This sample will let you know about:
- Discuss about the Impact of macro environment on ASDA.
- Discuss about the Stakeholder Analysis.
Introduction
Business strategy is known as the combination of different decisions that are taken and the actions which are performed within an organisation for attaining goals and objectives of company. It is not possible for any company to work without making objectives and aims and making specific targets (Aubry, and et. al., 2012). The main focus of business strategy is on capitalising the strength of company and using this for developing competitive advantage. The goal of business is achieved by executing different strategies of business. There are three levels of business strategy - corporate, business unit and functional level. The following report is based on an organisation naming ASDA. This is a British supermarket retailer which has headquarters in Leeds. This company deals in financial services and mobile phone provider too. This report discuses about impact of macro environment on company's objectives. This report explains SWOT analysis, VRIO model, Porter's Five forces model and strategic planning of ASDA.
TASK 1
P1 Impact of macro environment on ASDA and it's strategies
Mission:- The mission of ASDA is to offer quality products and services to customers and increasing their satisfaction level.
Vision:- To become one of the best value retailer of Britain by producing good quality services and products.
Objectives:- The objective of ASDA is maximise the rate of expansion and provide supermarket services across the world. This ultimately will help in increasing market share and profits of the company (Burgess, and Radnor, 2013). Another aim is to increase the jobs within company so that economy will grow.
PESTLE analysis: This is a very important framework that is involved in strategic planning. It is helpful in analysing macro environmental factors which are affecting functions and processes of business. There are seven elements in PESTEL analysis and these help in knowing the ability of company to expand business in different countries. These are described below -
- Political:- ASDA is a supermarket and grocery organisation of UK and the main political factors that affects it's functioning are taxes, consumer rights and employee legislation. There are different rules of international, national or EU which have to be followed by ASDA managers to work within company. The political environment is monitored on regular basis and on the basis of rules, decision making of company occurs.
- Economic:- It is essential for ASDA to consider economic factors like cost of credit, pay level, labour supply and demand, energy prices, etc. while running business in different countries (Cacciolatti, and Lee, 2016). ASDA has to focus on these economic factors as they are directly linked to pricing strategies of company.
- Social:- There are different social factors that ASDA managers consider while doing business in different countries. The offering of products and services to the company in ASDA depends upon social changes like celebrity following, ageing population, healthy lifestyle, etc. If this company analyses social factors effectively, it is easy to introduce a new product or service that includes all requirements of customers and clients. A proper analysis of social factors is helpful for ASDA to develop segmentation strategies.
- Technological:- This factor includes usage of new technology within processes and functions of the company. ASDA is dealing with grocery products and supermarket chain. There are various technological advancement which can be used by this company. This company can use broadband services within it's supermarket and mobile applications. Also, ASDA has the opportunity to use online delivery of products and services. The supermarket organisation naming ASDA is working on developing new technology and using latest equipments for delivering products and services.
- Legal:- It is important for ASDA to abide by the regulations and rules of countries in which it is operating. If there is any case of breach of these laws, there are punitive actions which can be taken by relevant authorities (Cserháti, and Szabó, 2014). This can be explained by an example- ASDA has to pay minimum wage that is to be given in all UK organisations. Also, this company cannot dismiss any employee without an unfair case.
- Environmental factor:- This is known as duty of organisation to involve in environment safety cases. The main factors on which ASDA has to work are green economy, organic foods, hazardous waste, carbon footprint, pollution, etc. In today's world, there is increase of awareness about environment friendly activities and eco friendly missions among individuals. Thus, ASDA is taking initiatives to work upon taking initiatives related to doing environment friendly activities. Want to get marketing assignment help? Talk Our Expert Now!
It has been concluded from the above analysis that ASDA is having various opportunities to expand it's market in different countries. The main motive of this company is to maximise profit and sales of the company (Eason, 2014). This requires to do proper PESTEL analysis before starting business in any area or region. ASDA ensures that it follows all regulations and legal rules while performing business operations.
Stakeholder Analysis
Stakeholders are defined as those people who are directly or indirectly affected by the way in which business is done. It is essential for any organisation to have loyal stakeholders so that it can expand market share and grow business in different countries (Stakeholder Analysis,2020). The stakeholder analysis refers to different techniques and tools used for identifying and analysing demands and needs of project. Stakeholders of ASDA aims for examining both external as well as internal stakeholders. It is important for identifying the way in which this company communicates with other stakeholders. This is one of the largest supermarket retailer within UK. The stakeholders of ASDA and their help in attaining business objectives is mentioned below -
Internal stakeholders- In context of ASDA, the internal stakeholders are employees, executive boards, shareholders and managers (Hoque, 2013). The main owner of ASDA is US brand Walmart and the executive board of this company consists of President and CEO, Chief Customer Officer, Chief Financial Officer, SVP-People (SVP-Senior Vice President), SVP-Operations, and SVP-Commercial. There are approximately 15 Lakh employees working in this organisation and salary /pay of these employees is increased on regular basis in order to motivate them.
