Vision of Tesco

Tesco is a multinational general and groceries merchandise retailer with headquarter in the United Kingdom. It is said to be the world’s third-largest retailer in terms of gross revenue and the world’s ninth-largest retailer in terms of revenue (Reuters, 2018). The company has shops in seven different nations all over Europe and Asia and is the leader of the grocery market in the United Kingdom, Thailand, and Ireland. Jack Cohen founded Tesco in 1919 as a group of market stalls. Tesco hires around 450,000 employees in all the 11 markets. Formerly, Tesco has expanded its business globally since the early 1990s, with operations in the world’s 11nations (CTP the Ministry of Defence partnering with right management, 2018). In 2013, Tesco was pulled out from the USA, but today it is growing in other countries. Presently, the company is planning to expand its operations in the Australian market by adopting different growth strategies and thorough market analysis.

The vision of Tesco is to create and maintain the leading position in the market and create value for the consumers in order to gain their lifetime loyalty (Tesco, 2018).

The mission of Tesco is being the champion for consumers, supporting them in enjoying a superior quality of life and a simple way of living (Tesco Plc., 2018).

The success of Tesco is dependent on the values it follows in the market. The values of the company are to understand the demand of the customers to satisfy them with superior products. Besides this, it is focused on the sustainable development of society through different offerings and activities.

Product Strategy – Tesco has a variety of products in its stores. The product line is very vast to meet the needs of the consumers from diverse segments in the market. The company deals in baby care products, bakery products, food, gaming and technology products, garden and home products, car products, beverages, home electrical products, and frozen food, toddler and baby products, beauty and health products, books and entertainment, leisure products, jewellery and clothing, and gifts products (MBA Skool, 2018).

Price Strategy – Tesco complies on the cost leadership strategy as its pricing strategy. It offers quality products at the lowest price. Tesco makes use of economies of scale and the superior channels to maintain low prices of the products.

Place Strategy – Tesco runs its operations in 11 countries with around 6900+ stores. It possesses following kings of stores: Tesco Express, Tesco Superstore, Tesco Metro, and Tesco Extra.

Promotion Strategy – The brand image of the Tesco is very strong, which is due to its low price offering and promotional activities. Tesco makes use of television ads, charitable events, and hoardings as promotional channels. Besides this, it majorly makes use of offers and promotional discounts, for example, buys one get one.

Political factors such as government regulations and policies in Australia affect the profitability and revenue of retail as well as the grocery industry. For example, the Australian Federal Government has introduced a competition policy, which prevents key major players like Aldi, Coles, and Woolworths. The increasing dominance in the market of these retailers had significantly affected the profit margin of small retailers (Adamkasi, 2016).

Mission of Tesco

Australia is considered one of the safe countries for investment. The regulatory and political environment of the country is stable, progressive, and open, offering investors a high level of assurance and confidence. Tesco is one of the leading retailers of UK market, which reflects that it can give strong competition to the existing players in the Australian market; however, the company needs to comply with all the regulations framed by the government for the development of the nation and safeguarding small retailers.  

The declining economic position of the market in Australia is influencing the performance of different retailers. Besides this, the economic indicators like changes in the exchange rate of the currency and flagging of the Australian dollar have negatively influenced the retail operations of different businesses in the country (Adamkasi, 2016).

The economic position of Australia is declining, that will affect the Tesco in terms of maintaining a low cost of the products. Hence, in order to maintain the cost, Tesco can plan to open its stores in the Perth, Brisbane, and Melbourne cities of Australia because the cost of living in these cities is extremely less as compared to other cities.

The social factor is also influencing the retail industry of Australia because the organization operating its function in Australia needs to attain higher community and societal development. It is due to the current social trends among customers denote that they favor extremely socially responsible business and by taking societal initiatives, the merchants create major influence on its consumers (Adamkasi, 2016).

In Australia, there are major three social classes that are upper class, middle class, and the working class, however, the boundaries among these groups are a point of debate. Around 5-10% is counted in the upper-class section. The population that lies under middle-class section is growing and determined as individuals with non-manual occupations. This reflects that most of the target market will be comprised of middle-class people.

Technological factors have become very essential in terms of sales, customer service, and supply chain. The development of digital technology has increased the number of competitors in the market. It can decrease the product cost, enhance quality, and result in innovation. These developments can provide benefits to the consumers and the businesses offering services. It is very important for every business existing or new in the market to be updated with the advanced technology in order to deal with increasing competition.

