Details and Instructions

Instructions:

Read the Case study on pages 2 and 3 entitled Strategic Management Case Study :At The Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory and answer the following four questions.

Case Study Analysis Questions to be answered:

1. Use the case study to discuss and evaluate how an organisation’sbusinesss trategy can evolve

   overtime due to its business cycle.

2. Using strategy management theories what is your assessment of John McLean’s strategic management performance as CEO since returning to the organisation based on the information provided?Justify your assessment by demonstrating your understanding of the role of leadership in strategy execution.
3. Critically analyse the type of corporate culture preferable at WarrnamboolCheese and Butter factory? Justify your answer and explain why corporate culture plays an important role in successful strategy implementation in the diary manufacturing sector in Victoria.
4. Write four recommendation statements seeking to overcome the key strategic management problems identified for the Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory.

Strategic Management Case Study:Atthe Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Factory.

It was on Easter Sunday this year when an out-of-the-blue approach was made to John McLean, the contentedlyretiredformerchiefoflisteddairyprocessorWarrnamboolCheeseandButterFactory.McLean, who had left the company two years earlier, learned that day that his successor as chief executive, Neil Kearney,wasquitting,amovesoonfollowedbycompanychairmanDavidKarpin.Acapitalraisingtofunda much-vaunted joint venture with dairy giant National Foods was about to be cancelled, and some 130 furious dairy farmers had walkedoutonWarrnamboolafterthecompany'sdisastrous decisionjustaweek earlier to slash the price it would pay its suppliers in the wake of a catastrophic collapse in the global milk price.It all amounted to, in McLean's words, quite a"major hiccup". And, to help it get through the major hiccup, the company wanted him back."I guess it was somewhat disappointing to leave the company in such a good state and then to find that … what's the best way of putting it? … things were somewhat in disarray,"hetoldBusinessDay.Three months after that tumultuousfortnight,McLeanisworkingtogetthe company back to where it was — back to what he describes as the "steady as she goes" growth it experienced for most of its 120 years. In the past five years, its growth was not so much steady as exponential. Itsrevenue surgedfrom$285million in2004 to$525 millionlastfinancial year, andnet profit almost doubled from $19.4 million to $36.8 million. This year, however, it has foreshadowed a loss of between $16 million and $18 million.

The Australian dairy industry as a whole is reeling from a stunning collapse in the price of milk and other dairy products. For example, the price of cheese spiked at $US5500 ($A6900) a tonne in December 2007, the topendofaboomfuelledby strongeconomicgrowthinemergingdairymarkets andlowerproduction followingthedroughtinAustralia.Butpricesstartedtotaperoffinearly2008,thenfelloffacliffthisyear. Cheesedeclinedto$US4250atonneinthesecondhalfof2008,beforeplungingto$US2450inFebruary.It has barely recovered to around $US2700 a tonne now."What we are seeing at the moment is the local ramifications of turmoil in the global dairy market," says Tim Hunt, a dairy industry analyst at rural lender Rabobank. "Global dairy demand is very much in the doldrums. Consumers' incomes are falling, but retail dairy prices remain at pre-boom levels in many markets."Around the world, dairy companies and their suppliersaretryingtoadjusttothelowerprices.GovernmentsintheUSandEuropehavebeenstockpiling dairytopreventafurthercollapseinthemilkprice,andgrowthinmilkproductionhasstalled.Britain'sthird- biggestdairyco-operativecollapsedlastmonth,whiledairyfarmersarepullingupstumpsintheUSstateof Vermont.

In Victoria, which accounts for two-thirds of the dairy products exported from Australia, the price plunge hit particularly hard.As dairy prices started falling earlier thisyear,severalprocessors cut the prices they paidfarmersfortheraw product.Thiswasahugemove —whileitiscommonforprocessorsto "stepup" thepricepaidformilkoverthecourseofayear,McLeansaysastepdowninpricehas"neverhappenedin the historyof this company, andmostother companies". Warrnambool alsocut its price, butit saysit did so by less than its competitors.

Despite the gloom, it was confidently forging ahead with plans for a cheese joint venture with National Foods,ownedbyJapanesefoodconglomerateKirinHoldings,designedtoboostWarrnambool'spresence in the domestic market. Warrnambool's $105 million contribution would be funded half by debt and half byacapitalraising.Itannounceda$50.4millionrightsissueattheendofMarch.Injustoveraweek,the raising was abandoned. About the same time it was releasing its glossy rights issue prospectus it was making the decision that would plunge the company into crisis.

Inanefforttostemitsmountinglosses,itannouncedthatitwouldfurtherstepdownthepriceitwas payingfarmers,toalevelmanyfarmerssaidwouldnotevencovercosts.Thereactionwassavage.In 2007-08,accordingtofiguresprovidedbyRabobank,Warrnambooltookdeliveryofabout800million

litresof milk — slightly lessthan one-tenthof Australia's total milk production of9.2 billion litres. The130 farmers who defected fromWarrnambool accounted for 250 million litres of milk — a significant hit.The company, it appeared, fell down on what it had always pushed as one of its "key advantages" — its relationshipwithsuppliers.WhenWarrnamboollistedin2004underMcLean'sstewardship,itsprospectus made much of its "strong supplier base and relationships".

