Analyzing Business Problems At Tesco Plc: Leadership Ineffectiveness And Its Impact (essay).

Background of Tesco Plc

Question - Write a brief project report on business problem at Tesco PLC ?

This research is specifically focused towards analysing the business problem that has been evident in respect to Tesco Plc and the researcher has carried out this research in a specific manner aimed at achieving the research aims and objectives in a positive manner. The analysis has been carried out in the form of data collected by the application of primary research in the form of interviews with the managers at Tesco Plc and secondary data has been collected by way of applying the literature review technique in the form of critical assessment of the existing literature. On the basis of entire analysis as carried out, it has been evaluated that Tesco has faced large number of problems in its performance and the most significant one as noted as especially in terms of the leadership effectiveness issue. The organisation is facing the issue in terms of leading the organisation in an efficient way and this is mainly because of the inefficient leader Philips Clarke. His inefficient leadership has created a range of problems related to pricing issues, branding issues, financial crisis in the form of frauds etc and all these issues have specifically affected the overall reputation of the company in an adverse manner. The performance of analysis has indicated findings that there is a need to consider the improvement over the leadership effectiveness at Tesco and at the same time, there should be focus made towards making strategic decisions in achieving higher organisational goals. This clarified that there are significant level of business issues that are evident and appropriate recommendations are provided in this research in order to address them in a positive manner.

The title of this research clarifies that it is focused towards analysing the business problems that have been encountered by Tesco Plc. An analysis of Tesco Plc indicates that it is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer that has its headquarter at Chesnut, UK. Tesco is one of the largest retailers based in UK, and it has achieved significant level of position throughout the entire retail industry based in UK. The group has more than 500000 people working for it, and this signifies that Tesco is operating at a large scale. It has its operations not only in UK, but the group has significant level of presence across the globe. Tesco for instance operates in 12 countries across the world and it accounts for serving 75 million customers on every week. The analysis of core purpose of Tesco indicates that it is identified as “we make what matters better, together”. This implies that the focus of the company has been towards providing high quality products and services to their customers by way of working together with them. An analysis of Tesco Plc indicates that the group is operating in large range of businesses including food stores, telecom, banking, petrol stations, restaurants, Tesco tech support and many more (Tesco Plc, 2015).

Inefficiency in Leadership

An analysis of Tesco Plc above indicates that the group is operating at a significantly larger level across both the domestic market as well as international markets. As a result, Tesco has significant level of responsibilities towards wider range of its stakeholders throughout the organisation. The performance of entire businesses needs to be positive so that they all can contribute towards higher level of growth and development. As Tesco has achieved such a higher position in terms of its overall performance in the entire retail industry, this has been a significant achievement for the entire group. However, it is essential that this higher level of growth in its performance should be carried out further with a view to make significant level of impact at the global level (Tesco Plc, 2015).

The focus should therefore be towards improved level of business performance across all the major units of the group. But an analysis of Tesco’s performance indicates that there are various major areas that are not performing efficiently and they in turn, are affecting the overall profitability and business performance of the entire group. An analysis of the existing literature indicates a range of problems that are evident with respect to the performance of Tesco Plc. The business performance of Tesco is said to have adversely affected in the recent years, and the main reasons cited in the existing literature for such declining performance are many. It has been indicated in an article on “Tesco eroded customer trust” that Tesco is operating at such a larger level and there is a significant level of importance of the trust factor. The focus of management at Tesco should be towards maintaining higher level of trusty with its customers. However, the article indicated that Tesco has been failed to maintain trusts with its customers which has resulted into its lost sales. The customers have shopped across other major retailers operating in the country (Sir Terry Leahy: Tesco 'eroded customers' trust', 2015).

The major reason cited for the lack of trust is mainly the ineffectiveness with respect to leadership that has been practiced across Tesco Plc. Under the leadership of Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco has achieved significant level of success and was successful in maintaining sound relationships with its customers. During his leadership, Tesco has achieved the leadership position in the industry. However, the leadership of Philip Clarke has destroyed the complete image of Tesco Plc and it has lost its share to other major players in the industry. The trust that has been built with customers over the years has been eroded completely, and this has been evident in terms of lost sales and also the declining revenue performance of the company. However, the impact of inefficient leadership is evident across various major areas that are operational at Tesco Plc (Sir Terry Leahy: Tesco 'eroded customers' trust', 2015).

As for instance, the article indicates that Tesco has accounted with large number of experienced leaders developed over the years. Employees at Tesco were empowered to take decisions aimed at leading the organisation to higher level of success. However, under the inefficient leadership of Philips Clarke, majority of those experienced leaders were allowed to leave the organisation in a short period of time and this in turn has affected its overall performance conditions. This implies that the impact of inefficient leadership is also evident in respect to the management of human resources which has been a critical resource available to Tesco. However, this has not been utilised efficiently and the resulting impact is decline in the performance of Tesco Plc witnessed over years. This has been a major business problem that has affected the overall performance level of Tesco Plc. The lack of experienced and talented leaders has destroyed the trust that has been built over the years (Sir Terry Leahy: Tesco 'eroded customers' trust', 2015).

