Wilkinson Hardware Stores Ltd - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3392 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2017/09/11 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? Company History Wilkinson Hardware Stores Ltd. is a family-owned general merchandiser in the UK founded by J. K. Wilkinson in 1930. From its humble beginning as a small hardware shop in Leicester, the company has grown into one of the leading retailers in the UK with ? 2 billion turnover, 22,000-employees, and about 350 stores across England, Wales and Scotland. The company’s growth over the years has been driven by the simple philosophy of selling quality goods at discount prices, and putting customers at the heart of everything they do. To remain competitive, Wilkinson Hardware has been constantly developing strategies to respond to changing customers needs. The company has evolved from a small local hardware store to focus on DIY products, and then started selling groceries supermarket goods, followed by the launching the Wilko brand, and eventually expanded its product range beyond its traditional hardware and DIY market to over 25,000 items. Wilkinson now sells a wide range of DIY, garden, homewares, office, pet, health and beauty products both in store and through WilkinsonPlus. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Wilkinson Hardware Stores Ltd" essay for you Create order Current Strategies Wilkinson’s vision and strategies have been built on its core philosophy of giving people good quality goods for good price. To manage its competitive environment, the current strategy stems from its core ‘generic’ strategy of cost leadership (Porter), but with the combination of beyond-cost approaches. Alternatively, according to Bowman’s Strategy Clock, we can say that the company is deploying the hybrid strategy, which includes low cost base and reinvestment in low price and differentiation. The company positioned itself as a ‘high street’ value retailer which is committed to provide customers with quality products, value for money, and friendly service. The company’s rapid growth over the last 10 years proves that the company has succeeded in delivering low prices for customers whilst building differentiation on the basis of its broad product range and good customer service. Value As part of its continued efforts keep costs low and remain a price leader, Wilkinson invests in its people, logistics, and information technology to reduce costs and improve efficiency. It also develops its private label, ‘Wilko Everyday Value’ brand to create more value for its customers by providing quality products at everyday low prices. Wilkinson’s own branded goods are now an important source of revenue (? 640m) and account for as much as 35. 9% of its sales. Quality Wilkinson regularly reviews its quality management systems to ensure that customers are offered the best quality at the lowest price possible. This commitment to quality is also reflected in the Wilko Brand. Customers can be assured that they are buying high quality products at a value for money price with the Wilko Brand quality seal on their products. Customer-centric approach and good service Wilkinson’s philosophy has remained the same over the years and its success has been attributed to its commitment of providing customers with an ultimate shopping experience. Apart from being conveniently located at the center-of-town, the company invests in its people and train its people to serve customers quickly, accurately, and with a smile. Community To inspire loyalty and improve its image in the hearts of the community, the company stood firm to its five corporate values – Be passionate, Pull together, Build trust, Show we care, Shape the future. Apart from ‘putting customers at the heart of everything we do’, Wilkinson is also giving back to the communities via various programmes and local charitable causes. Strategies for 2010 and beyond In conjunction with Wilkinson’s 80th anniversary, the company rolled-out of a re-branding programme with new ‘Look and Feel’ in year 2010 to overhaul its identity. Under this initiative, Wilkinson revamped its logo and changed the store formats to create a cleaner and more appealing visual identity. The rebranding of Wilkinson stores with the new theme is expected to refresh and modernized its image in this competitive environment. These new modernized store formats together with the introduction of the strapline â€Å"The home of family value† aims to reemphasize its hybrid strategy and also differentiate itself from competitors like Asda and Morrisons that Wilkinson is not just a value retailer, it also strives to provide quality products with broad range and good service. Growth Diversification Despite the tough economic conditions and intense competition from other low-price retailers, Wilkinson is still growing rapidly through the diversification strategy (Ansoff growth matrix) by entering new markets and continuously expanding its product range based on customer needs. The company continues to increase its market share by opening an average of 20 new stores each year and expanded its business into the Scottish market. Wilkinson’s growth in 2010 is further enhanced by Woolworths’ demise. It is also improving its sourcing by reaching out to the Far East through Wilkinson Asia in Hong Kong. Wilkinson has also redesigned its website (wilkinsonplus. com) to enhance its user-friendliness and features more products to reach out to more online customers. WilkoPlus is growing rapidly and has over 15 million visits so far. ? Environmental Analysis and Impact on Wilkinson’s Strategy We will use