Corporate Reputation And Identity Audit Of Woolworths – An Analysis

Company Overview

The report brings about the discussion on the corporate reputations and the characteristics of their entities, in the business environment. A brief will be given on the aspects of the company stating about the values, mission, brand image and the perceptions of the organisation from the perspective of other companies. For the purpose of analysis, Woolworths limited has been taken which is an Australian based company has been well established and fulfils the criteria of the assignment’s requirement. The report will first include the description of the background of organisation and the structure of the organisation (Balmer, Abratt & Kleyn, 2016).

Woolworths will be discussed defining the influences and benefits of the political, economic, social, and technological environment in the industry, which will define the relationship of the company with their customers and other stakeholders. Thus, in the later part stakeholders theory and the corporate reputation theory of the organisation stating the significant role of stakeholders in determining the reputation of the organisation. The analysis of stakeholders relevant to the company’s success will facilitate in assessing the activities carried out by Woolworths leading on to the conclusion as how the company can work on improvising strategies to build sustainable corporate image and reputation in the industry.

Woolworths Supermarket is a grocery/supermarket store chain owned and managed by the Woolworths Limited. The company was founded in the year 1924, along with the other store chain Coles, accounts for the 80% share in the Australian market. Woolworths deals in many different items such as grocery products, fruits, vegetables, and other packaged goods; with expansion into other items also. These other items include the sale of magazines, DVDs, pet &baby supplies, health, beauty, stationery items, and the household products. The company has strong ethical base and aims to accomplish their objective through their moral values and set objectives. Woolworths operates with a mission to deliver best in convenience the value, and quality products and services to the customers.  The company has 450000 shareholders; thus, attracts a large number of customers and contributing towards satisfying the interests and expectations of their stakeholders (Woolworths Group, 2018).

Thus, from the above discussion it has been clear that political instability or disturbances in the economic growth rate of the company may acts as the major factors which influence the reputation of Woolworths and the leading success in the future years.

The company deals in the retail business and has decentralised organisation structure in the industry and with the immense popularity and the business success the company has grown in the size and diversified in the operations and products and services. The decentralised structure has now changed due to the emergence of unrelated product lines which the company has started offering, it represents about conglomerate organisational structure. The hierarchy management structure has been maintained by the organisation, which requires delegation of the authority from higher or top management executives to the lower-level employees. Discussing about the other aspects it has been analysed that Woolworths Group owns Woolworths Supermarkets and the organisations which are associated to Woolworths include the subsidiaries Big W, Dan Murphy, and there are some rivalry businesses to Woolworths such as Coles, Aldi, and others (Deephouse, Newburry & Soleimani, 2016).

PESTLE Analysis of Woolworths

Stakeholder theory in context to any organisation refers to the theory of management and the business ethics which addresses the morals and values to manage the organisation. Stakeholder’s theory is an important concept to an organisation to analyse the corporate reputation of the company. In a business organisation, a stakeholder is usually an investor in the company whose actions determine the decisions taken by the managers in the organisation. Through the perspectives of Stakeholders theory in Woolworths it has been argued that suppliers to the Australian supermarket duopoly are categorised as one of diminished stakeholders as they lack in certain aspects; urgency, and power. Therefore, Woolworths aim to resolve these issues in the organisation improving the stakeholder management which leads to cordial relations between them (Grimmer, 2018).

Stakeholder mapping refers to the process adopted by the Woolworths to identify, analyse, and give priority to their key stakeholders in the organisation. Through using the tool of stakeholders mapping, some of the key stakeholders in Woolworths can be enlisted such as creditors, directors, employees, government, owners, suppliers, unions, and the community. Woolworths has focused in maintaining healthy relationships with their stakeholders, through effective stakeholder’s engagement process.  The company has adopted problem-solving approach to identify the problems or issues faced by the stakeholders in the social, environmental, and economic areas of the market. The major consumers for the company, Woolworths is the high-income earners or consumers, thus they devise their strategies to fulfil their demands and expectations effectively (Bourne, 2016). 

The theory or concept of corporate reputation refers to the total estimation under which an organisation is held by their internal and external stakeholders based on the action or activities carried out in the past. The vital aspect of the theory is that there are some factors in every organisation which affects the reputation or brand image of the organisation. To discuss about this concept, it can be stated that corporate reputation represents a new supplemental lens, thought which an organisation can address the strategic issues faced by the firms (Flax, Bick & Abratt, 2016).

