Foundations in Sustainable Strategic Management

Question: Discuss about the Foundations in Sustainable Strategic Management. Answer: Introduction Postal services have one of the pivotal services in the history of humankind. Throughout the world this service has given people the opportunity to stay in contact. Australia Post was founded in the year 1809 on 25 April. Ever since, this government owned corporation has been in the service of sending parcels and mails. With the advent of technology, the corporation also started various other facilities like transferring money, travel and ID related issues and business solutions. The basic products and services of the organisation include letters, postal service, postage rate, basic domestic, large letters and associated services (Auspost.com.au, 2017). This industry has been growing after the services were opened in the initial years. However, in the last few years with the improvement of online contacts and applications the industry has suffered some rift. The present paper would analyze the competitor analysis and the macro analysis of the industry. Five Forces analysis Bargaining power of buyers- In case of the bargaining power, the buyers in case of Australia Post do not have much of upper hand. The prime reason being the rates of the services are fixed as decided by the government. As, the service is opted by large number of people across the country the power of bargaining is not strong. The limitation in the bargaining helps the corporation to extract fair and minimum profit from the customers. In case of Australia Post, the best part is the customers get standardized service (Hill, Jones and Schilling, 2014). Bargaining power of suppliers- the bargaining power of the suppliers is not in favour. The reason being competition and the attachment with the government project itself acts negatively for the suppliers (Slack, 2015). The level of competition reduces the prices, which is important for Australia Post. It acts as the opportunity for Australia Post to have the strength of changing suppliers. The low chance of switching supplier is another key idea for the organization. The competitive rivalry The competition of the Australia Post is not direct. Apart from the Australia Post, the competition is in the local courier. However, with the range of operations, Australia Post hardly received and thereat. On the contrary, with respect to growing technology the organisation has to bring out services that are not limited to letters or mails. The market share of the organisation is huge. The threat of substitute products- The threat lies in the technological advancements is giving the opportunity to people get connected to any part of the worlds within fraction of seconds. Apart from this, the threat is also the different courier companies (Eden and Ackermann, 2013). However, Australia Post wins over courier services because of the brand value that it has created over the years. Threat of new competitors- the importance of the Australia Post lies in the large distribution network it has over the years. This has given customers the faith in the organisation. The geographical location and the reach to every nook and corner might be not possible for the new entrants (Rothaermel, 2015). Macro Analysis Political- the political issues related to Australia Post is very limited. The major reason being it is government run enterprise. It is commercially run with all the necessary political stability. It is noticed that the efficient board of directors of the company are the sole support for the organisation to not hamper by any form of political instability (Grant, 2016). Economic- The issues in the economic factor lies in the reduction of the main features of the company. The number of letters and the delivery number have fallen to a huge rate. The revenue generated from the business has not been a steady graph. There has been deviations. The issue of inflation has also hit the money transfer services of the company. The faith of the customer has been hampered with the delay in the services while paying premium amount. Apart from this, the organization has faced issues relating to competition (Crew and Kleindorfer, 2013). The courier companies and easy online transaction of money has affected the economic condition of the expertise to considerable extent. The regular follow up system of the private companies has been another issue with respect to Australia Post. Social- Most of the international ecommerce companies are trying to have a tie up with competitive private companies for the delivery of the products. The changing lifestyle of the consumers is one of the pivotal reasons for the same. The overseas retail product delivery of Australia is most likely taken by, companies like DHL and FedEx. Hence, the opportunity that was there for Australia Post id reducing. The customer value and satisfaction that is offered by these private companies is much more than government owned organizations. Hence, retail giants are looking for such dedicated companies for customer retention (Frynas and Mellahi, 2015). Technological- The development of the new technologies have led to easy transaction and taxation process. In such cases, the advancement of Australia Post is still lacking. The communication system of the company had to be improved. This has been done by the enterprise with the help of strategic partnerships (Austin and Pinkleton, 2015). The mailbox system started by the Australia Post has been one of the pivotal factors to pay bills and store the same securely. The only positive change that has been brought about by the company in the recent days has been MyPost Digital Mailbox. However, the strength of the other companies is the utilization of these service for quite some time. Legal- The Trade Practices Act of the country is the legal factor that is to be followed by the company. Along with this being a government owned enterprise the organization follows rules and abide by the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989. It might be said in the above regard that the company works under the laws of the legal system. They abide by the rules and take the system under control with effective means (Van Dooren, Bouckaert and Halligan, 