the aims that are set by the firms.

Gajda, (2004) has argued that the goals that have been set by the partnering organizations are in need to be achieved by an implementation of strategic alliance and these partnering firms function independently. Hoskisson, (2008) has discussed that the partners provide strategic alliance services by the help of providing resources like products, capabilities relating to manufacturing, channel distributions, knowledge expertise, project finding as well as intellectual properties. In other words, the alliance has been known as a kind of cooperation that exists between the business partners, as the fact that has been realized from this kind of partnership is that mutual benefits gained are higher as compared to the strategies being applied in an individual mode by the firm. Technology transfer has been the main aspect of strategic alliance as it grants access to knowledge and expertise associated with the knowledge with a specialization in finance and economics and the ability to share the risks and the expertise.

Glaister, Husan, and Buckley, (2004) have argued that there are three main types of strategic alliances being used by the organizations and these are inclusive of joint venture strategic alliance and this is one of the major kinds of strategic alliances in which the firms play their roles by creating independent companies and by doing this the firms make sure that the limited number of resources are shared along with all the capabilities to achieve a competitive edge in the market.

Glover and Wasserman, (2003) have discussed that the second major form of the strategic alliance is the equity strategic alliance and this is the case in which the firms own different percentages of the companies and this is implemented in foreign direct investments.

Glover and Wasserman, (2003) argue that Australia has been witnessing an increase in bundling that has been seen in the case of petrol and groceries as the customers are offered a per liter discount on the petrol purchases that are made along with the groceries. Thereby it has been seen that there is a kind of partnership that exists between the grocery store owners and the petrol pump owners. An example, in this case, is Cole supermarket that offers the discount vouchers for the Shell petrol while the Woolworths/Safeway supermarkets are the ones that have been offering the discount vouchers for the customers of Caltex petrol. It has been noticed that the jointly branded services are being provided by Caltex and Woolworth

Hoskisson, (2008) adds that the kind of alliance that has been formed between Cole supermarket and Shell has been the one in which 584 petrol retailers are covered by the Cole supermarket owners. The difference that has been noticed in the case of alliance being provided by the Coles/Shell and the Woolworths/Petrol Plus is that one of the greatest petrol retailers has been joining forces with Cole supermarket in Australia. In addition the Shell/Cole alliance had not been able to increase any sales in the retailing and the petrol business and there were no new entries in the market in this case. Moreover, the bundling aspect that was provided by the Shell/Cole alliance is the one that was unable to be justified if the complementarities of the products are kept in mind. Can be argued here that the demands of the customers in cases of the purchases of the petrol might be higher but still, in this case, it cannot be anticipated that the customer at Coles will be able to gain any kind of intrinsic value if a customer can buy the petrol from Shell. The alliance between Shell and Cole deals with taking over the management section of the retail section of Shell petrol express stations and at the supermarkets of Cole, the discounted vouchers will be provided to the customers.

Glover and Wasserman, (2003) argue that this has been realized by Woolworth and they have announced that a joint venture shall be started with Caltex to offer the customers the petrol discount offers all over Australia. Thereby the kind of strategic alliance that is being applied in the case of these two bundling companies is a joint venture strategic alliance as the customers are being offered discounts at different branches of the stores and it is noticed in the case of Woolworth as well. In this case, one main fact that has been realized is that the incoming profits are higher as well as the demand side and supply side advantages that have been associated with the joint venture alliances.

Gajda, (2004) argues that many reasons have been associated with the establishment of strategic alliances with the other firms. Collaboration theory has been used to understand the real benefits associated with strategic alliances between firms. In this case, the collaboration has been analyzed to be difficult to be put into practical use by the firm owners and it has been regarded as being elusive. This is the theory that has suggested that collaboration can capture more benefits as compared to the limited benefits that have been gained by the strategic alliance. Among many advantages that are gained by the use of strategic alliance, creation of values between the firms, and an increase in the use of the cooperative strategies are the ones that are achieved by the firms. The joint strategic alliance makes sure that a constant improvement takes place in the supply chain, service levels, as well as refurbishments. The amenity initiatives are in focus and these can help in gaining more of the customer response and the sales volumes in the markets. These are the strategies that have been seen to increase the growth in sales for Woolworth/Caltex in Australia as much as an increase of 7.5% growth has been seen in the passing years.

Conclusion

Partnering in the firms is always done to achieve the maximum benefits in the form of maximum gains of the values and the customer feedback. In addition to this, these are the strategic alliances that can help a company align the goals that it has about the buying and selling in the market.

References

Gajda, Rebecca. (2004). Utilizing Collaboration Theory to Evaluate Strategic Alliances. American Journal of Evaluation, 25(1): 65-77.

Glaister, W. Keith., Husan, Rumy., and Buckley, J. Peter. (2004). Strategic business alliances: an examination of the core dimensions: New horizons in international business. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Glover, I. Stephen., and Wasserman, M. Craig. (2003). Partnerships, joint ventures & strategic alliances, Volume 1: Business law corporate series: Partnerships, Joint Ventures & Strategic Alliances. Law Journal Press.

Hoskisson, E. Robert. (2008). Strategic management  concepts and cases: competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning.

Summary

Health promotion has always been important for the needs of the community (Nnakwe, 2009). As Hitchcock, Schubert and Thomas stress, “The concepts of heath promotion, health protection, and disease/injury prevention are crucial ones in relation to understanding the mission of public health and, thus, community health nursing” (Hitchcock, Schubert & Thomas, 2003, 14). In the given paper, my experience at Woolworth is being discussed. By observing the ways in which a healthy lifestyle was promoted to the local community, I managed to learn valuable lessons about the way a community works, the means to promote health to the community, and the variety of marketing tools.

My Observations

As a means to become more informed on the means to enhance a healthier lifestyle in a community, the Woolworth experience is definitely worth its weight in gold. Learning about both the community health problems and the way in which an organization can help solve these problems, the given project was a real revelation. In addition, it was rather peculiar to see observe the way in which people make choices based on the means with the help of which they are being marketed to (Fenske, 2008).

What I Did

To learn the significance of health promotion for Woolworth among its clientele, it was required to evaluate the quality of the food offered in the shop as well. With such barometers of food quality as the ratio of fast food and liquor to the number of healthier food products, an objective evaluation of the health promotion importance is possible.

Considering the range of products that the Woolworth shop offers, one must admit that not all of the brands offered by the shop owner can be considered a perfect choice for a healthy diet. As it has been mentioned above, the Woolworth shop offers not only liquor, but also a range of fast food, which brings the rates of healthy dieting among the local population down and, in its turn, increases the rates of such disorders as obesity and heart issues. Therefore, to learn the importance of promoting healthy eating habits to a community, considering the range of goods sold in the Woolworth store was enough.

It would be wrong, however, to claim that the experience at the Woolworth has contributed to shaping a solely negative opinion concerning the effects of its business on the neighborhood. Considering some of the marketing techniques that the Woolworth uses, such as attracting more customers owing to clever advertisement strategy, as well as the fact that the Woolworth chain offers not only food but also a variety of other products, some of which are related to as the “beauty and Health” merchandise. Therefore, the given experience has contributed to understanding not only the necessity to promote health in the community but also how addressing health affects marketing strategies and buyers’ behavior (Kolter & Armstrong, 2010).

How I Felt about What I Did

The significance of health promotion becomes especially clear and at the same time uncomfortably controversial after specifying that, among the entire range of food provided by the Woolworth at Bondi, liquor makes a huge chunk of the total return. That being said, the health promotion issue must be addressed very carefully, which the owners of the Woolworth understand well enough. As a result, to learn about the positive effect that the goods sold at Woolworth have on the target population, it was required to consider the variety of products that the given company has to offer to its clientele.

