STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Tesco’s strategy to compete in the new retail market INTRODUCTION Tesco, UK’s largest supermarket is facing a stiff competition from discounters (Aldi) and to a certain extent from the high-end supermarkets (M&S) since the past few years. Tesco’s share value fell from 321p in December 2013 to 168.15p in December 2014. (Yahoo, 2015) To add to this depreciating market value and low profits, Tesco has been in the headlines for a myriad of scams. Such a situation calls for a strategy overhaul. The shortcomings in Tesco’s strategy to deal with the competition and the overall situation of the retail market has been analysed in this report. Before analysing the current situation and devising a plausible strategy to deal …show more content…
FIGURE 1: PORTER 'S GENERIC STRATEGY ADAPTED FROM (UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, 2015) THE CURRENT SITUATION In 2014, Tesco witnessed its worst financial year in decades with sales plummeting and its market share being lost to the discounters and upmarket supermarkets. The management team was overhauled and a new CEO, Dave Lewis, was appointed. Lewis shut 43 unprofitable stores and scrapped the development of 49 others. (Quinn, 2015) He also brought about various job cuts and sold some of Tesco’s subsidiaries such as the broadband. In his attempt to reduce costs by over a quarter of a million pounds per annum, he decided to close the Chestnut Headquarters and merge it with the Welwyn Garden City office, consequently reducing the management overheads (Shapland, 2015) These and other associated measures are very drastic cost cutting measures, but they alone cannot revive Tesco. It needs more than just reducing waste and overheads. In the words of Alastair Dryburgh “You can 't compete on price with someone who has systematically designed their business to be cheaper than you.” (Dryburgh, 2014) Tesco needs to cope and not compete, and this issue is highlighted in various contexts in the report. TESCO’S RESOURCES AND CAPABILITIES ANALYSIS Competitive advantage depends on the firms capabilities, which are linked to the firm’s resources. To stand apart and differentiate itself
Tesco's has recently had to make many changes in their staff and have had to change the management structure to be able to pay every manager fairly and pay the wages for their general employees. These effects were taken place due to a major profit change and an unstable financial system. Another effect that has been changed is the Tesco pension scheme back in 2012. The Tesco pension scheme had changed due to financial problems however this would mean employees who have a pension scheme with Tesco will have to work longer if they were in their early 60's . This became a challenge for Tesco's as they couldn't afford to pay out on pension schemes at that precise moment.
Overall, I believe that Tesco has many strategies and these strategies help Tesco to make further decisions on what they will be doing as they would be aiming to increase profit, and become the better rivals. Tesco’s financial performance is getting better due to the better strategic decisions made within the company to increase profit and gain
Tesco operates in 14 different countries. Therefore its performance may be influenced by the local legislation and political factors. There are
An economic factor that might affect Tesco is the demand of the consumer and customer which will decrease with the different problems; people are having in the world. As the demand decrease so the economy of the business will decrease and the profit of the business will decrease too. This refers in the fiscal and monetary, for example since when the government decided to raise the VAT from 17.5% to 20%, the business increase their goods price and due to that reason the customers do not purchase enough goods like they used.
Tesco can be said to be a global leader in the UK retail business. It is one of the leading world retailers. The company started using the trading name TESCO in the 1920s and since the group has expanded in many ways venturing in different markets and with interest in different sectors. Over the years, Tesco has recorded growth which has been achieved through different strategies. There has been emphasis on the growth of Core UK business in order to expand internationally. This growth has allowed the company to position itself in food and non-food sectors based on retailing services. Over the years, the company has witnessed financial fortunes which have been reflected in its growing sales. Sales have risen from 31,726,280 from 2013 to 32,074,650 in 2014 (Kantar, 2014.) This has been achieved through growth strategies which have seen the company expand its retail outlets and at the same time enter into new markets with high growth potential using their famous ‘every little helps’ branding along the way. The ‘Every little helps’ branding helped Tesco’s attract 1.3 million new customers in the period from 1990-1995, and the campaign achieved good effects on staff morale, attracting quality marketers to join Tesco, directly affected the share price and allowed the brand to move into non-grocery sectors where brand credibility is a key requirement. Disadvantages….limitations etc
As I have mentioned before, this research paper is being taken exclusively with the aim to evaluate the Tesco’s performance in both financial and business terms over a three years period. Since the financials will be compared with its three year
The downfall of Tesco has resulted in their chief executive, Philip Clarke stepping down and their UK chief executive Chris Bush, UK finance director Carl Rogberg, UK food commercial director John Scouler and food sourcing director Matt Simister all being suspended after an investigation into how it had happened. Tesco overstating their profits has affected them
tesco can take advantage of its successful international expansion. tesco is in a position to share their know-how and also is able to apply technologies and know-how which will create a competitive edge over its rivals and also step its learning curve.
These may be as a result of Tesco's troubles from accounting scandal that has obligated changes in its top management, a sinking share price, decreasing sales and loss of consumer confidence as consumers turn to discount rivals such as Lidl and Aldi. Nevertheless, Tesco has put in place a road map to address the key issues by rebuilding trust with shareholders and stakeholders, as well as to win consumers’ confidence in Tesco’s brand.
TESCO is top leading retailer in UK. It manages over a thousand supermarkets, hypermarkets, and convenience store in the United Kingdom, Ireland, central Europe, and Asia. TESCO started life in 1919 when Jack Cohen started surplus groceries from a stall in the East end of London. MR Cohen made profit of 1 from sales of 4 on his first day. TESCO brand first appear five years after in 1942 when he bought shipment of tea from a MR T. E Stockwell. From that time TESCO slowly improve in retail business and now they are take top position in UK retail business. Tesco aim is provide best products for their customer and make sure about customer requirements.
Profits for Tesco’s operations in Europe, Asia and Ireland increased by 78% during the last fiscal year. The company has a strong brand image, and is associated with good quality, trustworthy goods that represent excellent value. Tesco’s innovative ways of improving the customer shopping experience, as well as its efforts to branch out into finance and insurance have also capitalized on this.
Yahoo! Finance (2012) describes Tesco PLC as a company that "operates stores that primarily offer food products, as well as general merchandise, clothing products, and electrical products." In addition to that, Tesco PLC is also involved in the provision of insurance, financial as well as banking (retail) services (Yahoo! Finance, 2012). Taking into consideration the number of branches it has in various parts of the world, Tesco PLC can be regarded one of the largest retailers around the globe. Having been established sometimes in the year 1919 by Jack Cohen, the company has surely come a long way (Tesco, 2012). The phenomenal growth of Tesco PLC over time can largely be attributed to both the unwavering vision of the founder and the selection of a competent team of managers to run the company's operations during its growth phase. Currently, the company top management team comprises of its CEO Andrew Clarke, its Chief Financial Officer Laurie Mcllwee and Tim
Tesco had achieved measurable success in the UK market which was highly regulated and competitive. Due to regulatory pressures, Tesco focused on its operations and capital investment within UK, which also led to opportunities in the international markets as they were a profitable business.
Product offerings by these contenders are similar as Tesco’s to a huge degree. This procedure helps Tesco to ensure its commercial center by expanding competition. A large portion of the contenders of the Tesco have an equivalent or a bigger market share in the store business. By industry investigators, Tesco PLC has a twenty nine per cent of shares the grocery store industry.
The Corporate Steering Wheel has delivered an impressive performance of Tesco in line with its corporate goals and mission. Each of the five perspectives has assist and transformed Tesco to be well positioned for long term growth. David Reid, the Chairman reported that the Tesco team has once again delivered a good set of results for the year 2010. Even as the markets around the world are emerging from recession, each part of Tesco’s business is well positioned to pursue its