the PESTEL framework to analyze how the macroeconomic, social, technological, and environmental factors that is affecting Wilkinson’s strategy. Porter’s Five Forces framework is used to identify industry-specific factors that have influenced its strategy. PESTEL Framework Economic In 2010, the UK retail industry continues to struggle from the impact of the recession due to negative factors like rising unemployment, falling disposable incomes, rise in VAT, increasing savings ratio, and depressed housing market. The housing market is the key driver for hardware, household, DIY and garden products. Demand for new houses has dropped following the tightening of mortgage approval and this has resulted in the shrinking of the homewares DIY industry. The tough economic conditions are also changing the way consumers spend. UK consumers are becoming much more cautious about their spending. Rather than spending money on non-essential items, household incomes are diverted to payback debts and increase savings. At difficult times like this, consumers would appreciate more great deals and good value for money. Therefore, companies that offer broad range of products and put heavy emphasis on low prices like Wilkinson, Asda, and Tesco were still able to deliver sales growth and continue to increase their market share despite the gloomy economy climate. Another key strategy that has helped Wilkinson go through the tough times was the investment in Wilkinson’s own branded goods, ‘Wilko’. Wilkinson worked hard to keep cost low and provide broader range of products at low prices to attract price sensitive customers. Apart from driving sales through various promotional activities to attract customers to choose Wilkinson, the company also introduced the strapline â€Å"The home of family value† that stresses its commitment to give customers value for money. Social The DIY sector has been declining for some time due to the change in consumer attitudes and spending priorities. Consumers’ interest in DIY has been waning and their willingness and ability to take on home improvement projects has diminished. Table 2) They would rather get someone in to undertake the work and therefore reducing the need for them to make DIY purchases. In response to this decline, Wilkinson is putting its priority on expanding its product range based on customers’ needs. For example, the company re-launched two key departments in 2009, Home and Health Beauty. Nowadays, comp any’s corporate social responsibilities policies are particularly important to community stakeholders such as local communities, consumers, and pressure groups. It is crucial for retailers to continuously improve its CSR performance and engage local community to improve its reputation. Wilkinson has done a lot in 2010 to improve its relationship with local communities who have helped the company to grow over the years. Several community schemes were introduced and the company will fundraise and support a major charity for a year annually. The company also taking many other initiatives to improve its CSR, such as invest in its team members; improve environmental performance and sustainability, and establishing unique relationship and being fair with suppliers and sourcing. Technological Over the last decade, online retailing has been driven by the growth in internet penetration and website interactivity features. On top of that, new devices with online access such as Smartphones and the iPad is expected to boost online sales as they provide new and convenient avenues for online shopping. Therefore, online retailing growth rates are expected to continue to be higher than in-store rates. (Table 1) Wilkinson has responded to these technological advancements by re-launching its website in 2010 and includes more features to leverage multichannel capabilities and enhance online shopping experience. The new website focuses on four areas – range, price, convenience, service. WilkinsonPlus. com website offers 80,000 products including big ticket items that are not available in Wilkinson stores. Customers can also use the interactive online catalogue to find out latest deals and exclusive offers online. Besides, Wilkinson’s new home design website creates more interactive experience to engage customers. In terms of leveraging multichannel capabilities, customers can order through the website or phone and collect in-store for free. To keep up with the increased use of systems and technology along the supply chain, Wilkinson introduced a new replenishment system called Customer Pulled Replenishment (CPR) to improve product availability for customer, reduce stockholding and operating costs. Environmental As previously mentioned, environmental sustainability is one of the main aspects for company’s CSR. Consumers are increasingly aware about the impact of production activities on the environment and are now expecting companies to reduce their environmental footprint. Many companies are going ‘green’ to differentiate themselves from their competitors and build their reputation as a ‘green’ company. Wilkinson has also made several efforts to minimise the impact of their activities on the environment. The company is committed to reducing, reusing, and recycling waste across all aspects of the business from sourcing, transporting, to selling of its products. ? Porter’s Five Forces Bargaining Power of Buyers (Customers) Wilkinson’s target market is mainly individual customers. Due to the wide range of customers it caters to, the company face significant competition from many other retailers in the homewares, DIY and garden sector. As competition intensifies among retailers, customers