Tesco Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Tesco - Essay Example If the global sales and domestic market share of the company is taken into account then it is found that the company is the largest British retailer by far. The profit of the company exceeded ?2 billion for the year 2008 and it is believed that the profit will be much higher in the year 2009. The company mainly focuses upon food and drink but it has also started dealing in clothes, financial services, internet services etc. â€Å"Tesco started life in 1919 when Jack Cohen started selling surplus groceries from a stall in the East End of London. Mr. Cohen recorded a profit of ?1 from total sales of ?4 on his first day.† (A History of Tesco) The brand Tesco first appeared in the year 1924 when Jack Cohen supposedly bought a tea shipment from Mr. T. E Stockwell. The year 1929 marked the opening of a store in North London and the company rapidly developed from there on. The head quarters of the company was first established in North London in the 1930s. In the year 1932 the compan y became a private limited company, another feather in the cap of Tesco. PESTLE PESTLE is an acronym for Political, economic, sociological, technological, legal and environmental factors. Let us examine how strong the organization is after conducting a PESTLE. SWOT analysis and PESTLE are conducted to assess the strengths and opportunities available to an organization. The current success of Tesco is largely because of the favorable political climate, Tesco has managed to penetrate into nations which were previously considered difficult to penetrate into and this is certainly paved the way for success. Politically the organization has helped in solving the unemployment problem in the UK, the credit crunch has taken a toll on the employment rate but Tesco has still managed to provide job opportunities hence bringing down the unemployment rate in the UK. The EU laws largely favor Tesco, the EU laws tend to favor organizations that have a large presence in a country, Tesco not only has a large presence in the UK but it has also expanded rapidly in other countries as well and this has certainly worked to the advantage of the organization. Tesco needs to be aware of the planning permission because it has plans of further expansion and things can go horribly wrong should an organization avoid planning permission. It is extremely important to pay attention to the marketing strategy of Tesco, the organization has put in a lot of efforts into marketing, and they have captured almost every opportunity to grow. The specialty of the organization was initially in drink and food business but the giants gradually decided to enter into consumer products like music players, CD players, computers and other products that sell like hot cakes. The competitive marketing plan of the organization is right up there with the best, each store is a different segment and steps are taken on every store to increase the sales and generate good profits. The SWOT is in favor of Tesco, the bigg est strength of the organization is its workforce, as mentioned earlier the employees are very affable and friendly. The customers feel good when they share their problems with the employees. Another strength of the organization is its global reach, the stores are spread across in several countries which is no ordinary achievement. Jack Cohen started on a very basic level and within no time the organization

Foreign direct investment and Employment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Foreign direct investment and Employment - Essay Example Mirza (1998) states that movement of labor and links with domestic subcontractors enable transmission of business culture, which involves corporate values, organizational structures and management practices (qtd. in Mickiewicz et al. 2000, p. 5). Michalet (1997, p.1) tells that over the last two decades, more and more developing countries have changed their attitude towards foreign direct investments that instead of fearing, limiting or even banning the entities, they have not only welcomed it but are competing to attract them. Foreign direct investment is an important source of external finance in transitional economies particularly those in Central Europe (Lansbury et al. 1996, p.104) as it helps to cover the current account deficit, fiscal deficit [in case of privatization-related FDI], and supplements inadequate domestic resources to finance both ownership change and capital formation (Krkoska 2001, p.1). Since 1988, around 70 per cent of FDI in transitional economies has been channeled into these countries. Deutsche Bank Research (EU Monitor 2005, p.14) reports that foreign direct investment in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) rose almost tenfold between 1994 and 2003 - from USD 20 bn to USD 197 bn. It also reported that in terms of FDI in relation to GDP, there was an impressive increase from 6.9 per cent to 33.2 per cent.1 Lansbury et al. also contend that FDIs may have played an important role in transforming the formerly centrally planned economies of Central and Eastern Europe as FD Is provide an important source of investment for modernizing the industrial structure of these countries and improving the quality and reliability of infrastructure. Sader (2000, p.2) states that because public industrial structure have relatively low priority for cost-effectiveness and profit generation [which is the opposite for private firms], excess staffing and low-quality service provision results. FDIs, through private lenders and equity investors, provided infrastructure services around the world through full-scale privatization of public sector entities, the construction of new facilities with private capital on the basis of build-operate-transfer (BOT)-type investments, lease arrangements, and operation and management (O&M) contracts (Sader 2000, p.2). A study done by Dimelis and Lauri (2004) using Greek firms as samples confirms that an effect of foreign direct investment on host economies is increases in productive efficiency. Lansbury et al. add that new investments may also bring badly needed skills and technologies into the host economy. Evidences compiled by Lane (1994) in Hungary show that multinational firms had a higher propens ity to trade and invest than purely indigenous ones (qtd. in Lansbury et al. 1996, p.104). Foreign direct investment is important not only as generator of new employment but also as agent that can change the structure of employment in the direction that would be more favorable for a long-term growth of CEECs, that is, more likely to happen if FDI is diversified, according to Mickiewicz et al. (2000, p.7). In their study on the employment effects of FDI on four sample CEECs2, Mickiewicz et al. found out that foreign direct in