Since establishment in the year 1914, Coles has been able to place itself as one of the pioneering companies in Australian retail market. The founder of Coles, George Coles have made Coles supermarkets as a key influencer in retail industry while his son travelled other countries like US to develop Coles business according to industrial practices followed over there. In July 2007, Wesfarmers purchased Coles after demerging Myer from Coles business in 2005. Today, the company continues its traditional supermarket business in food retailing along with giving employment opportunity to more than 10,000 people. In Australia itself, Coles has 140,000 retail stores contributing about 4.1% in GDP along with employing 10.7 of total employment on Australia. In the year 2012, Coles was recorded to be in control of 31% of market therefore, placing itself in second position after Woolworths (Coles, 2018).
The corporate level strategies assist Coles businesses in becoming leader in Australian retail industry. Value added service is been monitored and focussed by Wesfarmers portfolio management while Wesfarmers further concentrates on diversifying the portfolio across several other industries (Wesfarmers Limited, 2017). Their strategy focuses majorly on strengthening existing sectors while identifying sustainable business operations and growth opportunities. BCG framework can be used to analyse strategic position of businesses and in case of Coles supermarkets, the company has got considerable market share. It can be said that through strategic marketing and effective corporate level strategies implemented in its business operations, Coles utilises more cash while receiving good amount of revenues. Contemporary issues impacting retail supermarkets is deficiency in environment related projects that effects external environment of the companies. Coles also needs to take strategic decisions for the same and thus it had implemented effective business models in its management practice that manages waste reduction while following other necessary standards of Australian retail industry (Keith, 2012).
The corporate-level strategies of Coles also involve integration of differentiation and cost leadership strategies. Through brand image, the company differentiates and provides superior value chain management to reduce cost of its products (Ritson, 2011). Cost leadership strategies are used by the company to offer its customers value added products in prices as low as possible. The minimisation of costs is achieved by the company through economies of scale activities and advanced use of technology along with efficient supply chain management. Differentiation strategies are used by Coles through brand image which has been developed by the company over decades through offering customers with satisfactory products. The integration of differentiation and cost leadership strategies makes Coles supermarkets able to achieve targeted and broader market segment. The company try and offers those products also that are different from their rivalry companies and that to in lower prices (Advameg, Inc., 2018). This low-cost strategy ensures that Coles focus on providing with those domestic products that demonstrate superior quality along with limited selection in them. Even the product differentiation strategy of the company ensures its customers in getting diversified products range in Cole’s supermarkets. All these integrated strategies fits in internal as well as external environment of the company while ensuring that Coles remains ahead of the game. The marketing strategies followed by Coles company are as follows;
Market penetration strategy: This strategy is adopted by the company to grab broader market share by expanding its businesses in existing marketplace. Coles try to capture larger markets simply by reducing cost of products as compared to its competitors.
Market expansion strategy: This strategy helps Coles in expanding its business operations. Here the company plays a safer game by introducing successful and existing products in new marketplace i.e. Australian and other overseas markets.
Product expansion strategy: This strategy again allows Coles to offer new products, but to existing markets only. As a part of expansion strategy, Coles offers new range of products in similar markets so that any issue with new products do not affect its market penetration process (Advameg, Inc., 2018).
The strategies implementation procedure followed by Coles is maintained through performance measurement, effective leadership and enhanced implementation mechanisms. All the members and employees are involved in strategy implementation process since Coles is strategically driven firm. The management of the firm understands that people look after their leaders who act as their mentors, enhance connotation to commands and establishes procedures that brings value to the organisation. The transforming strategy process results Coles achieving engagement of employees and personnel’s which are further engaged in bringing those policies into action (Soderlund, 2004). This brings sense of ownership among staff in the process of strategic implementation as resources for strategies are collected by individuals present in every level and in various departments. This process enables implementation of suitable strategies according to the need of present business environment (Sandeep, 2012).
