This document provides an overview and summary of a report on WM Morrison Supermarkets PLC. It describes the nature, scale, and objectives of the company, including their business model, values, and corporate social responsibility initiatives. It then discusses how Morrison's interacts with its external environment and relates to the grocery sector as a whole. Finally, it identifies Morrison's principal stakeholders and reflects on the positions and functions of individuals within the organization.
10. All Harvard referencing in this assignment is from the formatting illustrated in the Anglia Ruskin University document. http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard/htm
34. Section 1: Relate organisations, in terms of size, funding sources and independence; to the sector as a whole (Total 750 Word Max.)
35. Section 2: Identify the principal stakeholders of a business unit and their expectations. Reflect upon the possible conflicts of interest between stakeholders (Section 2)
36. Section 2: Reflect upon the position and functions of individual, including managers, within an organisation and identify their principal contributions to the achievement of the organisation (Section 2) Since the merger with Safeway’s and the appointment of the new CEO Marc Bolland in 2004 and 2006 respectively, the company has undergone a major ‘facelift’ which has brought the company to centre stage to join the ‘well known’ major four retailers in the UK. There is evidence of this in the growing market share the retailer has in the grocery sector. They are able to provide quality and provenance of the food in which they offer and a sustainable core competence they have is the Market Street Unique Selling Point innovation, where they are able to prepare food freshly in-store. With the increasing need for flexible working in the UK Morrison’s have recognised this and now issue both full-time and part-time working contracts, s well as fixed contract and ‘fully flex’ which means that employees holding those contracts are assumed by the company that they can work anytime and can change their hours where necessary, where as fixed-term contract are for those who have other commitments outside the business, such as carers or parents. They have been able to cut costs across the business as well: their backward vertical integration movement into manufacturing and owning their own supply chains, pack houses, distribution centres and transport fleets means they are able to eliminate costs associated with external suppliers as well as securing supply itself. In addition to this, they have been quick to recognise the potential impacts to the business associated with the recession and have and acknowledged those potential threats and turned them into opportunities and strengths through innovation and developing a business model as a system, which is fluid and dynamic to the market. They are also able to cut costs by reducing food wastage, being able to prepare their food in store and by being able to adapt quickly to changing customer trends by short lead-time on food (source to store) by their flexible business model, and by each fresh department preparing and merchandising only the most popular and freshest products by the hour, as supposed to a whole range on daily basis. The outputs of the business as a system can also be inputs into the same system and is an ongoing process, whereby if the outputs need to be changed; alterations need to be made to the inputs and the transformations of the system. Appendix 1.0 How does Morrison’s, as a system, interact with its environment: The System Approach (Fig 1.0) The systems approach diagram illustrated in Appendix 1.0 reflects how the retailer’s activities and eventual production outputs and objectives are shaped by their environmental influences. The illustration depicts that the PESTLE environment influences affect the Labour, Customer and Raw Material inputs as well as the transformation process components and the eventual outputs of the system, and that the whole system is shaped to fit those environments. For instance, social influences such a customer trends and changing buying behaviours will concern the Customer input into the system. Furthermore, technological factors such as new technologies could impact on the manufacturing and packaging technologies in the ‘Manufacturing and Packaging’ transformation component of the system. Influences affecting the outputs of the system could be the legal implications associated with the Data Protection Act on the ‘Market/Consumer Profiles/Data’ output component of the system. Not only are the inputs into the system provided by environmental influences such as PEST, but they can also be inputs and outputs from other systems as well. Inputs could be provided by outputs from other systems and outputs from the system illustrated in figure 1.0 could be inputs into other systems. If these systems change in any way, this could impact, positively or negatively on the system. The bold broken line shows the feedback channels. These feedback channels allow the organisation to constantly monitor the quality of the outputs and enable them to change inputs in order to improve the quality of those outputs (in this case profitability and growth). For instance, the ‘Customers’ input refers to the customers who are physically going into the store, the internal process