Discussion
Transformational shifts primarily in politics and ICT (information and communication technology) have transformed the business in several ways (Pencheva, Esteve, and Mikhaylov 2020). In this contemporary and dynamic business environment, it is imperative for the organizations to be sensitive towards these changes. As a part of the organizational planning process, determining the future of the business strategy is essential as it is directly responsible for enhancing the overall decision making of the organization (Diercks, Larsen, and Steward 2019). This report assesses the impact of technological change on Ocado Group and assesses its overall technology as the source of the organization’s competitive edge. The report also discusses the effect of business ethics and CSR on contemporary business organizations. In addition to these, the business report also assesses the factors influencing business while making decisions and suggests strategies for enhancing the overall business strategies of Ocado.
Ocado Group is one of the best online grocers in the United Kingdom that is highly committed towards bringing more of what matters to the associated customers. Ocado Group is known for bringing fair value, effortless convenience, and unbeatable range for the customers and is a highly technology driven organization (Ocado 2022). At present Ocado Group offers over 80000 active customers with unrivaled choice and is also responsible for encouraging customers towards consuming healthy and delicious drinks and food. In addition to this, Ocado Group also offers a huge and efficient variety of home and lifestyle categories such as health and medicines, beauty and clothing, and home and garden (Ocado 2022). All these allow Ocado in providing a shopping solution that fits effortlessly with the busy lifestyle of the customers and helps them make contemporary living easier and more effective.
Ocado Group has the ability of transforming and leading the online retail in the near future. Therefore, Ocado is considered as an alchemical blend of a world leading technology business and also a disruptive innovator at the same time (Gutelius and Theodore 2019). Ocado aims at constantly reinventing itself and aims at enhancing its craftsmanship thereby taking risks to strive and fulfill the mission of delivering groceries seamlessly to the associated customers (Kahn, Inman, and Verhoef 2018). Ocado Group also aims at transforming the online retail grocery and enabling a few forward thinking retailers of the world to do grocery profitably (using the online channel) sustainably and scalable. Ocado has also implemented the latest technologies and other technological competencies, IP, and know how throughout its journey of self disruption and innovation. Hence, this competency of Ocado could be used for solving challenging issues in the grocery industry and beyond.
Ocado Group has also developed technologies such as deep reinforcement learning, machine vision, and advanced sensing that are needed to pick as well as pack grocery items in a way that s cost effective and highly efficient (Technology & Automation of Online Grocery 2022). This required no previous knowledge of what these are and the technologies adopted by Ocado provide a significant competitive edge to the organization in the UK retail market. In addition to this, the leadership teams of Ocado Group are spilt between the executive team and an advisory board and have recently incorporated a set and series of technological changes and innovations to the organization that directly powers the OSP (Ocado Smart Platform). These also incorporate the lightest and the most efficient grocery fulfillment bot in the globe, and automation for the most physically challenging and demanding jobs within the warehouses of Ocado, the first virtual distribution center of the world along with a robotic arm that is capable of picking groceries directly from the grid (Technology & Automation of Online Grocery 2022). All these technological assembles allows Ocado In delivering a highly effective and collaborative experience to the customers and maintain a considerable competitive edge over similar or direct players in the UK grocery retail market (Bonetti, Warnaby, and Quinn 2018).
Business Overview
Business ethics is responsible for enhancing the organizational law by outlining the acceptable behavior beyond government control. Therefore organization develops business ethics in order to foster integrity among the existing and new employees, and obtain the trust of the significant and key stakeholders such as customers and investors (He and Harris 2020). Ocado Group understands this well and the organization has developed efficient business ethics that are capable of promoting the morale of the employees to a great extent by enhancing the truthfulness and morale of the candidates (Anastasiadou, Lindh, and Vasse 2019). The business ethics of Ocado is also responsible for enhancing the interaction between employees and developing a workplace environment that is based on integrity, candor, honesty, and equality, thereby eradicating hurdles in the communication process. Responsible sourcing is on such an unlimited pillar of Ocado Group that enables the organization in mapping its exposure to supply chain and ethical sourcing risks and appropriately operate in the domestic business market (Bartok 2018). The responsible sourcing of Ocado primarily aims at recognizing the existing strengths and weaknesses and setting targets to enhance their disclosure and performance in significant areas. The prime focus areas of Ocado incorporate:
- Managing risk by identifying and assessing the products and materials with high risks
- Modern slavery by handling forced labor and preventing human trafficking
- Human rights by stepping up the commitment of Ocado to human rights within the supply chain of the organization (Responsible sourcing 2022).
