Internal Market Orientation And Its Influence On Organizations: A Case Study Of Aldi, Essay.

Identifying ways to move from the current state to the future state

Discuss about the Internal Market Orientation and Influence on Organisation.

Aldi is one of the leading retail supermarket chains in Australia. It operates in 18 countries, with 10,000 stores all over the 18 countries. Working as an IS/IT specialist, I am the team leader of the future digitalization project. This assignment highlights the required changes in Aldi, in order to lead the future digitalization project successfully. This assignment highlights the development of the future state of the organization. Moreover, various ways to implement the future digitalization. The alignment needed with the existing business strategies and the processes is also highlighted in this assignment. The strategic planning of the new digitalization project has been shed light upon in this assignment, along with the adoption and the change management. Finally, a risk management has been highlighted and the importance of the stakeholder management and the costing and budgeting management had been identified.  

Aldi has been trying to reduce the investments in IT along with the enhancement in the business. A proposed solution for the reduction in the IT costs, yet enhance the business is done with the implementation of cloud computing technologies (Ball et al. 2012). Moreover, the up gradation of the CRM solution is also needed for the company. Another concern that had been raised by the manager was the development of the Internet of Things and how the technology could be implemented in Aldi (Zeng and Gao 2014). Although Aldi had been working with the implementation of ERP solutions, the need for the Sales Force Automation (SFA), SugarCRM, Crowd sourcing has been realized in Aldi (Zeng and Gao 2014). With the successful implementation of the Cloud based CRM (Saas) and the Internet of Things, there will be a revolutionary change in the business of the organization (Teece 2010). The Internet of Things wearable devices will assist the logistic car drivers to track the places for delivery successfully. Moreover, with the implementation of the Cloud based CRM will reduce the overhead of Aldi, ensuring that the information of the customers are stored effectively, without increasing the overhead of the internal database of Aldi.

In order to move from the current state to the future state, the IoT technology is to be implemented. Initially, the employees need to be trained about the new technology that Aldi wants to implement. Some of the most efficient employees are to be chosen to impart the training of the Cloud based CRM (Saas), such that they could train the other employees. along with the training, the importance and the need of the new technology are to be conveyed to the employees as well (Misra et al. 2016). Moreover, the Internet of Technology is completely a new technology, hence the employees have to be convinced to understand the utility of the new technologies (Zeng and Gao 2014). However, a risk management plan is to be made to ensure that even if the new technology is not a successful one, the business of Aldi will not be hampered much. The successful incorporation of the IoT technology is a major step in enhancing the business of Aldi (Zeng and Gao 2014). Moreover, adequate research in the field of the new technology are to be carried out, such that the pros and cons of the new technology could be known. Partnership with a provider of IoT services is also recommended to ensure the successful implementation of the new technologies.    

Aligning with the existing business processes

The business strategy of Aldi includes providing the best quality products at a low price. The company is successful in providing the best products at a low price to the customers, as promised. This highlights that Aldi is successful in maintaining the price as promised. However, with the incorporation of the new technologies, the low price has to be ensured, along with the increase in the cost of implementation of the new technology. In order to retain the low price, along with maintaining the quality, with the implementation of the new technology, Aldi has to reduce the margin of the profit. In this way gradually, the new technology could be implemented along with the low price retention (Zeng and Gao 2014).

The business process of Aldi includes the fulfilment of the goals of the customers. Thus, it is essential to align the existing business processes with the implementation of the new technologies (Brandes and Brandes 2012). The communications with the customers are to be made easier and enhancement in the customers services are also needed for the successful implementation of the new technology. The company logistics needs to be improved such that the drivers could be given the IoT wearable devices an  track the delivery addresses successfully (Raith et al. 2008). Though the transportation cost is likely to increase in the implementation of the new technology, yet the efficiency of the transportation will surely increase.

In order to include the new technology of IoT as well as the Cloud based CRM (Saas), a strategic planning is essential. IoT is basically a network of the various physical objects that are embedded in the software, with the use of sensors and artificial intelligence (Zeng and Gao 2014). Initially, the cloud computing needs to be strengthen such that it is successful in supporting the IoT technology. Various types of sensors such as the active sensors as well as the passive sensors are to be implemented, thus creating a platform for the IoT. An in-depth research on the artificial intelligence is to be done, before the implementation of the IoT technology.

Once the new technologies are implemented, it is essential that the employees align themselves with the technology. Moreover, the business stakeholders are to be consultant as the changes are implemented. This is essential since the resistance from the stakeholders will result in the unsuccessful incorporation of the new technology (Stankiewicz et al. 2014). Moreover, effective training needs to be given to the employees, such that they are able to cope up with the new modes of technology and business (Zeng and Gao 2014). The change management has to be done effectively such that the changes could be effectively reflected in the enhancement of the business. The training needs to the employees are to be identified and the adequate training are to be given such that the employees could find themselves competent enough to use the new technologies successfully. Moreover, the skill among the employees need to be developed such that the implementation of the new technology could be done successfully (Raith et al. 2008). The employees need to be made aware of the importance that the new technology has on the enhancement of the business. Thus, the acceptance of the changes and effective change management has a key role to play in Aldi. The managers and the supervisors also have a key role to play. They need to motivate the employees along with empowering them for the successful use of the new technology. The IoT is the most modern technology that is prevalent in the world today (Zeng and Gao 2014). Hence, the successful implementation of this technology will definitely establish Aldi as a leader in the retail market. Thus, the effective change management will assist Aldi to gain competitive advantage over its competitors.      

