Strategic Management Assignment: Case Analysis of Wesfarmers

Question

Task: This strategic management assignment focuses on your understanding and appreciation of Strategic Management Inputs. You are required to identify a corporation in the Agribusiness food related sector of Australia.

Answer

Introduction
The intent of the report is to assess the different aspects of strategic management in the Agribusiness sector of Australia. The selected company for the report is Wesfarmers. The report along with the identification of the company will identify the business units along with products and service line. The report will look into the financial aspects of the business as well. Moreover, the report will accentuate on analysis of the external environment of Wesfarmers making use of PESTEL framework, and internal environment analysis will be done based on the resources, core competencies, and capabilities to gain competitive advantage in the market. Lastly, recommendations will be given using Ansoff’s matrix.

Company Background
Wesfarmers is a renowned agricultural corporation mainly known for its service and contributionto theWest Australian agricultural industry. This corporation was founded in 1914 as a farmer’s association of the Western Australian. This organization has its head office based in Perth and operates across the market of United Kingdom, Singapore, New Zealand, India, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, etc.This corporationhas maintained sustainable growth in its business throughout its history as it had started its venture as a small farmer’s cooperative, and now they are engaged in a diverse range of business operations. Some of the main business operations are such as manufacturing fertilizers, energy production, production of industrial as well as safety products, production of various chemical products such as herbicides, pesticides, etc. production of general merchandise, appeal accessories(Wesfarmers.com.au, 2021).

There are so many other businessesin which Wesfarmers has invested and they are such as Coles Ansett Travel, Property management of Coles, Fosseys, holdings of grocery, BBC hardware, Loyalty pacific, Katie's fashion, etc. Throughout the history ofWesfarmers, it had made so many beneficial partnerships with various other organizations for the smooth condition of their business. Some of the partner companies were the Australian group of railroads, Commonwealth oil refiners, etc, Westfarmers acted as a general merchant and wheat distributor and had facilities of oil usage, transportation, etc(Wesfarmers.com.au, 2021). There are so many factors that Westfarmers cautiously takes care of to keep the sustainable growth of the agricultural business. Supporting the local farmer communities and promoting the engagement oflocal rural people in the agricultural field is the main objective of this organization. They also aim to deliver high-end products according to the needs of their customers by providing a fulfilling and safe working environment for their employees. In the case of employees, Wesfarmers is known for being one of the few private organizations in Australia that have approximately 220,000 workers and employees belonging to various fields of the agricultural industry.In 2019 Westfarmers had made a revenue of approximately 27.9 billion dollars which indicated 4.3 percent of growth that previous record of revenue also after exclusion of tax they made a net profit of 1.9 billion USD. In 2020 Westfarmers made a gross income of approximately 30.0 billion USD and after exclusion of tax, they made a net income of 1.6 billion USD also made 2.1 billion USD from the other businesses(Wesfarmers.com.au, 2021). Wesfarmers always managed a good image as a socially responsible organization as they paid an average of 1 billion in government taxes for the last five years. They contribute an average of 68 million for local community developments also pay an average of 4.8 billion in wages and salaries per year.

External Environment Analysis
In this particular segment of this management report,a PESTEL analysis on Wesfarmers will be conducted. PESTEL analysis will go through some of the essential components or aspects of the Wesfarmers organization such as political, economic, technological, legal, social aspects of the business. pestle analysis will not only go through the aspects but also rectifies the issues regarding the external environmental factors of Westfarmers agricultural industries.

Political: - Political influences and stable political background of any country can promote any business also political barriers can be damaging for many business organizations (Jackson & Pongpakamulnarm, 2019). In the case of Westerners, the political factors of Australia as well as many other countries are going to be discussed. Wesfarmers as a multinational crop has to manage various incentive rates tax rates of different countries. In the case of trading partners, Wesfarmers are privileged as they have beneficial partnerships with various organizations involved in various businesses. However, this organization may face some risky situation as pricing regulation for food products are different in different countries, diversity in the employees can demand different benefits and wages.

Economical: - Theses factor also can make any business prosperous if maintained properly. In case of Wesfarmers mostly the economic environment of Australia will be considered. Here in Australia a stable economicenvironment is seen so Wesfarmers face less damages for economic conditions, but in case of other countries and sites of operation that can vary. Education and skill level of the major part of Australia is ample so employees have been valuable for Wesfarmers in conduction of business (Amin-Chaudhry, Pomering & Johnson, 2019). However, there are risks regarding the inflation rates and different interest rates for different currencies of different countries.

Social: - Social factors can vary from region to region which can affect the business of any organization. Wesfarmers as an agricultural organization of Australia is mostly controlled by the hierarchical and power structure of society, entrepreneurial spirit of the youth, people of different kinds of society. However, many cultural factors havefavoured Wesfarmers as this organization has consistently provided food and other kinds of stuff according to the cultural backgrounds of different regions.

Environmental: - Environmental factors or resource are the main components behind the establishment of any business or production line. Business of Wesfarmers can be promoted if the environmental factors are considered for different sites of operation. The factors are such as suitable weather for working, climatic conditions, regulation regarding the prevention of pollution, management of waste, recycling of the waste etc.

Legal: - Legal factors can vary form country to country so it is necessary for Wesfarmers to conduct through analysis on the legal factors before approaching to market for business condition. Some of the legal factors are such as laws of discrimination, patent copyrighting, laws of safety and health, protection of data, etc. It is necessary for the management team to summarize the issues before approaching any market that have different laws regulation (Vinayavekhin & Phaal, 2019).

