Case Study – John Lewis Partnership

Business Description:
John Lewis Partnership (JLP or 'the company') is a privately-held retailer operating supermarkets and department stores. JLP operates through two business divisions: Waitrose and John Lewis. The company is a worker co-ownership where all the staff members are partners in the business. It employed about 93,800 people as of January 31, 2015.
Waitrose offers everyday items in supermarkets. The Waitrose Farm at the Leckford Estate in Hampshire supplies the supermarkets with milk, apples, pears, free-range eggs and mushrooms as well as free range Poulet d'Or chickens. In addition, Waitrose offers services such as Shop in Branch Delivery Service, WaitroseDeliver (an online grocery ordering service), a glass and fish kettle loan service plus the online WaitroseEntertaining and WaitroseWineDirect ordering services.
John Lewis typically stocks more than 350,000 separate lines of products such as furniture, kitchenware and clothing items. The website, www.johnlewis.com, stocks more than 250,000 product lines focused on fashion, beauty, home and giftware, and electrical items. The small format John Lewis at home shops focus on the home, electrical and home technology assortment.
JLP also operates John Lewis Insurance which provides insurance services such as home insurance, car insurance, pet insurance, wedding insurance, travel insurance, event insurance, and life cover.

History:
John Lewis Partnership (JLP or 'the company') originated in 1864 when John Lewis set up a drapers shop in Oxford Street, London. John Lewis' son and successor, Spedan Lewis, took measures that cemented the partnership's links to common ownership ideals.
In 1937, JLP acquired Waitrose, which was then a chain of 10 full-service food shops. By 1955, Waitrose had expanded to include many self-service shops and became the company's first supermarket.
In 1994, the two sides of the partnership's business were united with the launch of the first Waitrose Food and Home store. This innovation combined a supermarket with selected goods from the department stores' range. In 2000, JLP entered into a partnership with Ocado, an online service delivering Waitrose groceries to homes in the UK. Ocado also stocks a range of John Lewis' products such as baby clothes and flowers.
JLP entered into a long-term agreement with HFC Bank in 2003 for the joint management of the John Lewis, Peter Jones and Waitrose store card business.
During 2006, JLP closed Caleys, its department store in Windsor. The company also launched its weekly magazine Gazette. Waitrose acquired five Somerfield stores in Scotland while John Lewis acquired six stores and a regional distribution centre from Morrisons. John Lewis launched Greenbee, its new direct services company which offered a range of financial, travel and leisure services.
In 2007, Greenbee signed an agreement with Cox & Kings to provide a range of planned group tours and travel itineraries. In 2008, Waitrose opened new branches in Stratford, Winchester, Colchester, Ashford, Weston-super-Mare and Bristol.
During 2009, the company opened its first Waitrose store in Glasgow, Stamford and Islington. Waitrose also opened its first convenience store. In addition, John Lewis launched a new format shop in Poole named 'John Lewis at home'. Waitrose launched its new range of 'essential Waitrose', which comprised 1,400 product lines. Greenbee, JLP's direct services business, added car insurance services to its offering.
Moving into the convenience sector, Waitrose opened its first convenience store in London, with a store in Crouch End, North London in 2009. Shell U.K. Oil Products and Waitrose entered into a new product-supply relationship, on a trial basis, to sell Waitrose products in three Shell forecourt shops in the UK. During the same year, Waitrose acquired five shops from The Co-operative Group.
During 2010, Waitrose and Ocado entered into a new 10 year agreement extending the supply relationship between Waitrose and Ocado until 2020. John Lewis opened a new 'John Lewis at home' store in Croydon. The company opened a JohnLewis at home store in Swindon. Greenbee moved into the John Lewis division under the new name of John Lewis Insurance. JLP launched a mobile-optimized version of its website. In the same year, Waitrose launched a new range of products under 'Heston from Waitrose' brand name.
During 2012, John Lewis opened official London 2012 (Olympics) shops in all its full line department stores. It also launched its first own-branded broadband service. John Lewis Insurance selected RSA and Ageas to be the new providers of its range of insurance products. Waitrose launched the Waitrose Farming Partnership initiative to include steps to help its farmers manage costs in their businesses. Waitrose launched Waitrose TV, an online food video hub.
In 2013, John Lewis signed an agreement with the Westgate Oxford Alliance Partnership, a joint venture (JV) between Land Securities Group and the Crown Estate, to deliver a new department store in Oxford. It launched its new membership reward program, 'my John Lewis'. JLP opened its John Lewis at home in Ashford.
In March 2014, Waitrose announced to open a national distribution centre (NDC) developed by Gazeley at its Magna Park development in Milton Keynes in 2015.
John Lewis opened its first airport shop at Heathrow Terminal 2 in June 2014.
In September 2014, John Lewis announced its plans to open an at-home shop in Worcester in 2017. The company opened a railway station shop at St Pancras International in October 2014.
Taken and adapted from an article from Marketline published in January 2016 available through Business Source Complete.

Task:
John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is one of the leading retailers in the UK, operating supermarkets and department stores. It operates 30 John Lewis department stores, 10 John Lewis at Home stores, 305 Waitrose shops, as well as two online websites, johnlewis.com and waitrose.com. It primarily operates in the UK. As part of its continuing expansion programme, in June 2015 JLP announced that it would be expanding its in-store food experiences by developing further partnerships with Joe & The Juice and Rossopomodoro and, in July 2015, announced its plans to launch a brand new in-store beauty spa concept called &Beauty.
However, to develop and grow further in this highly competitive marketplace, and in the face of changing consumer trends, it must continue to adapt and change. You are a Management Consultant, specialising in management theory and practice. In this context of a changing environment for the company,you have been hired by the Senior Management Team of John Lewis Partnership in the UK to advise them on how they might focus the UK business on adapting to consumer needs. You are therefore required to provide a report that should cover the following points:
1. Describe one tool that can be used to analyse the organisational environment and evaluate the effectiveness of using such a tool in the context of John Lewis Partnership, using academic references to support your argument. Note: you are NOT required to undertake an analysis for this task. (10 marks) (approx. 220 words)

2. Complete an analysis of John Lewis Partnerships’ competitive environment using Porter’s Five Forces model, examining how each of the elements of the competitive environment might impact upon the organisation and its industry (25 marks) (approx. 550 words)

3. Using appropriate references to support your answer, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages for John Lewis Partnership of using a Balanced Scorecard approach to organizational performance (10 marks) (approx. 220 words)

4. Using the Balanced Scorecard framework, provide recommendations to the Senior Management Team on appropriate measures in each category to measure the performance of John Lewis Partnership. Justify your recommendations (20 marks) (approx. 440 words)

5. Using an appropriate change management framework, develop a clear plan for how the organisation could ensure the successful implementation of an organisational change project (25 marks) (approx. 550 words)

6. Suitable report format, presentation, structure, referencing and use of English (10 marks)

Case Study – John Lewis Partnership Business Description: John...