According to an annual survey 2014, it has been stated that Woolworths has been rated as top retailers in the Australian supermarket, because of the reason that the company has been consistently focusing towards improving the quality of their products, and satisfying their customers. Market leading CSR initiatives of Woolworths offers a different variety of customers, and the company is winning over their customers, which determines a strong brand image in the industry. There has been certain decline in the past year, however Woolworths still hangs on to the top spot in the local brand value, enhancing their brand reputation in the Australian market (The new daily, 2018).

The company has shown concern and made effective changes, as they have reduced the gender pay-gap, and provided employment to more than 3600 indigenous Australians this year. Due to the contribution of the company towards ensuring employment opportunities to the population of India, it has been found that Woolworths is recognised as the first retailer to attain the status of gold tier in the Australian Workplace Equality Index. As per the CSR hub Consensus ratings, it has been found that Woolworths ranks at 54, in terms of CSR which determines the performance of the company (Pulker et al., 2018).

Organisation Structure of the Company

Woolworth’s group 2020 commitments describe about the company’s corporate responsibility towards their customers, society, economies, environment, and the nation as a whole. The activities or behaviours of the organisation towards their community and customers was positive as they serve over 900 million customers, and inspire them towards to consume all of the products in a healthy and sustainable way. This shows about the positive behaviour and attitude of the company towards their customer’s health and quality of life (Bepari & Mollik, 2016).

The diagram above describes about the corporate social responsibility approach of the company Woolworths, to be implemented by the year 2020. Under the CSR 2020 aim of the organisation, three elements people, planet, and prosperity has been taken under consideration and the organisation has been contributing equally to each of these elements under the objective. This will further lead to a better sustainable environment, and potential of earning higher profits earned in the future years.

The other activities conducted by Woolworths were focused upon enhancing the economic development and environmental sustainability in the market. This includes introduction of no salary-wage gap between male and female workers at an equal position in the organisation, promoting cultural diversity at the workplace, and several other activities (Wang et al., 2016).

In a perspective of ecological stability in the environment, the company has the targets for 2020, including zero food waste going to the landfills, making improvements in the management of wastes. This mentions about recyclability of the company’s own brand packaging of the products delivered to the customers, and reducing the level of carbon emission in the environment. Amongst all the important elements of the organisation’s development, people or customers in the Australian supermarket industry is found to be the building blocks of Woolworth’s reputation. Woolworths mainly characterise internal corporate communication which acts as the major contributor of the company’s success and the brand image in the economy (Pérez, 2015).

Woolworths has been widely recognised and one of the most popular brands in the Australian economy, thus the reputation or brand image of the organisation has been perceived differently. To discuss this, one major element for Woolworths like other companies in the world is their customers from several years were of the view that the company has been highly successful is satisfying the customers from South Africa and the major driving factor for this fact remain the company’s ability to provide high-quality products (Farfarn, 2018).  Moreover, Woolworths has been effective contributor in increasing the employment opportunities and reducing the pay gap which has been highly appreciated by the potential employees in the industry. However, in the recent years the company has faced some of the issues in maintaining the high quality of their products, which has become one major issue for the company.

The other aspect include uncertain political relations as the growth in the second half was impacted by the difficult trading conditions in both, South Africa and Australia. This stated about the weaker consumer confidence and the reducing interest of the investors in the company. Therefore, the consumers and investors had positive perspective about the company’s previously; however some factors influenced the reputation in a negative manner. Thus, company must aim at improving and sustaining the growth and corporate reputation of the brand in the Australian supermarket (Hogevold et al., 2015).

Stakeholder Theory

From the above discussion on the report on Woolworths, there have been findings which revealed the need for an improvement in the communication strategy implementation in the organisation. Woolworths must improve and make effective their internal communication strategy used in the organisation to communicate their ideas and goals in the organisation. Recommendation can be strengthening of the connections with the employees, making goals and visions clear, creating an open-dialogue with the members of the organisation so that they can work upon the tasks or duties allocated to them and attain organisational goals and objectives. These changes in  the working  will make easy sharing of information, and lead to building effective corporate communication and establish notable corporate brand and reputation in the future years.

Conclusion

To conclude the above discussion it has been analysed that Woolworths has been able to fulfil the basic need of their customers and the country operating within the framework. Woolworths must work upon improvising their organisational structure as it will lead to other benefits of effective communication between the organisation’s members leading to cohesion and achievement of goals and objectives. Hence, from the above discussion and findings in the report it has been made clear that the company maintains value and ethics in their operations and satisfies their key stakeholders, which leads to the success of the company in the long run.

References

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Woolworths Group. (2018).  Corporate Responsibility Strategy 2020. Retrieved from: https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/community-and-responsibility/corporate-responsibility-reports/corporate-responsibility 

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