Competitive Advantages In Business Assignment Sample

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Introduction: Competitive Advantages In Business

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These days many organizations are involved in the business. They choose different products for their organization and retail business is one of those. A huge number of retail companies are there in the UK market and Morrison is one of those companies. They follow different strategies and techniques to develop their organization as well as to make a place in the market. Morrison follows different theories to lead profit-making business, bring qualitative products and know the market competition.

Overview of Morrison

Morrison is a supermarket that focuses on food and groceries. They bring fresh items to the market and maintain the quality of the product. They also avail people online supermarkets and have easy procedures (Dahlgaard-Park et al. 2018). It has one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK market. There have 921 retail shops in the UK as of October 2022 (scrapehero.com, 2022). Its maximum number of stores is in the UK, which is close to 84% of its total stores. The organisation is owned by Clayton, Dubilier and Rice (CD&R). Morrison has a very good place in the UK market but there was a fall in sales. The sale dropped by 3.9% as of October 2022, in comparison to the first half of the year 2022. Morrison had a turnover of 17.6 billion British pounds in the UK, whereas the entire UK market had a turnover of 212 billion pounds in the same year (morrisons.com, 2022). It has total revenue of 5.3 billion dollars by the 3rd quarter of the year 2022, which was increased by 4.5% in comparison to the earlier quarters of the same year. It holds a 9.1 % share of the grocery market as of the third quarter of 2022. The company has maintained its place in the UK market. 

Management theories used by Morrison

Morrison makes its strategic moves by balancing the environment and the market. It is the main component that helps an organisation to manage all the operations going on, both internally and externally way (morrisons.com, 2022). The strategic management theory used by Morrison is more rhetorical than real. The Rhetorical theory loosely emphasised the communication-based theory as it believes that only an effective way of communication can be helpful in the process of managing an organisation (Borchers and Hundley, 2018). This way they can be more competitive and on the other hand, it can help maintain a good relationship with the consumers.

The idea is simply to understand the consumers and human nature, and add them to the values of the company;therefore, in the time of delivering the work they can successfully maintain effective communication with their consumers.

The strategy they believed in an organisation is s “Our strategy is working for us”. It indicates their marketing strategy to control the whole market of the UK and deliver the most effective and quality survival to the citizens (retail-insight-network.com, 2022). They seek all the opportunities to develop the business and make it a larger and unique supermarket, so they can stay ahead of their competitors.

The best way to have that work is to understand the consumers, so they can deliver the product or service according to the requirement and can fulfil the expectations of the customers. It will help them to maintain a b base of loyal customers (morrisons.com, 2022). For that, they have focused on connecting with the customers to build a b relationship, which will eventually help them to spread the business across the country and gain the trust of the local customers.

Roles and functions of the financial intermediaries

Morrison is a company that has one of the largest chains in the world. In retailing industry, Morrison has dynamic characteristics. From retail to financial intermediaries, Morrison is the that people always search for (Mo?teanu, 2019). As a financial intermediary every organization has its functions. There are many functions to do by a retailer.

Play dual character: Retailers always perform dual characteristics; one is buying and the other one is assembling goods. Assembling the goods and searching for a good economical source for obtaining the goods from the suppliers is the responsibility of a retailer.

Creating many strategies: After assembling the goods, the primary function of a retailer is to sell the products to the consumers with proper strategies and techniques (Havrylchyk, 2018). To grow the organization's selling amount, a financial intermediary has to make many strategies and various techniques.

Risk Management capabilities: Staying in a retailing market it is very important to have the capability to handle all types of risk. Various kinds of risks can happen in any kind of situation the financial intermediary can handle that situation.

Performs crucial function: The retailers have to be attentive all the time, because when manufacturers or wholesalers are not in place at work then the retailer has to play the role of the manufacturers and wholesalers' character so that the consumer gets the product at the proper time.

Direct point of communication: Retailers are the direct point to communicate with the customers and also with the manufacturers and wholesalers. This communication will help to improve product quality (Shkarlet et al. 2018). After communicating with customers retailers get feedback on the product and give that feedback to manufacturers for continuous improvement.

Proper resources and channels: Selling any kind of product is very impotent to create a proper channel in which the product will flow smoothly. As a retailer, it is an important part to do after the whole selling product. 

