Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Tesco: A Contribution to the Economy and Society

This report discusses the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in Tesco, a leading retailing organisation, and its contribution to the economy and society. It highlights the innovative products and services introduced by Tesco in the market, the growth of the business, and the survival issues faced by the company due to the emergence of Covid-19. The report also provides certain recommendations for Tesco.

Entrepreneurship
1

INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
About the Entrepreneur...............................................................................................................3
Entrepreneurial Organisation......................................................................................................5
Contribution to the Economy and Society..................................................................................7
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................12
APPENDIX 1.................................................................................................................................14
Organisation profile .................................................................................................................14
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INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurship is defined as an individual who utilise innovative idea, undertaker risk,
evaluate current market opportunity and develop new product or service in a market segment. It
is basically a process in which group or individuals exploit opportunity and bring innovative
product or service in a market (Ahmad Tajuddin, 2021). Entrepreneurship plays important role in
making significant improvement in standards of living as well as creating wealth. Entrepreneur
helps in driving change with the help of innovation in which they provide improved or new
products and services in market segment which helps in satisfying needs and demands of
consumer.
Present report has been conducted on Tesco which is a leading retailing organisation. This
company offers wide range of products and services while performing in retailing sector.
Organisation was founded in the year 1999 by Jack Cohen and headquartered in England, United
Kingdom. TESCO is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise organisation which
satisfy customers’ needs by providing them high quality products and services. Present report has
been conducted on the discussion on entrepreneur of respective organisation, innovative products
and services introduced by Tesco in market, discussion upon the growth of business and
contribution of company towards economy and society. Report also includes survival issue that
company experience due to the emergence of covid-19 along with certain recommendations.
MAIN BODY
About the Entrepreneur
As per the analysis of Jack Cohen entrepreneurial personality trait it has been reflected
that he was a motivator, group influencer, a visionary entrepreneur who strategically focus upon
willingness to achieve desired goals and objective by guiding individuals in effective manner. It
has been evaluated that Jack Cohen is one of the most influential leadership individuals as he
guided employees while managing than knowledge and fostering innovation and leading change.
With the help of strong decision-making Jack Cohen and strong business functioning with great
leadership style Jack Cohen motivated group members and individual to reach and goals. It has
been identified that, still just 21 out of 1919 Jack Cohen got back after he was demobbed,
however told his dad he would not like to remain in tailoring. All things considered, he utilized
his £30 demob cash to purchase overflow armed force stock, and set up a market stall to sell it in
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Hackney. By 1939, 20 years after that first market hand truck was wheeled into place Jack Cohen
possessed 100 Tesco stores the initial two having opened in 1931 in Becontree and Burnt Oak.
TESCO implemented replenishment application system is an effective innovation that
collects sale data from checkout point. This data is further transferred to supply department or
warehouse department which helps these department to know the overall quantity of product
which is needed. Along with this Tesco also undertake use of heat sensing technology as to
monitor lines at tills. Company also improves scanners checkout camera to offer better self-
service in order to enhance consumer overall satisfaction level (Assarzadegan and Hejazi, 2021).
Along with this company is also using technology to encourage digital transformation as due to
high technology adoption rates Tesco effectively responded to words this opportunity by
implementing online across channel to meet demands and requirements of consumers. Tesco
effectively implemented a digitalise in-store experience which is a located data-driven consumer
loyalty scheme in order to stay align with innovative practices. Furthermore, it has been
identified that company invited inventors with new ideas products and emerging technology.
This company is having a group innovation team who are constantly engaging in evaluating
ideas that allow TESCO to emphasize upon food and drinking products and technology, data,
robotics and automation and packaging. Furthermore, it has been identified that Tesco is
reportedly due to start that driving drone for delivering from October through which Tesco can
deliver order in 3 minutes. With having skilled and potential innovation team Tesco access many
opportunities across the globe in order to rapidly increase consumer experiences in market
segment. With the help of these innovative products and services Tesco enhancing experiences
of consumers (Sahut, Iandoli and Teulon, 2021). For example, with the help of digital technology
Tesco improve their in-store consumer experience as with the help of digital wallets self-
checkout machine with help of utilising innovative Toshiba technology Tesco is creating a
seamless in-store experience.
Tesco is a leading retailing organisation in Britain and offers wide range of products and
services across globe with large scale of employees. This company is competing on international
platform which makes innovation important for this organisation. With the help of innovation
Tesco can reduce cost of staff and can enhance profitability as well as competitiveness in
industry. Biggest rivals of Tesco are Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons thus, to increase
completeness innovation can acts as an important tool of TESCO. In modern time innovative
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concepts is rapidly evolving and consumers are more inclined towards flexible approaches.
Along with this in order to grab attention of large-scale of consumers and serve needs and
demands of customers around the world Tesco requires an economical cost in order to provide
affordable products and services to consumers by generating new ideas with high quality
(Hensmans, 2021). Innovation is an important factor for Tesco through which they can
significantly attract large scale of consumer attention. Innovation allow organisation to easily
conduct various operations in cost effective manner which is important for Tesco, as it allows
them to keep their prices low which help them to be one of the most affordable organisations.
With the help of taking innovation Tesco can save huge amount of money and can control the
different system such as inventory system in a smooth manner. Innovation also plays essential
