Marketing Strategies Of Woolworths Limited †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Marketing Strategies Of Woolworths Limited. Answer: Introduction of the selected organisation: For this report, Woolworths Limited has been selected as the organisation, as it is one of the leading retailers in Australia and it is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. This is a retail super chain and it is mainly owned on the part of Woolworths Group. The organisation is involved in expanding the range of products sold in the supermarkets and corresponding retail stores through the sale of stationery items, kitchenware and magazines. In addition, the organisation has initiated various marketing strategies like promotional offers and discounts in attracting new and potential customers. Corporate governance disclosures of Woolworths Limited: From the corporate governance report of the organisation, it has been found that the board is to ensure the shareholders interests by appraisal of the organisational strategies, performance and policies (Woolworthsgroup.com.au 2017). In order to ensure this, a board charter has been adopted for regulating the composition of the board and the meeting process. In addition, the chairperson of Woolworths Limited is accountable to monitor the contribution of the individual directors along with evaluating their performance and the overall board. It has been found that majority of the directors involved with Woolworths Limited are independent, which could be validated with the help of the following figure: Along with this, the board has formed a nomination committee to review the potential candidates for board appointment as well as the retired directors standing for re-election by considering skills, experience and diversity of the board composition (Sivathaasan 2016). Woolworths Limited has developed a code of conduct for all staffs, directors and executives. Such code of conduct is associated with trading policy in company securities and continuous disclosure to ensure the interests of all the associated stakeholders. Some of the codes of conduct include the trading policy on company securities and continuous disclosure to comply with the regulatory requirements (Beekes, Brown and Zhang 2015). For communicating with and ensuring participation of the shareholders, Woolworths Limited holds annual general meetings mainly in November along with publishing the decisions taken after the board meeting has been completed. The organisation has formed a risk management team, which looks after the material business risks and report the same to the management about managing such risks in an effective fashion. The remuneration committee has been formed on the part of the organisation as well and most of the members in the remuneration committee are independent and the head of the committee is not the head of the board. Compliance of Woolworths Limited with the essential principles of corporate governance: The essential principles of corporate governance as laid out in the ASX rule and the compliance status of Woolworths Limited are depicted as follows: Presence of effective foundations for management and oversight: A listed organisation is required to reveal the respective roles and responsibilities of its board and management along with the way of monitoring and evaluating the overall performance (Claessens and Yurtoglu 2013). From the above section, it has been found that Woolworths Limited has adopted a board charter for regulating the composition of the board and the meeting process. In addition, the chairperson of Woolworths Limited is accountable to monitor the contribution of the individual directors along with evaluating their performance and the overall board. Structure of the board in adding value: As laid out by Larcker and Tayan (2015), a listed organisation needs to have a board of effective size, skills, composition and commitment for enabling it in discharging its duties effectively. It has been found that majority of the directors involved with Woolworths Limited are independent and the board has formed a nomination committee to review the potential candidates for board appointment as well as the retired directors standing for re-election by considering skills, experience and diversity of the board composition. Acting responsibly and ethically: It is of utmost importance for an organisation to act in a responsible and ethical manner in the operating market (Sivathaasan 2016). Woolworths Limited has developed a code of conduct for all staffs, directors and executives. Such code of conduct is associated with trading policy in company securities and continuous disclosure to ensure the interests of all the associated stakeholders. Safeguarding integrity in corporate reporting: A listed organisation needs to have formal and rigorous methods for independent verification along with safeguarding the integrity of corporate reporting (Tricker and Tricker 2015). Woolworths Limited has established a remuneration committee, in which most of the members in the remuneration committee are independent and the head of the committee is not the head of the board. Respecting the rights of the shareholders: It is necessary for a listed organisation to ensure the rights of the stakeholders by providing them with effective facilities and information (Young and Thyil 2014). Some of the policies for ensuring the shareholders rights include the trading policy on company securities and continuous disclosure to comply with the regulatory requirements. Recommendations for future improvement: Woolworths Limited could adopt the following measures for improving its corporate governance principles further: The organisation needs to provide greater clarification of the boards role in its corporate governance statement Monitoring the organisational performance is another requirement, which would help in identifying any disparity before the disclosures are made. The directors could be provided with greater financial information so that they could evaluate the financial position of the organisation in a better manner and formulate any steps for further improvements. The board and director performance needs to be evaluated independently and if any gap is identified, measures need to be taken to strengthen the principles of corporate governance. Woolworths Limited could conduct audit of all the individuals involved with the organisation by appointing an external firm to examine the corporate behaviours and policies. Finally, the organisation could develop a manual in order to govern the company relations. The managers and owners need to be involved here for providing a message to the staffs that effective behaviour within the organisation initiates from the top. References: Asx.com.au. (2017). [online] Available at: https://www.asx.com.au/documents/asx-compliance/cg_principles_recommendations_with_2010_amendments.pdf [Accessed 5 Sep. 2017]. Beekes, W., Brown, P. and Zhang, Q., 2015. Corporate governance and the informativeness of disclosures in Australia: a re?examination.Accounting Finance,55(4), pp.931-963. Claessens, S. and Yurtoglu, B.B., 2013. Corporate governance in emerging markets: A survey.Emerging markets review,15, pp.1-33. Larcker, D. and Tayan, B., 2015.Corporate governance matters: A closer look at organizational choices and their consequences. Pearson Education. Sivathaasan, N., 2016. Corporate governance and leverage in Australia: A pitch.Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems,15(4), pp.819-825. Tricker, R.B. and Tricker, R.I., 2015.Corporate governance: Principles, policies, and practices. Oxford University Press, USA. Woolworthsgroup.com.au. (2017). [online] Available at: https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/icms_docs/182380_Corporate_Governance_Statement.pdf [Accessed 5 Sep. 2017]. Young, S. and Thyil, V., 2014. Corporate social responsibility and corporate governance: Role of context in international settings.Journal of Business Ethics OfFinance 122(1), pp.1-24.