JB Hi-Fi Company Profile, Environment Analysis, Corporate Social Responsibility Essay.

Mr. John Barbuto is the person who established JB Hi-Fi Company in 1974. The company mainly operates in two countries i.e. Australia and New Zealand. They are the retailer of consumer goods and have their headquarters at Chad stone shopping center in Melbourne (JB Hi-Fi, 2017). The company is specialized in selling electrical home appliances, video games, blu-rays, DVDs, CDs and electronics/hardware. In the industry of electronic consumer goods, JB Hi-Fi Company is very famous and is one of the successful retailing company. They are counted in one of the fastest growing business in this industry because their aim is to become the only retailer store with a maximum number of stores in Australia and New Zealand. The company has expanded its business in many places as they have their 112 stores. JB Hi-Fi Company has many competitors who give strong competition to them such as Target Australia, Harvey Norman, Myer and David Jones are the names of some of the Australian competitors. Along with them, JB Hi-Fi Company has competitors in New Zealand also, they are Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming.

The company has some historical facts which are the reason behind their success. Mr. John Barbuto the founder of JB Hi-Fi sold its business to Richard Bouris, Peter Caserta and David Rodd in 1983. They took this business to the heights by expanding the store in Sydney and Melbourne. The vision of the company is to have a maximum number of retailing stores in different countries in order to become the first choice of their customers. The mission is a declaration which includes the purpose of the organization and remains same for long-term (Papulova, 2014). The mission of JB Hi-Fi Company is to offer high-quality hi-fi range and recorded music at low cost (Market Publishers, 2016). In 2003, the company was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and after that, it became the biggest retailer of home entertainment. According to the annual report of JB Hi-Fi 2016, it was noted that company earned a net profit of $152.2 million after tax (JB Hi-Fi, 2016).

Environment analysis is said to be a strategic tool which is used to identify the internal and external elements which affect the organization (Pestle Analysis, 2017). Business consist of the internal and external environment which affect the long term and short term operations of the business. Internal environment factors can affect the business positively or negatively and these factors can be controlled by the management of the business (IEDU, 2017). On the other side the factors of external environment cannot be controlled by the management, therefore, business has to work by considering all those factors (Indris and Primiana, 2015).

Environment Analysis

The external environment involves an operating environment and general environment. Operating environment involves suppliers, intermediaries, customers who help the organization to connect with the public, competitor, and customers. The general environment involves political, technological, economic, demographic, natural, cultural and international environments. The business receives different opportunities, the risk from both the operating and general environments (Olarewaju and Folarin, 2012).

In order to achieve success business adopt the internal environment which includes policies, operations, financial and human resources and technologies to the external environment. Environmental analysis is done by the business for identifying the influence of specific factor of the operating and general environments on the working of the business. It also helps in recognizing opportunities and threats available in the business environment in the form of the strengths and weaknesses of the company. For example- A business may reflect the influence of operations in a communist country and the risk posed by the government. On the other hand, a business can also realize the opportunities due to the control of the government (Nordmeyer, 2017).

Environmental analysis of JB Hi-Fi Company is a strategic tool used to identify the organization’s macro environment. External environment involves Economic, Technological, Political, Legal, and social and environmental factors that influence the JB Hi-Fi Company’s macro environment. There is a direct impact of the changes in the factors of macro environment on the operations of JB Hi-Fi Company and on other retailing businesses. These factors can influence the Porter Five Forces which provide competitive landscape and shape strategies. Further, they can also affect the competitive advantage of the company and the level of profitability of the retailing industry.

Environment analysis will brief about the challenges that JB Hi-Fi Company can face in the macro environment other than competitive forces. For example, an organization can be profitable by growing in the market but it can be negative for JB Hi-Fi Company if it exists in the political environment which is unstable. Spanish oil giant Repsol is an example of this as it has faced the same condition. It operated in Argentina as average profitability operations and received high returns in 5-6 years. But the company was later taken by the government of Left Wing. So, in the end, the decade-long profits were not earned.

All the business in the world is facing problems due to fast changes in technology. To explain this point transportation industry will be a good option. From last 5 years industry is transforming very fast, not even giving little time to business to understand and cope with the changes (Robins, 2016). Uber and Lyft are the examples of cap companies who are dominating the whole industry of Taxi. The industry of car or vehicles is changing drastically and moving forwards towards complete automation system which is controlled by technology firms like Google and production is disturbed by Tesla, who has started a revolution of the electronic car. Only technological analysis of an industry is not important but also the frequency at which technology mess up that industry. If speed will be slower than industry will get more time to cope with the situation but its speed will be fast than it will mess up the industry (Fern Fort University, 2017). Some of the technology analysis impacts that must be considered are-

• Influence on cost structure in the industry of retailing
• Technological diffusion rate
• Recent development in the technology by the competitors of JB Hi-Fi Company. In order to survive in the market, the company has to make some changes in its offering so that they can give competition to the competitors.
• Influence on value chain structure in the sector of retailing

External environment

Technological constituent signifies types or classes which make a feasible initiative in a marketplace of technology. In the present situation, people are getting familiar with the technology and it has become easier to use them. JB Hi-Fi Company is a well-known company which deals in supplying CDs before the presence of smartphone which is now used to access the internet to see videos. Previously, people use to buy CDs if they want to get entertain and watch a movie. Therefore, it reflects that the sale of CD is reducing and JB Hi-Fi Company is forced to reduce their product prices.

