FH ⭐️ Thankyou so much, I'll make sure to use these in the leadup to the SAC and I don't think we can attach stuff? (either that or I just have not been able to find it lol, about a 50/50 chance I'm just blind). I've also copied and pasted the one case study we did below just in case it may be useful but feel free to ignore it completely. Goodluck for your SAC!
AUSTRALIA POST
Background
Australia Post is a self-funded business enterprise that is wholly owned by the Australian Government. Founded in 1975, it was previously a department of the federal government, although its establishment dates back to 1810 when the first post office was opened in Sydney. In 1989, Australia Post was incorporated under the Australian Postal Corporation Act.
In addition to providing postal services across Australia and internationally to more than 200 countries, Australia Post offers retail, banking and travel services. It has more than 4320 retail outlets Australia wide, with over half of them located in rural and remote areas, and it delivers nearly 3 billion items each year.
It offers a range of business services, one of which is MyPost Business that enables businesses to send parcels efficiently by using an online portal to create and pay for shipping labels, and track them. Australia Post also offers parcel, freight and logistics services through its subsidiary Star Track. It is Australia’s largest parcels, freight and logistics supplier. (Logistics refers to planning and executing the movement and storage of products and materials through a supply chain from the point of origin to its final destination.)
Australia Post employs approximately 37 000 people directly, including casual workers, and has an ‘extended’ workforce consisting of around 27 000 contractors, post office licensees and consultants.
Financial performance and business objectives
In the 2020–21 financial year, Australia Post recorded $8.3 billion in revenue and a profit before tax of $100.7 million. It contributes around $6 billion annually to the Australian economy. Australia Post’s profits are reinvested into the business or paid to its sole shareholder, the federal government, as dividends. In the 2020–21 financial year, the dividend was $46.2 million.
Australia Post’s principal objectives are based on commercial and community service obligations, as set out in the Australian Postal Corporation Act. According to its Statement of Corporate Intent 2020–21 – 2023–24 (page 2), Australia Post’s principal objectives are:
to supply postal services within Australia and between Australia and places outside Australia. While doing this, we will provide high-quality, efficient services to the community, and operate commercially and achieve a reasonable return on assets.
Australia Post has a broad range of stakeholders, including:
• customers
• its workforce, including employees and an extended workforce
• partners, for example logistics companies such as ReadyToShip and Aramex, and not-for-profit organisations such as The Big Issue and Beyond Blue
• suppliers
• the federal government, as a customer, shareholder and regulator
• the community.
Leadership team
Australia Post has a board of directors and an executive leadership team consisting of a chief executive officer and seven executive general managers who are responsible for different areas of the organisation.
In late 2021, Paul Graham was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Australia Post, having previously been Woolworths Group’s Chief Supply Chain Officer.
He immigrated to Australia from Northern Ireland in the 1970s and started work at the age of 18 in the area of customer service at an air freight company. He later moved into the field of sales and operations, working in different jobs. He rose to the position of Chief Operating Officer of the Supply Chain division at logistics company DHL, before joining Woolworths.
Paul Graham is aware of the pressures on supply chains caused by increased consumer demand created through e-commerce, combined with high customer expectations about efficient and effective service delivery. Given his background, he strongly believes it is important for executives to ‘get out of the office’ and talk to frontline team members, who are doing the hard work in warehouses or delivering parcels, and to listen to and respect their views. He regards it as his responsibility to invite feedback from all areas of the business, including from team members, customers and other stakeholders, to avoid developing an ‘ivory tower’ mindset and losing touch with frontline employees. He has appointed a new executive team who he says has the right skills and strategy to ensure Australia Post meets customers’ expectations.
Ethical standards and corporate culture
Australia Post places a high value on being one of the nation’s most accessible and trusted brands and postal services. Its core values, which are documented in a number of its publications, are trust, inclusivity, empowerment and safety. These values underpin the business’s ethical standards, which guide conduct and behaviour among Australia Post employees and with the organisation’s partners and customers.
In 2020, Australia Post’s ethical standards were called into question when it was revealed that four of its senior managers were given Cartier watches valued at $20 000 in total as a reward for securing a lucrative contract with three of Australia’s largest banks. Despite Australia Post profiting from the contract and being required to operate commercially, the purchase of the Cartier watches was considered by some people to be an example of a negative corporate culture. The purchase was also regarded as being out of step with public expectations and a waste and misuse of taxpayer money, given that Australia Post is a government-owned enterprise.
Australia Post is a self-funded business enterprise that has 4320 post offices
across Australia, including over 2500 in rural and remote areas.
QUESTIONS AND TASKS
1 a. Define the term ‘government business enterprise’.
b. State two characteristics of a government business enterprise.
c. Distinguish between a government business enterprise and a social enterprise.
d. Is a government business enterprise the most suitable type of business for Australia Post? Justify your answer.
2 The following statistics, which have been reproduced from the Australia Post annual report 2021 (page 1), measure performance against specific targets.
Analyse the statistics and state which one of Australia Post’s principal objectives each performance result has helped to achieve. Justify your answer.
Performance statistics (2020–21) Related principal objective Justification
i. 15 000 street posting boxes compared with a target of 10 000
ii. Rolled out route optimisation software to more than 3700 drivers to support delivery of 500 000 parcels every day
iii. Revenue of $8.27 billion, an increase of 10.3%
iv. 2517 post offices in rural and remote areas compared with a target of 2500
v. On-time delivery of letters performance of 95.1% compared with a target of 94%
vi. A dividend of $46.2 million paid in the 2020–21 financial year, compared with a target of $39.8 million
3 a. Select two of the following general business objectives that are closely aligned with Australia Post’s principal objectives. Justify your choices.
• To make a profit
• To increase market share
• To improve efficiency
• To improve effectiveness
• To fulfill a market need
• To fulfill a social need
• To meet shareholder expectations
b. Describe two ways Australia Post can ‘meet shareholder expectations’.
4 a. Describe two characteristics of two stakeholders of Australia Post.
b. Of Australia Post’s stakeholders, identify those that are internal stakeholders and those that are external stakeholders.
c. The following issues were identified by Australia Post’s internal and external stakeholders in 2021, as reported in Australia Post’s 2021 annual report.
For each of the issues, list one stakeholder for whom the issue would be a prime concern.
Stakeholder issue Stakeholder
i. Employee safety, health and wellbeing
ii. Viable parcel business
iii. Operating profitably
iv. Workforce engagement
v. Post office network viability
vi. Customer experience
vii. Corporate governance
viii. Employer of choice
ix. Reliable letters business
x. Supporting the community
xi. Employee safety, health and wellbeing
d. Choose two of the stakeholders you listed in your answer to part c. and explain why the corresponding issue would be important to them.
e. Outline one possible conflict of interest between two of Australia Post’s stakeholders.
5 a. Identify the management style of Australia Post’s CEO, Paul Graham. With reference to the case study, justify your answer.
b. Describe two management skills that Paul Graham would need to possess when using the management style you identified in your answer to part a.
c. In what circumstances might Paul Graham use a different management style? Identify the management style he might use in these circumstances and justify your choice.
6 a. i. Define the term ‘corporate culture’.
ii. Why was the Cartier watch controversy at Australia Post regarded by some people as an example of a negative corporate culture?
b. What are the possible implications of the controversy for Australia Post and how might these affect the success of the business?
c. Explain how the Cartier watch controversy at Australia Post could be regarded as an example of the real culture of a business not being aligned with the official culture.
d. Using a different business example, explain how official corporate culture and real corporate culture can differ.