Impact on Tesco's Performance

This has not only the problem that has affected the performance of Tesco Plc, rather there are various other factors that are responsible for the declining overall business performance of the company. As for instance, there are frauds that are also evident in respect to Tesco Plc in 2014 whereby it was discovered that there has been the overstatement of profit being performed in the financial statements of the company to the extent of £250m. As a result of this, there has been a down fall with witnessed over the share price of the company, and there has been an immediate investigation being launched over the books of accounts of the company. This particular factor has acted in a negative manner over the performance of the company, and the price of shares fall down by 10pc. As a result of chances of corporate frauds, there were warnings that have also been issued to the company, but this has impacted the overall reputation of the company in an adverse manner (Ruddick, 2014).

The management and governance problems are identified as crucial as they have affected the overall performance of the company in an adverse manner. The leadership by Philips Clarke has not that been effective in fostering efficient governance mechanism at Tesco and this has allowed for the issue of accounting frauds in its books of accounts. The analysis also indicates that there has been inefficient management being practices at Tesco Plc which has created adverse impact over its business performance. This inefficient management is evident over the managerial decisions that have been undertaken at Tesco. It has been analysed that Tesco has performed significant level of investment in developing infrastructure for its retail stores when the consumer behaviour have showed a complete change over their purchase decision making process. As for instance, it has been analysed that there has been higher preferences within consumers for online shopping of their groceries and amidst such growing online platform, such significant investment over the offline mode has been inefficient from the point of view of overall performance of the company (Warner, 2014).

The image that has been built by Tesco over the years has been destroyed significantly over all the dramas and events at the company. The instances of corporate frauds along with the decline in the level of trust of customers, and also the inefficient leadership followed by loss of most efficient leaders and employees have all affected the overall brand image of the organisation. The resulting impact of such decline in the overall image of Tesco is negative over its business and profitability performance. As for instance, an analysis of the financial performance of Tesco Plc indicates that there has been decline being witnessed in respect to the revenue as well as net profitability performance of the company in last two years. The financial year 2013 and 2014 have witnessed a massive decline in both the revenue and profitability performance and this has been a significant problem faced by the organisation (Chapman, 2014).

Recommendations

An organisation operates with a view to achieve profitability in its performance, and its all the efforts and processes are aimed at achieving higher level of profitability. Thus, the main indicator of the performance of a company is identified as its profitability performance. But this aspect is significantly lacking in respect to Tesco Plc and all this is because of the inefficiencies that have been noted throughout its performance. The operational inefficiency has contributed adversely and become the business problem to Tesco. The problems are not limited to these above identified problems, but there are significant other issues that have acted in a combined way and affected the performance of Tesco Plc in an adverse manner. As for instance, Wood (2014) indicates that the business problem related to the pricing factor has been a severe problem faced not only by Tesco Plc but the entire UK grocery retailers. The status quo of the UK grocery industry has been adversely affected because the German discounters Aldi and Lidl have penetrated the market with the lower level of prices. In respect to Tesco, it has been identified that the group has been quite late in responding to such move of competitors, and this in turn has affected the performance of Tesco in terms of lost market shares to its competitors. The inefficiency within its leadership and management has resulted into late response by the company towards such competitive move of lower price by its competitors.

In addition to the above major problems that have been evident in respect to Tesco Plc, there are certain other areas that are also questionable from the point of view of efficient performance of the organisation. As for instance, an analysis of the case of Tesco indicates that the company is operating at a larger level and this exposes it to larger number of threats in efficiently performing its operations. In this relation, it has been evaluated that one such significant area whereby there are higher chances that the company is likely to face problem is mainly with regard to the attainment of sustainable performance of its business practices. Since Tesco is one of the largest grocery retailer, the chances that the organisation is exposed to sustainable issues in efficiently performing its operation are higher. This is mainly because Tesco’s business indicates that it is primarily focused towards grocery retail business and there are higher chances of sustainability issues in the process.

Thus, the analysis above has indicated about significant level of problems that have been faced by Tesco Plc and these business problems are massive as they have a direct level of impact over the profitability performance of the company. The business decisions including the identification of problems at Tesco Plc has necessitated the need to undertake efficient measures aimed at achieving improvement overall organisational performance.

The specific research objectives that are being addressed through conducting this research work are analysed as follows:

• To perform a critical analysis of the overall performance of Tesco in order to identify the business related problems.
• To identify the problems existent in respect to both the financial and non financial areas of operations across Tesco Plc.
• To critically analyse the areas whereby Tesco Plc is lacking in its performance.
• To identify measures that could be utilised in order to address the problems as identified in respect to Tesco Plc.

These specific research objectives are likely to be addressed from performing this research in a positive manner.

Conclusion

The conduct of this research will result into answering to specific research question which is “What are the major business problems being faced by Tesco Plc and how they can be addressed in a positive manner”? The conduct of this entire research will answer this question in particular.