would be the market research, weather through customer observation or face-to-face interviews. The output would be the obtaining of accurate information about their customers (their needs, trends and buying behaviours). This may lead to altering their products and services to meet the new customer expectations. This information could be passed along the feedback channel and could affect the inputs of altering labour demand or introducing new raw materials to meet the new production demands, both of which could be affected by new environment influences (regional labour demand or legislation for packaging materials). From this statement, we can see that outputs from the system can also affect the inputs from the same system, as well as external systems also. The systems approach is known as an interaction-influence model because to be effective, businesses need to adapt to its environment, similar to an animal in the wild where only the fittest survive and that the activities and products and services they sell should also be products of their environments in which they operate in. 1.1 CSR Management and Stakeholder Engagement In ensuring that their CSR programme remains current and achievable, the Company consults stakeholders on a regular basis through Stakeholder Engagement practices; this is achieved by the focus on implementing strategies relevant to the generated feedback they receive as well as their taking into account the views and issues of importance to their stakeholders in order to minimize stakeholder conflicts of interests. The numbers of innovative ideas and strategies which have been implemented into their overall Corporate and Social Responsibility programme have been the following: Let’s Grow. The companies ‘Lets Grow’ campaign was aimed at teaching school children about fresh produce and was designed to teach pupils of the benefits of living healthy and balanced lifestyles as a result or eating more healthily. To cater for this void, Morrison’s offered vouchers to customers for every £10 they spent in store. Customers could then take them to their local primary schools (providing the school participated in the scheme), whom could then redeem the voucher(s) for gardening equipment and encouraging them to grow fresh fruit and vegetables. Over 18,000 schools participated in the schema with very successful results. Local and Seasonal Sourcing One objective of the Company is to provide and offer the best, freshest food and ingredients at the best value. The Company also found that the over half of their customers wanted the opportunity to purchase more locally sourced produce in their stores. As the Company own their own supply chain, Morrison’s now grow their own produce in the East of England and are packed in degradable or combustible packaging. A penny per pack bought in store goes towards the Growing Trust. This money then goes towards selected causes in the East of England and forms another component of their CSR strategy. 100% British Morrison’s were the first supermarket retailer dedicated to selling 100% British fresh meat throughout the entire year and, as a commitment to British farmers, they ensure that all their convenience good ranges were sourced locally with the aim to develop closer links with the producers of those goods. Through developing produce groups for meat and fresh milk, they were able to share knowledge across their supply chain, acknowledging their objective of possessing their deep understanding of food, enhancing quality and freshness of their range and hence being the food specialists for everyone, and helping to ensure the continuing vitality of British farming. Charities and Functions As well as food retailing, Morrison’s also supports a number of charities and functions throughout the year, and have become involved in supporting their local communities, such as Remembrance Day collections as well as focusing on supporting and donating to national events like the BBC’s Children in Need. This strategy forms a component on their Corporate and Social Responsibility programme strengthens their PR marketing. Other CSR Achievements.... Carbon reduction target of 36% met one year early Haulage emissions target of 8% met one year early Waste to landfill reduced by 2,886 tonnes Fresh Food Academy skills training launched which is recognised by national qualifications. CSR Objectives.... Developing methods in which to contribute to reducing food waste Involve more schools into their ‘Let’s Grow’ campaign and educating more pupils about fresh produce Balancing the reduction in packaging with preventing food waste Seeking new methods in which to reduce landfill waste in the longer term Implementing solutions for reducing their carbon footprint References. Mullins, L.,2007. Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Sloman, J., 2008. Economics and Business Environment. 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited Wm Morrison’s Supermarkets Plc, 2009, Annual and Financial Statements 2009. 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Available at: http://www.emraldinsight.com/0959-0552.htm/ [Accessed 16 September 2009] Bibliography Mullins, L.,2007. Management and Organisational Behaviour. 8th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. Sloman, J., 2008. Economics and Business Environment. 2nd ed. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited