Project Proposal – Interface Floor Walmart Vs. Four Square

BSNS5350 – Business Process Improvement -  Assignment 4(a)

Business Process Improvement

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Project Proposal – Interface Flor (4a)

Walmart VS. Four Square

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Student Name & ID

Mo Fei                             (1461464)

       Bikramjit Singh Sidhu    (1474350)

Rachana Ahire                 (1474338)

George Chirayath            (1475205)

Table of Contents

Table of Contents        1

1. Introduction         2

2. Background         2

3. Investigation         5

4. Reference List        10

1. Introduction

Targeted Company - Four Square

Four Square, an emerging supermarket from the Foodstuffs grocery buying co-operative in 1920 by providing the grocery chain stores in New Zealand.  The founder, Heaton Barker has formed co-operative buying group of individual grocers from the Auckland Master Grocers' Association in 1922. Afterwards, this group has registered a company. Until now, the Four Square has expended to 280 stores with wide variety of groceries and services over New Zealand. The ways of its good distribution are mainly through retailers and wholesale with a focus of quality and value (Four Square, n.d.). However, with regard to Four Square sustainability development, they have no plan or action taken, yet no intention is detected through our research. The need of sustainability to every company is essential, as it keeps business to prosperous in an economic way from a long-term prospective, but also it is conductive to our ecosystem that every humankind depends upon today.

1. Background

        2.1 Global Business Environment and Operations Strategy

International business has led to the globalization with no evidence of remission, is also greatly influencing domestic business in changing operations forms in order to stay competitive in the marketplace. This force offers opportunities that company may overlook in the past, which will enhance company performance and profitability. It also helps to cost reduction and operations improvement (Linda Ray, para1, n.d.). Externally speaking, by entering global market, company needs to understand the political, sociological and demographic systems in the targeted market as well as customers (Jay Heizer, p196, 2013). This requires company to devise overall strategies accordingly to enhance compliance with various prevailing market trends.

Internally, each functions are obligated to coordinate its own strategies to overall strategy. Production strategy should be focused on development through product selection, definition and design on the basis of product life cycle, which also has significant impacts on operations management by supporting competitive advantages (Jay Heizer, p194-195, 2013). Likewise, operations strategy needs to strengthen competitiveness through product differentiation, cost leadership and response to customer (Jay Heizer, p71-72,2013).

2.2 Sustainability

Mission not only directs company with destination, but also influences the ways on how company can reach the destination through strategy (Jay Heizer, p70, 2013). Today, in order to prosperity and global dominance in its field, few companies focused their missions on environmental protection. Subsequently, the mistreatment of resources and energy by business and manufacturing industry have caused decline of the biosphere. That’s where sustainable development need to be imposed urgently. Sustainability is a win-win solution that helps company to satisfy the need of present development goals while sustaining ability of ecosystem continuously to provide natural resources and ecosystem services to the society. It is often connected with corporate social responsibility, which involves managerial decision with the consideration of environmental, social and financial impacts. It is especially crucial for the operations functions, from purchasing raw material to produce the product to distribution, company has to think strategically and environmentally on how to make to higher profits with lower cost and harms to the environment (Jay Heizer, p224-225,2013).