Stakeholder Analysis Report
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Executive Summary
The report was prepared to analyze the stakeholder of Woolworths critically. The different aspects of the company were analyzed, which are the current development, challenges, and market trend. The stakeholders of the company were determined to be the employees, customers, debt funders, community, suppliers, and shareholders. The four stakeholders that were further analyzed in this report were the employees, shareholders, suppliers and the customers.
Table of Contents
Introduction
A company has different stakeholders who affect the activity of the business. They are considered to be the key person who is both external and internal within the company. The actions that are a part of the market are being made by the stakeholders and directly affect the decisions. Positive relations with the company stakeholder help in improving the performance of the business. This report intends to determine the critical elements of Woolworths Group Australia and its recent market trend. Furthermore, this report critically analyses the stakeholders of the company using the stakeholder view model. Finally, an analysis of the four groups of stakeholders will also be done accordingly in this report.
Background of Woolworths
Woolworths is a company that is the second-largest in both New Zealand and Australia. The company deals in different extensive retail products, and they are operating on core three form of business, which are endeavour drinks, Australian foods and New Zealand Food. The diverse range of products that are being sold by the group is extensive so that they have a competitive advantage from the market participants. The company has a large customer base of more than twenty-eight million customers who are associated with the operation of the business. The company is on a mission to provide and deliver the most suitable product and maintain a high quality and value for different customers (Woolworths Group Limited, 2019). The company has the vision to be one of the finest and responsible retailers in the world. Currently, the company is expanding its chain of supermarkets extensively in Australia and has 995 operational stores. The total number of employees working within the company is around 205,000. The current development of the company is focused on the expansion by 57 million dollars, which includes solar installation. It intends to install it at the Adelaide Regional Distribution Centre.
This development project of the company focuses on creating more jobs in the locality. This development will further create a better delivery service to the people living in Australia. The current development of the company at Adelaide DC is focused on improving the supply chain and create better customer satisfaction for the organization. However, the group is facing some of the major problems which are a slow cycle of the customers and significant low market growth in Australia. The company also faces challenges for maintaining sustainability and improving the relationship with the client. The lack of innovation has negatively affected the marketing and branding strategy of the organization. The cycle of communication is also a challenge as they do not have a proper relationship with the customers of the company (Woolworths Group Limited, 2019). The trend of the retail market under which the company operates shows growth by 3.7 per cent during the current year. Woolworths holds a large portion of the retail market in Australia and is improving its market share efficiently.
Stakeholder View
The stakeholders of an organization drastically affect the different policies, actions, and objectives that have been set accordingly. There are two forms of stakeholders of an organization, which includes internal and external stakeholders of an organization. The internal stakeholders are the owners, managers and the employees. On the other hand, the external stakeholders comprise of the society, creditors, suppliers, debtors, shareholders and the government. This is considered to be the critical aspects of an organization to achieve better growth and development over time (Eskerod and Jepsen, 2016, p.59).
Figure. 1: Stakeholder View Model of Woolworths Group Australia
The stakeholder of Woolworth Group is identified in figure 1, which are significantly crucial for the organization. It has been identified that the identified stakeholders are essential for improving performance and achieving better growth within the organization. The management of the stakeholders is crucial as they help in making a better result in a significant manner. At first, the external stakeholders that have been identified for Woolworth our customers, suppliers, community, shareholders and the debt funders. The employees were the internal stakeholder of the organization (Geneletti and Ferretti, 2015, p. 99). The employees of the company play an essential role as the company has a large number of people who are working to achieve efficient development over time. The company is the leader in the retail industry has been able to provide better training and wellbeing to the employees within the organization. The company focuses on the investment towards learning opportunities, skill development and a healthy environment for working. This creates an excellent internal atmosphere within Woolworths. On the contrary, the external stakeholders of the organizations are essential for management within an organization. At first, the debt funder is considered to be the significant capital source for the group and helps in achieving the organizational objective relatively. This helps in managing the risk of the organization and establish better obligations financially (Bourne, 2016, p.77). The customers also fall under the external stakeholder, which include the satisfaction of the customers by meeting their requirement and further creating a better quality of products and achieving better sustainability and value. A large number of stores provides this satisfaction to the customers. The supplier of the company delivers different services and goods significantly. There are some indirect and direct suppliers of the company, and the company focuses on creating an efficient relation within a sustainable manner. The community under which the business operates is primarily related to Australia and New Zealand. The company is involved with the development of the community in which it has been working. The shareholders of the company range from different individuals in the country to numerous institutions that have invested in the business. They are appropriately managed as they have importance for the smooth operation of the business. The company is also engaged with different departments of government to ensure that the business operation is stable and sustainable (Graham et al., 2015, p.97).
