Investigation Critical Service Determinants

Question: Discuss about the Investigation Critical Service Determinants. Answer: Introduction The aim of this project is to identify and analyze the issues related to the professional accounting, management and public relation of Woolworths Limited. At the same time, the study also provides some possible solutions so that the company can solve its issues easily. The study follows a systematic structure that starts with the identification of risks related to the professional accounting, management and public relation respectively. Each of the issue is analyzed with the help of theories and models. After that, the study provides the solutions based on the findings in the analysis. Woolworths Limited is one of the largest retail organizations in Australia as well as in the international market. The company is operating its business for more than 92 years (Woolworthsholdings.co.za 2016). Woolworths Limited deals with wide product range, which includes clothing items, food items, hardware and financial services (Woolworthsholdings.co.za 2016). However, recently, the company is facing several issues related to its professional accounting, management and public relations. These issues are identified below: Identifying the issue related to the professional accounting at Woolworths Being the largest retailers in Australia, Woolworths Limited has recruited highly qualifies professionals to take care of the accounting department of the company (Rose, Hawryszkiewycz and Kang 2015). However, in recent survey, the management of the company has identified that the professional accountants of the company are facing a big issue in measuring the assets and liabilities of the company of a particular financial year. It has been disclosed in the annual reports of the company that the company follows the accounting guidelines provided by AASB and IASB (Woolworthsholdings.co.za 2016). As in the guidelines of AASB there is no strict guideline regarding the method of measurement of the assets and liabilities of the company, there are huge confusions among the accounting professionals regarding the method of measurement (Cameron et al.2015). Some of the accountants believe that the historical cost method can be followed because that method is easier and simple to understand. On the other side, some of the accounting professionals believe that fair value method is more appropriate for measuring the assets value of the company. However, most of the time, the company has followed the historical cost method for measuring values of its current assets (Kaplan and Atkinson 2015). On the other side, the company has measured the financial assets of it on the basis of the fair value method. These measurement techniques create major problems for the accounting professionals of the company (Collier 2015). If this particular issue at Woolworths Limited is analyzed based on the accounting theory or accounting measurement theory, then it can be identified that both of the measurement techniques are right. However, Macve (2015) stated that Fair value method of measurement is more scientific than the historical cost method. This is because in the fair value method, the accounting measurements are done based on the current market price of the assets and liabilities, which is not possible in case of historical cost method of measurement (Bratten, Causholli and Myers 2015). In case of historical cost method, the value of the assets is determined in an unrealistic way because the depreciation is charged on the assets is not appropriate. Demerjian, Donovan and Larson (2016) mentioned that following the mixed method that is combination of fair value method and historical cost method is not right because the base of these two methods are different. Therefore, measuring the assets based on the mix ed method provides improper value of the total assets of the company (Macve 2015). Therefore, it can be said that this measurement issue of Woolworths Limited is a major accounting issue at current scenario. Identifying the issues related to the management at Woolworths Limited At the current scenario, the management at Woolworths Limited is currently facing several issues related to the managerial activities of the company. The biggest managerial issue that the company is currently facing is related to the managerial decisions regarding the selection of locations and botched store roll out strategy of the company (Zarkada-Fraser and Fraser 2015). This indicates that the management has made mistake while segmenting and targeting the market. In this context, it can be stated that, the management of the company has not followed the STP model properly (Methner, Hamann and Nilsson 2015). The STP model provides the guidelines regarding the segmentation, targeting and positioning activities of a company. If this particular managerial issue of the company is analyzed with the help of STP model, then it can be identified that the company has not focused on the geographic segmentation much. Due to this, the management has taken wrong decision regarding the selection of the locations for the outlets of the company. Feigin (2016) noted that, the management at Woolworths Limited has selected the most unfavorable locations for the business and due to that in 2015, the company has faced loss in the hardware section. Another managerial issue faced by the Woolworths Limited is maintaining the stores properly. In the surveys, it has been identified that many customers of Woolworths Limited has complained that they are very disappointed because many times they have found that the shelves at the stores of Woolworths Limited are out of stock (Mortimer and Ingersoll 2015). The customers do not get the right product at right time; however, the company has enough inventories. This indicates that there is fault in the store management of the company. If this particular managerial issue of the company is analyzed by the supply chain management theory, then it can be identified that there is problem between the inbound logistic and outbound logistic of the company (Ahsan and Rahman 2016). At the same time, it can also be identified that there is a problem in proper internal communication system of the company. Woolworths Limited is also facing another managerial issue and that is related with the pricing of its products (Woolworthsholdings.co.za 2016). Many customers of the company have complained that the prices of the products of Woolworths Limited have increased than before. Due to this, the company is losing some customers. If the pricing strategy of the company is analyzed on the basis of pricing models, then it can be identified that the company has focused on psychology pricing model or strategy (Hill and Day 2015). However, as the customers in the current era are much conscious about the pricing, they are not satisfied with this pricing model or strategy. Identifying the issues related to the public relation of Woolworths Limited Woolworths Limited is also facing the issue in building better public relations. The major issue that the company is facing in its public relation activities is in selection of proper media for conducting the public relation. The company has mainly concentrated on the televisions and newspaper for the public relation activities (Woolworthsholdings.co.za 2016). However, in the current scenario, the best media for the public relation activities is the social media. Due to the wrong