have low switching costs and can switch easily between retailers. Online retailing is also increasing buyers’ power because price transparency on the internet enables consumers to compare prices between different retailers without even stepping into the stores. As mentioned earlier, consumers are more cautious with their spending due to the recession and would appreciate great deals with good value for money. Therefore, retailers have to work harder to optimise their performance. Wilkinson managed to capture customers’ loyalty by striving in two main success factors – broad range and competitive price. Bargaining Power of Suppliers Wilkinson relies on numerous suppliers to produce Wilko brand products. Over the past years, Wilkinson’s success and growth has been achieved through a unique relationship with its suppliers and sourcing agents. Like many other major retailers and supermarket chains in the UK, Wilkinson has the power to adopt a more aggressive approach to negotiate trading terms with its small suppliers. For example, some suppliers were asked for substantial cash contributions towards Wilkinson’s ambitious growth strategy. Globalisation has further reduced suppliers’ power because companies can source their products from new suppliers in other parts of the world, wherever is cheaper. Wilkinson set up Wilkinson Asia in Hong Kong to source for best value products from the Far East. Competitive Rivalry New Entrants Competition is intensifying in the homewares, DIY and garden products sector because increasing numbers of competitors are turning to Superstores format and sell broader range of goods. This has widened the scope and scale of the industry, resulting in overlapping of industries. Wilkinson diversified its product range beyond the hardware and DIY market. According to Verdict’s research, the company is categorized under two major sectors – Homewares, DIY Garden. Wilkinson is competing with the Big 4 DIY specialists (BQ, Focus, Homebase, Wickes), general merchandisers (Argos), grocers (Tesco, Asda), home furnishing retailers (IKEA), large homeware retailers (Dunelm Mill), and Poundland. Low entry barriers for new entrants such as TK Maxx and the arrival of Swedish based chain Clas Ohlson are also increasing competitive pressures. Moreover, the industry is overcrowded resulting in shake out of weaker competitors such as Woolworths. Wilkinson’s is fending off threats from rivalry and possible substitutes by implementing strategies to revamp the look of its stores to shift consumers’ perceptions of its brand and value away from down-market to mainstream. It is also improving sourcing practice to counter the economy downturn. ? Balanced Scorecard (Figure 3) Balanced scorecard is a multi-dimensional strategic management accounting system that translates an organization’s mission and strategy into a comprehensive set of performance measures that provides a framework for strategic measurement and management systems. (Kaplan Norton 1996) The balanced scorecard translates the Wilkinson’s vision and strategy into a coherent and linked set of understandable, measurable, and balanced targets. It views the company from four perspectives – financial, customer, internal processes, learning and growth. We will use the strategy map to show a step-by-step connection between trategic objectives in the form of a cause-and-effect chain (Kaplan Norton, 1996). Wilkinson’s vision is â€Å"to inspire loyalty beyond reason by confidently providing what people need, when they need it, through our people, delivering instinctive service and irresistible value, in the heart of the community†. We can translate the company†™s objectives into four perspectives: †¢Financial: Maximise shareholders’ wealth †¢Customer: Inspire loyalty; providing what people need †¢Internal process: Deliver instinctive service irresistible value in the heart of the community †¢Learning growth: Through our people By improving performance in the learning and growth perspective, Wilkinson will be able to improve its objectives in the internal process perspective. This will then enable the company to create desirable results in the customer and financial perspectives. Financial Perspective (How should we appear to our shareholders? ) The main objective of every business is to maximise shareholders’ wealth and increase profits. Shareholders are concerned with many aspects of the financial performance and Wilkinson should implement strategies that are in line with this goal. Financial performance can be measured by using ROCE, economic value added, growth, etc. For instance, the increase of operating profit by 99% in 2010 reflects the success of Wilkinson’s cost reducing strategies undertaken last year. Wilkinson’s growth strategy can be measured by the number of new stores opening and increase in market share. Customer Perspective (How do customers perceive the firm? ) This perspective analyses the degree of customer satisfaction and the processes used to deliver products and services to customers. Wilkinson’s vision is to inspire customer loyalty by providing what people need, when they need it. Customer loyalty in the homewares and DIY garden sector are driven by several key factors – quality, range, price, convenience, and service. Wilkinson will need to keep its customers satisfied to gain their loyalty. When customers are satisfied, they will keep coming back to shop. Therefore, Wilkinson can measure the success of the new ‘Look and Feel’ rebranding programme in attracting more customers by looking at the number of visitors to its stores, repeat purchases, UK Consumer Satisfaction Index, and customer loyalty index. Market share can also be used to measure the growth that Wilkinson has achieved from the continued increase in store numbers and how the company has benefited from the demise of Woolworths. As for online customers, customer loyalty will depend on the reliability, timely delivery, and convenience of using WilkinsonPlus. com. Wilkinson can measure these by looking at number of online visitors, number of goods return, and on time deliveries. Internal Business Process Perspective (What internal processes must we excel at? This perspective is concerned with assessing the quality of people and processes. Wilkinson’s vision is to deliver instinctive service irresistible value in the heart of the community. Wilkinson can measure whether it is delivering irresistible value for its customers by comparing the price of its products against other competitors. Wilkinson can measure how the new replenishment system (CPR) is creating value for its customers by measuring the cost savings that can be passed on to customers from reduced stockholding and operating costs. The company can also measure how the CPR system is helping Wilkinson to deliver instinctive service for its customers by looking at frequency of stock run outs at the shelves, system downtime at the EPOS, and shorter till lines. Wilkinson is focusing on improving its sourcing by setting up Wilkinson Asia in Hong Kong to source from the Far East. The company can measure how effective this strategy is helping the company to drive efficiency and cut costs by looking at the profit margins and unit costs. The company has also invested in its people and strive to make Wilkinson a great place to work. The ‘Be A Star Awards’ is a good measure to reward and encourage team members to provide good service to customers. Wilkinson needs to ensure that good corporate social responsibility (CSR) is performed across every aspects of the business. The company is currently measuring its environmental footprint through reduced packaging, energy consumption, and carbon footprint. Another measure that can be used is the use of plastic bags. The company can also measure its CSR performance in supporting local communities by looking at the amount of donation contributed and the number of charity causes that have benefited. Learning and growth (How will we sustain our ability in innovation, change and improvement) This perspective is concerned with how the company can constantly improve itself to create value in the future. The most important asset for the company is its people. Therefore the company has invested in its people to ensure that they grow and develop with the company. This can be measured by looking at the number of staff training provided and the number of employees that have been trained under the Emerging Leaders Programme. In terms of innovation and improving every aspects of the business, the company can also measure the impact of the ‘in the loop’ initiative by looking at the number of employees’ suggestions and feedback that have been received. ? Benchmarking We will now evaluate how benchmarking can be used together with the balanced scorecard to enhance the company’s competitiveness. Balanced scorecard identifies performance measures for each of the four perspectives, but by solely looking at those measures, Wilkinson cannot evaluate how well it is performing and how successful its strategy is. Therefore, benchmarking helps the company to evaluate its current position in relation to ‘best practice’ within the industry or even beyond the industry to learn from other companies and identify areas of performance improvement. Competitive benchmarking Wilkinson is trying to escape the downmarket image by introducing the new ‘Look and Feel’ format in its new stores. To achieve this, the company is focusing more on broadening its product range. Therefore, it can benchmark its in-store and online product offerings for the homeware sector against Dunelm Mill and Debenhams. To enhance price competitiveness for ‘Wilko’ brand, Wilkinson can benchmark its product prices against Asda and Tesco. The strategy of putting price comparison directly with other retailers on the price tags can attract customers. Wilkinson can also provide price comparison on WilkinsonPlus. com like what Asda is doing on its website through ‘Asda Price Guarantee’. Best-in-class benchmarking Wilkinson can benchmark the effectiveness of its online sales delivery against Amazon’s delivery time and strive to improve the features on WilkinsonPlus. om Wilkinson can improve staff retention and HR policies and by benchmarking itself against RPS Group Plc (Britain’s Top Employer for 2010). Limitations of balanced scorecard and benchmarking Even though balanced scorecard and benchmarking is said to be able to help company achieve its strategy and enhance competition, it can be time consuming and costly. Sensitive information especially those regarding o ther company’s internal operations and processes may be hard to obtain. Besides, innovation is often the key for extraordinary performance. By merely measuring what the company is already doing against best practice will result in constant catching-up and does not stimulate innovation. Conclusion We have used the PESTEL framework and Porter’s Five Forces to analyse Wilkinson’s external and assessed that the company’s hybrid strategy that focuses on offering broad range of products at low prices has helped the company to maintain profitability despite the challenging economic climate. Last but not least, we have evaluated how the balanced scorecard and benchmarking tools can help Wilkinson achieve its strategy and enhance its competitiveness.