This research is focused towards performing a critical analysis of the business problems that are evident in respect to Tesco Plc. In order to perform the analysis, the researcher is required to perform the collection of relevant data through the application of different data collection methods. This research on analysing the business problems at Tesco also requires the researcher to consider different methods through which the collection of most relevant data can be ensured. The researcher in this research has applied different research methods in order to collect data so that their analysis could result into the attainment of positive results concerning the research question for which the given research is conducted. There are important decisions that are required to be made in performing the collection of relevant data, and these decisions are mainly related to research design selection, and the data collection methods and techniques utilised in collecting data. It also includes decision concerning the sampling and the final sample as selected in performing the study (Walsh and Wigens, 2003). These aspects in relation to the given research on analysing the business problem at Tesco Plc are analysed as follows:

The decision with respect to the selection of appropriate research design is significant, and this is mainly because of the role as played by research design in the entire data collection process. Research design acts as a blueprint to the data collection process, as it guides the researcher throughout the entire data collection process. As a result, the selection of research design in an appropriate manner is essential. The research design not only explains about the research methods that have been useful in collecting data, but the philosophy behind using a particular research design is also explained by it. This signifies that the research design is crucial from the point of view of performing the entire collection of data in research. There can be the selection of qualitative research design or the quantitative research design by researcher in performing the collection of data. The qualitative research design is useful when the researcher is required to collect in-depth data for the purpose of addressing the research problem. Contrary to this, the quantitative research design is highly suited especially in respect to researches that require numerical data that can be quantitatively analysed in reaching an appropriate conclusion (Taylor, 2006).

This research on analysing the business problem at Tesco Plc makes use of qualitative research design. This research design has been utilised by the researcher because the problem faced by Tesco Plc requires an in-depth analysis which could be carried out through the application of qualitative data. As a result, the researcher has focused towards collecting in-depth data in this research which has resulted into the efficient ways of addressing the research problems and issues in this research. This research design has been applied by way of applying specific techniques by the researcher. With the application of qualitative research design, it has been possible to the researcher in evaluating the problems faced by Tesco in a positive manner.

References

In selecting the appropriate data collection techniques, the researcher is required to make a proper selection of the data collection methods through which the collection of relevant data can be performed. There are two important data collection methods that are available to researcher and these can be identified as primary data collection method and secondary data collection method. The role and importance of both these data collection methods is significant, as primary data collection allows for the collection of first hand data directly from the respondents. The secondary data collection method is concerned with the collection of data by way of assessing the existing literature especially the academic books, journals and online articles. The collection of data in this research is performed through the application of both these data collection methods. However, there can be the application of different techniques to collect data through both these methods. As for example, the data collection technique applicable in respect to primary data collection is mainly through survey, interview and observation technique whereas the secondary data collection can be performed through the application of literature review technique. This research on analysing the business problem at Tesco Plc involved the application of interview technique whereby the managers of Tesco Plc are interviewed in order to collect data about the business problems as encountered by the company. The secondary data has been collected by way of applying literature review technique whereby critical analysis of the online articles describing business problems faced by Tesco Plc are analysed (Creswell, 2003).

In performing the collection of data through the application of interview technique, the researcher has visited the premises of Tesco Plc whereby the senior level managers have been approached and they were explained about the purpose of this research and the need for conducting interviews with their managers. Since the business problem at Tesco is quite a sensitive problem, the managers initially resisted and doubted on allowing for the interview, but upon considerable request and the satisfaction with respect to protecting the anonymity and confidentiality of responses have resulted into the permission to interview their managers. As a result, the researcher has interviewed the managers at Tesco in order to analyse the problems faced by Tesco Plc, and this interview has resulted into the collection of most relevant data in addressing the main research question. The positive aspect with the interview was that it has resulted into the collection of in-depth data by the researcher which is crucial from the point of view of answering the research questions in the given research. The interview as carried out has lasted for more that 10 minutes and the data as shared by the respondents are recorded immediately so that their analysis could result into the better accomplishment of the research goals. Apart from this, secondary data has been collected by way of mostly examining the online articles that include description on the Tesco’s business problem (Muijs, 2010).

In these ways, the collection of data has been ensured in a positive manner in this research with a view to achieve the main aim in a positive way.

In performing the collection of data, the researcher is required to make adequate level of consideration with respect to the selection of appropriate sample from whom the collection of data can be ensured in a positive manner. It is not feasible for the researcher to study the entire population and appropriate sample should be selected so that they could be studied and the findings from the entire analysis would be generalised over the entire population. In respect to this research on analysing the business problem at Tesco, the focus of the researcher has specifically been towards analysing the problems faced by the selected case organisation and as a result, the target population is the entire organisation. As there are various such departments and managers, it is not feasible to study all the departments and as a result, the sampling strategy considered to select a specific segment of the population is systematic random sampling strategy whereby the target respondents are selected on systematic basis. The managers are selected from few major departments such as CSR department, marketing and sales manager, supply chain managers and operation manager etc. The sample size that has been utilised for the purpose of collecting data is a sample of 5 different managers from Tesco plc. In these ways, the sampling strategy and process has been considered in performing analysis and thereby in selecting respondents in a positive manner (Berg and Latin, 2007).

The final sample used in performing this study has been quite specific which is aimed at providing the most relevant and useful data needed in achieving the main aims and objectives of this research in a positive manner. The final sample that has been utilised in collecting relevant data about the business problems faced by Tesco is the group of managers from different departments within the organisation so that their viewpoint is likely to ensure the collection of most relevant data which is not readily available in the existing literature. This final sample as considered is highly effective from the point of view of identifying all the major problematic areas as faced by the company. The existing literature does not include all the major problems faced by an organisation because it is quite unlikely that such businesses would disclose their problems in the literature. Hence, the analysis of the business problems faced by an organisation can be possible by way of directly accessing the individuals working in it, and this is the result that the final sample as utilised in this research is mainly focused towards the most significant managers that could reveal important information with regard to the problems faced by the entire organisation.

The entire analysis above indicates about the methodology that has been adopted by the researcher in performing the collection of most relevant data in this research. The research methodology has been highly significant from the point of view of addressing the main aims and objectives of this research in a positive manner.

The usage of appropriate data is quite crucial from the point of view of accomplishing the main aim of the research in a positive manner. Data are crucial from the point of view of performing the research in a positive manner. There can be different ways in which the collection of data can be carried out by researcher. This research is focused towards analysing the business problem as faced by Tesco Plc and the focus has mainly been towards a descriptive analysis of the problems that are encountered by it. In order to analyse this particular aim of this research, it has been quite crucial that there should be the application of appropriate data that should be performed by the researcher. With the application of appropriate data, it could be possible to achieve the best possible results for which the given research has been conducted. There has been specific collection of data that has been undertaken in this research.

The types of data that can be considered by the researcher are mainly classified as qualitative data and quantitative data. These data types can be considered by the researcher in order to collect specific data needed in performing the research in a positive manner. The qualitative data type is crucial in allowing the researcher in collecting in-depth data because this particular data type focuses on the collection of subjective data in addressing the research problem under consideration. When the researcher is required to perform the analysis of the research problem in detail, this specific data type is highly crucial. Contrary to this, the quantitative research design is significant in terms of collecting the numerical based data whereby the viewpoints of large number of respondents are collected so that they can be analysed through the application of statistical analytical methods. This indicates that quantitative data has higher level of significance when the research purpose necessitates the collection of data from large number of respondents (Wilson, 2010).

Based on the nature of this research on analysing the business problem faced by Tesco, the research data type that has been considered by the researcher is mainly that of qualitative data because the analysis of the business problem requires the collection of in-depth data. Such collection of in-depth data regarding the various areas of problems as faced by Tesco Plc is crucial and as a result, there has been adequate level of consideration being made by the researcher especially in collecting such in-depth data relevant to identifying the problems faced by Tesco Plc. In terms of collection of data, as the researcher has focused towards collecting data by way of applying both the primary method and secondary data collection method, initially the data that has been used is mainly the data from secondary research in the form of accessing the existing literature and this is followed by the utilisation of data from primary research that has been conducted with the management at Tesco Plc. Thus, the qualitative data about various major problems that are evident in respect to Tesco Plc are utilised in this research for the purpose of addressing the research findings in a positive manner.

The data as used in this report are specific to problems and these problems as considered are mainly from different areas within the organisation. It is not only the few major areas that have been considered in analysing the problems at Tesco, but the business problems related to all the major areas of operations within organisation are considered so that a complete analysis of the issues facing Tesco can be possible. This particular approach of the researcher in collecting data in respect to all the major areas of operations is crucial from the point of view of addressing the main aim of this research in a positive manner. This is mainly because such an approach of covering all the important specific areas of organisation’s operations to analyse the business problems is quite significant in terms of contribution towards attaining the research goals efficiently. It is not only the data related to the problems faced by Tesco Plc that has been considered in this research, but the researcher has also specifically given attention towards identifying the solutions with respect to the identified areas of problems.

Thus, the analysis above signifies that specific data in relation to the business problems faced by Tesco Plc is considered and also the data in relation to the solutions for such identified problems.

This has been the most important section of this research, and it is primarily aimed at analysing the results that have been accomplished from applying different data collection methods by the researcher. As for instance, the main focus of the researcher in this research is mainly towards analysing the business problems that are evident in respect to Tesco, and in order to accomplish this, the researcher has considered the application of both the primary data and secondary data methods. The data as collected needs to be presented so that appropriate results can be achieved from their discussion and the main finding from the entire research is also positively accomplished. In this relation, the research as accomplished from the collection of both the primary data and secondary data are discussed as follows under separate headings:

As indicated, the secondary research has been carried out in order to accomplish the main aim and objectives of this research. The secondary research in the form of analysing journals, books and online articles is carried out and this has resulted into the identification of core business problems as evident in respect to Tesco Plc. The results as achieved from the secondary research are indicated below in the form of critical evaluation of business problems facing Tesco Plc.

According to an article by Ahmed (2014), the title is indicated as “What went wrong with Tesco”. This particular topic of the article indicates that something has went wrong which led to the claim by the author regarding such issues in respect to Tesco Plc. On the basis of critical evaluation of problem, it has been identified that the main business problem with Tesco is mainly related to its leadership. According to Harvard Business Review (2013), efficient management of businesses especially the grocery stores requires efficient level of leadership on the part of management that can guide the performance of the entire organisation. But an analysis of the case of Tesco Plc indicates that the main issue as faced by it is mainly in terms of leadership effectiveness which has been significantly lacking. There has complete absence of leadership effectiveness in respect to Tesco Plc which leads to the occurrence of lot many problems across the company (Ahmed, 2014).

The problem as faced by Tesco is mainly in the form of inefficiencies on the part of leader Philips Clarke who has been responsible for bringing down the entire image of sound performing organisation Tesco Plc. Tesco has achieved the leadership position in the entire retail industry but its reputation has been adversely damaged by its leader Philips Clarke, as his decisions went ineffective in terms of addressing the marketing requirements and its resulting impact is evident over Tesco in terms its declining market share. The article indicates that Tesco lost around 50% of it market share and profitability in 2014 and all this is because of the inefficient leadership and decision making by the company. According to an article by Wood (2014), it has been analysed that there are certain major problems that have been faced by the company especially in respect to different important areas of its operations. The article indicates about the five major problems that are required to be addressed by the Tesco’s new boss.

An analysis of the article in detail indicates that these major problems are related to areas such as the existent crisis situation as faced by Tesco Plc, the problem of price factor, store size, marketing brand and loyalty. These are identified as the most significant problems that are currently being evident on larger basis with respect to Tesco’s performance. An analysis of these problems indicates that the problem of crisis is mainly in terms of lost market share by the company against other major retailers in the industry. The inefficient decision by the leaders has resulted into the significant decline in the profitability performance of Tesco because there has been a massive decline in the revenue of the company being noted, and the resulting impact is ultimately over its profitability performance conditions. Secondly, the problem with respect to the price factor indicates that the company has not been able to efficiently compete with its competitors over the pricing factor. The other major players in the industry have lowered the prices for their groceries and other products and amidst such highly competitive environment condition, Tesco’s management failed to efficiently recognise such timely actions in addressing such pricing issues (Wood, 2014).

Apart from this above pricing factor, the analysis also leads to identification that there has been problem faced by Tesco in terms of its store size. The role of store size is significant from the point of view of its overall performance conditions. An analysis of the case of Tesco Plc indicates that the store size of the company has been massive and there has been further decisions taken to expand the operations by developing its infrastructure to a higher level. This has also affected the performance of company in an adverse manner because there has been shift in the consumption pattern of customers to online mode. As a result of this, the huge investment as made by the company in the form of developing the infrastructure has become highly costly to the company and it has added up additional cost. The rising trend among customers for online shopping even for groceries has affected the performance of Tesco in an adverse way (Wood, 2014).

Apart from the above major business problems as evident in respect to Tesco Plc, an analysis of the case of the company indicates that there are issues in respect to brand loyalty with respect to Tesco brand. As for instance, the case analysis of Tesco Plc indicates that the brand image of the company has been adversely affected mainly because of its declining performance levels in the recent years and there has also been inefficiency being noted especially with regard to the leadership effectiveness in respect to Tesco’s leaders. All these aspects have affected the performance of Tesco in an adverse manner, and this decline in the brand image of the company has been crucial from the point of view of its efficient performance. This has been a major factor that needs adequate level of attention on the part of management in order to regain its leading performance condition in the industry. There is a need to efficiently perform the marketing of brand and loyalty by the company in ensuring that it can gain its control back into the industry (Wood, 2014).

Apart from the impact over the performance of Tesco in the above indicated manner, an analysis of the existing literature indicates that there are significant other ways in which the brand reputation of the company has been adversely affected. An analysis of the article on Tesco’s accounting problem indicates that the company is faced with significant level of impact over its brand image from the identification of accounting misstatements in its books of accounts in 2014. An analysis of the case of Tesco Plc indicates that the company has faced with significant level of issues in terms of its profit being misstated in the books of accounts to the extent of £250m. This has resulted into the questions being asked on the credibility of such company which has achieved significant level of growth and reputation in its entire history. There were certain thoughts being going on within the minds of public as to whether they would face another major collapse of successful company in the history, and this signifies a major impact over the performance of Tesco Plc (Tesco Accounting Problem, 2014).

Overall, the analysis above has indicated about the problems that are evident in the literature with respect to the performance of Tesco Plc. These business problems as identified are significant and they are adversely impacting the profitability performance of the company.

Apart from the collection of data specific from secondary research in the form of literature analysis, the researcher has also carried out the primary research in the form of interviews that have been carried out with different important managers of Tesco Plc. The performance of interviews has resulted into the attainment of significant level of findings. An analysis of the responses as gained from interviewing the managers at Tesco Plc is performed as follows:

Findings from Question 1:

The first major question assesses the overall experience of the managers being interviewed with respect to their role and responsibilities as being such a large part of the organisation. The responses as shared by five interviewed personnel indicate that they all have opined that they are highly valued and responsible as being a part of such large organisation. Since they are from different departments, they all have indicated that their role and responsibilities are different and they are efficient enough in performing their responsibilities efficiently. The interviewed managers have indicated their feelings that they feel pride as being the part of such large organisation and they therefore look towards contributing efficiently in achieving the organisational goals. In the view of manager handling CSR department, he was of the opinion that in 21^st century, such large business as that of Tesco needs to account for their social responsibilities, and he and his department focuses adequately towards this aspect. The marketing and sales manager have indicated that they are focused towards creating positive image of their products and services offerings within their target customers and the operational manager is concerned with managing the operations of the organisation so that timely delivery of products and services through efficient management of different departmental functions within organisation can be ensured. In these ways, the feelings as indicated by the interviewed managers signify that they are highly valued as being the part of such large organisations.

Findings from Question 2:

In respect to this question, the interviewed respondents have indicated that the role of managers is crucial in large organisations. The management of different departments in an efficient manner through an effective level of coordination within them is crucial as indicated by the respondents and it is the managers that are primarily responsible for ensuring so. They have indicated that they are being part of such large multinational organisation, and they have specific responsibilities towards managing their own individual departments as per the strategic goals and responsibilities that are set by the top management. As per their opinion, management is core to efficient functioning of the entire organisation, and this has also been evident in respect to Tesco’s performance because according to them, the key driver for success behind the performance of Tesco is the effectiveness within its managers. This signifies that the opinion of interviewed managers suggests that the manager’s role is significant and they are also contributing efficiently towards accomplishing the organisation’s goals of achieving higher profitability performance in an efficient manner.

Findings from Question 3:

This question is highly specific in terms of the problems faced by organisations in performing the management of their operations and the role of managers in contributing positively towards accomplishing a problem free working environment condition. In respect to this particular question, the responses as shared by the interviewed managers signify that businesses should be kept away from creeping any problems in their business process. This particular response has been given by 4 out of 5 managers as interviewed as indicated below:

Managers	Responses
CSR	The CSR manager has indicated the role of managers as significant.
Sales	Managers have to look towards keeping the business free from making any error.
Marketing	Business problems should be kept at a distance.
Supply chain manager	There is no such importance of looking specifically towards business problems as they are automatically get managed.
Operations managers	Operational processes have higher chances of creating problems and they should be managed efficiently.

The responses of the respondents clarifies that majority of them have positively agreed that there is a need to perform the management of different departments in an efficient manner so that business problems can be efficiently addressed and they can be restricted from occurrence.

Findings from Question 4:

This question assesses the existence of any problem at Tesco in terms of management’s effectiveness and the viewpoints of the interviewed managers signify that they are faced with significant level of issues in their organisation. As for instance, an analysis of the case of Tesco Plc indicates that the interviewed managers clearly suggested that there are certain loopholes with respect to their manager’s effectiveness. In their opinion, their leader lacks leadership effectiveness that is essential from the point of view of performing the management of the entire organisation. The managers have indicated that leader in the organisation is responsible for taking up important decisions and measures, and leaders are responsible for guiding their subordinates in right direction. However, the case analysis of Tesco Plc implies the viewpoint of interviewed managers that their leader lacks sufficient level of effectiveness in performing the management of their entire organisation in an efficient manner. As per their opinion, their CEO has undertaken significant level of decisions that are contrary to efficient performance of the entire organisation, and as a result, they feel that there is declining overall performance situation being noted. The managerial effectiveness is reducing at Tesco as per the interviewed managers because the strong leaders that have been developed over the years are allowed to leave the organisation which results into inexperienced managers performing the management of important organisational departments. This signifies that there has been higher level of managerial ineffectiveness being identified in respect to Tesco Plc.

Findings from Question 5:

This question assesses the performance of Tesco in terms of its profitability performance conditions, and the viewpoints as shared by interviewed managers have clarified that there are certain major business problems that are quite clearly evident in respect to Tesco Plc. As per the interviewed managers, there has been a significant decline being noted especially in respect to the revenue performance of the company, as they have indicated that revenue of Tesco Plc has declined heavily in last two years. Such a decline in the revenue has not only affected the performance, but there has also been decline in the overall profitability of the company. Despite being the leader in the industry, Tesco has encountered significant level of problems in achieving higher revenue level and ultimately in maintaining profitability performance. As per the viewpoint as shared by respondents, they have indicated that a stronger foundation has been laid down by the previous CEOs which should have been utilised to achieving higher growth and sustainable performance conditions. However, the current leaders and managers have failed to exploit the opportunities as created by previous managers and this in turn has affected the profitability performance in a negative manner. Overall, there has been declining profitability performance being witnessed by Tesco despite a stronger foundation has been developed by its previous CEOs.

Findings from Question 6:

This question evaluates the viewpoint of respondents concerning whether Tesco has been able to respond to changes in the external environment and the performance of interview has indicated findings that four of the five managers have indicated that they are not able to respond to the external market requirements in an efficient manner. Their viewpoints as shared by them are indicated below:

Managers	Responses
CSR	Tesco has loopholes in terms of complying with its social responsibilities as required by the external environment.
Sales	Tesco revenue has declined because of its inability in meeting out external environment requirements in terms of price
Marketing	The pricing factor has not adequately being satisfied by the Tesco Plc.
Supply chain manager	There is no such issue in the external environment
Operations managers	The organisation fails to comply with the changes in the external environment.

The above responses by the respondents clarifies that there has been higher level of agreement being identified in respect to the managers as interviewed with respect to their external environmental responsibilities. As for instance, the responses of managers indicate that the external environment requirements mainly in terms of price has not been adequately addressed by Tesco’s leader which leads to declining performance condition of the company. The price factor in particular suggests that Tesco has not been able to address the move of its competitors to lower the prices on timely basis and as a result, it has witnessed a decline in its entire performance levels. This suggests that the leadership ineffectiveness persists in respect to Tesco which leads to inefficient decisions being undertaken in addressing the external environment requirements and the resulting impact is therefore inefficient performance by the company.

It is not only the pricing factor but there has been higher overall responsibility of Tesco towards the development of social and environmental performance conditions. However, from the viewpoint as shared by respondents especially the CSR manager, it has been evaluated that Tesco has been unable to comply across all the major areas in performing the management of its operations in a sustainable manner. In the viewpoint of interviewed manager, it has been assessed that there has higher overall indication of social responsibilities being made in the website of the company, but this has not actually been accomplished in respect to the company’s actual performance condition. All these aspects clarifies that there has not been adequate level of satisfaction of the external environmental requirements by the company, and this has put challenges in terms of overall profitable performance level. Overall, the viewpoint as shared has indicated that the company fails to address the external environment challenges faced by it in an efficient manner by devising appropriate strategies for it.