Thefirstplankinitsbusinessstrategywas"focusingonstrongrelationshipswithsuppliers",itdeclared.In the face of the loss of a "significant" portion of its supplier base, the cut was reversed after just a week,

the capital raising abandoned, the National Foods joint venture suspended, and the chairman and chief executivewent.McLeanisnowbackinhisoldofficeonthetopfloorofWarrnambool'smodestcorporate head office. Costs at the company have already been slashed. A wage freeze for salaried workers is in

place, as is a hiring freeze. joint venture talks with National Foods are continuing, almost from scratch. McLeanhasbeenworkinghardatwinningbacksuppliers."I'vebeenoutvisitingfarms.It'sbacktotheold days really, of sitting down around the dining roomtable. I've tried to be upfront … to assure them that despite the very significant loss that we're going to have this year … that we will get this year out of the road and start with a fairly clean sheet of paper."

Source(adapted):RuthWilliams,TheAge,July18,2009.

Format for Writing a Case Study Analysis: Include a Cover Page

Introduction

• Firstly,thisCaseStudyanalysiswilldiscussandevaluateJohnMcLean’sperformanceasCEO

  WarrnamboolCheeseandButterfactory………

• Secondly,thisCaseStudyanalysiswilldiscussandevaluateJohnMcLean’s(referbacktothe second question)…….
• Thirdly,thisCaseStudyanalysiswilldiscussalternativesavailableforthesolutionofthe problem and….

• Fourthly,thisCaseStudyanalysiswilldevelopfourrecommendationstatementsupportedbyin-

  textreferencingtoovercome……….

Body of Case Study Analysis Paragraph 2:

Usethecasestudytodiscussandevaluatehowanorganisation’sbusinessstrategycanevolveover time due to its business cycle. (Question 1)

Paragraph 3:

UsingstrategymanagementtheorieswhatisyourassessmentofJohnMcLean’sstrategic

management performance as CEO since returning to the organisation based on the information provided?Justifyyourassessmentbydemonstratingyourunderstandingoftheroleofleadershipin strategy execution. (Question 2)

Paragraph 4:

CriticallyanalysethetypeofcorporateculturepreferableatWarrnamboolCheeseandButterfactory?

Justifyyouranswerandexplainwhycorporatecultureplaysanimportantroleinsuccessfulstrategy implementation in the diary manufacturing sector in Victoria. (Question 3)

Paragraph 5:

Write4RecommendationStatements

Statetheprinciplesonwhichyouranalysisandrecommendationsarebased.

Writeaminimumoffourrecommendationstatementsthatare:

1. measurable,
2. actionable,
3. bywhom,and
4. bywhen.

Each recommendation statement commences with:

Authorsurname(yearofpublication),recommendsthat………. Each recommendation statement is 2 to 3 lines in length.

Arecommendationstatementisnotadefinitionnorastory.

For example:

AuthorSurname(yearofpublication),recommendsthat theCEOofWarrnamboolCheeseandButter Factory consult broadly with valued business experts before making hasty and ill-informed strategic management decisions in the next week without documenting the benefits and limitations of the decisions and actions they are about to announce and implement.

Conclusion:

Indicateinyourconclusionwhyyouselectedthefinalalternativeresolutionstrategiesinordertoresolve the problem identified in the case study.

Bibliography

• Referencesmustbecitedinalphabeticalorderbyauthor surname.
• Referencesshouldbepublishedinthelastfive(5)years.
• Referencesincludedmustbetextbooks,booksorrefereedjournalarticles.
• StudentsarenottociteWWW.websitereferencesasscholarlyreference.

How To citea Textbook or Refereed Journal Article in a Bibliography How to cite a Textbook or book:

SurnameofAuthor,InitialofFirstName.,(yearofpublication),TileofTextbook,NameofPublisher,Place

ofPublication.

How to citea Refereed Journal Article

SurnameofAuthor,InitialofFirstName.,(yearofpublication),TitleofArticle,NameofJournal,Volume Number, Issue Number, p. or pp.

Example of Bibliography entries formatting and arrangement in Alphabetical order by author surname:

Bray,M.,Waring,P.,Cooper,R.,&Macneil,J.(2018),EmploymentRelations:TheoryandPractice (4th ed.), McGraw Hill, Sydney.

Cradden,C.,(2019),Anewtheoryofindustrialrelations:People,marketsandorganizationsafter neoliberalism. Routledge.

Gold, M., Preuss, L., & Rees, C., (2019), Moving out of the comfort zone? Trade unions revitalisation and corporatesocialresponsibility.JournalofIndustrialRelations,VolumeNo62,IssueNumber(1),pp.132-

155.https://doi.org/10.1177/002218561985447362(1),

Macneil,J.,Bray,M.,& Spiess,L.,(2020),UnionsandcollectivebargaininginAustraliain2019,Journalof Industrial Relations, 62(3), pp.380-402.https://doi.org/10.1177/0022185620908907

Shaw,A.,McPhail,R.,&Ressia,S.,(2018),EmploymentRelations(2nded.),Cengage,Sydney.

Shields, J., Brown, M., Kaine, S., Dolle-Samuel, C., North-Samardzic, A., McLean, P., Johns, R., O’Leary, P., Plimmer,G.,&Robinson,J.,(2016),Managingemployeeperformanceandreward:Concepts,practices, strategies (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, Sydney.

Criteria for Assessing this Task:

ThecriteriaforassessmentareoutlinedintheAssessment 2gradingrubricdocument.Thisisavailableon Moodle.

Submission Details:

StudentsareexpectedtosubmittheiranswersinMicrosoftWordformatviaMoodleusingTurnitin.

Marking and Feedback:

StudentswillbeabletoaccesstheirassessmentmarksandfeedbackonMoodleapproximatelytwo(2) weeks after the due date.