The Theme of Evilness in The Crucible by Arthur Miller Essay

The Theme of Evilness in The Crucible by Arthur Miller In any type of society there is evil. Evil lives amongst us all, sometimes in the people you would least suspect. Everybody in The Crucible has sinned in some way, except for Rebecca Nurse. The play almost certainly starts off with an element of evil. The people of Salem are puritans, so if it were known that a group of girls were dancing naked and attempting to conjure up any spells in a forest, it would certainly be thought of as evil. This is exactly what Abigail and the other girls were doing, however Abigail did admit to dancing, but she did not admit to witchcraft. Parris is understandably upset, your punishment will come in its†¦show more content†¦Lust ~ Abigail posses lust for John Proctor, You loved me then and you do now! Abigail tries to manipulate Proctor with her animal type language, Sweated like a stallion whenever I came near! Proctor blames himself for Abbys lust for him. On the other hand, Elizabeth blames herself for Johns lechery, cold house I kept, she thought she lacked affection, she asked for forgiveness, and holds herself responsible for Abigails lust. Envy - Abigail is envious of John Proctors wife Elizabeth Proctor, Oh I marvel how much a strong man may let such a sickly wife be. Abigail is the person who started the initial accusation of witchcraft. It is a deliberate act when she accuses Tituba, it is very well calculated and believable. I always hear her laughing in my sleep. Her friends help her because they are so frightened of what she might do. Abigail might be a bully, but she is indeed very clever. She ceased on the opportunity to call witchcraft on Elizabeth, when Mary Warren was making a puppet in court. She knew that Mary had put the needle she was using into the doll for safe keeping. Soon afterwards reverend Hale and Cheever visited the proctor residence. They reported that,Show MoreRelatedThemes of Pride and Integrity in The Crucible Essay666 Words   |  3 PagesThe Crucible was not widely accepted when it was originally released. The literature was Arthur Millers response to McCarthyism and the Red Scare. During the play Abigail Williams accuses most of Salem of being a witch. This leads to mass hysteria within the town. Which in turn leads to Reverend Parris bringing Reverend John Hale to Salem. Hale is there to sort out and get rid of any presence of the Devil. There is a multitude of themes in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. These range any whereRead MoreCaptivating Characters in Macbeth and The Crucible1024 Words   |  5 PagesMacbeth and The Crucible nbsp; For a play to meet with success, it is essential that it include a cast of interesting and captivating characters. Without interesting characters, the audience would not only be confused by each unimportant character, but possibly puzzled by the plot, disinterested in the theme and ideas, and worst of all, bored by the entire story. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; For instance, in The Crucible by Arthur Miller, we take an immediateRead MoreEssay on The Dramatic Intensity of The Crucible’s Courtroom Scene4462 Words   |  18 Pagesdevelop and how Arthur miller unfolds the plot to keep the reader interested and how emotion and feelings dictate the movements of the play. The Crucible is set against the backdrop of the mad hunts of the Salem witch trials in the late 17th century. It is about a town, after accusations from a few girls, which begins a mad hunt for witches that did not exist. Many towns’ people were hanged on charges for of witchcraft. Miller brings out the absurdity of the incident with the theme of truth andRead More The Moral of Arthur Millers The Crucible Essay3017 Words   |  13 PagesThe Moral of Arthur Millers The Crucible In the 17th century a group of Puritans from England immigrated to America to escape persecution for their religious beliefs. The white settlers arrived in New England in 1620, and Salem, Massachusetts had been in existence for about forty years by 1692. Salem developed as a theocracy. This was based on the coexistence of religious prayer and hard work. Entertainment, such as dancing, or any enjoyment at all was perceived as a sin. The isolation

Plow Man Free Essays

The short story â€Å"Plow Man† (2004), written by Jessica Grant, is included in the collection â€Å"Making Light of Tragedy†. This collection’s title is significant for Grant’s story because the narrator gravitates to comedy to deal with both the guilt and sadness he is feeling. This essay will take a deeper look into the situations where comedy is used as a coping mechanism to deal with the narrator’s guilty conscience including how he deals with the conflict of the wind and snow, the projection of his negative attitude onto others and his inability to let go of the material things still tying him to Jenny. We will write a custom essay sample on Plow Man or any similar topic only for you Order Now The narrator uses comedy as a coping mechanism to help alleviate the guilt felt since losing his wife. Throughout â€Å"Plow Man† the narrator is struggling to ward away guilty feelings since his wife, Jenny, has passed. His remorse is conveyed in a humoristic manner, particularly when proceeding to take on the elements. The narrator amusingly views the winter setting as a villainous system, one that he feels is overpowering and out of his control. To relieve his guilt, the narrator plays a victim to the winter storm, instead of taking control and shovelling his driveway. The reader is able to view the comedic flair of the narrator, as he challenges the storm, by stating, â€Å"It aims for your chest. It picks a fight. If I’m inside, it unleashes its fury on the driveway†¦Come out here†¦ No. Fuck you† (95). The reader’s overview of the situation, knowing a blizzard does not consciously take out frustrations on people, creates the entertaining conflict. However, by