Sustainability Evaluation Of Mitsubishi Food Corporation Australia
Identifying an Agribusiness operating in Australia
Agriculture dates back to centuries ago when man was just on the verge of civilisation. Ever, since man learnt the effective way to utilise the natural resources, he learnt the skill of agriculture. In can be said that agriculture has played a crucial role in the sustainability of economies over the years. Agribusiness can be defined as agriculture that is conducted for commercial purposes (Beierlein, Schneeberger and Osburn 2013). Others have defines agribusiness as industries who are associated with offering service and products in the field of agriculture. It can be opined that agribusiness is the base that a country has to build in order to sustain itself economically. Countries such as Brazil, India and Indonesia are still highly reliant of agribusinesses for the maximum portion of the GDP (Pray and Nagarajan 2013). Thus the subject is worth studying. The aim of this paper is to critically evaluate the current state of Mitsubishi Food Corporation, Australia, along with the evaluation of the external and the internal environment that determine the efficiency of the company’s long term sustainability.
The following paper will evaluate the sustainability of Mitsubishi Food Corporation, Australia. Mitsubishi Corporation was established and re-founded in the years 1918 and 1954 respectively. The company is based in the city of Tokyo, Japan and has been serving the globe ever since (Mitsubishicorp.com 2019). The Company is directly linked to the Japanese Automotive giants Mitsubishi Motor Corporation. The former has established branches over the world. The success of the Automotive Company was responsible for establishment of the Mitsubishi Corporation in Australia. The company has established several branches in Australia including machinery, construction, metal, energy, food and others. They Australian agribusiness is highly competitive given the fast harvestable lands that are present in the country (Jie, Parton and Cox 2013). Thus the agribusiness division of the company has experienced mixed results in the past. The agribusiness division of the company is called “The Living Essentials Group” (Mitsubishicorp.com 2019). The products that are offered by is division are categorised as follows;
- Food Division
- The General Merchandise Division
- Silica Mines division
- Reverina
The Food division of the company deals in dairy, diverse range of fruits, vegetables and organic products for the diverse segments of customer spread across Australia (Mitsubishicorp.com 2019). The general merchandise division of the company is employed in production of products such as rubber, paper and packaging materials. The silica mining division deals with supply of silica and related services across the country, the Reverina division of the company are one of the major suppliers of cattle fodder across the country (Mitsubishicorp.com 2019).
Business units and products and services lines
The Main products of the food and beverages department are dairy products such as milk, cheese, yogurt and cream, processed food such a processed meat and fish along with the supply of vast array of fruits and vegetables that are freshly sourced from the rich produce of the country (Mitsubishicorp.com 2019). Other consumables such as coffee beans and tea are also produced by the food corporation of the company. The comprehensive financial report of only the Japanese division of the company is available. The financial costs of the company along with the food department amounts to 52.3 billion yen which amounts to approximately 667.5 million in Australian dollars (Mitsubishicorp.com 2019). The income of the company including the income form the food corporation amounted to 179.2 billion yen. It increased by 46.8 billion yen that amounts to approximately 600 million Australian dollars (Mitsubishicorp.com 2019). In the annual report that was published by the company, there were illustrations of the best performers of the different branches across the world. It was discovered that the main revenue that was generated in Australia came from the metal sourcing division with the Mitsubishi Corporation and the revenue amounted to 852.2 billion yen that is approximately 11 billion Australian dollars (Mitsubishicorp.com 2019).
External analysis
Study regarding the external environment of a company, gives the company an idea about the trends in the market and helps the companies identify the changes that they need to incorporate in order to gain competitive advantage in the market. Factors that can affect the operations and sustainability of the company in the long run are the political factors of the country, the economic condition of the country, the social competencies, the state of technology and the environmental factors and the legal implications. The above mentioned factors can be adjudged using a PESTEL analysis. Following is the PESTEL analysis for the operations of Mitsubishi Food Corporation Australia.
Political factors (P):
- Australia can be identified as a politically stable country and it is characterised by high demand of products that are supplied by the company.
- There is high risk of military invasion in the country (Dibb and Smith 2013)
- Corruption leads to high levels of regulations in the agribusiness industry.
- Legal frameworks are available for the enforcement of contracts.
- Various pricing regulations have been provided by the government (Haucap and Müller 2013).
- Availability of antitrust laws.
- Availability of employee welfare legislations and minimum wage laws.
- Safety regulations in the agribusiness.
Economic factors (E):
- Government intervention in the markets that are deemed to be free.
- High rate of economic literacy in the country (Luke 2018).
- High rates of unemployment in the industry
- Comparative advantage is experienced by Australia in the agribusiness industry.
- World-class infrastructure of the country results in advantages that can be experienced by the companies in the concerned industry (Inderst and Croce 2014)
- Availability of highly skilled and educated workforce
- High rates of inflation in Australia
- Favourable wages paid to labour in the industry favouring both the labour and the industries.
Social factors (S):
- Varied range of people of the country and favourable percentage of people who are skilled.