What I Learned

In the course of my experience at Woolsworth, I learned much about the means to promote a healthier lifestyle to a community by developing a specific policy and promoting environmentally friendly goods, as well as the goods that make a healthier alternative to the fast-food the clients. In addition, the experience at Woolsworth has shown me how a community works and how important it is to make sure that each member of the community is aware of the threats to his/her health and the means to avoid these threats by consuming healthy products and following the principles of sustainability and green eating.

My Comments on the Profession

There are many ways in which such shops as Woolsworth can help a community develop. In the light of the fact that health promotion in the community is closely related to the advertising activities within the specified community, as well as the subject of its focus, it can be considered that the goods provided by the owner of a community shop should be aimed at enhancing the proper eating habits among the members of the specified community. That being said, it will be reasonable for such shops as the Woolworth to focus on the production of the food that can be considered the number one choice for healthy dieting. To evaluate the effect of health promotion on the community, gathering statistical data will be required. The quantitative research specified above can be conducted with the help of such tools as questionnaires and opinion polls. For more exact information, however, it will be necessary to refer to official statistical data concerning the rates of diseases and disorders among the target audience, as well as the rates of consumption of fast food or any other product that triggers health or environmental issues.

Speaking of which, it will be also desirable to focus on the production of environmentally friendly goods; thus, the long-term issues concerning the community health, such as the development of asthma due to the dense traffic system and air pollution (Steingraber, 2011), will also be addressed. When naming the exact products that will supposedly help raising the community awareness of the current health concerns and the means to prevent the threat to people’s health from becoming a reality, such products as natural food must be considered firsthand. With a large amount of fast food in the modern market, there is no wonder that heart disorders, obesity, and kidneys dysfunction still remain major issues. As researchers say, such a method as green health can be adopted by an organization that would like to enhance a healthier lifestyle among its members. According to Ogunseitan, “As more people try to live sustainably, more organizations and communities try to operate sustainably” (Ogunseitan, 2011, 141). With that in mind, it will be a good idea to offer people the goods that will help them follow the principles of a “green life” (Uliano, 2009), starting from eating green (Owen, 2009) to making the neighborhood look greener (Low, 2005), which will demand selling gardening tools.

Reference List

Fenske, G. (2008). The skyscraper and the city: The Woolworth building and the making of modern New York. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Hitchcock, J. E., Schubert, P. E., & Thomas, S. A. (2003). Community health nursing: Caring in action. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Kolter, P. J., & Armstrong, G. M. (2010). Principles of marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson education.

Low, N. P. (2005). The green city: Sustainable homes, sustainable suburbs. Sydney, AU: UNSW Press Book.

Nnakwe, N. E. (2009). Community Nutrition: Planning health promotion and disease prevention. Sudbury, MA: 2009.

Ogunseitan, O. (2011). Green health: An A-to-Z guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Owen, R. (2009). Growing and eating green: Careers in farming, producing and eating green. New York, NY: Crabtree Publishing Company.

Steingraber, S. (2011). Raising Elijah: Protecting our children in the age of environmental crisis. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press.

Uliano, S. (2009). The gorgeously green diet: How to live and learn green. New York, NY: Penguin Group, Inc.

Woolworths Holding Ltd in its efforts of building sustainability, it was faced several challenges. One of the most prevalent challenges was a mixed reaction of its stakeholders where some of them were of the opposing view to the entire issue.

The reason for the resistance of some of the stakeholders was that the program would have far reaching effects to the organization and which in the long run will be a challenge for Woolworths to achieve (Luiz et. 10).The above resistance clearly indicated impeding threat from certain quarters of the organization in the implementation process of the program.

Moreover, given the fact that Woolworths is a profit making organization and for the fact that there were other competitors in the operating environment, the opposing faction to the sustainability program were using total capitalism while negating touching issues in the business environment.

It was an established fact that sustainability program was to consume a lot of capital of which the supporting stakeholders were willing to provide since the program was pertinent to the entire well being of the human race since a lot of long time benefits were ascribed to it.

In addition, the opposing faction to the sustainability program turned to be a threat in the entire process since they were viable resisters of change associated with sustainability process. For that matter Woolworths had to spend more capital on training programs to ensure that the program receives wider support in the organization. The training would not have been warranted if the program could have received blanket acknowledgement and acceptance in the organization.

Nonetheless, another reason for opposing this sustainability program was the uncertainty associated with the program itself. Some sections of stakeholders were concerned with the profit and competition issues on the market. Therefore, any effort that was seen as a deterrent in amassing huge profit indexes and large market share was seen as unhealthy for business operations.

However, for long term strategic management of Woolworths Holding Ltd, it was imperative to have a long term sustainability programme (Luiz et. 13). As a matter of fact, future business operations are heavily depended on the current strategies and plans.

Therefore, the four pillars which were concerned with social development, economic growth, environmental responsibility and business transformation were well suited to be implemented through sustainability programme to guarantee survival of the organization in future. Therefore, it is prudent to note that any visionary organization must have plans in place that seems unattainable as long as they are in line with organization’s goals and objectives. Therefore, all efforts must be geared towards their accomplishment.

Potential Solutions and Decision Criteria: Approach to Solving the Problem

Challenges always present themselves in the organization. Nonetheless, every challenge needs to be swiftly addressed in order to achieve the desired outcomes in the organization. With respect to Woolworths Holdings Ltd, the challenge concerning resistance of sustainability implementation from some quarters of the organization was a serious issue that needs to be effectively tackled to ensure successful implementation of the programme.

The opposition challenge presents in the implementation process of sustainability could only be solved through proper problem solving criteria that could be blended well with proper decision making process. For that matter, problem solving and decision making must be interlinked.

Therefore, for any issue at hand to effectively tackled, it is relatively important that an analysis of the situation must be carried out to establish extend of the problem and the best available options. For that matter, in order to solve the impeding opposition from some of the stakeholders, it is prudent that every stakeholder be brought on board in the analysis exercise to ensure that they have some inputs in selection of the options.

Moreover, since this sustainable implementation is intended to be implemented in the entire Woolworths Holdings Ltd, it is relatively important to solve the resistance problem in a group based manner to ensure that consensus is achieved among all the stakeholders. For that matter, organization of workshops, seminars, and training will help to cultivate the sustainability pillars in the organization.

This is important since some stakeholders might be resisting implementation of the sustainability from meager ignorance or the fear of the unknown. Therefore, education on the desired approach of sustainability can effectively and efficiently lead to its successful implementation.

Subsequently, after instituting programs in place that are intended to convince all stakeholders to embrace the desired sustainability, the problem that will need to be solved is the implementation of these sustainability pillars.

Therefore, as a person responsible for instituting solutions to the problem, I will utilize a morphological approach. In respect to this approach, I will divide sustainability pillars into several sub units in terms of their complexities and simplicities. Complex units will be grouped together while simple units will also be grouped together.

Thereafter, there will be team formation depending on their technical capabilities and expertise in the field. Complex units will be assigned to more technical and skilled groups while simple units will be handled with moderate groups.

Nonetheless, in the implementation process, priorities will be established where those units that have higher priorities will be implemented first before other less urgent units. Moreover, in the implementation approach, regular assessment and review of these pillars will be done to ensure that the process is within the required timeframe.

Nonetheless, there are several considerations to remember when implementing sustainability programme. For instance, due to some resistance to certain faction of the stakeholders in the organization, it is relatively importance to put into consideration some aspect of change resistance in the implementation exercise. Therefore, it is prudent that change management measure be considered and applied to curb problems associated with resistance to change (Pryor 4).

Nevertheless, it is important to choose change management approach that best fits the operating environment of the organization. Since there was resistance of implementation of sustainability in the organization from its onset, it is important that incremental approach be used in managing change in Woolworths Holding Ltd. The incremental approach is best suited since it is able to blend the company’s goals and objectives with the sustainability pillars being implemented in the organization.

