Coles Myer Ltd Background and Issues In 1985 G.J Coles, primarily a Melbourne-based supermarket chain, merged with Myer Ltd, an upmarket Melbourne department store, becoming Coles Myer Ltd. The merger was brought on by an expectation of significant cost savings from sharing services and overheads such as purchasing, warehousing, information technology and property. However these benefits never occurred. Coles Myer was burdened with poor management, bad strategic decisions, and internal conflict. Their share price was faltering, and lagging behind their biggest competitor Woolworths, and profit had been stagnant for three years. In September 2001 the board appointed John Fletcher as chief executive, well known for his part in turning Brambles into a successful international company. Fletcher’s first priority was to do something about Coles Myer’s share price, however he recognised that to be able to change it he must first deal with the companies strategic and structural problems. This analysis of organisational design and effectiveness will discuss the issues experienced by Coles Myer, discussion of theories related to the these problems and possible solutions, an examination of what is being done, and what else could be done to improve the situation. One of the biggest problems facing Coles Myer was organisational culture. With the Coles and Myer target markets being downmarket and upmarket respectively, compatibility of their cultures became an obstacle after merging.
The primary problem would be the structure of the organization. This due to the fact that there are thirteen departments in total: finance and accounting, human resource management, marketing, men’s clothes, women’s clothes, shoes, hardware and automotive, music including audio and video equipment, toys, home and garden, small and large appliances, sports equipment, and furniture.
For this unit I have chosen to do J Sainsbury's PLC. I have chosen to
It should capitalize on the cost-leadership strategy and improve its customer service to edge out Ace and steal a chunk of its market share. Lowe’s should also seek to negotiate for favorable contracts with the major Australian suppliers on a cost-advantage level and thus increase its bargaining power. Moreover, such a strategy would create an entry barrier for Australian start-up competitors who might seek to use their home advantage to outcompete
In this assignment, both control in the workplace and work satisfaction dimensions will be analysed at length. Relating them both to the case study of the Sports Direct Company and other relevant organisational theories; such as scientific management. Sports Direct was founded in 1982 by Michael Ashley in Maidenhead. In 18 years, ‘Mike’ Ashley expanded internationally opening stores in Belgium, and just seven years later listed his company on the London stock exchange. It was that listing that really kick-started Sports Directs’ exponential growth. 2 years later in 2009, Sports Direct established market leadership after their sales exceeded £1.0bn (Sports Direct, no date given). This information presents Mike Ashley as an entrepreneurial genius,
Introduction The purpose of this report is to undertake financial analysis of the position of the three major supermarket chains (Tesco plc, Morrison plc and Sainsbury plc) in the UK, using the financial tools such as Horizontal and Vertical Analysis and Ratio Analysis. The calculations done are considering the figures from the income statement and balance sheet of these three companies for the last 2 years (2008 & 2007). Doing these calculations is an effort to find out the current position and if any forecast on their performance. Tesco Plc *Interpreting the Horizontal and Vertical *Analysis The balance sheet’s horizontal analysis reveals the first worrying statistics about the company- the fact that stock level has increased by 25.84% in the year, even though net assets have increased by only 12.59%. The vertical analysis of the balance sheet again highlights the increase in amount of stock held by the company at the end of 2008 and increase in current assets. Interpreting the Ratio Analysis By looking at the ROCE* ratio it is clear that the business has not generated any higher return in the period 2007-2008. Though there is a marginal decrease in the returns (0.14% from 0.16%), however when compared with returns of other competitors Tesco plc has performed much better. Drop in asset utilisation ratio in the year 2008 indicates that the company did not use its assets efficiently to generate sales. As a result profit margin dropped down to 5.91% in 2008 from 6.21% in the year 2007. The Acid test ratio also doesn’t meet the ‘ideal’ ratio of 1:1. In other words Tesco had only 38p of quickly realisable assets to meet each £1 of current liabilities. Stock turn shows the effect of increased stock at the end of 2008 as it s...
J Sainsbury PLC INTRODUCTION J Sainsbury PLC is one of the leading food retailers in the UK and also has interests in financial services. It comprises of Sainsbury's Supermarkets, Bells Stores, Jackson's Stores and Sainsbury's Bank. There are currently 583 Sainsbury’s supermarkets throughout the UK employing over 145,000 people, offering over 34,000 products and serving over 11 million customers a week. It is for these reasons that careful management of operations within each of the stores is vital to ensure that all processes are kept running smoothly so that customers can be served and products can be replenished. PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES Customers want a quality service when they shop.
Lorsch, J. W. (1987), “Organisation Design: A Situational Perspective”, Academy of Management Review, January Issue, pp. 117 – 132.
After the mistake that Tesco did, they begin to loose their market share so, the competitors were trying to gain what Tesco was loosing, and they did. For example, Lidl had increased 10 percent in their sales, which is a big threat for Tesco because other companies are taking Tesco’s place in the market. In United States and Australia there are some stores that it sell very cheap products without looking at their quality. This was very tough for Tesco to handle because they cannot compete with this amount of discounts. In the same time, Tesco are trying to return to its position as before but, their competitors are using Tesco’s falling into their benefit by expanding more and making offers so they can get higher market share. For example Sainsbury, Asda, and Morrisons are investing more while expanding as well to take Tesco’s position and prevent Tesco from coming back as they were
Overtime, a combination of poor customer service, messy stores, and lengthy checkout processes have led to the failure of the Kmart and Sears merger. One-time loyal customers, who routinely shopped at these stores, no longer felt appreciated or that the organization desired their business. Since they no longer felt important, customer chose to give their business to more deserving competitors such as Target.
3. The contributing factors to their ineffectiveness were poor planning and leadership. The company grew to quickly. In their desire to grow and expand, the company’s senior management did not establish and follow ethical practices that would sustain the company. Controls were not established in key places, such as, accounting practices and principles. Senior management failed to appropriately manage the activities of lower level managers and set a bad example.
At a macro level as a result of the acquisition the combined size of Turner & Townsend Thinc was considered to be of strategic benefit to both firms. While there have been no official mass redundancies, role duplication has resulted in early retirement and resignations. However, the common problem faced after the acquisition is power struggles, excessive overhead, bureaucracy, uncontrolled layering, and decision strangulation.
The main symptom and concern is that Scotts’ European sales had increased as expected, but margins had dropped, as well as synergies between the acquired companies were not working as expected. In addition, one of Scotts Europe’s largest customers was threatening to leave due to unacceptable service levels that might cause a domino effect to other large customers.
The rivalry aspect of Porter’s Five Forces that influence’s the grocery industry finds that there is a high degree of competition for consumer’s business among the dominate retailers as well as those companies trying to take any share of the market they can get. The large retailers engage in intense competition among each other as well as other stores that are competing for sales. Price wars drive down the profit margins for individual items and new and improved store design to bring in customers increases fixed cost. Improved distribution lines affect distribution and storage cost is competitive adjustments that the major retailers use to stave off the increasing competition. The last area of rivalry that the major companies use is the relationships they have with their suppliers to sign exclusive deals or lower cost than those prices paid by competing firms. As more retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target add groceries to their sales floor the competition increases as well as the stores that offer individual grocery items in their stores such as Dollar General, Walgreens and CVS. The grocery rival...
The food and staples retailing is an increasingly competitive industry. The market giants (competitors) are Coles (owned by Wesfarmers) which has 741 stores across Australia and plans to add 70 m...
Jones, G. R. (2010). Organizational theory, design, and change. 6th Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall