Tesco Plc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Tesco Plc - Essay Example Through the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR), companies have been forced top look beyond the economic returns of the business but also consider their impact on the environment and community around them. The importance of value creation through positive stakeholder relationships has an impact of significantly increasing the profitability of a firm (Edwards 1998). The increase in environmental legislation and the emerging trends of ethical consumers, the incorporation of social responsibility in the business strategy is more of a necessity in the competitive market. This report seeks to analyze the annual report of Tesco Plc for the year 2011 to investigate the way it accounts for its social, ethical and environmental impact. The report further compares the performance of the company with other companies in terms of environmental policies. Another aspect that is considered in this report is the nature of reporting that the company uses and recommendations for future str ategies to improve on the presentation of the company’s stakeholder’s strategy. 2. Business Review of Tesco Plc in 2011 Tesco is the most dominant retailer in the United Kingdom with a market share of about thirty percent. The company has a presence in several countries. It reported revenues in excess sixty billion in the financial year 2010/2011. The core purpose of Tesco Plc is to accord quality service to customers. The company’s goals are aligned to this vision that is clearly aimed at giving the company a competitive advantage in its market. The company has underpinned its commitment to the community and the environment by having a goal to put its responsibilities to the communities that they serve. To achieve this goal, the company has broken down its policy on environment and social issues into five key performance indicators that it uses to analyze the impact of its strategies. The key performance indicators on the social and environment issues for Tesco Plc for the period ending 2011 are analyzed below. 2.1 Responsibility in Buying and Selling of Products The customers require safe and affordable products. The company also lays emphasis on ensuring that the products that it sells are sourced in a way that is robust and meeting the required standards. Tesco has laid out strategies to help improve its relations with the suppliers through a program called â€Å"Trading Fairly†. However, the impact of this program cannot be quantified because the metrics of measuring the results are not available. In fact, it can be argued that these programs are publicity stunts since the same buying processes were used prior to the introduction of this program are still in place. A case in point is the widely documented practice by Tesco Plc to buy potatoes from the grey market instead of the official supply chain through Tyrells Crisps. The other issue of fair trade has been recently brought to the fore due to the price undercutting by super markets on bananas. The price wars between Tesco and Asda almost brought down the banana industry. The supermarkets opted to lower their margins and in turn reduced the amount they pay to their suppliers. According to Michaels (2004), the demand for cheaper products by supermarkets has become a ruthless way by the supermarkets to exploit the supplier. The net effect of lower supplier prices is that the workers in the farms are paid much less and this impacts negatively on the society. Sainsbury was the first supermarket to announce that it will sell one hundred percent fair trade bananas. Other supermarkets have followed suit but it is worth noting that Tesco was reluctant to commit to this cause. The increased money paid to the suppliers will have a positive impact on the community where the products are sourced from. The style of disclosure of the responsible sourcing and buying of products the Tesco

The UK Government is Right to Listen to Claims that Large Banks should Essay

The UK Government is Right to Listen to Claims that Large Banks should be Broken up - Essay Example From this study it is clear that  the impediment is that every niche of this argument is based on a myth. The first misleading notion is that the materialization of huge, universal banks- uniting investment banking with commercial banking- was an unnatural or artificial development. This disjointed market means that banks could not accomplish the economies of scale or simply supply clients on a global or national level. The market needs stimulated the consolidation and gave birth to an evolution towards greater competency in the banking sector.This paper stresses that  a second erroneous belief is that these universal, large institutions were primarily to give guilt for financial crisis. As most grave observers recognize, an amalgamation of risk management and bad lending by poor regulation, bank management and poor-advised consumer performance all played a role. A third misleading notion is that huge financial institutions have become too intricate to supervise. A firm of any si ze needs strong management and control to supervise complication. In reality, big global institutions have frequently proved more elastic than others because their expansion in business model makes sure that loss in one department of enterprise can be stifled by revenues in other departments of the organization. In some instances, intricacy can be a remedy to risk, instead of a reason of it.  The opponents of huge banks that are seldom aired similar to they don’t qualify for examination.... Critics point to the excessive influence huge banks mostly has on the political procedures. They panic that those regulators are intimidated by a big bank’s power and position. These opponents appear to consider that regulators are not capable of coming up with independent verdicts. In the practical world, this instance is not true. That supposed, it is genuinely right and mandatory for politicians and regulators to employ with industry and experts practitioners to be trained about these issues. These regulators are not browbeaten, but they usually do require more capability and improved cooperation with each other to take on the tasks lucratively (Duffie 2011). Another condemnation is that huge banks receive large, implied subsidies from government and can borrow money more reasonably because they are considered to ‘too big to fail’. But the facts don’t stay out. Big banks invest billions of dollars to bring services and products want, investments that a f irm has accomplished scale can make. The scale permits them to carry, like huge-box stores, more invention, more consistent and convenience, dependent service (Wilson 2012). Breaching the huge banks would damage their clients, customers, and the economy as a well. In actuality, it would insert novel risks into the financial arena. If the globalized, multifunctional, universal banks are obligated back into dedicated lending firs, they will require figuring out novel ways to give the returns to shareholders. This could easily lead the way to an augmentation in risk lending. Most of the banks in United Kingdom function all over the globe and have to function with international banks. If they are not able to work with banks in UK, they will then work with banks based