Legal factors are related to the legal environment of the organization in which it works. The establishment of disability discrimination and age discrimination legislation, minimum wage system are the example of recent regulations that influence the actions of the organization. Changes in the legal framework can influence the demand and cost of the company (Adamkasi, 2016).

The environmental factor is influencing the performance of the retailers in the Australian retail industry. Waste reduction, packaging, and renewable energy are some of the issues concerned about sustainability. The big brands such as Walmart and Amazon are investing in decreasing their carbon footprint and renewable energy (Pratap, 2017). Considering this, Tesco needs to grab its attention towards the environment sustainability such that it can offer a healthy and safe environment to the customers.

Values of Tesco

From the above analysis of the market attractiveness, it could be said that Tesco can effortlessly expand its operations in the Australian retail market. Considering the operations of the company, political and social factors are favoring the market expansion thought of the company. The political situation of Australia is stable which reflects that there are very fewer entry barriers for Tesco in the market. Tesco can get success by expanding and investing in the Australian retail industry like its existing rivals in the market ALDI, Coles, and Woolworths. Tesco will offer low price products in the Australian market, which will attract a maximum of the customers. However, the company will face some challenges from the existing players in the Australian market. Besides this, this expansion of Tesco will be beneficial for the Australian suppliers, as it will offer them increased income source.     

The Grocery stores and supermarkets industry are the most competitive industries of Australia. The fast development of ALDI in the last five years has majorly changed the operating landscape of the industry, with the status of its low-cost products and private labeled products reinforcing strong growth. The growth of ALDI has enforced the giant players i.e. Coles and Woolworths, to reduce their prices and increase the range of their private labeled products (IBIS World, 2018). Unlike ALDI, Tesco can create its presence in the future through its low price product strategies and discounting strategies. These strategies will affect the performance and market share in the Australian market of ALDI. Besides this, with the support or Tesco’s private labeled products company can gain the attention of the customers.       

Joint Venture is a specific type of partnership that comprises the formation of a third self-reliant managed company. It is also called the 1+1=3 procedure. Two businesses agree to operate together in a specific market, either product or geographic and form the third business to undertake this (Shishido, Fukuda and Umetani, 2015). Profits and risks under joint venture are shared equally. Though they are called as a partnership in the informal sense, joint ventures can take any of the legal structure. Limited liability, corporations, partnerships, and different forms can be used to create Joint Venture. In spite of the fact that the aim of Joint Venture is mainly for the production or research, they can be utilized for an ongoing purpose (Prescott and Swartz, 2010).

Tesco can make use of Joint Venture as a market entry strategy in the Australian market, by collaborating with any existing player of Australian market such as ALDI because the motive of both the organization is to offer the best quality at lowest price. Besides this, it can also create a joint venture with any of the United Kingdom’s company to gain a good market share. The Joint venture can be beneficial for both the partnering organization as it gives more growth market opportunities and increased customer share.

Starting a Joint Venture offers great opportunities to attain expertise and new insights. It makes easy for the organization to understand the customer behavior and make strategies to attract them. Besides this, the venture is comprised of shared investment. Both the parties of the venture contribute some amount as the initial capital for the project, based on the negotiated terms of the agreement (Asefeso, 2015). Thus, it reduces some of the financial burdens from both the firms.

Strategies of Tesco

Initiating a Joint Venture provide access to better resources, like the dedicated staff and advanced technology. Tesco and ALDI will be able to use their resources effectively through this joint venture.

A joint venture allows business to take entry in a new market very easily because the local player manages the entire requirement related to logistics and regulations (Trost, 2011). The Joint Venture between Tesco and ALDI will offer the opportunity to expand their market size and product portfolio.  

The goals of the Joint Venture are not always 100% clear and infrequently communicated evidently to all the responsible people.

The disadvantage of Joint Venture is that it does not offer any protection for the liabilities to the involved parties. This reflects that in a joint venture a partner has an individual responsibility for at least his share of the company’s obligation (Campbell and Netzer, 2009).

A greenfield investment is one of the known market entry strategies. It is a type of foreign direct investment in which Parent Company establish its operations in the foreign nation from the ground up. Green Field Investment needs the highest participation in international business (Morschett, Klein and Zentes, 2015). It is a field where company purchase the land, create the facility and run the business on a continuing basis in the international market. It is definitely the most expensive and carries maximum risk but few markets may require taking the risk and bearing high cost because of transportation costs, the capability to access technology, regulations of the government, or skilled labor (Otto, 2010). Through, this market entry strategy Tesco can better position itself in the Australian market and give strong competition to the existing players in the market.