The strategies and plans made in corporate levels are further divided among different departments which are managed by individuals ( Yi, Gu, & Wei, 2017). The communication and cascading of strategic effects are achieved through transforming plans into actions after evaluating capacity if internal as well as external company resources. Similarly, performance of individuals is manged effectively to ensure that implementation of strategies is done according to plan and within mentioned time period (Keith, 2012). For the same, Coles ensures that proper execution of strategies is followed in every departmental level so that procedures facilitates strategic implementation according to desired outcomes. Coles adopts technologies as well as innovations to foster implementation process so that all its process are done according to contemporary business requirements. The implementation of technology along with effective teams are tailored to ensure meeting with goal behind preparation of strategic policies and procedures ( Kaifi & Noori , 2011). The process involved in strategic implementation of Coles links its strategies with core business objectives that makes Coles position itself over its competitors. Since the company follows a clear and concise manner of strategic implementation, Coles has lead itself in sustainable position for present and future environment in retail business.
The global environment and retail industry are experiencing sluggish growth due to recent economic recessions in many developing nations like Europe. Even, retail industries can be placed under vulnerable position due to everchanging demands of consumers as well as increasing rivalries among competitors. Under such circumstances, Australian retail and supermarket stores needs to implement technological advancement so that achieving strategic goals becomes easier for them. By understanding technological revolutions, Coles can adopt suitable technology in their organisational development that can even improve their customer relationship management system (Nenycz-Thiel, 2011). It can be noted that Coles focusses more on internal developments within Australian business environment. Since the company possess reputable brand image, Coles must focus making strategies that allows it spreading business across borders like its rivalry companies Aldi and Woolworths (Dunford, Palmer, & Benveniste, n.d.).
Conclusion
The report gave detailed information about current corporate level strategies as well as strategies implemented by Coles that helps the company position itself uniquely above its rival companies. The study made on strategies followed by Coles helped in gaining an insight about how the retail industry requirements guides Coles while making strategic decisions. The report also showed how internal and external factors influences organisational culture and corporate level strategies in Coles to operate in present competitive business environment along with considering future growth options. The report identified few loopholes in Coles strategies for which a thought-out recommendation has been made that can aid the managers while formulating future business strategies.
References
Advameg, Inc. (2018). Coles Myer Ltd. – Company Profile, Information, Business Description, History, Background Information on Coles Myer Ltd. Retrieved from https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/9/Coles-Myer-Ltd.html
Coles. (2018). Coles: Our History. Retrieved from https://www.coles.com.au/about-coles/centenary
Dunford, R., Palmer, I., & Benveniste, J. (n.d.). Strategy for Sucessful Entry into a Concentrated and Highly Competetive Market. Retrieved from https://www.anzam.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf-manager/2374_DUNFORD_RICHARD_BSP-01.PDF
Keith, S. (2012). Coles, Woolworths and the Locals. The Australasian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies, 47-81.
Kaifi , B. A., & Noori , S. A. (2011). Organizational Behavior: A Study on Managers, Employees, and Teams. Journal of Management Policy and Practice, 12(01), 88-97.
Nenycz-Thiel, M. (2011). Private labels in Australia: A case where retailer concentration does not predicate private labels share. Brand Management, 18(08), 624-633.
Ritson, N. (2011). Strategic Management. Ventus Publishing.
Sandeep, K. (2012). Analysis of the grocery industry Coles Supermarkets. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/4615254/Analysis_of_the_grocery_industry_Coles_Supermarkets
Soderlund, J. (2004). Building theories of project management: past research, questions for the future. International Journal of Project Management, 22, 183-191.
Wesfarmers Limited. (2017). Wesfarmers 2017 Annual Report. Retrieved from https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2017-annual-report.pdf?sfvrsn=0
Yi, Y., Gu, M., & Wei, Z. (2017). Bottom-up learning, strategic flexibility and strategic change. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 30(02), 124-141
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