Managing Activities to Achieve Results: Tesco company - Essay Example

?Managing Activities to Achieve Results Table of Contents Introduction 3 Organizational Structure 4 The Company Vision 6 Vision and Organizational Culture 6 Sharing the Vision and Values 8 From Objectives to Strategy and Operational Plans 10 Suggestions for Improvement 14 Conclusion 15 References 16 Introduction Tesco is one of the world’s leading retailers whose business operations are performed in more than 14 nations with the employee strength of over 500,000 people. The parent company of Tesco operates in the UK where the company functions through a wide network comprising more than 1,878 stores. In the European as well as in the Asian countries the company operates through a business network encompassing more than 2,318 stores. Tesco attempts to offer a wide variety of products through its retail outlets including varieties of apparels, food items, grocery products, electronics and many other commodities. Apart from focusing on a traditional distribution channel, the company also offers its products through online retailing services which comprise Tesco personal finance and Tesco.com (University of Exeter, 2009; Tesco, 2013). The mission of the company is to develop value for the customers and attain lifetime loyalty from the global operations (Tesco, 2013). Indeed, the business prospects of Tesco present versatile and diversified organisational functions which are likely to develop certain concerns in relation to its sustainable performances. In its recent performances, since the beginning of the year 2008, the company has been committed to ‘going green’ in order to protect the environment in terms of its products and/or services. In order to follow its commitment towards the principle of ‘going green’, the company has been implementing its strategies on the basis of three levels emphasising on developing a green working environment, green supply chain operations and assisting customers for selecting greener products with affordable prices. Additionally, in order to reduce the level of carbon footprints, the company also focussed on investing ?25 million in the ‘Sustainable Consumption Institute’ at Manchester University to innovative ideas for utilizing the renewable energy such as solar and wind power for its future business operations (Tesco, 2013). Organizational Structure The organizational structure of a business is quite essential through which the company can organize its activities quite efficiently which can in turn facilitate in attaining its objectives successfully. The organisational structure of Tesco is based on a hierarchical structure following a two way communication model in its decision making process. Tesco comprises a decentralized organizational structure which facilitates store managers in developing accurate decision regarding its overall operational activities. This structure also helps store managers to comprehend the working environment and take effective decisions following the discussion with the top level managers as well as experienced staff members. Moreover, this structure also provides an opportunity to the managers to motivate employees allowing them an increased engagement in the decision making process of the company enhancing their self-esteem by a large extent (Tesco, 2013). The various departments of Tesco comprise distribution, administration, finance, human resource, marketing & sales, Information & Communications Technology (ICT), customer services, production and Research & Development (R&D) segments. The responsibility of administrative staff members is to look after the daily operational activities in terms of marketing, distribution and sales. Similarly, the role of distribution manager is to ensure that all products should be allocated appropriately in terms of place and time as well. Financial managers in Tesco are responsible for the overall transaction of the company on a day-to-day basis in compliance with the other departments to maintain a proper allocation of resources throughout the business dimensions of the company. Appropriate resource allocations responsibilities are also partially bestowed on HR managers who are entitled to look after activities of the staffing in the various divisions of Tesco maintaining an alliance with the departmental expectations and the skills as well as competencies possessed by the staff members. Moreover, HR managers are also responsible to continuously motivate the employees towards yielding better productivity and return on investment for the company (Tesco, 2013). Additionally, the role of ICT department is to look after the online services rendered by the company and also to focus on building effective customer relation through contemporary distribution channels working in alliance with the marketing departments which also shares somewhat similar responsibilities. The marketing department in Tesco is often found to be engaged with the evaluation of customers’ needs and preferences in order to deliver suitable products at the accurate places channelling the information to the production department and likewise to the supply chain partners through the distribution and the finance departments. It is worth mentioning in this context that the production department of the company always attempts to ensure that the commodities offered by Tesco are produced in a time-efficient and cost-efficient as well as resource-efficient manner rendering due significant towards quality assurance. Correspondingly, the R&D department aims at monitoring the quality aspects of the products offered in alignment with the customers so that products can be offered in a resourceful manner as per their requirements. The R&D department is also responsible to register and analyse the customers’ feedbacks or complaints to improve the product quality and service delivery aspects within the various dimensions of the organisation, especially the participants and divisions comprising its supply chain (Tesco, 2013). The Company Vision Vision is considered as an aspiration through which an organization tends to attain its long-term future goals. Vision acts as a guidance providing direction to the company regarding its present and future business operations (Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, 2013). The core vision of the company is to create and deliver high values for the customers and also for the communities within which Tesco operates. Moreover, Tesco also aims at delivering increasing value to its loyal and committed staff members as well as shareholders facilitated with the growth of the company. Additionally, Tesco’s vision is to develop the company in