forfeiting control of the situation, the narrator is able to reduce the guilt that he feels for not shovelling. Assisting in criminal behavior by slashing tires is another representation how the narrator relieves his guilt in a comedic way. He views the plow men as outlaws that are continuously burying him in snow, inhibiting his ability to get to his wife. The narrator describes the plows as â€Å"yellow-jawed monsters† (99), which is an absurd concept, as the lifeless plows are simply driven by men who are doing their jobs. The narrator is able to alleviate guilt associated with not being able to get to his wife by supporting the destruction of the vehicle that he foolishly believes is burying him in snow on purpose. The cell phone bill resembles the narrator’s final physical tie to Jenny. As one of her last requests, Jenny asked that he promised to keep her cell phone with her in case there’s a chance she needed to contact him. The narrator realizes that this request is unreasonable; however, he feels bligated to respect the request of his deceased wife. In a conversation between a Sprint representative and the narrator, he recognizes the hilarity of the situation â€Å"I’d like to leave it open indefinitely. Which started me laughing again† (96). The narrator makes the decision to maintain his wife’s wishes, knowing that he will constantly be tormented by the monthly phone bill. However, he would rather sacrifice his own well-being, than face the guilt that he would experience if he was to terminate his wife’s cellphone account. In conclusion, throughout the â€Å"Plow Man† written by Jessica Grant, comedy is used to relieve the narrator’s guilt through the difficult conditions he is facing. The reader witnesses an attempt to alleviate guilt using humor in situations that include, the snow storm, slashing the tires of the plow men and the narrator’s inability to cancel Jenny’s cell phone in order to fulfill his promise to her. Works Cited Grant, Jessica. â€Å"Plow Man. † Making Light of Tragedy. Erin, ON: The Porcupine’s Quill, 2004. How to cite Plow Man, Papers

Management Accounting at J Sainsbury Plc - Solution

Question: Describe about the Management Accounting at J Sainsbury Plc? Answer: Introduction This paper described the various aspect finance function. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the finance function in the specific organization. This paper covers the tradition role, financial and non-financial challenges and calculation of working capital in the J Sainsbury plc organization. This paper enables to improve the finance condition to serve better management. Indeed, finance function is economy theory that advised by the Abba P Lerner that look to eliminate economic insecurity during the Second World War. Finance function theory doesnt believe that government should balance their budgets. Traditional roles of the finance function Tradition role of the finance function is communicating information to managers and shareholders to present in monetary terms such as payables, receivables, payroll and the relationship with the bank. In the recent times, role of the finance function has been under scrutiny. It focuses on detail and more data which doesnt give valid information for better business decision. Changes in the finance functions are organized and the key role requires new structure, contribution and new relationships. The business will focus to finance function to handle and raised regulation and complexity of the organization. Finance functions are able to maintain accountability and performance measure. The key role of the finance functions are investment in equipment, buy alternatives, product or service validity and performance of the whole system. Finance executives in the large UK organizations have investigated the role of finance that elements impacting the future of the finance function and proble ms to change. (Bonham, Langdon, 2013) On the other hand, the finance function is expanding an enabler across the firms function and value chain, cost management, process design, corporate governance, resource allocation and risk monitoring. In this environment, finance should deal with larger volumes of data and greater complexity while decreasing its prices. The financial and non-financial challenges People have faced many challenges when the planned about their financial and non-financial situation. These are financial challenges that are described below: Lack of time and knowledge: When people planned their financial condition they faced lack of knowledge and time problems. People dont know that how to manage their financial position. Due to routine activity, they are unable to give time for their financial position and they are also not an expert about financial management that how to divide their investment between stocks, cash and bond based on your time frame and personal comfort that directly affects the financial function of the organization. (Davidson, 2013) Overwhelm with debt: Debt is the main problem for financial success most of people. The money management strategy helps to overcome from debt. If people have lot of debt burden then it will be difficult for the person growth and development. So, debt reduces person success in the society or community. It is the sign of relation with financial function. If your credit not good and retirement plan money is only option for manage your future security and if you will take big loan. Then, it would increase your debt amount. Lack of saving: Most of people belong to middle class category those have lack of saving so it is difficult to save enough. People are unable to save money then how they will invest. Saving is about prioritization. Saving plays an important role in the perspective of investment. Lack of saving affects investment plan of a specific country. (Davidson, 2013) Money saves helps to raise GDP growth of the country. If GDP will grow then people living of standard will be raised constantly. GDP is the