In the same way, Ocado believes that it is the responsibility of every organization to give back something to the nature and the environment (or the surrounding) by conducting overall corporate social responsibilities. Ocado operates with a mission to transform the manner in which the globe shops products and aims at harnessing the unlimited potential of technology for the planet and the people. Therefore, the strategy of Ocado Group in moving toward a sustainable future is termed as Ocado unlimited (Corporate Responsibility 2022). Within this CSR policy, the organization has three prime pillars where each pillar is responsible for identifying the areas possessing considerable impact, a great opportunity to make a difference, and a better ability of using the expertise for creating a great societal and environmental change. Therefore organizations like Ocado that are socially responsible are capable of attracting and retaining the top most talents and accordingly enhance their community and customer relationships in a better manner. In addition to this, organizations that follow business ethics and corporate social responsibilities are more likely to earn the attention of the audiences and develop a platform to market the same enhancing the organizational revenues to a better grade.
Identifying the PESTLE factors would enable Ocado in understanding how the external factors impact the overall business functions and operation in the long and short run (Grewal and Roggeveen 2020). Considering these factors would also enable Ocado in reviewing the current strategies, work on outlining a new direction, and accordingly plan a product for the business by considering the risks and opportunities in the new environment.
Considering this framework would enable Ocado Group in analyzing the competitive environment of the organization and identify the number and extent of the competitive rivals competing against Ocado in the business environment (Wai et al. 2019). These factors are also helpful in estimating the overall competition in the online grocery retail industry and showcase the existing threats and strengths at the same time. Therefore, Porter, Five force factors can enable and assist Ocado in understanding the prevailing corporate risk and formulate its mitigating strategies accordingly.
Impact of Technological Change on Ocado
Taking a resource based view of the organization can help Ocado in out performing other organization by the manner in which different organizations integrates their human resources, finial resources, and technical resources (Dannenberg et al. 2020). This is because a resource based view will enable Ocado in analyzing and interpreting the internal resource of the organization thereby emphasizing resources and associated capacities in formulating the required strategy to attain a sustainable competitive edge. In the case of Ocado Group, resources could also be considered as the inputs that enable the organization in carrying out its business activities.
Vision, Mission, and Values are the fundamentals for the development of any strategic foundation of the organization. Therefore considering the mission, vision, and values of Ocado would enable the organization in accordingly directing and guiding the principles, purpose, and values that govern the overall practices and activities within the organization. This would also enable the key personnel in communicating the purpose of Ocado Group both externally and internally. Besides, it would also motivate the employees to work harder for attaining success and give the right mindset to grow the business forward.
The maximized wealth of shareholders acts as a better edge for the organization in creating more profit by increasing the dividends paid out for each common stock (Wai et al. 2019). Therefore the wealth of the shareholders in the case of Ocado Group could be expressed through the increased or escalated price of stock traded on to the stock market. Shareholders play a critical role in making key and effective decisions on behalf of the organization. Therefore, if Ocado considers the wealth of these shareholders, the organization might obtain better funding sources to grow and develop.
Suppliers of Ocado are responsible for providing the organization with the services it uses and implements in offering goods as well as services to the associated customers. Thus, the price of suppliers would have a direct impact on how much it costs Ocado Group to develop a product. In the same manner, if suppliers provide Ocado Group with poor and wrong products, the organizational success would be significantly impacted (Grewal and Roggeveen 2020). This might result in high financial losses impacting the age of the brand as well. Poor relationships with suppliers might also impact the loyalty of the customers and this, in turn, might result in the loss of loyal customers.
Every organizational business is subjected to an external or social environment along with its internal social environment. Therefore, it is imperative for organizations like Ocado to consider the risks and opportunities prevailing in the social environment or the society before conducting business (Dannenberg et al. 2020). This is because of Ocado fails at adopting the social preferences associated with the society, the goods and services offered also fail. This results in significant losses of customers and bad word of mouth impacting the profitability of Ocado to a significant extent.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that as a part of the organizational planning process, determining the future of the business strategy is essential as it is directly responsible for enhancing the overall decision making of the organization. Ocado Group has understood this well and the organization aims at implementing strategies and practices that would address the changing needs of the customers and the dynamic business environment both at the same time. However, it is imperative for Ocado to consider different internal and external factors that might severely impact the business operation. This will help in identifying risks and challenges and easily mitigate them beforehand.
From the above discussion, it is evident that Ocado is capable of operating ethically and socially by adhering to the rules and regulations of the society. However, it is recommended that Ocado uses and implements a new pricing strategy for its online retail business. Opting for a loss leader pricing strategy might help Ocado in attaining a sustainable competitive edge over other players and stay relevant in the business market. This pricing strategy is helpful in getting the customers regularly shop in the online stores of Ocado. The idea of Ocado here must be to keep specific items significantly lower than what is available on competing sites. This would help the organization in driving more traffic and building loyalty at the same time. Customers are more likely to buy high priced items and window shoppers would be converted into paying customers using the loss leader pricing technique.
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