External stakeholders - ASDA is having external stakeholder such as suppliers, customers, creditors, groups, local communities, pressure groups and government. This company is serving in many countries around the world. The main thing on which this organisation must work on is to increase the level of customer satisfaction. There are lot of competitors of ASDA within market like Tesco, Aldi, Sainsbury, Morrisons, etc. This company is facing problem with it's suppliers (Kohtamäki, and et. al., 2012). This company faced an accuse for not using Grocery supply Code of Practice.
Communication with stakeholder - There are various communication methods that helps in reaching stakeholders. ASDA has all information related to it's products on it's websites and it also provide regular press releases for informing it's stakeholders about position of company within market. Also, extensive marketing campaigns are carried out for reaching both present as well as potential customers. Customers can share their problem on email or contact numbers of the company. There is also online conversation provided to customers if they want to give any feedback.
From the above stakeholder analysis, this has been concluded that ASDA has it is concluded that stakeholders are an essential factor for company (Lee, and Smith, 2018). ASDA is running it's business since many years and provided good products and services to people. This helps ASDA to increase loyal and satisfied customers.
TASK 2
Assessment of internal environment and capabilities
SWOT analysis of ASDA
SWOT analysis is that tool of management which is used by strategic leader of organization for scanning external environment and make strategies according to it for attainment of organisation pre determined objectives (Lee, 2014). It is analysis of ASDA about there strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.
Strengths:
- Extensive Distribution : ASDA has large number of distribution channel across UK which includes around 25 distribution stores. These stores are used to store chilled foods, clothing, and ambient products like cereals and carbonated drinks.
- Huge Range of Products : ASDA has a long range of products, where they sale clothes, food, beverages, ASDA mobile and ASDA money.
- Highly skilled workforce : ASDA has a high investment in their staff's training and development because trained staff bring high efficiency in work and increase profitability in long run of organisation.
- Strong dealer community : Dealer of ASDA are strength of company as they just not only supply product to enterprise but also promote firm and provide training to staff about there product for better understanding of customer.
Weaknesses :
- Limited Global Presence : This company has few presence in global market as compare to its major competitors like TESCO and M&S. This is weakness for company as it directly impact on profit of company (Linn, Sanden, and Piekkari, 2018).
- Low feedback machinery : ASDA have company has not being able to tackle challenges present by new entrants in segment and has lost small market share in niche categories that is because of lack of feedback in organisation.
- Research & development : This firm has also a weakness of low investment in research and development. R&D is a crucial step for any firm as it have its direct impact on firm's future growth.
Opportunities :
- Entering in new market : ASDA have high number of opportunities for expending its business in new market as because of government intervention and free trade agreements there are large number of possibility in market.
- Acquiring Smaller Company : Acquisition of small company can help ASDA to expand its business operations. this also leads in improving company's market share as well as distribution channel.
- Presence in Online Market : Online selling of products is becoming trend in today's market where customers are tend to shop online. ASDA has a big opportunity to expand its business online.
Threats :
- Price war : Price of there products is always a threat for any organisation this is because of competitor's pricing polices . ASDA has also suffering from this threat because itse main competitors are selling at low prices .
- Government Changing Policies : polices of government are keep changing regularly which can be act as threat to firm. Like ASDA is facing BREXIT as a threat.
After SWOT analysis of ASDA it is examine that firm have limited threats in long run but they have to focus on pricing strategies (Milovanovic, 2015). Extensive Distribution, Huge Range of Products, Highly skilled workforce and Strong dealer community are those strengths of company which can help company in effective leadership with combined strategic plan for macro & micro environment. There are some weaknesses also but they can be cover up by further opportunities of the organisation. Need Assignment Samples?Talk to our Experts!
VRIO analysis of ASDA
This model is adopted by organisations for evaluating weakness and strength of company. This analysis is fundamentally on four aspects which are value, rarity, inimitable and organization . There are four resources of ASDA financial resource, local food product, trained staff and distribution network.