symbol of country growth and development. Lack of saving destroys the financial strength of the people. Further, non-financial challenges are following below: Cost and time: This is very significant challenges of the non-financial that affect financial function. Without cost estimate we are unable to judge financial condition of the organization. (Ittner, Larcker, 2000) Lack of statistical reliability: It is main challenges for non-financial that affects the financial function of the organization. (Ittner, Larcker, 2000) The finance function adapted the challenges to serve better management Indeed, business partnering, talent management, business intelligence, outsourcing, benchmarking the solutions put further to raise effective finance function. We think that confidence in selecting the best class can be achieved by only analyzing finance functions. In this paper we suggest a model that helps managers carry out this investigation. Our objective of the work is to help finance employees and their advisors in their role of contributing to firms success. To achieve this objective, it required a broad understanding of finance functions. These kinds of understanding supports to manager anticipate and adapt to change as they wanted to develop as effective finance departments. This paper also serves to managers relationship between finance activities and internal tension and challenges that faced by finance employees. Growing our knowledge of finance functions is a current process that the model supports to facilitate. Moreover, this model is a complex set of interrelationshi ps. We will definitely understand the finance function and how it supports to firms success. So, this paper objective is to provide a practical technique and reference material. This provides guide and checklist to ensure issues, contextual and relevant activities. Based on this managers can raise tailored solution that suit own unique circumstances. Finance function has potential to adapt challenges in the organization and helps to provide better management quality in the organization. Further, these are following finance function that will help to explain how finance function adapt challenges to provide better management services that are described below: Investment decision: The significant finance function is to allocate capital to log term assets. It is very important to allocate capital in long term assets therefore to get maximum yield in future. It is also called as capital budgeting. It is not only includes allocating capital but also includes decision of using funds that are collected by assets that become less productive and profitable. An opportunity cost of capital desire to estimate when you are dissolving like assets. The cut off rate is estimated by rate of return (RRR). So, its future is not certain because there is lot of problems in estimation of expected return. Therefore, they adopted two kinds of investment decision that appraisal of new investment in terms of profitability and comparison between new investment and prevailing investment. However, risk factor plays an important role in the estimating the expected return of the prospective investment. So, when we believing investment decision, it is significant to ta ke both risk involved and expected return. Investment decision is very helpful to provide better management facility in the perspective of finance function because it raise the people saving and provide proper guideline to safe investment for future life security. Without proper investment we cant get good return in the specific period. Financial decision: This is another significant function that a financial manager must perform. It is able to take good decision about where, when and how should a business acquire funds. The market value of the organization will maximize so optimum capital system would be achieved. On the other hand, equity and debt and there are variety of tools that are used in deciding an organization capital structure. The mixture of equity and debt is also called as the organization capital structure. Financial structure said that its aim to maximize shareholders return with lower risk. Debt and return of a shareholder is risky it may raise the return of equity funds. Without a good financial decision, it would be difficult to growth and development in the business. However, financial decision makes a manager stronger as compare to other and it is helpful to business succeed. If manager will take wrong decision as well as finance concern then it would harm organization management strategy. Dividend decision: Gain or positive return is a common objective of all the business. But the main function a financial manager performs in regard of profitability to decide to distribute all profit to stakeholder. Financial managers have rights to decide a maximum dividend policy that increases the market value of the organization. Therefore, maximum dividend payout ratio is estimated. It is normal rule to pay yearly dividends, if organization gets profit and other way is to issue bonus share to existing shareholder. Through dividend decision, finance function has tried to adapt these challenges to provide better management services in the organization. Different companies pay different dividend scheme to attract their shareholder in the organization. However, sometimes companies pay dividend to attract shareholder while they havent strong financial condition but they announced dividend scheme. Dividend can be announced on the basis of half-yearly and yearly. Indeed, dividend decisi on defines the classification of earning between retained earnings and payments of shareholders. it is a scheme that management formulates in the perspective to earnings for distribution as dividend within shareholders. It is significant part of current corporate world. Liquidity decision: This is significant to maintain a liquidity position of the organization to avoid bankruptcy or financial condition. Firm liquidity, risk