Technological: - Technological advancement ensures the growth of any business. Technological factors can improve the production efficiency of any organization as Wesfarmers. Wesfarmers should pay attention to the technological factors such as the technological advancement of rival organization, impacts of technology on the product quality, cost-effectiveness of the production, etc. However, Wesfarmers has a consistent rate of technological advancement but still in the harsh competitive market environment further advancement is recommended.

Internal Environment Analysis
In this particular segment of this report analysis of Wesfarmers’s different types of resources, will be done. The analysis of different kinds of internal factors and resources will provide a deep understanding of them, capabilities, competencies as well as competitive advantages them.

Human resources: - Wesfarmers is known for possessing an enormous number of human resources. This organization has approximately 220,000 of employees who work in various departments, play different roles that are necessary for condition of business. The employees, workers, famers, managers, executives are mostly educated with decent level of qualification. They are equipped with different types of skillsets for performing various kinds of jobs. Employee performance are regularly monitored and they are trained as per their needs. International staffs of Wesfarmers are managed with attention as this organizing has good diversity management strategies(Wesfarmers.com.au, 2021). This management strategies have helped Wesfarmers in many aspects of business as they can handle unique job opportunities which were never seen before, coordination between different functional bodies has enhanced the productivity which ultimately giving more competitive advantage in the market.

Educational resources: - Wesfarmers has a lot of supervisors who guide the young new employees for enhancing the all-over performance of the organization. Approximately there are over thousands of experienced and seasoned supervisors, managers who manage the total human resource of Wesfarmers.These supervisors spread awareness and education among the functional bodies of the organization that is how employees become more confident, passionate, and aware of risk factors (Hambur & La Cava, 2019). This education gave Wesfarmers more competitive advantage as their employees are mostly experienced and educated, and can provide a strong workforce.

Customer trust: - Through the years of Wesfarmers service,the organization has successfully built a strong customer relation. Wesfarmers has always maintained its product quality and always provided customers according to their necessities. However, the risks regarding customer satisfaction are managed by the managers precisely as they install a competent customer support department. Customer support departments are mostly equipped with advanced technology(Pulker et al., 2019). This customer relationship has attracted more customers for Wesfarmers which gave more competitive advantages.

Trustworthy suppliers: - In the case of Wesfarmers, they are privileged with plenty of reliable suppliers who supply the organization with raw materials and other resources of necessity (Wesfarmers.com.au, 2021). Having good reliable suppliers provided Wesfarmers with many benefits such as they have got supplies round the clock for production, they have compensation on the treading deals, they can achieve their supplies in cheap transportation expenses, etc. This benefithas enhanced the all-over performance of the organization and raised the competitive advantages.

Recommendations on Future Business
Ansoff’s growth matrix recommends the manner in which a company must grow its products and services depending on if the company markets existing or new products in the existing or new markets. The Ansoff’s matrix has four components, which are market development, diversification, market penetration, and product development (Hussain et al., 2013). In this context, it is imperative for Wesfarmers to adopt the strategy of market penetration. This strategy will involve Wesfarmers to formulate a new marketing strategy in order to encourage people in choosing their products and services. The company needs to make use of their existing products in the existing markets. In order to do so, Wesfarmers can decrease prices to garner the attention of new clients and acquire a competitor in the same market. The reason for selecting this strategy is that Wesfarmers being a conglomerate has already diversified in various industries and a developed market as well.

Conclusion
On completion of the report, it can be derived that Wesfarmers apart from agribusiness sector operates in several other industries as well. The company has a diversified segment of products and services all across the markets of Australia as well as New Zealand. The company makes use of its resources and capabilities considering the manner in which the external factors such as political, economic, legal, social, environmental, and technological influences the business environment. Doing so enables Wesfarmers to keep up with the competition in the market, and stay ahead of their competitors as well. Lastly, it is recommended that Wesfarmers should make use of market penetration strategy from Ansoff’s matrix for growing their business even further. It is because Wesfarmers already has a variety of products and services and operates in different sectors.

References
Amin-Chaudhry, A., Pomering, A., & Johnson, L. W. (2019). Incorporating the Concepts of Sharing-In and Sharing-Out in CSR: Australian Consumers’ Perspective. Sustainability, 11(9), 2586.

Hambur, J., & La Cava, G. (2019). Business concentration and mark-ups in the retail trade sector. RBA Bulletin, December, viewed, 22.

Hussain, S., Khattak, J., Rizwan, A., & Latif, M. A. (2013). ANSOFF matrix, environment, and growth-an interactive triangle. Management and Administrative Sciences Review, 2(2), 196-206.

Jackson, E., & Pongpakamulnarm, U. (2019). SUSTAINABILITY IN AUSTRALIAN SEAFOOD SUPPLY CHAINS: IDENTIFYING THE GAP BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE. In 22nd International Farm Management Association Congress.

Pulker, C. E., Trapp, G. S., Scott, J. A., & Pollard, C. M. (2019). The nature and quality of Australian supermarkets’ policies that can impact public health nutrition, and evidence of their practical application: A cross-sectional study. Nutrients, 11(4), 853.

Vinayavekhin, S., & Phaal, R. (2019). Synchronization in strategic planning: A roadmapping framework. International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, 16(06), 1950044.

Wesfarmers.com.au. (2021). Wesfarmers.com.au. Retrieved 28 March 2021, from https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/asx-announcements/2020-annual-report.pdf?sfvrsn=67950abb_0.