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Question: Discuss About the Woolworths Limited Company Strategic Information Systems? Answer: Introducation Woolworths Limited is Australias one of the largest retail companies. It was established in 1924 by opening its first bargain store in Sydney where its operations were carried out for a number of years and then grew with time to what it is now. The largest retail company in Australia and he second largest in New Zealand (Keith, 2012). Woolworths Limited specializes in retail businesses of liquors and hotel poker games distributor in the country. Its main headquarters are located at Bela Vista, New South Wales in Australia. However, the companys business operations are not carried out in just that one town. Its business dealings are also in Sydney, Australia, New Zealand, Perth and New South Wales among other towns. Just as mentioned earlier that, it is the largest retail business in Australia, it has a large number of retail companies that operate under its supervision (Woolworths online", 2010). These companies are the ones that help it fulfill its business objectives and goals by c arrying out its business dealings and operations in the different parts of the country. Some of the business that are under Woolworths Limited include: supermarkets, liquor stores, hotels, petrol stations, general merchandisers, progressive enterprises to name just but a few. In addition to that, the company also offers everyday services to its customers to ensure complete satisfaction and coverage of their needs. Therefore, it offers services like Woolworths credit cards, Woolworths dollars and Woolworths mobile (Woolies MasterCard debut", 2008). The company has also entered into joint ventures with other different businesses like TATA Motors (in relation to electronic device selling in India where foreign companies had been prevented from selling and exercising their retail businesses) and with Telstra (in relation to Woolworth mobile reselling and prepaid markets). Woolworths has really grown and developed its business operations and therefore can be called a very successful company. This means that it certainly uses the accounting software and packages to perform its daily operations. Woolworths Limited Current Organizational Structure The organizational structure of a business refers to the policies, principles and laws that govern both the management and the employees and guide them towards a certain specific set goal or objective of the business. Woolworths Limited is a public company and is certainly one of the largest companies in Australia. Actually it is the largest retail and supermarket chain in Australia. Its operations vary and cover different products and services. It operates with various types of groceries and food products, home improvement products and services, fueling products and services e.g. petrol stations, liquor and general merchandise activities in both Australia and New Zealand (Woolworths online", 2010). Considering the fact that it is a public company, then it is a company that is certainly listed in the Australia Stock Exchange market and therefore is owned through share ownership. The shareholders of the company are said to be the owners of the company but do no run it. The company is managed by a board of committees who are in charge of the decision making activities and responsibilities to keep the company running. Also, being one of the larges revenue earning companies in Australia, it is has employed a large number of employees to help it perform its activities. These employees are well trained, experienced and skilled people who are completely qualified for their job specifications. In addition to that, it has a number of subsidiary companies that were mentioned earlier; e.g. supermarket, liquor stores, petrol stations, general merchandisers shops and businesses to name just but a few. This structure is responsible for the success factor of Woolworths Limited. Through this structure, it has been able to be among the top most rated businesses in Australia as well as in New Zealand. Operational Problems Resulting from the Structure Every business structure has its advantages and disadvantages that are tied to its operations. Therefore, here are some of the problems that may arise from the structure of Woolworths Limited Company: Poor Management The company is one of the largest companies in Australia and is said to be one of the top most revenue earning companies in Australia after the Conglomerate Wesfarmers Corporative. This means that it needs to have the best management team, with the most skilled, knowledgeable and experienced managers (Gholami et al, 2013). However, even though the managers are the most qualified for the job, they may lack cooperation among themselves and therefore end up not being as effective and efficient as they should be. Therefore, this will definitely lead to poor management especially considering the fact that the company is large, specializes on various types of products and also operates in many towns. Failure to meet market demand Woolworths Limited specializes on retail stores and retails services. This means that the consumers have the opportunity to buy the products they need directly from the company stores. However, the business depends on the producers to provide them with the products which pretty risky for their operations. For instance, the foods and groceries that are sold in the stores are provided by the farmers. Therefore, in case the farmers do not provide the right amount or quality of the products, then the company will not be able to meet the market or consumer demand which becomes a challenge for them (Pehrsson, 2017). Most likely System Acquisition Method The ERP system is the best and most likely acquisition methods for Woolworths Limited. Its purpose is to manage and control a business operations with an aim of achieving its objectives and increasing its success chances. This system will definitely help the company figure out its potential challenges and device suitable solutions that will manage and solve those challenges. Most importantly, it will help the business know and create its competitive advantage against its competitors as well as improve its system operations. Woolworths will be able to control, monitor and evaluate its different departments and business operations accordingly (Weimar et al, 2017). With