- Existence of class segments in the society.
- Most of the citizens of the state are educated. Thus a standard has been established in the field of education.
- Presence of numerous cultures. Australia can be termed as a cultural hub (Lobo 2014). Thus, people of various cultures are present within the society.
- Entrepreneurship is appreciated in the country and the youth are perfectly aligned to the idea of the same. However there is no general direction of the same. There exists differences in perception and attitudes towards entrepreneurship.
- People are conscious about their health and have showcased interest in leisure activities.
Technological factors (F):
- Technological innovations that have been incorporated by the Mitsubishi Food Corporation
- Use of technology and innovations in the agribusiness processes such as harvesting of various forms of organic produce.
- Development of fertilisers that boost the quality quotient of the produce.
- High rate of diffusion of technology.
- Creation of technology through with the businesses can identify and monitor the value chain.
Environmental factors (E):
- Dynamic weather of the country as a result of the position the country close to the polls.
- Various amounts of regulations regarding protection of environmental degradation.
- Change of the climate as a result of global warming and depletion of natural fuels.
- Regulations for the protection of natural resources and such as air, water and abiotic components.
- Green initiatives taken up by the governmental organisations (Hauke, Grunwald and Wilde 2014).
- Endangered species evident in the country
- Initiatives towards sustainable development and eco-friendliness.
- Waste Management initiatives across the countries and organisations.
Legal (L):
- Anti-trust laws established by the Law Enforcement
- Anti-discrimination
- Protection of copyrights and intellectual properties.
- Consumer Welfare activities organised by various organisations.
- Law for equal opportunity in the field of employment
- Enforcement for legal and ethical violation.
The food corporation of Mitsubishi employ the use of various resources such in their field of operations. The company have been able to realise the important role that is played by the stakeholders of the company and have also realised importance in sustainability initiatives. The stakeholders of the company have been identified as the employee, the board of directors, the executives of the company, the shareholders and most importantly the customers and the community. Stakeholder satisfaction should be the aim of the companies in order to sustain itself in the long run (Taylor and Judson 2014). Corporate governance is a scenario under which a company is able to deliver satisfaction to its stakeholders (Tricker 2015). Apart from positive financial figures, goodwill can also bolster the satisfaction of the stakeholders.
Importance of the largest of these revenue units
The operations of the Mitsubishi Food Corporation have a great deal of sustainability incorporated in them. The cattle at the farms are treated in a sustainable way, the milk that is produced by the cow is saved for consumption of the calf and they are treated and handled in humane ways. There is no use of pesticides or harmful chemicals used when it comes to farming of fresh produce such as fruits, vegetables, coffee and tea. The presence of toxic component makes it harmful for the environment and the end users of the crop grown on such land. Thus they are protecting the consumers against serious ailments and protecting the nature from further devastating effects. Apart from that the by-products of the industrial units of the company being organic are not harmful for the nature. The factories operate using energy efficient mechanisms. Thus the company has been able to save up lot of wastage of energy that is incorporated by industries over the world.
Sustainable initiatives such as the above have been the reason behind the favourable performance of the company. Further the customer community has appreciated the efforts of the company in supplying highly graded produce and thus have stuck by the side of the company. The favourable performance of the company and the acceptance form the customer community have been identified as one of the major reason the achievement of competitive advantage form the part of the company. Furthermore, favourable HR policies that have been implemented in the organisation have been realised as the reason behind the engagement of the employees and the low attrition rates that have been witnessed by the company in the current time.
The company has been able to identify the major causes behind acceptance from the part of the stakeholders of the company. Thus, they have devised strategies that will be favourable form their sustainability in the long run. Following are the departments that the company can improve in order to gain further appreciation from the stakeholders and specifically from the customers;
- Implement proper segmentation strategies as this will enable companies to devise strategies meant for a particular segment.
- To develop a USP: Even though, they have performed favourably in the market, they have not been able to establish a unique ground of increasing their goodwill. Thus identification of their core competencies would help them increasing their profitability.
- Marketing communication: Incorporation of marketing tools help informing the customers and community about their company and product. Advertising an increase the reach of the company and sales promotional activities can help increasing the sales of the company.
Conclusion
Mitsubishi Corporation was established in Australia as a result of the success of Mitsubishi Motors in Australia. Ever since the company was established, they have been offering services in various fields such as metal, infrastructure, energy, food and many others. The company experienced favourable increase in revenue in the past years. The food department of the company operates in while supplying various products to the industry. They have been able to incorporate activities such as innovation and sustainability in their operations. With sustainable initiatives that have been incorporated by the company, they have been able to help in conservation of nature. They have been also able to satisfy their stakeholders and have been able to achieve corporate governance. They have realised the effectiveness of corporate governance in sustaining the future of companies. Furthermore most of the factors of the PESTEL analysis state that the company have fairly decent amount of opportunities that have been presented their way. They have performed favourably showing increase in revenue generated. However, it has been opined that they can perform even better if they develop and USP, implement strategies of market segmentation and incorporate marketing activities in their operations.
References
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