Functions as a service provider: The function of a service provider is divided between customers and wholesalers. The function in terms of a customer is as follows -

A retailer has to look after the aspect of proper stock that looks after specified quantities necessary by a customer (Shkarlet et al. 2018). The function is to make sure all the products that are displayed on the shelf have different alternatives. When the customer comes to avail those tangible products of different brands at the same time must provide discounts and options for credits. The component of satisfaction is very important for a retailer. Therefore, the retailer of a brand can arrange for some alternatives that are customized. These are some of the functions that are practised by a service provider for a customer.

In the case of a wholesaler, there are different undertakings taken by a service provider. Retailers report on something that is said by the consumers. These reports are taken by the wholesaler to the producer. With this feedback and reports, necessary changes can be introduced into the service. The service provider acts as a medium to supply information from the consumer to the wholesaler of the products (Barraket, 2020). The retail units can fund the operations of a wholesale business. The wholesalers receive a bulk order and get a payment in advance which allows for the stores to get replenished with fresh materials. The role of a medium that is played by a retailer. They mediate the demands of a consumer and improve the quality of a product.

The role of the retailer is to take the brunt of every product that has a dispute. It is only because of the retailers the wholesalers do not have to bear the pain of dealing with the customers of the product. This shows that all the activities of the product are managed by the retailer who purchases the product.

HRM approach in Morrison

Various HRM approaches are used in one of the most renowned retailing organizations d Morrison that help them to manage the overall working of the organization. Here it is important to discuss such approaches that help in the smooth functioning of the organization.

Reward system strategy: Human Resources in Morrison allow rewards for hardworking, sincere, talented, and compassionate individuals within their organizations all over the world. This encourages individuals to keep improving themselves every day so that they have overall growth while working in the organization (Ngwangwama et al. 2019). Providing rewards also produces healthy competition among the working employees who strive to be better every day, this increases the overall growth of an organization.

Training, development, and talent management: Fresher having very little working experience need to be provided with job-specific training before they get into real work in the organization. Morrisons provides a facility where they give freshers some exposure to the responsibility that they need to carry out to work in the organization (He et al. 2020). During this training period, they develop skills that will help them to work later in the organization. Morrisons HR also looks after various talents that individual possesses, and also provide them with a suggestion to improve upon them.

Trade union position: Usdaw is recognized as the trade union for Morrisons workers in the organization. HR of various departments in Morrisons provides help to their working professionals if they need help. They also provide professional advice about the rights that an individual must get (Cumming et al. 2020). In Morrison they ensure employees are working in a safe environment, it is also ensured that all employees are treated equally and everyone's work is valued and rewarded fairly. This ensures a good working environment within the organization so that everyone can work freely and efficiently (Clements et al. 2020). This will also give employees to express themselves freely, thereby encouraging innovative ideas from different individuals along the way.

 

Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy: The corporate social responsibility of Morrisons involves environmental responsibility, the responsibility regarding ethics of the company and the industry, philanthropic responsibility, and economic responsibility. Morrisons considers that it is important for the company management to engage in eco-friendly practices. The company steps forward to decarbonize its operations and they are running 15 years ahead of the UK govt. The target of decarbonisation has also been met by the organisation and it is aiming to achieve zero carbon emission (Breadsellet al. 2019). The company also committed that its own-brand plastic will be recyclable within 3 years.

Competitive Advantages of Morrisons

Morrisons is one of the most renowned s in the world of supermarkets and since 1899 with its best quality products and services they are maintaining its reputation. It is considered the fourth-largest supermarket chain in the UK and they have spread its wings online with the help of a retail website d "Morrisons Cellar" (morrisons.com, 2022). Apart from the quality they have maintained through the years, there are many reasons why Morrison stays one step ahead of its competitors.

Focusing on fresh and environment-friendly products

The main focus of the supermarket chain run by Morrisons is fresh products, which are environment-friendly too. Fresh products attract consumers to stay loyal to the brand and the quality of the products affects causes no harm to nature. They also have raised awareness about the importance of freshness in products (ivypanda.com, 2022). Not only that they have successfully increased awareness about people’s commitment to nature.

String Supply Chain

The supply chain is the base of any supermarket which helps them to sustain itself in the market. The b and well-developed supply chain of Morrisons helps them to stay connected with the customers. It helps them ensure the supply of products with more accuracy and transparency. The b supply chain helps to add more value to the products, which delivers to the customers (mbaskool.com, 2022). To maintain the balance in the supply chain, Morrison continuously controls the whole chain, so they can balance the quality of supply.

