Publix or Publix Super Markets is an American supermarket chain with headquarters in Florida. It was founded in 1930 by George W. Jenkins and it is owned by an employee that currently working in the company or has worked before. It is considered as one of the largest companies in the world owned by employees.
Legal Environment
Publix’s legal environment is mostly stable, with some instances of issues with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). The latter party insists on Publix joining the Fair Food Program, which ensures that farmers and people in poverty have equal access to food (Gouge 867). The program is designed to provide farmers with fair wages and better working conditions. The given individuals can be easily exploited by large corporations and organizations due to the lack of support and legal protection.
Publix has not joined the Fair Food Program due to three main reasons. First, Publix states that the Fair Food Program addresses the issues of their suppliers, thus, the company will not be involved in the labor dispute of its suppliers. Second, Publix claims that the price should reflect the value of its products, which means that companies involved in the Fair Food Program charge a premium upon the fair price. Third, Publix is concerned with the fact that money given or donated is not directly transferred to farmers (“Publix”). Therefore, the company states that it will not pay other company’s employees for their labor. The main message is that Publix is willing to support farmers, but the company does not recognize the Fair Food Program as a viable solution to farmer exploitation.
Competitive Environment
Publix’s competitive environment is highly complex and multifaceted due to the saturated competitive market. Its top competitors are Kroger, Sprout Farmers Market, Carrefour, Whole Foods Market, and Seven & I Holding (“Publix Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy”). Walmart can also be considered as a competitor, but the niches of the mentioned companies can be slightly differentiated from Walmart’s basic approach.
However, Publix’s main competitive advantage over other retail companies is their strive for the highest quality of products and services (“Publix Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy”). In addition, the company operates pharmacies as the second most valuable direction of Publix. Although the pricing strategies are aimed towards middle and upper-class individuals, the quality of their service matches the value.
Technological Environment
The evolution of retail services at Publix has led the retailer to introduce innovative technologies. An important role is played by a creative culture of workers to improve the quality of innovation in a retail enterprise (Basker 38). It is formed in the course of all the organization’s activities and consists of the innovative culture of each employee, from employee relationships or the level of corporate culture, from the technical, technological, and financial capabilities of the organization (Amaldoss and Shin 762).
The most important component of the innovation of a trade organization is the improvement of trade technology, which is a set of works that ensure the execution of the trading process in the most rational ways by specific business conditions. Studies have shown that innovation in the field of trade consists of the service itself, in the method of its production, provision, and consumption, and employee behavior (Gopinath and Mitra 67). Transforming during the innovation process into a new format for the provision of services through the introduction of new technological solutions that can reduce costs and increase turnover, innovation increases the competitiveness of a trading company in the market.
Conclusion
In conclusion, in retail trade, as in the economic sphere of activity, there is a constant improvement of the economic activity of trading enterprises, based on technological, competitive, and legal environments. Trading enterprises develop more effective methods of customer service, expand the multi-attribute model of trading services, offer new ways of pricing and sales, form other approaches to managing sales channels, new legal relationships with intermediaries, modern approaches to personnel management, and introduce the latest labor automation tools.
Works Cited
Amaldoss, Wilfred, and Woochoel Shin. “Multitier Store Brands and Channel Profits.” Journal of Marketing Research, vol. 52, no. 6, 2015, pp. 754-767.
Basker, Emek. Handbook on the Economics of Retailing and Distribution. Edward Elgar Pub, 2016.
Gopinath, Neha, and Jay Mitra. “Entrepreneurship and Well-Being: Towards Developing a Novel Conceptual Framework for Entrepreneurial Sustainability in Organisations.” Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, vol. 3, no. 1, 2017, pp. 62-70.
Gouge, Melissa C. “Human Rights in Play, Transnational Solidarity at Work: Creative Playfulness and Subversive Storytelling among the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.” Critical Sociology, vol. 42, no. 6, 2016, pp. 861-875.
“Publix.” CIW, 2019. Web.
“Publix Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy.” MBA Skool, 2019. Web.