Findings from Question 7:

This question specifically analyses the viewpoint of respondents with respect to the frauds that have been noted especially in respect to its books in 2014 in terms of misstatement of profit in the financial statement. On the basis of performance of analysis, it has been evaluated that the interviewed managers have indicated that they have also heard about the misstatement of profitability performance in the books of accounts of company. This has been a negative factor being identified from the point of view of overall branding and reputation of the company. It has been evaluated in particular that there are claims by people that there has been chances of big corporate frauds that are likely to be evident in respect to company’s performance and this may be a big scandal if the litigations on the company on misstating its profits are proved. However, from the point of view of overall performance condition of Tesco, this particular fraudulent practice has affected its overall reputation in an adverse manner. This can be regarded as a major financial risk in respect to the performance of Tesco Plc and it has been a crucial factor that could even cause the demise of the entire organisation. Thus, from the point of view of overall risk to business, it has been considered as significantly higher and may lead to negative impact over the performance of Tesco Plc.

Findings from Question 8:

This question assesses whether the overall reputation of the company is affected over the years either positively or negatively and the conduct of analysis has indicated findings that 3 such managers have indicated that there has negative impact over the reputation of Tesco Plc whereas the two other managers have suggested that the impact has been positive over the Tesco’s brand reputation and image. As for instance, the conduct of analysis has indicated that majority of the managers have given their opinion that the performance of Tesco has been negatively affected mainly because of the fact that the recent years have witnessed a significant decline in their performance. This has negative overall impact over their performance level and this is the reason why managers have indicated that they have experienced negative brand image and reputation of the company. The CSR manager including the sales and marketing manager in particular has indicated that the company has witnessed a decline in its performance level mainly in the last two financial years and this in turn has affected the revenue and profitability of the company. Contrary to this, the other two managers are of the opinion that the performance of the company has been efficient and they have achieved higher level of brand reputation and image over the years. Overall, the viewpoints of respondents in particular suggests that the performance of Tesco has affected in a negative way in the recent years, and this has attributed adverse negative branding and image of the company.

Findings from Question 9:

This question in particular assesses whether the company has achieved sustainable performance in respect to its operations, and the conduct of interview has indicated findings that four of the managers have suggested that Tesco pays adequate level of attention especially in achieving efficient environmental and sustainable performance, but the opinion of CSR manager indicated that there has been certain major loopholes that still persists in respect to the performance of Tesco. In his opinion, although CSR efforts and measures are significant from the point of view of achieving highly efficient performance conditions, yet there are certain major areas that may have left the focus of the company, and this subsequently raises sustainability in respect to company’s performance. The CSR manager is of the opinion that Tesco is operating at a larger level and as a result, there are higher chances that some thing would get missed and this has resulted into sustainability issues on the part of companies. This implies that sustainability issues are also being evident in respect to the performance of Tesco Plc and this issue has been quite inherent to its operations which are not indicated in the existing literature.

Findings from Question 10:

This question requires the respondents to recommend the ways in which the identified business problems can be efficiently addressed. The performance of interview has indicated findings that there have been certain major recommendations being provided by the interviewed managers for the purpose of achieving higher level of efficiency over the organisation’s performance. The conduct of analysis has indicated that almost all the five managers have necessitated the need to consider efficient leadership in operation. This implies that there should be highly efficient leadership needed in reshaping the declining image of the company because the image has been deteriorated in the last two to three years under the leadership of Philips Clarke. Thus, the problems at Tesco can be majorly addressed by way of specifically considering the improvement over the leadership because managerial effectiveness is the major factor that has been identified as lacking and this can therefore be efficiently addressed by way of enhancing the leadership position in the organisation. Apart from this, the managers have also recommended that there is a need to consider the strategic moves in a manner that addresses the external environment conditions efficiently and on timely basis. This implies that there is a need to devise appropriate strategies through which timely responses to external environment can be ensured and the organisation can better address the need of customers in a positive manner. In addition to this, recommendations are also made in respect to focusing more towards achieving sustainable performance by the business.

Thus, the entire findings as achieved from the performance of this research in the form of interviews are highly effective and they can be utilised in accomplishing the main aim of this research in a significant way.

On the basis of data as collected through the primary research in the form of interviews with the managers of Tesco Plc and also by way of literature search, the researcher has gained accessibility to sufficient level of data which can be utilised in order to achieve the research results. On the basis of data as collected and analysed above, it has been discussed that Tesco is a large grocery retailer that is operating at a significantly higher level. As a result, the analysis leads to identification that there has been significant level of issues being noted in respect to the performance of Tesco Plc because of its operations being carried out at such a larger level. The analysis leads to discussion that business problem at Tesco are crucial because they have affected not only the performance of the company, but the brand reputation also gets adversely impacted of it. As for instance, the analysis leads to discussion that the most significant problem in particular as evident in respect to the performance of Tesco Plc is mainly in terms of the leadership ineffectiveness.