Challenges to be considered in Implementation

Organizational leaders are always advised to prepare for the uncertainty. Since Woolworth is not operating in a vacuum; there are several external factors that are likely to affect its sustainability program.

For instance, in the implementation process of these pillars, Woolworths planned its desired strategies based on current technological, political, economical and environmental considerations at the time. For that matter, it is therefore an implementation challenge that these factors are destined to change from time to time since the environment is dynamic in nature.

Consequently, since most of these factors are external to the organization, Woolworths will have little control over them. Therefore, it will be required to adopt a dynamic management of the implementation process. For that reason, it is important to keep aligning to changes as they occur in order to continue with the process of implementations.

Moreover, since implementation process of sustainability is a long term exercise that is designed to take considerable amount of time before it bears some fruits, there is impending problem of staff turnover in the process. As a result, the organization must be prepared for shocks associated with loss of some of the technocrats. For that matter, the Woolworths Holding Ltd must continue to train more people in the organization to have them as buffers against shocks that may result from loss of some of their expertise.

Nonetheless, since implementation of sustainability in the organization relates to some core pillars, there is an impending challenge of culture shock that is likely to be encountered in the implementation process. For that reason, a lot of caution needs to be instituted in the organization to ensure that shocks resulting from implementation process of sustainability do not affect the organization negatively (Pryor 6).

It is therefore important to have good structure of communication in the organization to ensure that stakeholders in the organization are mentally prepared for any change. To this end, it is relatively important to acknowledge that some challenges can be foreseen and relevant measures taken to curb them but there are some challenges that will present themselves unexpectedly. Therefore, it is advisable to have both reactive and proactive measures in place to be able to deal with these challenges more effectively.

Works Cited

Luiz, John et al. “Woolworths South Africa: Maiking Sustainability Sustainable”. Emirald Emerging Markets case Studies. 1.1(2011): 1-21. Print.

Pryor, Mildred et al. “Challenges Facing Change management Theories and Research”. Delhi Business review. 9.1(2008): Print.

Introduction

Labor is one of the most important components of a business. Employees are responsible for the production of goods and services. When production targets fail to be met, employees can offer a good explanation for the occurrence. They tend to understand the various aspects of the operations of a company better than even the owners of the respective companies. Managers of any given business entity, institution, or organization are expected to try to avoid disputes among their employees because they understand the role that a satisfied labor force plays in the success of the organizations.

When workers are happy in their various positions as employees of firm or any other organization, they are able to perform their duties to their best. This paper indicates that employees who feel that their employer is keen on their interests are much more likely to be creative in helping their firm to solve various challenges. As a result, they help in boosting the firm’s chances of success in achieving its goals and objectives. Companies can enjoy success if they embrace labor unions and/or strive to negotiate with their employees when they raise their demands. Woolworths is one of the largest companies in terms of staff. It has had its fair share of controversy in terms of labor-related issues. Hence, this paper intends to present labor issues using Woolworths as a case example.

Woolworths’ Stance in Labor-related Issues

Woolworths strives to uphold human rights in all its endeavors. Its actions in ensuring the observance of human rights are not just limited to its employees only but also to the company’s supply chain. Woolworths has principled supply guidelines that comprise four threatening aspects that it considers central to its business. These areas include employment circumstances, enticement and dishonesty, ecological conformity, and work privileges. The company tries its best to ensure that it meets the requirements of the various regulatory bodies in different jurisdictions from where it operates. Woolworths is a party to The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), which is a body that requires all its members to hold, ratify, and sustain their relation within areas where they have influence. The body’s main values are in the field of individuals’ privileges, surroundings, honesty, and operational standards.

Woolworths is also a signatory to the Global Social Compliance Program, which has various stakeholders who are aimed at providing a shared approach that is consistent with continued improvement of environmental and working conditions across the supply chains of consumer goods (Shah, 2014). A greater number of merchants and customer are increasingly operating jointly with human civil liberty people and employment institutions to offer a healthier operational environment whilst boosting the lives of their personnel along their supply networks. Woolworths’ guiding principles are anchored on “the International Labor Organization (ILO) conventions and the doctrine of the United Nations Global Declaration of Human Rights” (Woolworths Limited, 2013, Para. 4).

The company expects all its suppliers to comply with the requirements of its policy. This policy has a compliance audit program mainly for the suppliers of its own brands that complement it. To ensure autonomy, qualified intermediary documentation parties carry out the business’s appraisal. The adopted evaluation plan has been appraised in harmony with threat status, which is ranked as elevated, small, or serious in terms of sternness. Critical areas of risks that carry a great significance include criteria relating to bonded or incarcerated employment, inducement and dishonesty, child labor, wellbeing, and security.

Violation of any of the serious decisive factors culminates in a demand for prompt counteractive steps or resolution by service providers who are put into two classes, namely accepted at threat or accepted provisionally based on the upshot of the assessment and conformity to the necessities of its guiding principles. Woolworths’ agenda involves working with its suppliers in bettering their labor practices, regardless of the category in which the supplier belongs. Corrective actions that are considered grave comprise 2.5 % of the company’s corrective actions. Most of them relate to employee accommodation areas that are not clearly distinguished from storage or factory production areas (Shah, 2014).

Strategy for Dealing with Labor Disagreement

Disputes between labor and management can handled using a strategy of compromise. Even though it may seem as if the company is giving much power to employees, it is among the most effective ways of dealing with disagreements and avoiding the recurrence of such disagreements in a company. Before beginning the negotiation, there is a need to follow a number of key phases. The first step is planning that is followed by opening. The third step is bargaining while the fourth and final step is closing.

First off, the management of Woolworths should scrutinize, outline, and prepare for a negotiation process that resonates with the company’s policy statement. Afterwards, the company should compile and assess the issues of concern, specifically those that are contributing significantly to the disagreement. The company should include structured roles in the design of its negotiation process for each of the people who are representing its side. It should also put in place a policy that guides the parties to the negotiation. The policy should clearly stipulate the process of choosing people to represent it at the negotiation table during the talks. The spokesperson should be empowered so that he or she feels confident enough to handle the negotiation process successfully to achieve the best deal for both the company and workers (White, 2008).

Further, the strategy should involve an exchange of proposals by both sides to the negotiation. The proposals should be evaluated to determine how they can be harmonized to reach a common ground on the issue. Interest-based methods of solving the dispute should be utilized in the negotiation process. The negotiator should be someone who possesses the qualities of a leader. Hence, he or she should have the ability to influence the direction of the negotiation. He or she should comprehend what his or her role entails. He or she should accelerate bottom-line results.

Collective Bargaining Position

Woolworths needs to let the labor unions know about the prevailing economic situation around the world. It should use the global recession to make the labor unions understand why it will be hard for the company to raise its workers’ salaries without negatively affecting its business significantly. Given the presence of Woolworths and its retail outlets in different countries and jurisdictions, it is bound to be affected differently by market conditions in the different markets (Shah, 2014). The legal environment also varies from one country to the next. These factors affect the profitability of its outlets differently. Some retail outlets might experience losses at different times while others might record impressive profits.

Profits are redistributed to ensure that each branch of Woolworths is able to finance its operations, regardless of whether it has made great profits or losses. This plan helps to ensure continuity of operations, thus helping to avoid massive layoff of employees. Even though a branch may have made great profits, it may not necessarily hike employee salaries since some of the profits may be diverted to help in boosting its business in other outlets to avoid collapsing (White, 2008). One may ask why the company should be keen on helping branches that perform poorly instead of just closing them down. It is important to understand that the probability of losses is not limited to a given branch and that making a loss in one business calendar does not mean a loss in the next.

Recommendations of Policies for Administering and Resolving Disputes

The company should put in place guidelines that employees should follow in case they have any disputes that they need to address. This strategy will help the firm to get a chance to learn some of the employees’ pressing issues and help to prevent them from escalating to levels whose impact may be severe and hard to reverse. In-house dispute resolution systems should be implemented to help in preventing such severe effects of employee disputes. Further, Woolworths should put in place personnel under the Human Resources department whose main function is to handle issues that touch on employees who are subjects of repeated disagreement.