Highly professional employees

Highly skilled and trained employees are the base and the most significant advantages of the organisation. It also helps to maintain customer satisfaction and because of that Morrison focuses on the recruitment of skilful employees;therefore, they can deliver major services in all areas with the fastest speed (morrisons.com, 2022). By doing this they are creating major job opportunities in various areas. They are mainly focusing on the field of enhancing the quality of customer service. For the betterment of the service, they are focusing on continuous process o training, so they can ensure better service quality.

Conclusion

Morrison is a company that follows management theories for better performance and development of the company. They are updated with their products and use trained people to bring their products and pack the food items to maintain the quality of the product. They bring fresh products to the market, and along with that, they are well aware of the quality of the goods.

Morrison is one of the renowned leading food retailing companies in the UK. it has been seen that its management system is efficient, even after the market recession in the recent past the company somehow managed to hold its space in the market. It has been found that the company practices upgraded human resource management and development system.

References

Journals

• Barraket, J., 2020. The role of intermediaries in social innovation: the case of social procurement in Australia. Journal of social entrepreneurship, 11(2), pp.194-214.
• Borchers, T. and Hundley, H., 2018. Rhetorical theory: An introduction. Waveland Press.
• Breadsell, J.K., Eon, C. and Morrison, G.M., 2019. Understanding resource consumption in the home, community and society through behaviour and social practice theories. Sustainability, 11(22), p.6513.
• Cumming, G.S., Epstein, G., Anderies, J.M., Apetrei, C.I., Baggio, J., Bodin, Ö., Chawla, S., Clements, H.S., Cox, M., Egli, L. and Gurney, G.G., 2020. Advancing understanding of natural resource governance: a post-Ostrom research agenda. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 44, pp.26-34.
• Dahlgaard-Park, S.M., Reyes, L. and Chen, C.K., 2018. The evolution and convergence of total quality management and management theories. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 29(9-10), pp.1108-1128.
• Havrylchyk, O. and Verdier, M., 2018. The financial intermediation role of the P2P lending platforms. Comparative Economic Studies, 60(1), pp.115-130.
• He, J., Mao, Y., Morrison, A.M. and Coca-Stefaniak, J.A., 2020. On being warm and friendly: the effect of socially responsible human resource management on employee fears of the threats of COVID-19. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
• Mo?teanu, N.R., 2019. International Financial Markets face to face with Artificial Intelligence and Digital Era. Theoretical & Applied Economics, 26(3).
• Ngwangwama, M.M., Ungerer, M. and Morrison, J., 2019. Management practices and activities influencing the effectiveness of organisations in Namibia. Southern African Business Review, 23(1).
• Shkarlet, S., Dubyna, M. and Zhuk, O., 2018. Determinants of the financial services market functioning in the era of the informational economy development. Baltic Journal of Economic Studies, 4(3), pp.349-357.
• Shkarlet, S., Prokopenko, V. and Dubyna, M., 2018. Directions of development of the financial services market of Ukraine. Baltic Journal of Economic Studies, 4(5), pp.412-420.
• Zhang, J., Xie, C., Wang, J., Morrison, A.M. and Coca-Stefaniak, J.A., 2020. Responding to a major global crisis: the effects of hotel safety leadership on employee safety behaviour during COVID-19. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.

Websites

• ivypanda.com, (2022), Morrisons Company’ Current Strategies Report , Available at: https://ivypanda.com/essays/morrisons-company-current-strategies/#:~:text=Sources%20of%20Competitive%20Advantage&text=The%20dedication%20of%20Morrison%20to,which%20are%20majorly%20sourced%20locally. [Accessed on: 4th November, 2022]
• mbaskool.com, (2022), Morrisons SWOT Analysis, Competitors & USP, Available at: https://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/lifestyle-and-retail/2039-morrisons.html [Accessed on: 4th November, 2022]
• morrisons.com, (2022), Welcome to Morrisons, Available at: https://groceries.morrisons.com/webshop/startWebshop.do. [Accessed on: 4th November, 2022]
• retail-insight-network.com, (2022), Morrisons set to stand out from competitors after Brexit, Available at: https://www.retail-insight-network.com/comment/morrisons-brexit-advantage/ [Accessed on: 4th November, 2022]
• scrapehero.com, (2022), Report of Morrison Available at: https://www.scrapehero.com/location-reports/Morrisons-UK/ [Accessed on: 4th November, 2022]
• Statista.com, (2022), Morrisons sales percentage change, Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/386745/morrisons-sales-percentage-change-great-britain-uk/ [Accessed on: 4th November, 2022]