Posted: April 10th, 2015

STRATEGIC MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT

MANF6860 STRATEGIC MANUFACTURING MANAGEMENT

Woolworths is Australia’s largest supermarket chain with 872 stores and
111,000 staff [1]. It has a network of stores, distribution across Australia. In
addition to Woolworths Supermarkets, Woolworths Limited also owns Big W,
Masters, BWS, Dan Murphy’s, Ezibuy, Woolworths Money, ALH Hotels, Langtons,
Cellarmasters, Woolworths Petrol, Countdown and Thomas DuX.

In 2014, Woolworths Supermarket sales in Australia were $41.2 billion, which
was an increase of 4.7% on 2013 and online sales grew by more than 35%.
During the year, market share, customer numbers, items sold and sales per
square metre all increased. On average 21.1 million customers were served per
week, which was an increase of 3.7% on the previous year. During the year,
Woolworths prices decreased by an average of 3.1%.

Woolworths sources 96% of all fresh fruit and vegetables and 100% of fresh
meat from Australian farmers and growers. Woolworths slogan is “Woolworths
the Fresh Food People” On their corporate website Woolworths state: “Without
our many thousands of suppliers, we would not have anything to sell and
wouldn’t have a business. But we always have to strike the right balance
between the best interests of the customer and the interests of the supplier and
this can sometimes involve making tough but fair decisions.”

More than 80 percent of Woolworths suppliers have been partners for a decade
or longer. In addition, 90 percent of grocery sales come from the national brands,
while the remainder are the ‘Homebrand’ generic range or the ‘Macro’ health
food range.

Questions:

Each question is short answer (500 – 1000 words) and each is worth 6 marks for
a total of 30 marks.

1: Who are the main customer groups (or potential customer groups) within the
industry? In what ways might they exercise their influence? How would you
describe their bargaining power?

2: Who are the main supplier groups (or potential supplier groups) within the
industry? In what ways might they exercise their influence? How would you
describe their bargaining power?

3: Who are the principal competitors in the industry? What strategy do they
employ to compete with Woolworths?