This leadership ineffectiveness is regarded as the major problem as faced by the company and this is mainly because of leadership ineffectiveness as it caused the other problems to take place. As a result, this can be regarded as a major problem evident in respect to the company’s overall performance and there is a need to undertake measures that could efficiently address this issue as faced by the organisation. This leadership ineffectiveness has affected the ability of management in taking important and crucial decisions on timely basis and as a result of this, there has been loss of market shares being evident in respect to Tesco Plc as against its competitors. This is therefore regarded as a major problem and its solution is essential from the point of view of achieving higher level of success by Tesco Plc. As a result of this leadership ineffectiveness, it has also been assessed that the organisation has been inefficient in managing its human resources in an efficient manner because the most significant and talented leaders and workforce have been allowed to leave the organisation at quick interval. This has therefore been regarded as a major problem in respect to Tesco Plc and appropriate solution is needed so that all the problems as faced by the organisation can be resolved.

The analysis has resulted into the discussion that there are significant other problems that are evident in respect to the overall performance level of the company. As for instance, the business problems as identified in respect to Tesco Plc indicates that the company has faced with the pricing issues whereby the company has not made timely decisions to lower down the prices for its products and services and it has thereby lost its market share in front of its competitors. Apart from this, there has also been the loss of brand reputation being identified in respect to the company because of large number of problems in it. The company has involved into certain kinds of fraudulent activities in the form of misstatements in its books of account, and there has also been the involvement of the company in practices that requires sustainable measures but they are not practically been considered.

Overall, the entire analysis as carried out has resulted into the discussion that there are significant level of business problems that have creep into the business processes of the organisation. The problems are highly significant as they have directly affected the performance of the company in a negative way. The profitability performance of Tesco gets adversely affected as a result of such business problems, as company has witnessed decline not only on its revenue, but there has also been a decline being identified in respect to the profitability from its operations. Thus, the entire analysis has resulted into the identification of lot many problems which have created issues to the company in sustaining its leadership position in the industry. On the basis of performance of analysis as carried out above, it has been discussed that the necessary strategies needed are mainly in terms of changing the leadership performance which has been significantly lacking in respect to Tesco’s performance. Since this has been the root cause of the problem being noted in respect to Tesco plc, it is essential that it should be addressed in order to ensure that all other problems get efficiently resolved.

On the basis of entire analysis as carried out in respect to Tesco Plc with respect to the business problems faced by it, it has been evaluated that there are significant level of problems being identified in respect to company’s performance. Based on the analysis as carried out in the entire research, the implication as noted in respect to the business decision making process is that the business problems as identified are highly significant in terms of affecting the entire organisation’s performance in a negative way. The problems as identified are extremely crucial that requires immediate attention on the part of management at Tesco to undertake efficient measures that could address the organisation’s performance in an efficient manner.

The analysis leads to identification that Tesco has developed its sound image in the entire retail industry over years and it takes little time to lose all its brand reputation that has been developed over the years. As a result, the business implication with respect to the identified problems is that Tesco should make adequate level of planning and should undertake measures that could allow it in efficiently addressing the problems as sustained by it in its operations. The major loophole as identified is especially in respect to the leadership issues at Tesco and this need to be efficiently addressed so that it can regain its lost market share and can efficiently address all the major loopholes across different major organisational processes faced by it. From the entire analysis as carried out, the business implication is that the management not only needs to be changed, but there should be proactive measures that should be included with a view to target the recovery of the brand image and ultimately the organisation’s performance levels. The leadership position that has been left earlier by the previous CEOs need to be regained so that Tesco can create dominant impact within its target audience.

Overall, the entire research as carried out proves to be highly effective from the point of view of addressing the main aim for which it has been conducted. The research is mainly focused towards identifying the business problems that are evident in respect to Tesco Plc and the conduct of entire analysis has indicated findings that there are large range of issues being faced by Tesco in its business performance, and there is a need for efficient measures in terms of improving the leadership effectiveness in respect to Tesco Plc that is required by it. On the basis of analysis, the suitable recommendations as identified for the purpose of achieving improvement in its performance are to focus towards enhancing its reputation in the industry and also towards ensuring that the strategic decision are undertaken on timely basis so that the problems as faced by the organisation are efficiently addressed.

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Questions for Interviews

Q1: Tesco has been one of the largest companies in UK. How do you feel as been the part of such a large organisation or your responsibilities in organisation?

Q2: What do you think is the manager’s role in performing the overall management of organisation efficiently and how do you address your role in the organisation?

Q3: Do you think that businesses should be kept away from any problems within the organisation? If yes, what do you think that specific departmental managers like you would contribute positively towards any major problems within organisation?

Q4: Is there any business problems related to the management effectiveness being evident at Tesco Plc? If yes, please discuss in detail?

Q5: Is there any negative profitability performance being evident in respect to Tesco Plc in the recent years? What were its major causes?

Q6: Has Tesco been able to respond to the changes in the external environment conditions? Please explain in detail.

Q7: Frauds in the books of accounts in respect to Tesco Plc in the form of profit misstatement being identified in 2014. Is it true? Please explain.

Q8: Has the overall reputation of the company being affected over the years? Please explain

Q9: Has the company been able to efficiently address the sustainability performance in its operations? If no, please explain

Q10: Finally, what would you recommend in ensuring that the business problems at Tesco can be efficiently addressed?