a modern and through an innovative way by applying effective as well as unique business strategies with the intention to attain a leadership position within the industry structure (Tesco, 2013). The company’s strategies are focused on expanding the opportunities of its business activities which in turn tends to facilitate it towards attaining long term sustainable growth (Tesco, 2013). Vision and Organizational Culture Culture is generally considered as the combined formation of beliefs, values, attitudes and knowledge that are shared among the various groups of people within a given region or a given environmental context. Contextually, organizational culture can also be referred as the assimilation of beliefs, values and attitudes possessed and shared by the employees within a given workplace setting that are essential for maintaining appropriate internal working environment of an organisation (Tharp, n.d.). In this context, Tesco’s internal business operations have been entirely based on trust, ethics and respect where every employee is considered to be adequately aware regarding the products as well as services offered which in turn contribute to their skills in serving the customers as per their expectations and thus, play a major role in ensuring higher degree of customer satisfaction. On the basis of its values, the company has been able to successfully establish a suitable working environment for the employees through which it shall be able to deliver high quality of products as well as services to the potential customers. In relation to its worldwide business operations, Tesco has always been focused to comprehend the customers’ needs and demands in its domestic market, i.e. in the UK effectively although it has been significantly limiting the global exposure of the company. For instance, owing to its higher degree of concentration on the domestic market, i.e. in the UK, Tesco always aims at concentrating on its green policy driven with its principle of ‘going green’. However, in other regions of its global market place, the company emphasises on building better customer relationship rather which is weaker than that compared to the UK in its current performances (Tesco, 2013). Sharing the Vision and Values Every leading business organization needs a vision in order to develop an approachable direction through which the company can effectively distribute its resources by taking accurate decisions and thus ensuring the successful accomplishment of its business objectives. This overall vision also depicts an aim regarding how an organization can add value within its operations. Moreover, this aim also helps to evaluate appropriate resources which are essential for establishing a profitable market and also point the direction towards the effective accomplishment of the determined business objectives and strategies. Based on these objectives, an organization can be able to deliver products & services as per the requirements of consumers, offer job opportunities for employees, make profits for investors and uphold economic stability within the community (Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, 2013). The core objectives of Tesco is to create high values for the customers and deliver good quality of products as well as services by understanding the needs and preferences of potential customers. When considering the initiative of Tesco in ‘going green’, the SMART framework can be applied. For instance, when relating with the attribute of Specific, Tesco’s organisational goals can be identified as concentrated towards attaining effective growth within the domestic market through the going green initiative. Tesco’s efficiency in performing this particular initiative can be observed as facilitated with the company’s huge earning from both its domestic as well as its overseas market. When assessing the attainable prospects of the initiative taken, Tesco can be identified as focused on implementing certain unique strategies which can further facilitate the company to expand its opportunities and also help it to attain long-term sustainable growth. Moreover, in terms of relevancy of the initiative or the objective, Tesco always attempts to produce and deliver effective quality of products with due consideration towards its ‘going green’ initiative in order to achieve lifetime customers’ loyalty. Furthermore, the time bound aspects of the objective influences the company’s functional department to concentrate towards providing the appropriate products as per the consumers’ requirements in a time-efficient as well as quality assured manner (Tesco, 2013). From Objectives to Strategy and Operational Plans In the present business scenario, the retail market is often considered as one of the leading industries throughout the globe. This industry is quite competitive with a prevailing threat of new entrants particularly owing to the lower rate of capital requirements. Moreover, this industry also provides huge opportunity for the organizations to earn effective profitability from the potential customers being facilitated with increasing customer demand and lower customer bargaining power due to the customers’ necessity. However, availability of substitute and greater bargaining power of suppliers have often been argued to limit the growth prospects of the existing companies. Since the beginning of the 20th century, it has been observed that there was an emergence of supermarkets in forms of grocery retail stores where huge numbers of middle and large scale organizations were observed as initiating a homogeneous pattern of business operations. With the passing time, due to the changing tastes and preferences of the consumers, majority of the supermarkets transformed into convenience stores in order to meet current and future demands of the consumers (Anand & Nambiar, 2013). The UK retail industry is considered as a fast moving market which comprises more than 75% of total food as well as beverages marketers which in turn imply that Tesco has to witness a perfectly competitive business environment with the availability of large numbers of players and large numbers of customers (Food Works, 2011; Nesta, 2013). When performing its operations in the international market, Tesco faced various limitations which might affect its business to a large extent. These limitations can be identified in terms of taxation policies, government rules & regulations, political constraints, well-developed existing players and changing tastes and preferences of domestic consumers. Due to its global operations and also due to its segregating policies for the domestic and the global market, Tesco had to face various political as well