Strategic Analysis of Woolworths Limited †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Analysis of Woolworths Limited. Answer: Introduction Strategic position can be understood as positioning of a company in future considering changing environment and systematic positioning realization (Abushova, Burova and Suloeva 2016). The objective of the paper is to conduct strategic position analysis of Woolworth Limited along with describing the financial conditions and strategic analysis of the company. Moreover, the report also intends to evaluate the ethics, values and social responsibilities of the company in order to recognize the issues faced by the company. Based on such issues certain recommended actions will be provided for improvement of Woolworths Limiteds financial and strategic position. This will also pose implications and certain suggestions for the future study. Company Background Woolworths Limited is positioned as an Australian based company that is involved in retail business operations. Business segments of the company includes Australian petrol and food segment, Endeavor drinks group, BIGW, New Zealand supermarkets and Hotels(Akbar and Ahsan 2014). The Australian petrol and food segment is involved in procurement petroleum and food products for resale to the Australian consumers. The New Zealand supermarket is centered on acquiring food and liquor products resale to the New Zealand consumers (Van Niekerk 2015). The hotel segment is involved with provision of a segment of hospitality and leisure services encompassing alcohol and food, entertainment, accommodation along with gaming within Australia. The brands of WoolworthsLimited encompass Dan Murphys, BWS and Woolworths. The New Zealand food segment is associated with acquiring along with resale of food and drinks to all its consumers. The company has its business operations in 84 countdown supermarkets a nd it is involved with wholesale operations (Amaldoss, Desai and Shin 2015). Analyzed Issues Financial Conditions of Woolworths While carrying out quantitative analysis of Woolworth Companys financial position, balance sheet along with profit and loss statement of the company facilitated in analyzing whether the performance has resulted in negative and positive loss/gain for the company (Balasubramanian, Bhattacharya and Krishnan 2015). The financial situation analysis of the company revealed that Woolworths Company is under-performing over the past financial year. This might be attributed within the slide in the first quarter sales all through the business as per the records of Australian stock exchange. From the financial condition investigation of the company, it is revealed that there are mixed results over a five-year duration. This might bring in some poor results in the financial year as losses are associated with Masters joint venture along with increased competition within the core liquor and food business initiating to take hold (Barney and Hesterly 2015). Poor financial performance of Woolworths Li mited resulted in drop of share price drastically from $27.87 to $23.60 just after four days. From the profit and loss statement analysis of the company it is gathered that the operating expenses decreased from 5% to 3% in the upcoming years. Unfortunately, because of the poor revenue figures in the year 2017, certain increased expenses cost although trending lower led to a soft EBIT figure of $3,350,000 (Bayne, Schepis and Purchase 2017). Values, Ethics and Social Responsibility Woolworths Limited is dealing with issues associated with its social responsibility strategies. Taking into account the food waste it is observed that their private standards along with in-store practices generates considerable food waste in stores (Cheng, Green and Ko 2014). The managers of the company are struggling to make sure that any surplus vegetables and fruits are disposed in the bin and is donated within food rescue companies. The company is also dealing with the concern of deforestation taking place from the high impact commodities for its own brand products that includes timber, palm oil, paper, pulp along with packaging. The company focuses on setting goals for decreasing its carbon emissions by 10% in the upcoming years (Das Nair and Dube 2017). The ethical audit indicated that the company is involved in unethical practices, child labor use and ingredients while a staff of the organization was all edged of taking kickbacks. From this scandal it is observed that Woolwort hsLimiteddid not comply with policies on work conditions, pay and corruption. It is also revealed that some of its suppliers was involved in the acts of corruption and bribery and was also involved in falsifying all its records and documents (Feigin 2016). Evaluation of Identified Issues Financial Conditions and Analysis In order to analyse the financial condition of Woolworths, the financial figures of the previous two years have been taken into consideration. The financial data of the last two years depict that the firm is improving its performance in terms of profitability, since the profit level of the organisation has increased from ($1,234.80) in 2016 to $1,533.50 in 2017 (Frederick Rose, Hawryszkiewycz and Kang 2014). On the other hand, the liquidity position of the business has not been able to match with the industrial average. This could be better illustrated with the help of quick ratio, which helps in evaluating the ability of a firm to meet current obligations with short-term asset base.From the financial condition investigation of the company, it is revealed that there are mixed results over a five-year duration that might bring in some poor results in the financial year as losses associated with Masters joint venture along with increased competition within the core liquor and food busi ness initiating to take hold (Hubbard, Rice and Galvin 2014). Particulars Details 2016 2017 Current assets A $7,227 $6,994.20 Inventories B $4,558.50 $4,080.40 Current liabilities C $8,992.70 $8,824.20 Quick ratio (A-B)/C 0.30 0.33 In this case, the ideal industrial standard is considered as 1 and the ratio is quite below the industrial average, which denotes that Woolworths is suffering from cash flow problems. Such issue might result in insolvency in future, which might reduce its debt paying capacity (Hubbard, Rice and Galvin 2014). If the organisation could not pay such debt, it would need to borrow money that would influence its profitability level. With such lower revenue, it would not be able to fetch higher returns to its investors due to fall in share price in the market. As a result, the investors might not be willing to invest in the shares of the organisation. However, it is to be borne in mind that their numerous revenue streams for Woolworths, which would help in ensuring consistency in cash flow (Johnston et al.2017). In addition, Woolworths is involved in operating retail stores, consumer electronics outlets and departmental stores, which are dependent mainly on cash sales. As a result, the organisation has a fixed source of cash flow flowing into the organisation. In addition, the organisation has financial priorities, as it acts on its portfolio for maximising the wealth of the shareholders. Furthermore, it has formulated a new strategy, in which it has planned to open 39 new supermarkets, which would raise its income and profit levels. With such higher growth, the organisation would be able to receive greater amount of dividend to its shareholders (Karmanov et al. 2016). However, if the stores could not work as per the planning, it might have adverse impact on the financial performance of the organisation. Ethics, Values and Social Responsibility It is of utmost significance for each organisation to assure ethics and values with its stakeholders for maintaining effective relationship with them. The values and ethics explain the primary framework within which all the firms are required to operate (Kilroy and Schneider 2017). Hence, it is significant for Woolworths Limited to assure ethics and values, which implies that it would follow the primary guidelines and business rules as well as of the society. Woolworths ensures ethics and values of its suppliers by undertaking efforts in enhancing the social and environmental practices with them. Due care is exercised in order to assure that it is involved in working regularly with the suppliers for increasing their satisfaction level. The intention is to obtain timely delivery of the raw materials. The firm is involved in providing clear and understandable directions to the purchasing staffs in order to encourage and motivate them (Morioka, Evans and de Carvalho 2016). In addition, it needs to maintain its brand level by ensuring that its actions do not influence its corporate reputation and image of its individual brands. Effective working conditions are provided to the staffs for safeguarding the basic human rights along with ensuring overall protection of the surrounding environment. The company is involved in functioning maturely the primary guidelines of the society. For assuring the continuing success of the business, it is significant to maintain the ethical and moral standards along with maintaining its reputation. Woolworths is involved in assuring labour right regulation where the workers are free to select the employment of their choice(Parkinson 2016). They are not compelled to work in the company; instead, they could leave the organisation at the time they wish. A reasonable notice is to be provided on the part of the staffs before they decide to leave the organisation. Along with this, the staffs could form trade unions and they could involve in collective bargaining with the management of the organisation over their problem areas. The employer openly accepts the trade union activities in the organisation (Thorlakson, Hainmueller and Lambin 2018). Along with this, the organisation maintains sustainability by maintaining effective ethical practices. It is a serious challenge for Woolworths to maintain the strong employee base present in Australia and New Zealand (Sewell, Mason and Venter 2017). In addition, the company is devoted in meeting the targets along with delivering quality products and services to its customers. Thus, it could be stated that Woolworths has maintained its social responsibility in an effective manner. Recommended Solutions Through observing the issues faced by Woolworths Limited regarding ethics, social responsibility and maintaining efficient financial position, certain effective recommendationsare provided to the company. From evaluation of