Adoption and change management

Risk is a part of business in any business organization. The presence of risk cannot be mitigated, however, the risks could be managed and the precautions might be taken in order to reduce the extent of the risk and the extent to which the risk affects the business of Aldi (Tortosa et al. 2009). The various types of risk that could be faced by Aldi includes the following risks:

Strategic risk: This kind of risk is faced by a company when the basic business strategy of the company becomes faulty (Misra et al. 2016). However, in case of Aldi, this risk is not valid and is not a major one. The strategies that are taken up by the management are efficient enough for the enhancement of the business of Aldi (Kristiana et al. 2015).

Compliance risk: The compliance risk arises when the business organization does not comply with certain terms and conditions or legislation of the country (Blair and Roe 2010).

Financial risk: The financial risk arises when the new technology that is incorporated in Aldi is expensive and the company is unable to bear the cost of the new technology. In order to mitigate this risk, an in-depth financial planning is to be done such that the exact budget allocated could be utilized effectively (Zeng and Gao 2014). If the financial planning is done well, then the financial risks are high to occur (Byun et al. 2016).

Operational risk: The operational risk is referred to as an unexpected failure in the operations. The operational risk in this case could be the failure to implement the technology successfully (Hayes 2014).

Reputational risk: The risk in the reputation of the company, along with the loss of the brand image of the company is termed as the reputational risk. This risk is not valid in case of Aldi since the company is an established one and has a very good brand image

Delivery risk: Finally, this risk is faced by the company, if the delivery of the products are not done in time. If the products are delayed in delivery or damaged while delivery, then the delivery risk arises in Aldi (Manuj and Mentzer 2008). In order to mitigate this risk, the IoT technology needs to be used in the wearable devices such that the delivery logistics could be easily tracked.

The key stakeholders of Aldi are the employees as well as the suppliers. Aldi has a huge number of suppliers who supply the best quality raw materials. The stakeholders are affected by the incorporation of the latest technology. While the incorporation of the new technology are planned, the stakeholders are to be informed regarding the organizational and the operational changes. The stakeholder management is essential for the effective operations of the business and the incorporation of the new technology. The lack of effective stakeholder management will result in the resistance faced from the employees as well as the external stakeholders. With the incorporation of the technology of IoT, the external stakeholders will be benefitted positively as the incorporation of technology would enhance the business at Aldi. However, the internal stakeholders might feel that their existences are at stake since the incorporation of the technology would reduce the manual labour.           

Risk management

The initial cost of incorporation of the technology is very high. However, once the technology is incorporated successfully, it will reduce the overall operational cost and the cost of manual labour. The cost and budget management is essential since the new technological developments are to be done within the allocated budget.

Conclusion

It could be concluded that the incorporation of the new technology of Cloud based CRM SaaS and the IOT has a key role to play in enhancing the business of Aldi. However, the effective implementation is useful for the company. The employees need to cope up with the changes in the operations and technology and make this trending technology an effective one. 

It could be recommended that Aldi should venture into the incorporation of the new technology, only if it is financially and technically feasible. Moreover, it is also recommended that the company should take into consideration the present market condition in order to incorporate the new technology and enhance the business of Aldi. Moreover, it is also recommended that the expertise of the employees are to tested before implementation of the new technology. If the employees are not expert enough to understand and implement the technology, then the implementation will go in vain.

References

Ball, D., Geringer, M., Minor, M. and McNett, J., 2012. International business. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Blair, M.M. and Roe, M.J. eds., 2010. Employees and corporate governance. Brookings Institution Press.

Brandes, D. and Brandes, N., 2012. Bare essentials: the Aldi way to retail success. BoD–Books on Demand.

Byun, J., Kim, S., Sa, J., Kim, S., Shin, Y.T. and Kim, J.B., 2016. Smart City Implementation Models Based on IoT Technology.

Hayes, J., 2014. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Kristiana, S. P. D., Natalia, C., Silalahi, A., & Aldi, B. E. (2015). Strategic Collaboration with Shipping Companies. The International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE), 5(12), 37-45.

Manuj, I. and Mentzer, J.T., 2008. Global supply chain risk management strategies. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 38(3), pp.192-223.

Misra, G., Kumar, V., Agarwal, A. and Agarwal, K., 2016. Internet of things (iot)–a technological analysis and survey on vision, concepts, challenges, innovation directions, technologies, and applications (an upcoming or future generation computer communication system technology). American Journal of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 4(1), pp.23-32.

Raith, M.G., Staak, T. and Wilker, H.M., 2008. A decision-analytic approach to blue-ocean strategy development. In Operations Research Proceedings 2007 (pp. 225-229). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

Stankiewicz, M.J., Gli?ska-Newe?, A., Lorenczewski, R., Karaszewski, R., Lis, A., Haffer, R., Kali?ska, M., Józefowicz, B., Chodorek, M., Wi?ska, J. and Mazur, K., 2014. Positive Management. Managing the Key Areas of Positive Organisational Potential for Company Success.

Teece, D.J., 2010. Business models, business strategy and innovation. Long range planning, 43(2), pp.172-194.

Tortosa, V., Moliner, M.A. and Sánchez, J., 2009. Internal market orientation and its influence on organisational performance. European Journal of Marketing, 43(11/12), pp.1435-1456.

Zeng, W. and Gao, H., 2014. Optic fiber sensing IOT technology and application research. Sensors & Transducers, 180(10), p.16.