and profitability are linked with the investment in present assets. Current assets must value and disposed on time once they become non-profit organization. Current assets must use times of bankruptcy and time of liquidity trouble. In the process of maintain to tradeoff between liquidity and profitability, it is significant to invest enough funds in the current assets. Sometimes managers need to take contingency decision to handle conflict or dispute. Then, liquidity decision skill helps to manager to adapt the challenges to serve better management. Indeed, liquidity relate to organization skills to pay its current expenses and bills. Liquidity is availability of cash, short term debt and other liabilities. Many firms require the certain degree of liquidity to pay their bills on time, but new firms are not very liquid. However, liquidity decision plays an important role in the organization because organization must take some contingency decision so liquidity factor helps the manager to take good decision as well as stakeholder perspective. Through this kinds of decision raise the organization growth and development and it is essential for the organization succeed. Working capital Sainsbury finance function can support management Indeed, working capital is an evaluation of a firms short term liquidity or its potential to cover short term liabilities. It is explained as difference within current assets and current liabilities. It is evaluation of company efficiency and operating liquidity. Further, working capital depends on how much of current debt the firm is carrying on its balance sheet that may be positive or negative. Small working capital is the sign of lack of fund necessary for development. It presents that if the organization has sufficient liquid resource to satisfy operation expenditure. Calculation of working capital of J Sainsbury plc (million) Working Capital = current assets-current liabilities Working Capital 1,973.00 current assets 4,369.00 current liabilities 2,396.00 (Source: J Sainsbury plc, 2015) J Sainsbury plc Finance Function is determined as the activities includes in managing cash that exist through business. Sainsbury finance function includes some basic function that can support management. These finance functions are financing, financial management, corporate governance, capital budgeting and risk management. First, financing function of Sainsbury Company includes increasing capital to help a firm operation and investment scheme. It is called as capital structure that includes the mix of debt and equity securities which maximize the organization market value. (Graham, Smart, 2011) Young and small firm increase equity capital from their friends, family and investor such as venture capitalists. Second, financial management of Sainsbury is to ensure that organization has sufficient fund on hand to help regular operations. It includes paying supplier, obtaining seasonal financing, collection from customers and investing surplus cash. Financial activities require not only analytical and technical skills, but also people skills. This activity includes maintaining relationship, building, supplier and leaders. Third, corporate governance of the Sainsbury Company includes incentive and growing organization structure that affects managers to behave ethically and made decision that benefit shareholders. Sainsbury corporate governance system is tough to develop in practice because the incentive of managers, stockholder and other conflict among stakeholder. The organization stockholder desire managers to work hard and protect interest of shareholders that could support the management of Sainsbury Company. Managers desire to raise the wealth of owners, but they wanted to protect their own jobs. (Graham, Smart, 2011) Fourth, capital budgeting of the Sainsbury Company also known as investment function that includes choosing appropriate projects in that to invest the organization funds based on their expected risk. Due to large scale of capital investment and prosper in a competitive economy it is very critical function of Sainsbury Company. Sainsbury must divide investment level in small scale to manage better. Otherwise, it can harm organization growth and development. Fifth, risk management of Sainsbury Company includes measuring and managing the organization demonstration to all kinds of risk to maintain an optimal risk return. So, it maximizes share value of Sainsbury Company. It could support the management because it is capable to identify, measuring and managing the risk return of the organization. The organization can reduce the risk through diversifying. (Graham, Smart, 2011) Although, organization risk management practices concentrate on market driver risk who work as part of the organization treasury employee. Sainsbury finance functions could support the management because it has potential to manage risk factor in the organization through evaluating maximum risk return. Conclusion On the basis of above discussion, it can be concluded that clear traditional roles and financial and non-financial challenges as well as high ability to adopt new service management scheme of Sainsbury helps it to maintain its competitive position in the worldwide finance function industry. References Augustin, J., (2011). Management Accounting at J Sainsbury Plc. Germany: GRIN Verlag. Bangemann, T., O., (2005). Shared Services in Finance and Accounting. USA: Gower Publishing, Ltd. Bonham, A., Langdon, K., (2013). Finance: Fast Track to Success ePub eBook. UK: Pearson Inc. Chiu, D., K.,W., (2012). Theoretical and Analytical Service-Focused Systems Design and Development. USA: IGI Global. Davidson, L., (2013). Three Common Financial Challenges And How To Overcome Them. Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/sites/financialfinesse/2013/08/29/three-common-financial-challenges-and-how-to-overcome-them/ Graham, J., Smart, S., (2011). 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