It is necessary for all the organizations to fulfill its duties and responsibilities towards the society. The society expects that the business should not only operate for their benefit and profit but they should also work for the benefit of the society (Pachamama Alliance, 2017). Therefore, society looks forward to those businesses which are focused towards the society and give something valuable to them. Many businesses also perform their corporate social responsibilities in order to improve their image in the market and society. Social responsibility is also known as corporate social responsibility, which reflects the working of organization for the benefit of the society by moving beyond its legal and economic responsibilities (Jennifer, 2017). The manager of the business has to analyze properly that whether their activities are providing benefits to the society or not. Therefore, it is their responsibility to create products according to the taste, preference, and income of their customers and society (Donaldson and Fafaliou, 2003).

The management of JB Hi-Fi Company knows that how much social responsibility is important to fulfill in order to survive in the market. They know what are their responsibilities towards shareholders, employees, suppliers, and employees? Being the leading retailer of Australia and New Zealand JB Hi-Fi Company is dedicated to fulfilling their responsibilities towards the community which involves employees, customers, and its suppliers in order to pay back (JB Hi-Fi Limited, 2013). The JB Hi-Fi Company has initiated a program named as “Helping Hands” which is formed to contribute something to the charitable organizations. This program of the company is supported by its executives, employees, and director. From the payroll system of each of the employees, they contribute their part of donation in the form of dollars which increases the community partner's financial benefits. JB Hi-Fi Company has initiated a partnership with Australian Charities Fund so that they can maintain and develop the program "Helping Hands". The company is contributing their efforts in this program due to its vision of providing a significant impact on society of together working of employees with the society (Australian Charities Fund, 2017). JB Hi-Fi Company strongly believes that if employees and management of the company will work together that a change can be seen in the charity program.

Environmental Analysis purpose

JB Hi-Fi Company launched its Helping Hand program in May 2012 in New Zealand. This program succeeded in bringing its employees together to work for the benefit of society. Approx. 43% of New Zealand employees of the company came forward to contribute to the program. The contribution or donation of employees is done on weekly basis (JB Hi-Fi Solution, 2017). The total contribution which was collected was $ 65,000 and it is expected that it will increase by $ 215,000 in coming future. The partners of the company in the charity program are Kenzies Gift, Youthline, Shelter Box, Forest and Bird, and Plunket.

Further, the Helping Hand program in Australia has gathered approx. 68% employees of the company which is around 47,000 employees. All the employees of Australia contribute to the program on a weekly basis. The process has successfully collected $ 1,800,000 amount of collection and according to the analysis, it will become $ 9,100,000 in coming years. ReachOut.com, Bush Heritage Australia, Sunrise Children’s Village, Fred Hollows Foundations, Song Room, Australian Animal Welfare League, Oxfam, Medicins Sans Frontiers, and Red Kite are the charity partner of JB Hi-Fi Company in Australia.

A donation box is placed in all the stores of JB Hi-Fi in Australia and New Zealand and the name of the box is “Change for Change” donation box. These boxes are placed in the stores where they generate sales to collect donation from the customers of the company to support the Helping Hand program. Entire donation which is collected in these boxes is distributed amongst the company’s charity partners. With the help of “Change for Change” donation boxes total $ 50,000 has been collected in Australia and $ 25,000 in New Zealand in the launching year of these boxes.

The culture of JB Hi-Fi Company is very strong and positive which encourage its employees to bring innovation and creativity in their assigned job. The employees of the company have the leverage to interact with their seniors in order to clear some doubts and even senior management interact freely with their juniors and ask their suggestions in terms of making improvements in their process (Knowledge Management Tools, 2017). All the employees of the company are allowed to speak their point and give their ideas. The culture of the company reflects that they provide equal respect and opportunities to its management and employees (Ahmed and Shafiq, 2014). The example of this culture is the Helping Hand program of JB Hi-Fi Company, which involve all the employees of the company of Australia and New Zealand. Along with this, the management of the company has positive attitudes and forward thinking which inspire and increase the motivation level of employees (JB Hi-Fi, 2014). The key priority of the company is not only earning a profit, they also want to work for the benefit of the society.

External Environment analysis of JB Hi-Fi

(2-10) +4

(2-16) +1

(2-12) +3

(2-13) +4

(2-14) +5

(2-15) +4

(2-11) +5

Note- The score of 2-11 and 2-16 are interchanged according to the instructions.

My total score is 26 which reflects my preference for the workplace is innovative culture, flexible environment, humanistic and informal environment. According to the analysis, this type of preferences is founded in research units, advertising agencies, high-tech companies, and small businesses. The productivity of the individual increases if he/she works in an organization where they want to work or the environment of that organization matches to the preferences of the individual or candidate.

JB Hi-Fi Company is very famous consumer goods retailer in Australia and New Zealand. It is a dream of many people to work with this company so that they can gain a hike in their career. The culture of the company is to offer equal respect and opportunities to all its employees. Along with this, they give first priority to their social responsibility which is a highlighting point. I am happy that I got the change to be a part of this organization as I always wanted to be the part of this organization who thinks for the benefit of the society.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, it can be said that JB Hi-Fi Company is a well-established business deal in consumer electric goods. The company is giving strong competition to its competitors with the help of its skilled employee and Helping Hand program. The company is trying to fight against the external environment factors that can become a hindrance for the company if avoided. This company is the first choice of most of the candidates who are looking forward to move in their career in the retailing sector.

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