Woolworths Limitation free essay sample

Limited Company Student name and number Anna (xingfang zou) 31121 Class name and number Bae 11 Date of submission: 8/1/2012 Teachers name Mary and Katty Table of contents Executive summary The purpose of this report is to evaluate whether Woolworths worth investing from ethical issue and business issue. First, this report will introduce the base information of the Woolworths. Secondly, it will analyze corporate which operate the gambling machine that is unethical issue, but it has found the way to deal with it. Then, it will talk about the share price history from 2011 to 2012. Finally, from the result, it can be easily found that Woolworth is good choice for the investors for it has a increase on profit and it aim to have well responsibilities for the society. This report has some limitation, for Woolworth has lots of brand in the world, it just focus on the problem of the ALH group at this time. Introduction Choosing high profit company is very significant for investors, and ethical investment cannot be neglected. Ethical investment refers to investing into the company which takes responsibility for the society in order to achieve the favor of the customers. If the companies do something unethical to the society, most of customers may refuse to buy the product. This report will, firstly, give the background of Woolworths Limited Company. Then it will survey the evaluation of Woolworths Limited Company ethical issues and the share price history. Finally, it will make a recommendation for the ethical investment. Founded in 1924, Woolworths is one of the largest supermarkets in the global community. Woolworths states that it is a versatile place where goods are cheap for every man, woman and child. Besides the supermarket, Woolworths also owns 6 other brands, such as Big W which has a range of products; Dan Murphy’s which specializes liquid goods; ALH Group which manages the hotels. Only in 2012, Woolworths has earned 2956. 7 million dollars and 28 million customers are served in each week. Evaluation of the Woolworths in terms of ethical issue Although Woolworths aims to give its customers an excellent shopping experience, it still has some unethical issues. These unethical issues concerns Woolworths gaining hundreds of millions of dollars a year from poker machines. This is not responsible of the company because it targets lower-income consumers and this results in further inequality. 1. 1 Woolworths Limited Corporate’s unethical issue Woolworths is the largest single owner and operator of poker machines in Australia. It owns 12,650 poker machines which is 6% of the country’s electronic gambling machines through the ALH Group in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. There is a study showing that about 600,000 people play the poker machines each week but only 15% of them contribute to 40% of all the losses. That means 15% of players are addict to poker machines. It can be calculated that one player may lose $1,500 per hour on a standard Australian poker machine. These machines are mostly installed in the disadvantaged areas where low salary citizens live, such as Greater Dandenong, Hume, Whittlesea and Maribyrn. Furthermore, Woolworths gambling machines created over $1,292 million net profit during 2010-2011. This profit stands for 12. 4% revenue of whole country’s hotels and clubs poker machines. The most revenue from poker machines in disadvantaged areas belongs to Woolworths. For example, In Victoria, Woolworths operates 89 hotels contain 5594 poker machines. The machines have a $835 million net income per year, which represent 31. 5 per cent of all revenue from poker machines in Victoria 1. 2 The effect of unethical issue Playing the poker machines is a legal business in Australia; however, it causes great negative effects on the lower-income players. The gamblers pay much more money on playing poker machines,and they may borrow huge amounts of money for playing. When they do not have enough money to pay back and do not want to become a burden to their families, they choose to commit suicide. According to the research, 1 in 5 patients who have attempted suicide are related to gambling problems and have been treated in the Alfred hospital. It also may cause economic inequality because it earns huge money form the disadvantaged areas. Poorer people become poorer, and richer people become richer. 1. 3 Woolworths Limited Corporate’s respond Because the negative effect of poker machines, one organization manages the campaign named Getup! sk Woolworths to limit the $1 bet each and the maximum loss on the standard Australia poker machine. To be the respond, Woolworths Limitation has announced that by 2014, all hotels and clubs they own will install voluntary pre-commitment which is a system that limits the nominative maximum spending or time on the poker machines. Meanwhile, it cannot been neglected that Woolworths Limitation take the other a rea responsibilities for the society. Everyday Woolworths needs to face to millions of people, such as customers, investors, suppliers. It states that Woolworths will give them the best service, choice and value as their responsibilities. Woolworths give more than 195,000 job opportunities for the whole Australia and make sure these labour resources are ethical. It worths to mention that Woolworths represents their customers donate $55,000 to the Salvation Army Disaster Appeal recently. 1. 4 Evaluation of Woolworths Limitation’s unethical issue The poker machines may have caused a series of harmful effects on the lower- income area; however, Woolworths has decided to install the system which can decrease the influence. It illustrates that Woolworths pursuit to take the responsibilities to the society. The revenue from poker machines only small part of whole Woolworths’ earning, which was less than 0. 6%. , Woolworth is an ethical company. Fully, 2. Evaluation of company in term of share price history Figure1:The share price history of Woolworth from 2011 to 2012 Source: Australia Securities Exchange, 2013 The financial situation of Woolworths turns well in recently 2 years. Figure1 indicates Woolworths’ share price between 2011 and 2012, which is created by the Australia Securities Exchange. On the graph, the X-axis represents the share price while the Y-axis stands for the years. The data shows that, since October 2012, the share price of Woolworths stably increased. From the data, Woolworths share price began at $27 on January 2011. After slightly decreasing to below $27, it appeared an increase of $1 which was $28 on June 2011. Since then, it plummeted to $ 24 on October 2011; because, in that period time, the financial crisis cause the expense of daily necessities went down. According to Mr. Luscoinbe, 2011 was a challenge year for retail. It happened a series issue, such as higher domestic saving rates, natural disaster, which give negative effect on Woolworths Limitation’s share price. The investors did not have enough confidence to buy Woolworths Limitation‘s share. However, since Woolworths announce multi-channel ambition, the share price dramatically increased by $5 to $30, reaching the peak on August 2012. At the end of 2012, there are a fluctuation between $29 and $30. It can be foreseen that Woolworths’ share price would keep rise in the following period. 3. Recommendation It is recommended that Woolworths is worth investing for following two reasons. There are 2 aspect of recommendation. Firstly, from the social credibility, Woolworths has found the improved method to release the negative effect on the world. Also, it is not the major income sources of the companies. In addition, Woolworths is the global supermarket, it take more attention on the safety and quality of product to achieve the customers’ trust and respect. Moreover, Woolworths Limitation is responsible for its own employee, which supply safe and health workplace. The other aspect of analysis Woolworths is financial development. From the share price history, it can be seen that the trend of share price will keep increase in the following period. The multi-channel online shopping can satisfy the need of customers and the well perspective development. In conclusion, Woolworths is an ethical company, although it has gambling machines. It is pleased to find that Woolworths has already stated the solution to deal with this problem. At the same time, we also have done some activities to take the social responsibilities. References