2015). However, the financial profit margin of the company is hampered with the opening of more than 4000 post offices and outlets. In order to serve the best in the industry and with the tag of governmental organization, the company is still trying to keep all the outlets open. This is strictly according to rules. Environmental- The idea of preserving paper has been crucial step all around the world. This is one of the causes, that other than technological advancement people are trying cell phones or email to contact each other. This has resulted in damaging the sorting and delivering process of the company (Stead and Stead, 2013). Most of the valuable citizens of the country try not to use papers for the environmental cause. Company corporate strategy The executive team rightfully shoulders the corporate strategy of Australia Post. The board of directors of the company is one of the most effective teams that the organization is having. In order to reach the target audience few outlet of the post offices are open on public holidays. However, the retail trading of the company is hampered on the holidays. In such cases, the advantages that can be grabbed by private companies include better and fast services even on holidays. Apart from the loopholes that are mentioned, it might be referred that the complaints procedure of the company is effective (Harrison and John, 2013). After getting the required proof and the support from the consumers, Australia Post only takes, 10 working days to resolve the corporate issues. The ombudsman is efficient is dealing with different types of cases. The concept of CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility is included in the idea of Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday. The transformation of the organization f or more than 200 years has been through four potential outcomes. They include people, community, customers and environment. Australia Post has taken the necessary step of including the wellbeing of the Australian by connecting digitally and physically. The creation of the shared values in the organization is the most important along with the engagement of the stakeholders. Hence, the corporate strategy of the company is one of the most important factors to deal with the sustainable development of the business prospects (Frynas and Mellahi, 2015). The corporate strategy of the company is to ensure that most of the issues of the customers are resolved timely. Apart from this, the issue of the stakeholders and suppliers are also taken into consideration. The prime aspects of the corporate strategy of Australia Post include value creation, social procurement, sustainable growth and importance of corporate governance (Eden and Ackermann, 2013). Company business strategy The business strategy of the company is to grow smarter. This is the basic reason for which the company is formulating updated culture. The introduction of the smart mailroom by the company across Australia is one of the biggest steps taken. In addition, with this the organization has implemented the inclusion of the technological front that is to retrieve data (Brunner and Bard, 2013). The necessary data collected is also restored in the internet based archive. Along with this Australia Post also included banking services. The payment of bill has been made easier with the help of the phone or online means. The total cash received in the year 2014 has been considerably height as compared to 2013. In this regard, it is important to note the fact that the company has introduced new strategies, tried new structure at the organizational level. The company has changed the usual perception of the customers drastically. This is through the improvement in the services. In delivery, process has been updated. The tracking system for the customers is one of the pivotal steps that assures customer of confirmed delivery. The logistics of the AP has been effective with the necessary inspiration from the companies like FedEx. The logistics sector of the company has been improved to considerable rate. The current position of the company has been improvement in identity services, deliveries, communications and identity services. The stakeholders of the organization include the employees, customers and the community. However, the necessary step that is to be taken by the company includes increasing the price of the services. The cost of sending a letter in Australia is only A$1 whereas in other countries the rate in much more. Here the chances of financial improvement for the company are limited. The coverage of the geographical area of the company is one of the best opportunities for the enterprise (Crew and Kleindorfer, 2013). Hence, as per the present positioning the globally organized network must be used efficiently by AP. The positioning of the company is on the low price however, the service has been good. The major aspect that is to be assessed in the present area requires better products. This is to ensure that not even private countries can take, the opportunity that they have in the industry. Conclusion Australia Post is one of the companies that have been effective being part of the government. Part from this the infrastructure of the company has been changed over the years. This is to ensure that customers are satisfied with the services. However, as per the pestle analysis and five forces analysis there are few issues persisting in the company. However, the company has taken major step to curb issues regarding complainants and technological backwardness. The result is the improvement in the financial situation of the company. The initiation of ideas such as banking, insurance, bill payments and cards has been effective and remarkable. The miscellaneous service that has been started by the company is to improve the finance and revenue generation of the enterprise. Reference list Auspost.com.au. (2017).Home. [online] Available at: https://auspost.com.au/ [Accessed 20 Apr. 2017]. Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E., 2015.Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and Managing Effective Communication Campaigns(Vol. 10). Routledge. Brunner, J.O. and Bard, J.F., 2013. 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