as legislative challenges while operating its business in overseas market (SAS Institute Inc., 2012; Tesco, 2013). In order to meet the determined objectives successfully, Tesco has been implementing a seven level strategic framework through which it can expand its business opportunities by attaining long-term sustainable growth. In order to attain higher growth in domestic market, the company has been focused on enhancing its shopping experiences of customers and simultaneously on improving product quality and service delivery in order to attain significant revenue. Another objective of Tesco is to be a ‘Successful International Retailer’ and to accomplish this particular goal the company has been focused on developing its understanding regarding overseas customers by analysing their needs effectively. The other objective of Tesco is ‘to be a creator of highly valued brands’ based on which the company attempts to implement its ‘own-label’ programme in order to recognize customer needs and deliver quality products at competitive prices (Tesco, 2013). Figure: Business Model of Tesco (Tesco, 2013) Tesco’s business model is regarded to represent its core activities through which the company aims to align its resources with its objectives in an efficient manner. The business model of Tesco encompasses of three stages, i.e. the core activities (including insight, buy, move and sell), the virtuous volume circle (including developing economic of scale, buy for less, sell for less and sell more), and the enablers (including building the Tesco brand, leveraging group skill and scale, developing people, creating valuable property, operating responsibly and innovating offer) (Tesco, 2013). When relating to its external communication strategies, the company offers ‘Tesco Clubcard’ through which it attempts to increase customer responsiveness towards the offered services/products and thus generate greater loyalty. Additionally, in order to create substantial consumer awareness, Tesco always attempts to deliver accurate ranges of quality products at the right time. Through ICT, Tesco also aims at making frequent conversations with its customers in order to obtain their feedback and viewpoints regarding the products and services offered (Tesco, 2013). Similarly, when performing internal communication, the company focuses on delivering training session to its employees and staff members in order to continuously improve their skills which can in turn facilitate their efficiencies in rendering satisfactory services to its customers. Through ICT, Tesco frequently attempts to analyse its overall functional departments in order to attain its business objectives by preserving its vision. With the help of this technology, the company also attempts to monitor its operational performances, financial transactions along with the employees’ behaviour towards the workplace. Moreover, through ICT, the company also tends to perform regular interactions with its customers in order to take feedbacks and complaints so that product quality and services delivery can be improved on a continuous basis as per its customers’ requirements (Tesco, 2013). Suggestions for Improvement Strengths: Tesco is considered as a strong retail brand which obtained a substantial proportion of market share not only in domestic but also in overseas market. The major strength of the company can be identified as its efficiency in providing a wide variety of quality products and services at affordable prices to its worldwide customers. Moreover, Tesco has also been successful in attaining a secured market position within the global retail industry (University of Exeter, 2009). Weaknesses: Tesco primarily operates in the UK retail market where debt levels are quite fluctuating which has also hampered the business operations of Tesco to a large extent. It has also been observed that the UK retail markets have been quite fluctuating influenced by the economic aspects and consequent government regulations which have affected the company’s business operation to a certain extent allowing lesser scope to diversify its risks in the global dimensions (University of Exeter, 2009). Opportunities: There are ample of opportunities for Tesco within the global retail markets which offer huge scope for business expansion. For instance, increasing number of consumer demands, lower bargaining power of customers, flexible international trade policies of the potential developing economies and lesser intervention from the end of the government as well as from the end of the new entrants are few of the attributes which constitute the global retail market and shall be beneficial for Tesco with its going green initiative (University of Exeter, 2009). Threats: In global perspectives, the company might witness increasing competition owing to the prevalence of homogeneous goods which in turn increases the necessity of product differentiation and competitive pricing strategies (University of Exeter, 2009). In order to mitigate the weaknesses and threat, it is necessary for Tesco to analyse its competitors’ position before expanding into overseas retail market which will assist it in taking requisite measures and thus offering competitive advantages. It is in this context that the initiative of going green, adopted by Tesco shall prove quite beneficial in mitigating its threats rendering a scope for its product differentiation. Conclusion As can be observed with reference to the overall discussion, even though Tesco is considered as one of the leading retail markets across the globe, it needs to face significant influences from the competitors and other attributes existing in its business environment. With this concern, the company has been following a unique business model and a set of competitive strategies focusing on the deliverance of high value to its customers through which company can attain its objectives and preserve its vision simultaneously. Company’s business activities are always performed by comprehending consumers’ needs and preferences through which they deliver accurate variety of quality products and services obtaining higher degree of customer satisfaction. References Anand, V. & Nambiar, V., 2013. Indian Food Retail Sector in the Global Scenario. Global Retailing Industry. [Online] Available at: http://www.sathguru.com/Note_on_Retail_Industry.pdf [Accessed March 21, 2013]. Bellevue Chamber of Commerce, 2013. Mission, Vision, and Values Definition. Vision Statement Definition. [Online] Available at: http://www.bellevuechamber.org/links/pdf/mission_vision_and_values_template.pdf [Accessed March 21, 2013]. Food Works, 2011. 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