Most Likely Interest Dispute and its Resolution

The dispute that is of greatest interest that is most likely to occur is the one that will involve demands to raise wages in the phase of hard economic times. This situation will definitely present a big challenge to the company, given that it is not immune to economic downturns. To leverage the economic pressures, I will help to push for a policy that puts into consideration critical company’s interests in negotiating any contract. This strategy will involve analyzing the company’s financial records to ensure that it can handle employee demands. Employees will be advised to understand the company’s situation.

The Next Step in Labor Relations Management

Given the direction of changes with regard to labor relations, the future is quite predictable. In the near future, no firm will survive without ensuring that the interests of its employees are well taken care of. Companies that abide by the various regulations regarding labor will attract the best skills. Employees are continuously being enlightened concerning their rights while at the same time being given greater freedom of expression when it comes to their grievances (Holley, Jennings, & Wolters, 2012). Woolworths will have to observe keenly the various requirements to avoid any disputes and hence experience greater growth.

Conclusion

Clearly, various issues that relate to labor influence Woolworths’ activities. The company has done its best to ensure that it operates within the requirements of the law. It has implemented policies that help in handling issues that relate to enticement, labor rights, compliance with environmental regulations, and corruption among others. The company also strives to ensure that its suppliers along with its various supply chains and retail outlets abide by the company’s policies. However, labor-relations and laws that relate to workers are changing with each passing day. Hence, it is paramount for Woolworths to implement policies that will enable it to compete effectively while setting an example as a company that respects the interests of its staff members.

Reference List

Holley, W., Jennings, K., & Wolters, R. (2012). The Labor Relations Process. Mason: OH Cengage Learning.

Shah, H. (2014). Transition to Labor Law Reform: State-Level Initiatives & Informal Sector Labor Relations. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 50(1), 33-50.

White, A. (2008). The Crime of Staging an Effective Strike and the Enduring Role of Criminal Law in Modern Labor Relations. Working USA, 11(1), 23-44.

Woolworths Limited. (2013). Labor Practices in Our Global Supply Chains. Web.

Executive Summary

Applying Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to the Australian company known as Woolworths and the Macro product line that it has recently launched, one will be able to determine the presence of vast corporate issues that need to be managed. To define the extent and magnitude of these issues, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs was adopted as the evaluation tool. Woolworths’ Macro currently meets nearly all of the requirements set by Maslow’s Hierarchy, yet the issue of self-actualization could use certain improvements to ensure high customer loyalty rates.

Introduction

Among recent projects in the Australian retail sector, Woolworth’s Macro has attained particular success yet certain improvements may be needed. The analysis will allow determining whether the company has the potential for further expansion into other markets and introducing innovative solutions to current concerns (Cao et al., 2013). Although the firm has managed to fulfill the social needs of its customers, the further focus on the opportunities for customers’ self-actualization will need to be analyzed.

To analyze the progress made by Woolworth’s Macro, one will need to take a glance at the retail industry, in general. The specified segment of the Australian market has been experiencing rapid growth recently. Emerging as a response to buyers’ need for fast access to key products such as food and clothes, Woolworth has grown despite rather stiff competition with companies such as Coles and Metro. However, Woolworths’ Macro product line has shown that people are highly attracted to healthy food, mainly due to the current trend for a healthy lifestyle and the concerns for health on a global level (Cao et al., 2013).

Thus, it is critical to study the current state of the organization and introduce appropriate changes. The report will evaluate the current course of the project’s development and state the objectives that Woolworths should pursue in terms of its further expansion of the Macro project’s range and exploring its potential. The assessment of Woolworths’ Macro project will be performed based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Thus, a profound understanding of the effects that it produces on Woolworths’ customers, as well as the urgency of changes, will be developed.

Aims of the Report

The goals of the study include the assessment of the extent to which customers at Woolworth’s experience fulfillment. Specifically, the study will define the rates of satisfaction among Woolworths customers based on Maslow’s hierarchy. The results of the analysis inform further choices regarding the company’s Macro project.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Before the assessment of Woolworths’ current framework of meeting the needs of its buyers, one should review the hierarchy of needs as a framework for evaluating the extent of people’s satisfaction. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs was created by Abraham Maslow in 1943. The theory explained the factors that motivate people and contribute to their satisfaction rates. According to Maslow, people’s needs could be split into the following categories: physiological and safety-related needs, and the needs for social belonging, esteem, and self-actualization (Oluyitan, 2016).

Physiological needs include basic requirements such as food and water, while the need for safety implies that people have to feel secure and comfortable to function and enjoy their lives (Tsai, Hsu, & Lee, 2017). The need for social belonging largely implies building social ties with family members and friends. However, the specified aspect of Maslow’s hierarchy may also signify social approval, such as the standards for attaining a particular social status.

The need for esteem serves as the umbrella term for status requirements, such as one’s ability to purchase expensive products that imply one’s high social status. In turn, the need for self-actualization suggests pursuing the goals associated with personal growth (Conley, 2017; Acevedo, 2018). The theoretical framework will guide one through the changes and possible solutions. Specifically, the proposed framework will define problems in the current approach adopted within Woolworths’ Macro project.

Although one might argue that food as a product is expected to address only the lower tier of Maslow’s hierarchy, which includes basic needs and safety, it, can be seen as a marker of one’s social status. Moreover, the issue of self-esteem can be addressed by viewing the Macro project through a social and cultural prism. Thus, positive changes can be introduced to the Macro project.

Analysis and Evaluation of Woolworths Macro Range

The approach that the organization currently adopts to meet the needs of its buyers on the macro level can be described as satisfactory, yet it could use certain improvements. With an in-depth evaluation of the key issues that the Woolworths products incorporate, one will be able to locate the strategies for improving the current approach toward production and marketing processes (Mathews & Linski, 2016). Specifically, one will be capable of determining the future directions that the organization will need to take to enhance its presence in the Australian market and expand into the global economy setting.

Safety Needs

Compared to the rest of the food that Woolworths has to offer, the Macro product line has achieved impressive quality, which is remarkable progress. With the focus on customers’ health and the active promotion of a healthy lifestyle, the Macro product line allows meeting the basic needs of customers fully (Woolworths, 2018). Therefore, the company needs to maintain the focus on enhancing product quality consistently and ensure that the quality standards for the Macro product line remain high.

The fact that the Macro project has contributed to a steep rise in product quality at Woolworth proves that the specified project is a critical stage in ensuring the well-being and safety of customers, thus meeting the key requirements of the first and second criteria of Maslow’s Hierarchy. Specifically, the Macro Project has allowed introducing healthy food options to buyers, thus meeting both the basic and the safety-related needs of customers according to Maslow’s Hierarchy. With the help of the Macro project, customers can enjoy nutritious (basic need) and healthy (safety needs) food. Thus, Woolworth’s Macro project satisfies customers’ needs for safety and meals as they pertain to Maslow’s Hierarchy.

Esteem Needs

In the case of Woolworths’ Macro project, the tendency to position its Macro products as the ones for the people from the upper-middle to upper class makes the rest of the society reflect on their social position. The organization does not seem to meet customers’ needs associated with their esteem since Woolworths’ Macro project does not concern itself with the idea of the consistent improvement of the rest of its products and services (Rao, Eley, & Delibasic, 2018). Instead, it has created the Macro line only to make the gap between wealthy customers and those with a lower income even greater, albeit unintentionally.

Furthermore, cultural diversification of the Macro products is implemented rather awkwardly within the company, which causes an even greater confusion as far as esteem issues are concerned (Pride & Ferrell, 2016). Although the products introduce to the Macro project line are healthy and varied, they nonetheless do not include the options that would attract customers of different cultures. Thus, further diversification of products is needed to attract people from all cultural backgrounds. Similarly, the social gap between Woolworth’s regular customers and the consumers of Macro products needs to be addressed.