financial and social responsibility strategy it is gathered that despite of the companys successful corporate strategy as the basis of its major operations, there are some major areas where the process is lacking. Certain effective recommendations are explained below: There must be a performance measurement along with control process existing within the sustainable growth strategy. A suitable performance evaluation at different stages alongwith regular feedback on performance might facilitate in decreasing gaps within the level along with efficient decision for addressing objectives. This must also consider actual attainment of such objectives. For maintaining effective social responsibility, the company is recommended to inform all its stakeholders regarding the strategy. In its financial planning the management must be properly communicated. This is for the reason that such information is simply grasped by the concernedparties and makes it simpler for the employees for contributing towards attainment of company strategy. Woolworths is provided with recommendations regarding increasing online sales aggressively to more than 20% of overall Australian sales through regular investment within innovative digital development. This is deemed to offer a highly connected retail experience to all the consumers. This also involves focusing on personalization and digital accessibility through improving mobile platform and target communications. The company is also recommended to increase its operational efficiencies along with savings associated with water, energy and waste. This must be made possible with increased focus on developing green stores along with integrating sustainability within its new office within Melbourne. Partnering with the suppliers to ensure positive ethical, social along with environment change beyond compliance. Woolworths Limited is recommended to design products with sustainability attributes and driving responsible sourcing strategies for all the major commodities that includes cellulose, cotton, leather, timber and wool. The company is also contusing to partner with major charity companies to make certain difference along with offering opportunities for the teams to be associated with supporting local communities. Woolworths must focus on implementing a hygiene, disposal along with recycling program in which they can re-use packaging for various purposes along with implementing hygiene for enhancing cleanliness within the surrounding. In return it can also enhance the companys public image along with generating high exposures due to a good cause. Future Study The current paper focused on analyzing the strategic position of Woolworths Company considering the financial situation analysis along with social responsibility evaluation of the company. Despite of having certain implications, the report did not cover evaluation of some factors for strategic position analysis of the company. Considering the same, the future study will focus on evaluating the industry and competitive evaluation along with analysis of diversities strategies (Tan and Carrillo 2017). This indicates that evaluation of multi business companies. The future study will also focus on corporate social responsibility that can describe a situation where an organization attains sustainable development not just in the economic dimension but also within environmental and social dimension. The paper will also reveal that the companys ethical policies that includes analysis of its commitment towards implementing and sustaining an efficient program of corporate social responsibility which includes social and environmental responsibilities. The future study will also recognize that success is not possible to be measured in consideration to growth and profit along with the ways in which Woolworths Community Group. This will be considered in the manner through which it is possible to decrease the environmental impact. It I also believed that associating the companys financial performance with non-financial segment that can increase value for the stakeholders and the members. Conclusion The objective of the paper is to conduct strategic position analysis of Woolworth Limited along with describing the financial conditions and analysis of the company. Based on such issues certain recommended actions will be provided for improvement of Woolworths Limiteds financial and strategic position. It is gathered from the paper that while carrying out quantitative analysis of Woolworth Companys financial position, balance sheet along with profit and loss statement of the company facilitated in analyzing whether the performance has resulted in negative and positive loss/gain for the company.For marinating effective social responsibility, the company is recommended to inform all its stakeholders regarding the strategy. References Abushova, E., Burova, E. and Suloeva, S., 2016. Strategic analysis in telecommunication project management system. InInternet of Things, Smart Spaces, and Next Generation Networks and Systems(pp. 76-84). Springer, Cham. Akbar, S. and Ahsan, K., 2014. Analysis of corporate social disclosure practices of Australian retail firms.International Journal of Managerial and Financial Accounting,6(4), pp.375-396. 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