- Valuable : Valuable are those resources of company which it needs for survival and growth in business environment. Financial resources of a firm are used in strategic planing and management for using opportunities. Local food market of UK is very wide where ASDA work and it is valuable for enterprise as it prescribe all customers of firm. According to VRIO analysis trained staff is most valuable asset of ASDA because it invest huge cost in training of their employees (Morton, Wilson, and Cooke, 2015). Distribution network is also a valuable asset of organisation as it depends highly on it.
- Rare : Financial resources of ASDA are founded rare in VRIO analysis as strong financial resources are posses by few companies who have global presences in industry. Local food product are rare according to this analysis on ASDA. Reason behind this is, food product industry of UK where products are available easily. Well trained staff is a rare resource of ASDA as company invest more on there staff's training & development. Distribution channel of this firm is also rare as it prefer in its own distribution channel where they deliver there product at nominal fee to there customer.]
- Imitable : financial resources of this firm can't be imitate essay because it acquire them with their prolonged profits over years . Trained staff of company can be imitate easy as other firms have their own training programs which doesn't require huge cost. Distribution channel of firm can't be imitate by other competitor as they are following their own distribution channel.
- Organized : All resources have to be organized by company to ensure smooth functioning which are financial resource, local food product, trained staff and distribution network (Pasquinelli, 2014). ASDA is focus on its distribution channel as it is that resource which is rare and imitable for company . This characteristic has helped company in gaining a competitive advantage in market and ensuring effectiveness in strategic leadership. Financial resources of company are also a great competitive advantage to company but it is not focusing on them.
Resources |
Valuable |
Rare |
Imitable |
Organized |
results |
Financial resources |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Unused competitive advantage |
Local food market |
Yes |
No |
|
|
Competitive equality |
Trained staff |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
Temporary competitive advantage |
Distribution network |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Long term competitive advantage |
After implementing VRIO framework on ASDA it is analyse that company have four major resources financial resource, local food product, trained staff and distribution network in which financial resources and distribution network of ASDA are those sources who provides great competitive advantage to firm in long run. Human resources of firm are also provide them with small term competitive advantage but their food product have less competitive advantage in firms long run .
TASK 3
P3 Porter's Five Forces Model of ASDA
Porter's five force model is used by company for analysing the external market conditions which helps in identifying the industry's weakness & strengths for formulating leadership strategies.
- Competition in the industry : Competition in industry is first force which effect any firm. If there is large number of competitor there will less power of company over industry and if there is less competitors then there is high power of company,where it can decide its policy without the intervention of external factors (competitor). In context of ASDA there are large number of competitors like Tesco, Morrison, and Sainsbury , who have big investment and huge market share this firms adopting new strategies every day so ASDA have to adopt various strategies in order to ensure that they appeal to the public who are their customers.
- Potential of new entrants into the industry : potential of new entrants is also an important factor of this model as new entering firms have there direct impact on other existing competitors as they effect the profitably. But ASDA has no issue with that as it is operating at very high investment, and it is impossible for a new firm to make high investment and earn profit according to that investment.
- Power of suppliers : In this step of porter's model the powers of a suppliers are analysed, if supplier of the firm are less in number then organization will loose its power of bargaining but if there is a huge market of raw material of product than organizationwill get its power to bargain for raw material. This will impact positively on enterprise as it leads in decreasing the cost of production of the organization. The bargaining power of ASDA'S supplier can be said to be low since they have to supplier products according to various supermarkets.
- Power of customers : power of customers means ability that customers have to drive prices lower. This is happen when firm have a particular product and limited number of customer, than customer have power of driving prices low. This have direct impact on firms profit as lowering the price will leads to low revenue. ASDA has no such issue because company have variety of products as well as number of customers which reduces powers of customers of company.
- Threat of Substitutes : threat of substitutes refers to that fear of firm where customer have an choice between company and competitor product . In case of ASDA the threat of substitute is more as there are many competitors like âcorner shops', organic shops and off licenses are selling particular products( at a low cost because of product specification ) which leads in high competition to ASDA.
After analysing the five models of porter on ASDA it can be concluded that firm is facing a tough competition from its competitors but it can mange this by using strategic planing and good governance (Rasula, Vuksic, and Stemberger, 2012). Other factors are constant for this enterprise but they have to focus on there substitutes because it can become a major threat to the organization profitability and long run existence .