Stakeholder Analysis
The four most important stakeholders of Woolworth are the customers, employees, suppliers, and the shareholders of the organization. At first, the customer has a differentiated behaviour as they significantly control the nature of the business and helps in building up the growth for the company. The behavior of the customer has cooperative potential as it will help in achieving the organizational goal. As the customers are the one who purchases and uses the product and services, they are considered to be cooperative. The customer as a stakeholder has different external environmental factors, which are political, economic and competitors. The customers have a strong belief in the growth of Woolworth and are loyal to the products that are being sold by the company. Maintaining loyalty is important for the customers as a stakeholder (Jones, Wicks and Freeman, 2017, p. 45).
On the other hand, the employees are also considered as an important supplier for the organization as they support the company internally to achieve the desired goal. The employees have a cooperative potential as they work within the organization to deliver the product that is being demanded in the market. It supports organizational performance and boosts its growth in the competitive market. The external factors or the stakeholders of employees are the control of the organization, culture of the office, and the workflow (Bosse and Coughlan, 2016, p. 87). The personal life and the economy also play a significant role for the employees as a stakeholder. Stakeholder coalition can be built with the employees by implementing practical training and also rewarding the employees for their performance. The employees have a similar belief concerning the organizational goal.
The suppliers, on the other hand, are also relevant stakeholders as they provide different products and services to the company. They help Woolworth to achieve a competitive advantage by making cost-effectiveness. However, the behaviour of suppliers is a competitive threat to the organization as it often creates a downward risk. A rise in the price of the goods from the suppliers will prevent in achieving the goal. The stakeholders that affect the suppliers are the financial change in the environment, political aspects, advancement in the technology and the changes in the society and culture. They are responsive to the shift in the belief and gives significant emphasis on the performance of the organization (Jagasia and Mallik, 2018, p. 89).
The shareholder of the organization is another important aspect as they are the owners of the business. Most of the financial development within the organization is achieved by proper stakeholder management. The behaviour has cooperative potential as most of the organizational development is backed by strong shareholder support financially. On the other hand, it has been analyzed that the stakeholders of shareholders are the change in the financial policies, government regulation, and the economic aspect of the organization (Thom, 2018, p. 63). The shareholders are the owners of Woolworths and have a strong belief in the objective and the performance that is to be achieved significantly.
Conclusion
The following report critically analyzed the value and mission that are being set by Woolworths Australia. The current development of the company will significantly improve the supply chain and achieve higher satisfaction for the customers. The stakeholders that have been identified for the organization are the employees within the internal stakeholder. The external stakeholders of Woolworths include shareholders, communities, customers, suppliers, and debt funders.
References
Bosse, D.A. and Coughlan, R., 2016. Stakeholder relationship bonds. Journal of Management Studies, 53(7), pp.1197-1222.
Bourne, L., 2016. Stakeholder relationship management: a maturity model for organizational implementation. Routledge.
Eskerod, P. and Jepsen, A.L., 2016. Project stakeholder management. Routledge.
Geneletti, D. and Ferretti, V., 2015. 11. Multicriteria analysis for sustainability assessment: concepts and case studies. Handbook of sustainability assessment, p.235.
Graham, G., Österle, I., Aditjandra, P.T., Vaghi, C., Grea, G. and Zunder, T.H., 2015. The role of a structured stakeholder consultation process within the establishment of a sustainable urban supply chain. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.
Jagasia, J.S. and Mallik, D., 2018. Can effective communities of practice enhance stakeholder satisfaction?. International Journal of Knowledge Management Studies, 9(4), pp.403-417.
Jones, T.M., Wicks, A.C. and Freeman, R.E., 2017. Stakeholder theory: The state of the art. The Blackwell guide to business ethics, pp.17-37.
Thom, E., 2018. Stakeholder theory: A qualitative, cross-sectional study describing customer perceptions of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies’ sustainability involvement in minimizing plastic pollution in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal (Doctoral dissertation, The IIE).
Woolworths Group Limited, 2019. About Us. A Business Built on Integrity. [Online] available at: https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us/ [Accessed On: 4th December, 2019]
Woolworths Group Limited, 2019. About Us. Latest News. [Online] available at: https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/media/Latest_News/woolworths-starts-work-on-57-million-expansion-solar-installation-at-adelaide-regional-distribution-centre/ [Accessed On: 4th December, 2019]