Greenfield Investments is comprised of great advantages such as increased control, the capability to create a marketing partnership and averting intermediary costs (Breitfeld, 2010).

The Greenfield Investments will offer a high degree of direct control over the investment to Tesco in the Australian market. Besides this, it will have complete control over the services and products sold in the market.  

Another advantage of Greenfield Investments is the flexibility to create the precise IT system the business requires.  

Businesses that operate their activities on the limited budget may merely be incapable to create the kind of capital that is essential for an appropriate approach of Greenfield approach.

A business will deal with some hurdles when transferring to an updated IT system (Lovino, 2017).

Conclusion

Tesco is one of the strongest players of United Kingdom’s retailing market. It has created its unique place in the market by offering quality products at low prices. From the above analysis, it can be said that Tesco can easily expand its business operations in the Australian market due to the political stability and consumer demand. However, the economic position of the country is not stable which raises the issues of survival for the company. The report has suggested a company to open its stores in the cities of Melbourne, Perth, and Brisbane as these cities of Australia has very less cost of living. Moreover, ALDI is one of the key players that can raise competition for the company in the market because it also offers low price products to the customers. In order to overcome this challenge company can initiate a joint venture as a market entry strategy with ALDI to cover the market share and increase customer base. Besides this, Green Field Investment another market entry strategy has been recommended for Tesco to enter the Australian market. This strategy is costly and hard to comply with but Tesco is capable enough and experienced to attain growth through this strategy.

References

Adamkasi (2016) PESTLE Analysis of Woolworths [online]. Available from https://freepestelanalysis.com/pestle-pestel-analysis-of-woolworths/ [accessed 26 November 2018]

Asefeso, A. (2015) Joint Ventures: Stronger Together 1^st ed. U.K: AA Global Sourcing Ltd.

Breitfeld, N. (2010) Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) – Necessary Considerations of a Transnational Company 1^st ed. Germany: GRIN Verlag.

Campbell, D., and Netzer, A. (2009) International Joint Ventures 1^st ed. Netherlands: Kluwer Law International B.V.

CTP The Ministry of Defence partnering with right management (2018) Tesco [online]. Available from https://www.ctp.org.uk/job-finding/directory/tesco-/about [accessed 26 November 2018]

IBIS World (2018) Supermarkets and Grocery Stores – Australia Market Research Report [online]. Available from https://www.ibisworld.com.au/industry-trends/market-research-reports/retail-trade/food-retailing/supermarkets-grocery-stores.html [accessed 26 November 2018]

Lovino, A. (2017) Cloud Strategy [online]. Available from https://www.shoregroup.com/blog/greenfield-strategy-advantages-and-disadvantages-when-implementing-a-new-it-system-at-a-media-company [accessed 26 November 2018]

MBA Skool (2018) Marketing Mix of Tesco Plc. [online]. Available from https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/services/16731-tesco.html [accessed 26 November 2018]

Morschett, D., Klein, S.H., and Zentes, J. (2015) Strategic International Management: Text and Cases 3^rd ed. Germany: Springer.

Otto, M. (2010) The Relative Performance of Joint Ventures and Wholly-Owned Subsidiaries and the Reasons why They Exit: The Case of Dutch Foreign Subsidiaries 1^st ed. Verlag: Diplomarbeiten Agentur.

Pratap, A. (2017) Retail Industry PESTEL Analysis [online]. Available from https://www.cheshnotes.com/retail-industry-pestel-analysis/ [accessed 26 November 2018]

Prescott, D., and Swartz, S. (2010) Joint Ventures in the International Arena 2^nd ed. U.S: American Bar Association.

Reuters (2018) Tesco PLC (TSCO.L) [online]. Available from https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview/TSCO.L [accessed 26 November 2018]

Shishido, Z., Fukuda, M., and Umetani, M. (2015) Joint Venture Strategies: Design, Bargaining, and the Law 1^st ed. U.S: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Tesco (2018) Tesco Vision [online]. Available from https://faculty.poly.edu/~brao/mg607tesco.pdf [accessed 26 November 2018]

Tesco Plc. (2018) Core Purpose and Values [online]. Available from https://www.tescoplc.com/about-us/core-purpose-and-values/ [accessed 26 November 2018]

Trost, T. (2011) Joint Ventures: The benefits and perils – why some are successful and others fail 1^st ed. Germany: GRIN Verlag.