Environmental Scan Report of Woolworths Limited †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Environmental Scan Report of Woolworths Limited. Answer: Introduction Analyzing business environmental factors can support companies in developing competitive strategies. The objective of this paper is to gather useful information regarding business environment of an Australian business namely, Woolworths Limited. Moreover, the paper will also describe the nature of the selected business and the ways in which environmental factors exert pressure on the business. Factors Influencing External Business Environment PEST analysis encompass aspects that impacts external business environment of organizations (Mugurel-Alin, 2017). This evaluation also ascertains the managers to gather view of the current strategic position of the company and develop effective strategies that can improve their business position. PEST analysis includes factors such as political, environmental, social and technological. Political factors are focused on analyzing the political situation of the nation and its impact on the business. Economic factors focus in analyzing determinants of economic position of a nation in which the business operates including inflation rate along with monetary and fiscal policies (Botha, Kourie Snyman, 2014). Social factors analyses the effect of cultural implications of a country in the business such as social lifestyles and domestic structures Technological factors analyses consumer reaction to recent technological trends and its impact in the business Environmental Factors Impacting Australian Business PEST or external business environment analysis of Australian business is conducted under: Political- Australia is among the vita markets for MNCs within the Asia region and the nation has a flourishing economy, has a stable political and business environment with skilled and highly educated workforce (Stewart, Boks Bey, 2017). Economical- Prices of property is increasing in comparison to income levels in the country. With the growth of population as well as income, the demand for housing is exceeding supply that results in prices to increase continuously. Social- In Australia, 10% of the population belongs to upper class those are wealthiest, another class belongs to non-manual workers and there is a class of manual workers those are influenced by arts and entertainment (Sun 2014). Technological- Certain concerns dominate the recent Astrakhan science and technology policy that includes focus of RD in national research centres. Business Analysis of Woolworths and Components Impacting External Business Environment Woolworths Limited is positioned as one of the largest retail chains in Australia that has more than 39% of the nations grocery industry. Based on the demands of the external business environment, the company has diversified its product ranges including wide range of products and services, food and liquor and insurance sector (Leonidou et al., 2017). Certain factors that exert pressure on Australias business environment are mentioned below: Certain political disturbances discourages the business and its investors from entering the market because of low rate of return and business failure risk Woolworth Limited experienced financial crisis that impacted its overall sales The company faces pressure to diversify its products as its consumers are shifting towards selecting healthy grocery items for healthy lifestyle Retail industry is accepting rapid technological advancements and the company needs to keep up with such advancements for attaining competitive advantages Pressure Factors of Woolworths and Four External Business Environment Components Elaboration of pressure factors in consideration to four components of external business environment is explained below: Political- The Company might have faced political disturbances that could have affected its growth opportunities. As Woolworths Limiteds business operation in the industry is highly stable, it can eliminate the risk of business loss (Adeola, 2016). Economic- Woolworths Limiteds sales were impacted drastically due to financial crisis in Australia. Australian retail industry maintains stability that has supported the company to continue its business successfully even after setback within UK industry. Social- Consumers are drastically shifting their preferences to choose healthy predicts that exerted pressure on the company to offer healthy food options. Considering the same, Woolworths Limited is removing all confectionary products from its check-out counters and offering healthy food choices. Technological- Emergence of new technologies for improving shopping experience of consumers is exerting pressure on Woolworths Limited to make technological advancements. Considering this, the company has presented innovations like self-service checkout and integrated service oriented architecture (SOA) in its business operations. Conclusion The objective of this paper was to gather useful information regarding business environment of an Australian business namely, Woolworths Limited. It was gathered from the paper that retail industry is accepting rapid advancements and the company needs to keep up with such advancements for attaining competitive advantages. References Adeola, A. (2016). Impact of External Business Environment on Organisational Performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Osun State, Nigeria.Scholedge International Journal of Business Policy Governance ISSN 2394-3351,3(10), 155-166. Botha, A., Kourie, D., Snyman, R. (2014).Coping with continuous change in the business environment:Knowledge management andknowledge management technology. Elsevier. Leonidou, L. C., Christodoulides, P., Kyrgidou, L. P., Palihawadana, D. (2017). Internal drivers and performance consequences of small firm green business strategy: the moderating role of external forces.Journal of Business Ethics,140(3), 585-606. Mugurel-Alin, M. (2017). Themanagement of external business environment interaction with the company.Development. Stewart, R., Boks, C., Bey, N. (2017). A review of key dimensions for designing environment-driven collaboration practices with external business partners. InDS 87-5 Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED 17) Vol 5: Design for X, Design to X, Vancouver, Canada, 21-25.08. 2017. Sun, Y., Guo, P., Ma, Z., Li, T., Dang, S. (2014, November). UK-based external business environment analysis of outdoor adventure clothing using the PESTEL tool and its future outlook. InInformation Technology Systems and Innovation (ICITSI), 2014 International Conference on(pp. 306-309). IEEE.