Unlike other organizations that focus on delivering either exclusively health food, like Wholefoods, or the products that are characterized by their high value, Woolworths’ Macro project does not address the problem of the social gap between different types of its customers. As a result, the needs for building esteem are ignored by the firm. The specified issues are admittedly negative and need to be addressed accordingly.

It is currently suggested that the organization should shift toward more communication- and diversity-oriented corporate culture. For example, Woolworths’ Macro project may emphasize promoting the expansion of its product line by incorporating other types of meat and even culture-specific products into it. Thus, the firm will position itself as not only the retailer of healthy products but also the supporter of customers’ need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and their personal growth, in general. Woolworths should alter its current approach toward promoting it to its buyers. The combination of healthy and cost-efficient opportunities for dieting can be regarded as a unique concept in the Australian retail market.

Self-actualization Needs

Contrary to the problems described above, the understanding of customers’ requirements for their self-actualization has risen with the development of the Macro project at Woolworths. Specifically, the relationships between the company and its customers have improved after Woolworths started paying closer attention to the needs of buyers to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Thus, by offering safe dieting choices, Woolworth has proven that it cares for the well-being of its clients, thus causing the levels of loyalty among them to rise systematically (Mitchelson, 2018).

Thus, the Macro line of products at Woolworth has created a plethora of opportunities for buyers to meet their self-actualization needs. With its focus on organic food and the promotion of healthy dieting, the project arguably allows Woolworths’ customers to engage in active personal development and improvement, shaping their perception of their image.

While the idea of starting with the physical appearance and its management might seem somewhat shallow, it does pave the way to further personal progress (Rao et al., 2018). Therefore, Woolworth Macro products offer people a chance to build their self-actualization by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, thus reaching the state of contentment.

Conclusion

According to the assessment based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, its Macro project could use significant improvements in its current strategy. First, Woolworths Macro will need to address the issue of basic needs and ensuring that its products meet the needs of a very diverse audience. Besides, while seemingly irrelevant, the problem of buyers’ esteem needs should be addressed. Particularly, Woolworth may require a more complex system of values and a well-thought-out corporate philosophy that will allow promoting ideas associated with personal growth to its target audience.

Recommendations

To address the problem associated with the need for esteem among customers, a new marketing strategy will have to be integrated into the Walmart Macro project. Particularly, the project will have to show greater awareness about the cultural needs of its customers by diversifying the products and introducing culture-specific options to it. Furthermore, the gap between expensive and cheap products can be managed by positioning each as unique and introducing cheaper products as the ones that are attractive in their simplicity. Specifically, the Macro project will need to ensure that even cheaper products meet the highest quality standards.

References

Acevedo, A. (2018). A personalistic appraisal of Maslow’s needs theory of motivation: From “humanistic” psychology to integral humanism. Journal of Business Ethics, 148(4), 741-763. Web.

Cao, H., Jiang, J., Oh, L. B., Li, H., Liao, X., & Chen, Z. (2013). A Maslow’s hierarchy of needs analysis of social networking services continuance. Journal of Service Management, 24(2), 170-190. Web.

Conley, C. (2017). Peak: How great companies get their mojo from Maslow revised and updated. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Mathews, B., & Linski, C. M. (2016). Shifting the paradigm: Reevaluating resistance to organizational change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 29(6), 963-972. Web.

Mitchelson, A. (2018). How Woolworths is winning over consumers. The New Daily. Web.

Oluyitan, F. W. (2016). Combatting corruption at the grassroots level in Nigeria. New York, NY: Springer.

Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2016). Foundations of marketing. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Rao, S., Eley, T., & Delibasic, S. (2018). Woolworths checkouts hit by national outage. News AU. Web.

Tsai, H., Hsu, C. H., & Lee, L. Y. S. (2017). A casino-induced satisfaction of needs: Scale development and its relationship with casino customer loyalty. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 34(7), 986-1000. Web.

Woolworths. (2018). Free range. Web.

Executive Summary

The report was focused on evaluating Woolworths’ Homebrand from the product and promotional mixes. The marketing mix framework used in the analysis concentrated on the current strategies within the Homebrand aimed at sustaining promotion and product variables in marketing. In terms of product, the assessment covered packaging, product line, and product mix. The results indicated that the production line for Homebrand consists of many products and sub-products generated from a single brand. These products are created to serve different customer needs and tastes. On the other hand, in terms of the promotion mix, Homebrand’s advertisement strategies have been effective in improving the visibility of different sub-brands. The supermarket has an annual allocation for Homebrand advertisement purposes. However, the kitchen equipment sub-brand is currently neglected in the advertisement campaigns. Therefore, the report recommends a paradigm shift in the advertisement strategies from general to focused messages for different sub-brands of the Homebrand.

Introduction

The concept of marketing is dynamic and multifaceted in the application. Over the years, the concept has experienced a paradigm shift in the application as the business environment conforms to different market changes. According to Palmer (2009), marketing is the process of organizing and executing ideas about a product that makes it appealing in the market. These ideas are organized around pricing, promotion, distribution, and conception. In addition, the marketing ideas are often focused on a specific customer or business segments to appeal to their needs. Thus, the primary aim of any marketing strategy is selling a product to gain revenues and guarantee a sustainable level of customer satisfaction.

Product (Background)

Woolworths is a successful supermarket chain evenly distributed across Australia. The business has been operating for more than the last 80 years. The company has expanded from a single store into a giant supermarket chain with over 50 branches around Sydney and beyond (Woolworths Group, 2018). The Homebrand was launched by Woolworths in 1983 with a mix of more than 100 product alternatives (Mitchel, 2016). The Homebrand is very successful and has diversified products in the forms of sub-brands for each category of a product. The Homebrand is segmented into kitchen equipment, foodstuff, and cutlery.

Pupose

This paper explores the marketing mix of the Woolworths’ home brand from the perspective of the 4Ps. In application, the selling strategies are organized into a focused marketing mix to facilitate the proactive and holistic process of management of the product, price, promotion, and place (4Ps). In relation to this report, the analysis is concentrated on the product and promotion mixes.

Marketing Mix for the Woolworths’ Homebrand

The concept of a marketing mix is a theoretical framework for defining the core of a sustainable marketing strategy. The primary components of a typical marketing mix are price, place, promotion, and product. The modern definition of a marketing mix has integrated other components such as process, people, and physical evidence (Kotler & Keller, 2016). This report evaluates the promotion and product mixes for Wollworths’ Homebrand.

Product

According to Palmer (2009), the product is basically the tangible or intangible need that a business provides to a customer in exchange for money. The product is created to satisfy the specific needs of a customer. In the business environment, product management involves the integration of the product line and mix to appeal to specific interests. For instance, proper packing of a product would increase the probability of customer acceptance. The element of product mix defines the different alternatives of a brand that is available in the market. On the other hand, product line highlights the branding strategy focused on a customer segment (Bolman & Deal, 2013). The branding approaches are often based on similar features, tastes, and categories (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Thus, effective product line and product mix are significant tools for improving the visibility of the tangible or intangible products offered by a company.

Promotion

Promotional activities involve the channels used by a business to provide the benefits of a product to customers. The notable promotional activities include direct marketing, public relations, advertising, and sales promotion (Bolman & Deal, 2013). In application, the promotion mix is aimed at communicating unique messages or benefits attached to product or service charter. This means that promotion is significant in improving product visibility and brand image validation.

Analysis

This segment of the report applies the promotion and product elements of a typical marketing mix in order to quantify the current performance of the Homebrand. Specifically, the analysis will be based on the marketing mix theoretical framework.

Homebrand Product

The analysis of the Homebrand from a product perspective was based on packaging, product line, and product mix. The Homebrand supplies more than 150 diverse products to Woolworths to cover the different needs of customers from cutlery, food products, and kitchen equipment. As noted by Kotler and Keller (2016), customers prefer brands that give a variety of alternatives for satisfying their needs. The ability of Homebrand to provide variety indicates effectiveness and sustainability amidst competition. Most of the Homebrand products are organized around the family brand to combine different related products into a single bundle from a single brand. For instance, the Homebrand salt product provides alternatives such as sea salt, organic salt, salt additives, and diet salt products (Mitchel, 2016).

This means that potential customer interested in the salt product has a different alternative to choose from (Kotler & Keller, 2016). This strategy is repeated for most of the Homebrand products retailed by Woolworths. The sales generated from the Homebrand in 2017 were more than $1.4 billion. Apparently, the Homebrand has effectively created almost 1000 product lines through its 150 products. The use of product line and product mix approaches is currently successful in stimulating clients within Australia to purchase or try different versions of a similar product within the renowned Homebrand. As a result, Woolworths has been able to expand its sales increase the annual revenue and profits.

The Homebrand products are packed in a professional manner to protect the products and attract potential customers. The simple black and red theme in Homebrand logo is simple but attractive (Mitchel, 2016). The design is pleasant and tagged on the cover of well designed packaging materials. The use of basic red and black colours was informed by the need to maintain simplicity and uniqueness in the Homebrand. The unique packaging has made the Woolworths’ Homebrand saleable to different customer segments since its external appearance has an inducing effect on potential customers (Kotler & Keller, 2016).

In addition, the Homebrand packaging is done in a way that allows customers to easily open the products once sold. Most of Homebrand products are standardized in terms of size. For instance, Homeland sugar is packaged in a strong polythene packet that is easy to open and closable when the product is in use. This means that customers do not have to worry about reusability or opening of this product once purchased from the supermarket. The Homebrand’s kitchen equipment product is subdivided into premium and ordinary brands. The premium brand is marketed through diversification to optimise their appeal among the potential customers (Lynn, Flynn, & Helion, 2013). In addition, the plastic packet is made from biodegradable material, thus, promoting green living (Elder & Krishna, 2012). The focus on sustainable packaging materials for Homebrand products has inspired a general positive attitude towards this brand.

Homebrand Promotion

Advertising strategy determined the intensity of product intake, especially in an environment where there are many perfect substitutes (Peter & Donnelly, 2013). Homebrand products are intensely advertised. The advertisements campaigns focused on the Homebrand are effective in spreading the product benefit messages and other offers to different customer segments. Moreover, advertisement as part of the promotion mix has the potential of value addition in a product that many perfect substitutes (Elder & Krishna, 2012). In application, a properly focused advertisement message can cue the minds of potential customers and positively alter their perception towards a brand (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Although Woolworths has a series of advertisement and promotional activities, the Homebrand’s kitchen equipment is currently neglected. The few advertisements and promotional initiatives directed towards the Homebrand are in-house and not consistent with the large market coverage (Elder & Krishna, 2012).

At present, most of the advertisement messages of Woolworths presented through print and audiovisual media channels are not focused on the Homebrand. Rather, these advertisement campaigns aim at promoting the entire Woolworths supermarket chain (Lynn, Flynn, & Helion, 2013). The lack of focus in promoting the Homebrand could be associated with relatively low customer awareness of the brand (Elder & Krishna, 2012). Moreover, within the many Woolworths stores across Australia, the Homebrand products are concentrated on one section to guarantee customer convenience. The products are further promoted according to their use and alternatives for each sub-brand (Mitchel, 2016). For instance, the food stuff section is further subdivided into perishable and non-perishable. The non-perishable is then divided into different categories of the products available. This strategy has been instrumental in improving the Homebrand visibility in the Woolworths stores (Peter & Donnelly, 2013). There is also a big signboard directing customers to the location of this brand in any of the Woolworths supermarkets.

Conclusion

The findings of the report indicate that Woolworths’ Homebrand has strong and sustainable mixes in product, price, and place marketing. However, the promotion mix is currently weak in terms of advertisements aimed at marketing the Homebrand. Most of the current advertisement messages are general and lacks the focus needed for streamlined marketing. For instance, the promotion campaigns for the kitchen equipment sub-brand are not visible. Therefore, Woolworths should consider adjustments in the promotion mix.

Recommendation

The Australian retail business environment is very competitive due to the existence of many perfect substitute brands. Thus, the Homebrand should be properly promoted to improve on customer intake and survive the competition. The supermarket should consider generating a series of focused advertisement messages through print and audiovisual media channels to improve on the brand visibility (Kotler & Keller, 2016).

References

Bolman, L., & Deal, T. (2013). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (3rd ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Elder, R., & Krishna, A. (2012). The visual depiction effect in advertising: Facilitating embodied mental simulation through product orientation. Journal of Consumer Research, 38(6), 988-1003.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2016). Marketing management (15th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.

Lynn, M., Flynn, S.M., & Helion, C. (2013). Do customers prefer round prices? Evidence from pay-what-you-want decisions and self-pumped gasoline purchases. Journal of Economic Psychology, 36(1), 96-102.

Mitchel, S. (2016). Woolworths makes Homebrand homeless in private label shift.The Sydney Morning Herald. Web.

Palmer, A. (2009). Introduction to marketing: Theory and practice (2nd ed.). London, UK: Oxford University Press.

Peter, P., & Donnelly, J. (2013). Marketing management: Knowledge and skills (11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Woolworths Group (2018). Our history: The Woolworths story. Web.

A strategic alliance is a term that has been used to describe a kind of relationship that exists between the business partners and it has been said that these are the relationships that have been seen to cover all the activities that are to be performed by the parties to achieve the goals and the aims that are set by the firms.

Gajda, (2004) has argued that the goals that have been set by the partnering organizations are in need to be achieved by an implementation of strategic alliance and these partnering firms function independently. Hoskisson, (2008) has discussed that the partners provide strategic alliance services by the help of providing resources like products, capabilities relating to manufacturing, channel distributions, knowledge expertise, project finding as well as intellectual properties. In other words, the alliance has been known as a kind of cooperation that exists between the business partners, as the fact that has been realized from this kind of partnership is that mutual benefits gained are higher as compared to the strategies being applied in an individual mode by the firm. Technology transfer has been the main aspect of strategic alliance as it grants access to knowledge and expertise associated with the knowledge with a specialization in finance and economics and the ability to share the risks and the expertise.

Glaister, Husan, and Buckley, (2004) have argued that there are three main types of strategic alliances being used by the organizations and these are inclusive of joint venture strategic alliance and this is one of the major kinds of strategic alliances in which the firms play their roles by creating independent companies and by doing this the firms make sure that the limited number of resources are shared along with all the capabilities to achieve a competitive edge in the market.

Glover and Wasserman, (2003) have discussed that the second major form of the strategic alliance is the equity strategic alliance and this is the case in which the firms own different percentages of the companies and this is implemented in foreign direct investments.

Glover and Wasserman, (2003) argue that Australia has been witnessing an increase in bundling that has been seen in the case of petrol and groceries as the customers are offered a per liter discount on the petrol purchases that are made along with the groceries. Thereby it has been seen that there is a kind of partnership that exists between the grocery store owners and the petrol pump owners. An example, in this case, is Cole supermarket that offers the discount vouchers for the Shell petrol while the Woolworths/Safeway supermarkets are the ones that have been offering the discount vouchers for the customers of Caltex petrol. It has been noticed that the jointly branded services are being provided by Caltex and Woolworth

Hoskisson, (2008) adds that the kind of alliance that has been formed between Cole supermarket and Shell has been the one in which 584 petrol retailers are covered by the Cole supermarket owners. The difference that has been noticed in the case of alliance being provided by the Coles/Shell and the Woolworths/Petrol Plus is that one of the greatest petrol retailers has been joining forces with Cole supermarket in Australia. In addition the Shell/Cole alliance had not been able to increase any sales in the retailing and the petrol business and there were no new entries in the market in this case. Moreover, the bundling aspect that was provided by the Shell/Cole alliance is the one that was unable to be justified if the complementarities of the products are kept in mind. Can be argued here that the demands of the customers in cases of the purchases of the petrol might be higher but still, in this case, it cannot be anticipated that the customer at Coles will be able to gain any kind of intrinsic value if a customer can buy the petrol from Shell. The alliance between Shell and Cole deals with taking over the management section of the retail section of Shell petrol express stations and at the supermarkets of Cole, the discounted vouchers will be provided to the customers.

Glover and Wasserman, (2003) argue that this has been realized by Woolworth and they have announced that a joint venture shall be started with Caltex to offer the customers the petrol discount offers all over Australia. Thereby the kind of strategic alliance that is being applied in the case of these two bundling companies is a joint venture strategic alliance as the customers are being offered discounts at different branches of the stores and it is noticed in the case of Woolworth as well. In this case, one main fact that has been realized is that the incoming profits are higher as well as the demand side and supply side advantages that have been associated with the joint venture alliances.

Gajda, (2004) argues that many reasons have been associated with the establishment of strategic alliances with the other firms. Collaboration theory has been used to understand the real benefits associated with strategic alliances between firms. In this case, the collaboration has been analyzed to be difficult to be put into practical use by the firm owners and it has been regarded as being elusive. This is the theory that has suggested that collaboration can capture more benefits as compared to the limited benefits that have been gained by the strategic alliance. Among many advantages that are gained by the use of strategic alliance, creation of values between the firms, and an increase in the use of the cooperative strategies are the ones that are achieved by the firms. The joint strategic alliance makes sure that a constant improvement takes place in the supply chain, service levels, as well as refurbishments. The amenity initiatives are in focus and these can help in gaining more of the customer response and the sales volumes in the markets. These are the strategies that have been seen to increase the growth in sales for Woolworth/Caltex in Australia as much as an increase of 7.5% growth has been seen in the passing years.

Conclusion

Partnering in the firms is always done to achieve the maximum benefits in the form of maximum gains of the values and the customer feedback. In addition to this, these are the strategic alliances that can help a company align the goals that it has about the buying and selling in the market.

References

Gajda, Rebecca. (2004). Utilizing Collaboration Theory to Evaluate Strategic Alliances. American Journal of Evaluation, 25(1): 65-77.

Glaister, W. Keith., Husan, Rumy., and Buckley, J. Peter. (2004). Strategic business alliances: an examination of the core dimensions: New horizons in international business. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Glover, I. Stephen., and Wasserman, M. Craig. (2003). Partnerships, joint ventures & strategic alliances, Volume 1: Business law corporate series: Partnerships, Joint Ventures & Strategic Alliances. Law Journal Press.

Hoskisson, E. Robert. (2008). Strategic management – concepts and cases: competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning.

The Woolworths Group Limited company has reported solid operational and financial results. Positive results and a healthier balance sheet have resulted from control actions to increase trade, manage margins, limit expenses, and repay debt (Parkinson, 2018). Comparing the 2020 half-yearly report (ended December 31, 2020) and the latest annual report (ended June 30, 2020), consolidated sales and concession sales climbed by 9.7% and grew by 5% at a 9.0% constant exchange rate.

Profit per share (EPS) was 435.1 million, up from 58.2 million in the previous year, while profit per share (HEPS) and adjusted diluted HEPS increased 212.5% ​​and 102.9% year-on-year, respectively. Due to the widespread impact of the pandemic, the transaction status for the fiscal year cannot be compared directly with the previous year. Group-wide trade continued to improve despite uncertainties and business disruptions exacerbated by delays in the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine, further outbreaks in New Zealand and Australia, and related lockdowns (Andrabi, 2020). Combined with strong working capital management and revenue from the sale of real estate in Australia, improved transaction performance led to positive cash flow and significant group-wide net debt reductions (Kasanagottu & Bhattacharya, 2018). Profit per share (EPS) was 435.1 million, up from 58.2 million in the previous year, while profit per share (HEPS) and adjusted diluted HEPS increased 212.5% ​​and 102.9% year-on-year, respectively, to 37440 million.

Sales and concessions sales increased 5.7% in comparable markets and increased 6.9% this year. Woolworths Food was able to increase market share and volume during the reporting period, despite the strong foundation established the previous year for hoarding before the first shutdown (Van Kampen et al., 2020). Given that the inflation rate of the underlying product is 4.9%, price volatility was 5.2%, but the net area increased by 0.6%. Sales in the second half increased by 3.2%, compared with 16.9% in the previous two years. Woolworths continues to focus on product quality, innovation, and ease of use while investing in pricing in key product categories to enhance its value proposition.

The expansion of the click and collect service and the introduction of Woolies Dash, an on-demand delivery service, contributed to this. Online sales increased 117.9% year on year, accounting for 2.3% of South Africa’s total grocery sales (Taplin, 2021). The gross margin was 24.5%, 0.4% lower than the previous year, as increased price investment and increased online contributions were offset somewhat by volume discounts and savings in sales costs (Louw, 2019). Spending increased by 6.1%, including the increase in costs associated with COVID-19. Adjusted operating profit increased 3.9% to R39 million, and after the introduction of IFRS 16, the operating margin for the year was 8%.

As of the end of June 2021, the Woolworths Financial Services books increased 0.7% year-on-year (2% as of June 30, 2020). The impairment rate for the 12 months ending June 30, 2021, was 5.3%, up from 7.9% in the previous year. This shows the basic strength of the book, as well as the focus on customer bailout and debt collection. The annual surplus after tax increased by 16.8% to 118 million. A stronger economic approach, consumer confidence, and travel bans in Australia have boosted domestic and retail spending. Despite regular blockades in major cities, there was a three-month blockade in Victoria earlier this year and another in the final quarter. The number of people roaming the central business centres and airports is still well below pre-COVID-19 levels.

References

Andrabi, H. R. S. Does It Pay to Read the News? News-sentiment and Volatility of Financial Market Returns.

Kasanagottu, S., & Bhattacharya, S. (2018). A Review of Metro, Target, & Woolworths Global Business Strategy. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 9(7), pp. 293-302. Web.

Louw, S. (2019). When the forecast is wrong-company results.finweek, 2019(4), p. 18-18.

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Executive summary

Sustainability is a word used in many fields such as environmental studies, political science, business, and literature just to mention a few. In business, sustainability means the ability to maintain the triple bottom line, which involves three aspects including, the environment, social welfare, and profits. The importance of sustainability in a business is that the business conserves the environment, maintains good human health, and is able to remain in operation while making profit (Galea, 2004).

All businesses have people or other organizational bodies, which are either directly or indirectly involved with the business’s operations. Those are referred to as the stakeholders of the business. Businesses should always engage their stakeholders especially when making changes or discussing the sustainability of the business. By doing so, a mass of ideas can be created and hence, the best ideas chosen. This also ensures that a particular part of the business is not neglected.

As the name suggests, integrated reporting involves businesses making a summary of their undertakings, and the capacity to which they have performed. The reporting should be in an orderly manner in such a way that every step can be well followed. Integrated reporting is important in that it provides a reference through which a business can strive to achieve a performance better than for the previous period.

Woolworths limited is geared towards sustainability reporting as well as integrated reporting. As such, a sustainability report should be incorporated in the integrated report of the company. These are factors, which ensure that a business remains not only in operation but also in good and lawful operation.