this, the company will increase its effectiveness and efficiency in its product production and performance position Control System Problems from the Flow Chart Lack of adequate product knowledge In a sale process, the seller must have as much information about the product or service as possible. This will be able to help them convince the buyer to purchase the product or service. This means that they must know the positive and negative features of the product and also they should be aware of the competitors products and the available substitutes in the market and their characteristics. This kind of information gives the seller confidence to sell the product. With this knowledge, they will be able to sell the product and achieve the main objective and goal of the sale process which is to make profit. Wrong choice of the sale process When a business chooses the wrong kind of process to run its operations and produce its services or products, it may result to business failure (Baskerville et al, 2016). A sale process should involve customer, product, seller and payment method. However, if any of that is not available or not provided, then the sale process will fail and therefore cause business failure. Every business must ensure that its operation processes are effective and efficient for the end result expected by the management or consumers. Development and Adoption of Accounting Software Packages for Woolworths Woolworths Limited being one of the most developed and top rated companies and retailers in the whole of Australia. The companies has certainly been using modern and updated accounting soft wares, policies and principles to run and manage its operations. This is especially for the case of the financial, supply chain, employee management, budgeting issues, investment aspects among other things. The company has been managing and controlling all of these sectors by use of developed accounting software. This has certainly been of great help to the business because they are able to perform its operations at the set budgets and without financial crisis or pressure which is often one of the main issues with large companies. This has also led to immense growth and development of the whole business operations around its offices and business regions. Woolworths Limited Current Market Size Just as mentioned earlier, the company operates in most major towns in Australia like Sydney, New Zealand, Australia, Perth and others. Also, the company has created joint venture with different other companies in different countries to help operate in other countries like TATA Motors in India. Also, it has a large number of companies who operate under its supervision which may include different supermarkets, petrol stations, general merchandising stores, hotels and liquor stores among others. The company is one of the most popular and famous companies in the retail industry after Wesfarmers Corporations and is known as one of the most top rated company in Australia and New Zealand (Woolworths online", 2010). This is clear evidence that is has a very large market share and especially in the retail industry business. It covers a wide range of products and services therefore able to cater for a large number of consumers in Australia. Market Leaders and their Competitive Advantage Woolworths Limited Company is rated as one of the top most companies in Australia according to the revenue it makes. That is after the Conglomerate Wesfarmers Corporative Company which also deals with retail businesses and consumer products in the country. Nevertheless, just as mentioned earlier, there is very stiff competition in the retail business in Australian market (Woolworths online", 2010). The company faces a lot of competition from Wesfarmers Corporative, Fonterra, Lions BHP Billiton, Commonwealth Bank, Telstra and Caltex among other famous and large Australian businesses. Apparently all of these companies are effective in their operations and other business activities and in addition to that they are some of the top most rated companies in relation to the revenue they get. They have a competitive advantage over Woolworth because of their large market share and segment, different product brands, collaborative aspects with other related businesses among other things. Challenges Facing Software and Packages Users Lack of technical support from the management team especially when it doesnt provide enough equipment and machines for use in software operations (Kwan, 2017). Lack of training, skills, knowledge, experience and expertise to operate the packages. Frequent and uncertain changes in technology and accounting software packages Recommendations Woolworths should make sure that the employees have the required training and skills to operate the systems. The company should ensure that the required technical support is available and enough to support all the employees that deal with accounting packages. References Keith, S., 2012. Coles, Woolworths and the local.Locale: The Australasian-Pacific Journal of Regional Food Studies,2, pp.47-81. Atapattu, M. and Sedera, D., 2014. Agility in consumer retail: Sense-Response Alignment through the eyes of customers.Australasian Journal of Information Systems,18(2). Atapattu, M. and Sedera, D., 2014. Mobile Digital Connectedness: Conceptualization, Measurement and Application. InThe Second AIS-Journals Joint Author Workshop in PACIS. Papadopoulos, T., Angappa, G., Dubey, R., S. Fosso, W., and Childe, S.J., 2017 "World Class Sustainable Supply Chain Management: critical review and further research directions. Baskerville, R. L., and Trevor, A. W., 2016. "A critical perspective on action research as a method for information systems research." InEnacting Research Methods in Information Systems: Volume 2, pp. 169-190. Springer International Publishing. Weimar, E. M. I. L. Y., Ariadi, N., Joost, V., Aske, P., Martijn, G., and Alexander P. S., 2017. "The influence of teamwork quality on software team performance."arXiv preprint arXiv:1701.06146. Gholami, R., Sulaiman, A.B., Ramayah, T. and Molla, A., 2013. Senior managers perception on green information systems (IS) adoption and environmental performance: Results from a field survey.Information Management,50(7), pp.431-438. Pehrsson, A., 2017, January. International Firms Market Orientation and Use of Knowledge: Implications for Market Information Systems. 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