selection of the media, the company is unable to convey its messages to the right people at the right time. Another issue in public relation activities is inefficiency of the public relation agents of the company. Santos et al. (2015) commented that though the company has hired the well-known public relation agents, the efficiency level of the public relation agents is not up to the mark. Due to this issue, the company is failure to promote itself properly in the market. Alden (2016) stated that the public relation agents of Woolworths Limited are failure to convey the values of the organization to the people or customers in the market. Due to this, the public relation activities of the company are not effective in todays context. Another vital public relation issue is the public relation agents of the company mainly focuses on the propaganda rather than the ethical promotion. This is directly affecting the brand image of the company. Using the propaganda, the public relation agent of the company is able to attract the customers, but that is creating high level of customers dissatisfaction (Booth and Coveney 2015). Customers come to the outlets or stores of Woolworths Limited and purchase the products of the company, but after using the products, they are not finding the products up to the standard that the company promised to them through public relation activities. This is a vital issue for the company (Cameron et al.2015). Therefore, in the above, it can be identified that Woolworths Limited is facing several issues in professional accounting, management and public relations. All of these issues are affecting the performance level of the company to the higher extent. Therefore, it is very important to identify the proper solutions for these issues of the company. Some possible strategies for Woolworths Limited are provided below, which can help the company in solving its current issues. Strategies for solving the issues In order to solve the issues related to the professional accounting, management and public relations, Woolworths Limited may apply the following strategies: In the above, it has been identified that the professional accountants at Woolworths Limited are much confused regarding the selection of best method for measuring the assets value of the company. For the current assets measurement, the accountants follow the historical cost method and for the financial assets, the company follows the fair value method (Macve 2015). However, the study has identified that following the mixed method is not effective because in the mixed method, the valuation of different assets is done on the basis of different assumptions. However, as per many financial experts, fair value method is more appropriate that the historical cost method. The fair value method is based on the current market price, which is more valid for measuring the value of the assets than the historical cost (Bratten, Causholli and Myers 2015). The fair value method properly considers the depreciation of the assets, which is not done in case of the historical cost method. Therefore, it w ill be better for the company if it follows he fair value measurement method for measuring the assets value. Concentrate on the supply chain management: In the discussion regarding the management issues of the company, it has been identified that Woolworths Limited has the issues in maintaining the stocks at the shelves in the outlets. The company is also losing many customers due to this problem. Therefore, in this case, the company can concentrate on the supply chain management (Hill and Day 2015). The company can introduce better technology to improve the connection between the inbound and outbound logistics. At the same time, the company also requires to recruit efficient employee, who can take care of the stock level in the stores. In order to improve the supply chain management the company can apply the lean management strategies (Booth and Coveney 2015). The lean management system will help the company to maintain smooth flow of stock from the inventory to the outlets or stores of Woolworths Limited. Improve the communication level The management at Woolworths Limited needs to improve the communication level within the organization. In order to improve the communication level, the management of the company can concentrate on the technologies. The internal technology of the company must be advanced enough that provides the scope to run a systematic and smooth communication channel or network within the company (Mortimer and Ingersoll 2015). The company focuses on the online communication system. This will help to decrease the communication time within the company. Concentrate of geographic segmentation: The management at Woolworths Limited must concentrate on the geographic segmentation. Proper geographic segmentation will help the company to identify the right place for setting up the outlets of Woolworths Limited. The company can conduct the geographic segmentation based on different regions. It has been identified several times in several researches than the tastes and preferences of the people are same in one particular region (Bratten, Causholli and Myers 2015). Therefore, by segmenting the market as per the regions, the company can easily identify the right region or place for the business. Penetration and economic pricing strategy: The management at Woolworths Limited can concentrate on the market penetration pricing strategy. This particular pricing strategy will help the company to keep the price level of the products and services at low range and this will help to attract the customers, who are more prices conscious. Along with the market penetration pricing strategy, the company can also concentrate on the economic pricing strategy (Cameron et al.2015). This particular strategy will also help the company to maintain the price level at low range, which helps to attract and satisfy the customers. The management at Woolworths Limited must concentrate on the social media like, Facebook and Twitter for the public relation activities. In todays context, most of the people are active in the social media. The lifestyle of the people is so busy that they do not get the time to follow television. Therefore, if Woolworths concentrate on the social media for the public relation activities then they can do it in a better way. Avoid propaganda: The company must suggest the public relation agents to avoid any propaganda during the public relation activities. This will help the company to enhance the reliability of the public relation activities. Appoint the efficient public relation agent: The management at Woolworths Limited must appoint efficient public relation agents for the PR activities of the company. This will help the company to enhance the quality of the PR activities of the company. Conclusion In this study, it has been identified that the Woolworths Limited is one of the largest retailers in the Australian as well as in the international market. The study has also identified that the company is recently facing trouble in the professional accounting, managerial activities and public relation activities. In case of professional accounting, the professional accountants of the company are confused about the selection of proper assets measurement method. However, the study has suggested that the company must concentrate on the fair value method for measurement. 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