Sustainability and its importance

In general, sustainability refers to the ability of something to endure and be able to remain in operation. Business sustainability involves and encompasses the environment, social wellbeing particularly that of the employees and clients, as well as business operations. On the issue of the environment, business sustainability involves business operations, which are geared towards ensuring a healthy environment (Werbach, 2009). This is to mean that, pollution to the environment is far much kept on the low. This involves ensuring that the wastes from the business operations are treated before being disposed to the environment. Social wellbeing on the other hand, largely constitutes the health of workers and that of business clients. A sustainable business should be able to provide a situation in which the social welfare of human beings associated with the business in any way, is upheld. This includes providing the appropriate number of working hours to ensure that workers are not overworked, providing preventive measures to possible risks, and ensuring a good relationship between employers, employees, and the customers (Eccles & Krzus, 2010). It also ensures that the services and products offered to customers have met the health standards, especially for the food business ventures. Finally yet most importantly, the operations of the business should be in accordance to the laid requirements while ensuring that profit is achieved. The general importance as it can be deduced from the aforementioned points is that the environment is preserved while promoting human health and achieving a good business reputation, which leads to increased sales hence higher profit (Galea, 2004).

Corporate stakeholders

“A corporate stakeholder is any person or body that can be affected, or can affect the operations of a business” (Galea, 2004). A typical business has many corporate stakeholders depending on the size of the business. Corporate stakeholders include customers to the business, employees, suppliers, trade unions, the government, investors, and the community among others (Galea, 2004). Woolworths as a business has the above-mentioned stakeholders. In matters concerning sustainability, Woolworths limited would have engaged most of the above-mentioned corporate stakeholders such as the customers, employees, suppliers and the government.

Customers

Customers are very essential to any business as they ensure that the business remains in operation. On the issue of sustainability, Woolworth limited might have engaged customers on the issue of sustainability by interviewing them on how they thought their relationship with the business is, and the changes they would advocate for the business to undertake (Galea, 2004). This way, Woolworth limited would have had the opportunity to know the issues of the business that affected their customers negatively, as well as those, which affected them positively. The business would have then taken the initiative of correcting their operations to ensure that the welfare of customers was upheld.

Employees

Without employees in a business, especially the large businesses, its operations can never be performed. This makes employees important to business enterprises. Woolworth limited might have engaged its employees in matters of sustainability by including them in making of decisions (Werbach, 2009). This way, the employees might have given their views on the business sustainability, especially on the issues that affect the employees, such as working conditions. Additionally, the business might have chosen a few representatives of the employees to represent the rest in decision-making.

Suppliers

Suppliers are the people or organizations, which undertake the task of availing goods to vendors and other businesses (Werbach, 2009). Woolworth limited has its own suppliers who avail the goods to the Woolworth business. Therefore, they make the operations of the business alive. Woolworth limited might have engaged its suppliers on the issue of sustainability through negotiations. This is whereby, the business presents its needs and the suppliers also present their needs, then the two parties negotiate on how to combine the needs of both sides to ensure a green supply chain.

The government

There are some requirements that have been set by the law for all business operations with regards to environmental and social welfare. Woolworth limited might have engaged the government in the matter of sustainability by reviewing acts that have been developed to control the operations of businesses, and ensuring that the business operations are in line with those acts.

Importance of the public and private interest theories in implementing sustainability and sustainability reporting

The public interest theory suggests that regulation is a key aspect to businesses. It supports the argument that the government can control the operations of a business whenever the business in unable to do so. This is done with regards to the requirements of the public to the business. On the other hand, the private interest theory acknowledges that the individuals who form an organization, or are involved in any operations are the controllers of the regulatory process. The main drivers that led Woolworth limited to use the public and the private interest theories include the following.

Imperfect competition

The public interest theory suggests that antimonopoly legislation helps in ensuring that market operations are maintained, while competition in business is limited. This helps ensure that the operations of businesses do not deviate from the laid regulations of safe operations. This drove Woolworth limited to use the public interest theory to ensure that its business complied with social and environmental laws while being able to maintain its operations for profit (Winch, 1989).

Undesirable market results

The public interest theory aims at ensuring that there are no undesirable market results, which can eventually lead to some businesses being thrown out of operations. Since Woolworth limited business operated in a competitive economy, it was essential for the business to be aware of its marginal productivity contribution to the economy. This was only possible through the public interest theory. The business was able to identify the factors that it needed to incorporate in its operations to ensure that it contributed to the productivity of the economy (Winch, 1989).

Business interest

Every business has a hierarchy of the governing and leading body. These could include the managers who are at the top most position (Jordana, 2004). The private theory suggests that the individuals who undertake and spearhead the operations of a business are the main regulators of the business. This might have been the driving force of Woolworth limited to using the private interest theory. The business has the corporate body, which is the major initiator or starter of the business operations. Such a body had their interests in the business operation, which they chose. In many cases, the major interest of many of the starters of business operations is to achieve profits from the business operation (Jordana, 2004). Therefore, by using the private interest theory, Woolworth was able to realize strategies of importance in achieving the interest of their business.

Incorporation of both the private and public theories ensured that sustainability of the Woolworth business was achieved since matters regarding the business operations, the environment and social welfare were all catered for, while ensuring that the interests of the business were being achieved (Jordana, 2004). The approach of both the private and the public interest theories can be used in our business to ensure sustainability.

Integrated reporting and its importance

Integrated reporting refers to a systematic, inclusive representation of any business’s performance including the financial results and operations results. Integrated reporting provides a basis for comparison of data between different periods in matters finance, social welfare and business operation efficiencies. It is very important that businesses have a system of integrated reporting. This is because integrated reporting can easily motivate action (Jordana, 2004). Through integrated reports, workers can be able to increase their performance in order to ensure that the next integrated report has better results than the previous report. Secondly, integrated reporting provides clear metrics. This is because, only the much that has been used, and the much that has been gained is displayed. This provides a basis on how much is expected to be spent and done in order to attain a certain level. This is a very good strategy of achieving sustainability. Finally, integrated reporting ensures quality. That is, quality in terms of services, goods and relations. A business will strive to ensure that the contents of an integrated report are of high standards (Eccles & Krzus, 2010). This will hence call for quality performance. All these factors lead to a sustainable business, a reason that explains why sustainability goes hand in hand with integrated reporting.

Current position of Woolworths regarding integrated reporting

Woolworth limited is on the lead in terms of retail integrated reporting. Woolworth has not yet been able to integrate fully their financial reports to the sustainability reports. This is the major challenge facing the business bearing in mind that the company is already half way in their sustainability strategy. Since the company is leading its competitors in reporting, it shows that they easily be able fix the above problem within no time. This serves as a challenge to us on the issue of sustainability. It would be wise if we emerged fully energetic to ensure that we instil sustainability and integrated reporting in our business.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that integrated reporting should be practiced on a large scale on larger companies such as Woolworths limited and the needs of their investors. This is because of the great significance it has on the company as well as its stakeholders. Nevertheless, this is not yet enough because it should incorporate other stakeholders such as the customers and suppliers. This is because the operations of any business do not only affect the business and its investors, but also other corporate contributors such as the customers. While trying to view the way forward in ensuring sustainability and integrated reporting, we should start from the bottom line. This means that the ideas of different stakeholders should be screened and put into consideration. This helps in ensuring that all the areas that a business is concerned with are attended to and all the parties that significantly influence the business are incorporated and considered (Eccles & Krzus, 2010). After all that, stable and green economy shall be created.

Reference List

Eccles, G., & Krzus M 2010, One report: Integrated reporting for a sustainable strategy, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken.

Galea, C 2004, Teaching business sustainability, Greenleaf, Sheffield.

Jordana, J 2004, The politics of regulation: Institutions and regulatory reforms for the age of governance, Edward Elgar Pub, Northampton.

Werbach, A 2009, Strategy for sustainability: A business manifesto, Harvard Business Press, Boston Mass.

Winch, M 1989, Collective bargaining and the public interest: A welfare economics assessment, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Kingston.