Dominos Business Report

Executive Summary Dominos is a world renowned fast food restaurant with a clear objective of making quality pizzas to satisfy its customers. The management of Dominos have been vital in its success, boosting franchise development across Australia, New Zealand and the world market. This report will address major aspects of business management and change in Dominos Australia, focussing on issues such as: The importance of management Management skills required in implementing change Possible reasons for resistance to change Strategies the business can use to effectively manage change within the business environment Importance of Management With a strategic role, Dominos managers are vital as they focus on both the long term and business as a whole. The success of Dominos are mainly dependent on the efficiency and effectiveness of management. The measure of effectiveness is the extent to which goals are achieved including profitability and growth. The success of Dominos Australia has been widespread increasing profitability from $0.9 million in 2001 to $17.8 million in 2010. Effective management is also important in tough economic times such as the recent GFC. With effective management, Dominos has ensured growth in the business with over 1600 stores across Australia and the world market. Managers are also important in controlling the efficiency of Dominos operations, focussing on utilising money for expenses as best as possible. Maximising profit while also minimising cost will ensure less wastage of resources and more output. Management skills required in implementing change Managers at Dominos must possess a variety of skills in order to implement change effectively. These essential skills are broken down into a number of sections; People skills must be possessed by managers at Dominos to encourage staff retention. By developing an interpersonal role, managers can also develop a relationship with customers and effectively manage conflicts that arise in the business environment. Dominos Pizza also has a vision which illustrates a company of exceptional people on a mission to be the best pizza delivery company in the world. Priding itself on being fun and youthful, Dominos Australia also launched a new image in 2006 called 2020 visions. This vision involved a fresh and colourful new store design and layout to improve efficiency. Additionally, strategic thinking is a skills that must be applied by Dominos management to in order to implement change successfully. This allows them to see the business as a whole and is done through planning, setting goals and managing change in the business environment such as the recent GFC. Strategic thinking also allows Dominos to identify opportunities and threats from close competitors such as Pizza Hut.

Furthermore, Dominos operates in an extremely competitive environment. Thus adaptability and flexibility to change is a skill that must be adopted by managers to alter business directions. This has all been demonstrated by Dominos management where despite the recent loss of consumer confidence in the GFC, managers showed quick adaptability skills, pulling through the crisis strongly and even boosting franchise development. Management have also adapted to changing consumer taste by offering a diverse range of menu choices Possible reasons for resistance to change Dominos operate in a very unsettled business environment. For this reason, managers not only need to anticipate change but also be highly responsive to it. However, all people resist change to some degree as it requires difficult psychological adjustments which could be difficult. Resistance to change can come from various reasons such as financial costs, inertia of management and owners as well as staff. Financial costs The refurbishment of Dominos stores as part of their vision felt resistance by store owners. There was expectation that revenues may be lost and staff may need to be retrained. The refurbishment also required new equipment which managers of stores often stalled in order to better manage costs. Inertia of management and owners Dominos employ an array of managers ranging from the CEO Don Meij down to managers of local stores. These positions frequently change and this may cause resistance as employees might be in conflict with the new managers work methods or management skills. However, the success of Dominos implies that this resistance to change is being effectively resolved. Staffing Resistance The 2020 vision for new and refurbished stores may also force many employees to acquire new skills to operate the new equipments. This may cause resistance as some staff members may not be able to acquire these skills due to various physical or mental reasons. However, the fun, youthful staff of Dominos stores has mostly embraced the changes. Strategies used to effectively manage change in the Business Environment As Dominos continues to expand in the Australian and global markets, it must be able to manage change effectively to continue its profits and growth. These changes come from both Internal and External environment meaning that it impacts greatly on all stakeholders of the business. To cope effectively with the changes, Dominos utilizes four strategies Identifying the need for change Setting achievable goals Creating a culture for change Applying change models Identifying the need for change Management teams at Dominos need to identify and recognize the need to adapt and change in response to the companys vision, shareholder expectations and consumer taste.

An example of this in the internal environment is when Dominos managers identified the structural need for change. Due to a small employee base in each store, there has been a move towards a flatter business structure. This was successful in improving communication between workers and management. Furthermore, Dominos managers have acknowledged that consumer choice is constantly changing in the external environment. To effectively manage this, they are regularly reviewing the menu range and options to cater for changing market expectations. Setting achievable goals Dominos managers understand that change can best be achieved through setting achievable goals. To do this, they have ensured that goals set for all levels of workers are attainable yet challenging. This is done in order to gain a competitive advantage over others in the market. This included installing new systems and procedures in Dominos internal environment with the refurbishment of stores as part of their 2020 vision. Aimed to be applied gradually over the next few years, it shows an achievable goal set by management to improve efficiency and renew a look for Dominos. Dominos managers have also taken on technology such as e-commerce in advance of competitors suggesting they have taken a proactive rather than reactive approach. Creating a culture for change Successful change requires creating a business culture which is open to, as opposed to resisting change. As the fast food industry grows and becomes more segmented, consumers in the external environment are also becoming increasingly aware of the need to be informed. Thus management has effectively created a culture of providing information to customers via ads, internet or pamphlets. Managers have embraced these changes, seeing it as an opportunity for the business to prosper. Applying Change at Dominos Lewins unfreeze-change-refreeze model which integrates force field analysis may be applied to Dominos approach for change. In the force field analysis, driving forces for growth and globalization of Dominos include: - Access to large domestic + overseas market due to cultural change - Gain from economies of scale - Access to new resources - Applying a successful business model to other geographic localities Restraining forces which resists growth + globalization of Dominos include: - Financial cost of entering global market - Risk of globalization making Dominos more susceptible to the cyclical nature of the international business cycle - The need to adapt to greater legal and political influences and cultural diversity.

Conclusion Conclusively speaking, management has become a vital part of every aspect of Dominos operations. This report has provided information on the features of management and change in the Dominos franchise and how they have effectively addressed them.