Ans-off's growth vector matrix:-
This is a strategic management tool that is used by organisations for making their future strategies and plans. There are four types of strategies that can be developed within market such as market penetration, product development, market development and diversification. In context of ASDA, this approach or model is used for knowing which is the best strategy for increasing market share of the company. The four strategies of Ansoff in reference to ASDA are mentioned below -
Market Penetration:- This is a strategy used within companies for utilising existing product or service and trying it to expand in existing market. There are two factors on which company focuses such as Quality or low price. This helps in attracting more number of customers. When any product offered by ASDA becomes popular among customers, it can be innovated and provided at higher price in existing marketplace.
Market Development: - According to this strategy, there is selling of existing products in a new market region or area (Ritter, and Andersen, 2014). This strategy is helpful for ASDA to expand it's market in different countries across the world. It is not easy for ASDA to work in global market as it has to analyse needs and demands of different customers.
Product development: - Another strategy of this model is product development strategy. According to this strategy, company is launching a new product in market. The main aim of this approach is to work upon increasing customer base of new product launched in market. With the passage of time, ASDA is seen to expand it's functions as well as operations in a successful manner. There is a lot of development within retail sector and thus there is lot of opportunities with ASDA to launch a new product in market.
Diversification: - This is an effective strategy in which organisations have to properly plan and expand their business around the world. This is a strategy used for ASDA in exploring new customer segment and promoting new product within markets of several countries. It is important for any company to maximise it's profits and sales and diversification helps in achieving this goal. When there is need for companies to increase profits, an important factor is to diversify business and enter into new business.
TASK 4
P4 Strategic planning of ASDA
Porter's Generic ModelWhen there is need to analyse relative position of firm within industry, the main focus is on analysing profitability of the company. There are basically two type of competitive advantage which a firm possess i.e. low cost or differentiation. These approaches are mentioned below -
Cost leadership - The company sets out to become low cost producer within market. The cost advantage depends upon structure in which ASDA is working. This consists of economies of scale, access to raw material and technology. When ASDA is able to attain overall cost leadership, then it is easy for it to be an average performer.
Differentiation - In context of ASDA, differentiation strategy is used for creating unique existence among market. It is essential for selecting attributes which several buyers within the industry must know for providing products and services that fulfils needs and demands of customers.
Focus - According to the generic strategy of focus, companies must know how to work within market and have competitive advantage. It is essential for ASDA to emphasise on four segments of retail industry. A particular segment is chosen and strategy is tailored for serving them to exclude others. There are basically two variants of focus strategy mentioned below -
In cost focus strategy, company seeks for cost advantage within target segment.
Differentiation focus which enables company to seek for differentiation in target segment. Both of the variant of focus strategy are based on differences between target segment of focuser and other segment of industry. Want to get Assignment writing service? Talk Our Expert Now!
Strategic management Plan
This management plan is known as a plan that includes tactics and plans that are used by company in attaining objectives of the company (Rowlinson, Hassard, and Decker, 2014). It is important for the companies to develop effective strategies and plans that are helpful in attaining vision and goals of the company. The strategic management plan of ASDA is mentioned below -
Mission: This is to become one of the best retailer across the world which is able to provide products and services as per their needs.
Vision: The vision statement of ASDA is to become one of the best value retailer of Britain by producing good quality services and products.
Objectives:The main aim of ASDA is to increase the rate of expansion and provide supermarket services across the world. Another motive is also to maximise profits and money earned by the company. This helps in increasing market share of the company. Another aim is to increase the jobs within company so that economy will grow.
Extensive marketing: ASDA is hiring a special marketing team that will focus on organising several marketing campaigns and plans that can be used for attaining goals and targets of the company. This team will also emphasise on innovation within products and services offered to customers.
Market research: ASDA conducts market research in different areas and region for knowing trends and needs of different customers. This research helps in knowing customers and clients in more effective manner. It is easy to develop products and services according to the feedback provided by customers. This is helpful in increasing customer satisfaction level and profits earned by the company.
Tactics: To achieve targets and objectives of the company, ASDA is working upon developing effective strategies and plans used to attain the specified targets. It is essential for this company to organise promotional and advertising campaigns for attracting more number of customers (Storey, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it is analysed that business strategy is an essential factor on which companies have to focus while working. It is responsibility of management to ensure that strategic objectives and goals are developed within the company. There are different models that are considered by an organisation for analysing external and internal factors of the company. These models are PESTEL, Porter's five forces model, Vrio model, SWOT analysis and Ansoff matrix. These helps in determining position of company within market and how new strategies and objectives are developed for attaining profit and sales. A strategic plan is developed by company explains position of company in marketplace and on the basis of this strategies are made for attaining financial organisational sustainability.
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