role in enhancing Tesco strength, it can help company to maximize overall sales and revenue
comparatively to other super market leaders in industry. With the help of different innovative
practices suggest computer technology Tesco can easily make improvement in their personal
services and can influence consumers attention in effective way. Innovation in this modern world
playing important role for Tesco through which they can enhance their competitive edge in
marketplace, as consumers are now becoming more demanding and savvier (Ratten and Usmanij,
2021). In this to survive in market innovation can provide that edge through which Tesco can
enhance profitability productivity and growth on simultaneous basis. It has been identified that
innovation is important for Tesco as it help company to make improvement in productivity while
reducing cost. With the help of different type of innovative practices Tesco can increase
competitiveness, improve brand recognition and value by developing new partnership and
relationship. Innovation will also aid Tesco to increase turnover and make improvement in
profitability and uniquely fulfil consumers in effective way. According to the discussion it has
been identified that in order to maintain its leading position in market segment innovation plays
essential role for Tesco.
Entrepreneurial Organisation
Jack Cohen as a successful leader and was the man behind supermarket giant Tesco.
From the market stall to leading supermarket store in retail industrial sector this entrepreneur
begins journey of the supermarket in unpromising circumstances. Jack was born to a large family
in Whitechapel. Cohen father was a tailor, it has been evaluated that from the time when Jack
Cohen started to sell products from a small stall he was evolving as a passionate entrepreneur
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which led Tesco to grow in a dramatical manner. However, in the year 1973 son-in-law of Jack
Cohen replaced him. Furthermore, it has been underlined that by playing a successful leader role
Jack Cohen aimed to make TESCO people's favourite company. Currently Tesco is operating
with a mission statement to create value for consumers in order to earn their lifetime loyalty.
From the starting Tesco emphasize upon certain values in which they understand that consumers
and acts in a responsible manner for the community by offering high quality goods and services.
Thus, according to the above-mentioned analysis of this entrepreneurial organisation which is
currently running as a leading retailer it has been identified that with the vision and passion of
Jack Cohen and the successful leadership role which has been played by him Tesco is enjoying
Ut-most success, loyalty and trust from its consumers since the ages. The growth of this
organisation is a major contribution of Jack Cohen hard work, passion compassion and visionary
idea. It has been evaluated that Cohen throwed his cap in the right direction which lead TESCO
to beat racing competitors is easy manner (Mariani and Nambisan, 2021). It has been identified
that Jack Cohen developed his best first slogan “Pile it high, sell it cheap” which made TESCO
to easily recognisable in the market segment. This draws the attention of consumers.
Furthermore, it has also been evaluated that this entrepreneur was also the first who have
introduced a loyalty scheme in his shops. This indicates that from the visionary mind set Jack
Cohen lead TESCO to become leading organisation in retail industry. Cohen also motivated and
guided other individuals and build a successful entrepreneurial team by guiding individual with a
positive mind set and providing them a healthy workplace environment. The visionary idea,
resilience and strategic thinking of Jack Cohen is still influencing mind set of employees around
the globe.
Tesco is performing as a leading retailer in the provinces of United Kingdom industry
and is also one of the leading food retailers around the globe. This organisation was founded by
Jack Cohen in the year 1999 who started selling additional groceries from a stall within the
provinces of London. It has been identified that, regardless of its tremendous size and
achievement Tesco came from humble early stages (The History of Tesco. 2021). Its originator,
Jack Cohen, purchased a little plot of land in North London in which this entrepreneur sells
surplus amount of groceries for profit motive. Furthermore, it has been determined that, during
the 1970 supermarket duly started to reform the manner in which individuals shopped this made
Tesco to significantly stat expansionary strategy which lead Jack Cohen to open stores all
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through England. It has been analysed that in order grow the business Jack Cohen during the
1990s when rivalry in the business was warming up executed a few fruitful business
methodologies in order to successfully measure success in expansion. However, it has identified
that Jack Cohen faced number of issues and there were different elements that significantly affect
the organization including the Second World War as well as the United Kingdom entering the
European Union. These impacts can be separated into social, affordable, lawful and political.
Furthermore, there were also many forms of factors which made the organization special and
credited significantly to its prosperity. Tesco went through truly unsound occasions in its initial
days with the Great Depression in 1929 and the Second World War a couple of years after the
fact. During and after the Great Depression joblessness rates expanded to over 22% at its top in
1932 thus individuals were so much price sensitive searching for the least expensive other
options (Taqatqa, 2021). By seeing current success of this organisation, it is certain that Jack
Cohen played effective role as a leader by guiding others and motivating them towards business
goals. Furthermore, it has been underlined that, at the point when Jack Cohen began selling food
from a stall down near London in 1919 Cohen probably would not have acknowledged what
example of a successful business story he was going to make. Difficult to accept, however this
was the establishment of Tesco as far as we might be concerned today. By performing
extraordinary role as a successful leader Jack Cohen lead Tesco to become one of the main food
retailers on the globe with an income of in excess of 60 billion pounds and a worldwide labour
force of around 490.000 workers in 2011.
Contribution to the Economy and Society
Being a large-scale organisation Tesco is liable towards society and economy on
simultaneous basis, as this organisation have more financial resources comparatively to small
firms in terms of developing new goods and services, generating wealth, providing employment
opportunity and more. Tesco is operating business functioning as a Britain biggest retailing
organisation; respective organisation started their business with small stall but after 10 years in
the year 1929 first store was established by Tesco (Pisani, 2021). Now this organisation is the
king in the retail chain and in the world this company is third largest organisation. TESCO have
significant contribution in economy, as it has been identified that this company business
operations added £37.3bn to wider UK economy. According to the report of KPMG this
organisation significantly contributes in supporting jobs, community as well as in charities. It has
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been identified that Tesco being Britain's biggest retailer which is directly contributing in
economy. Every £1 of direct economic activity at Tesco was also found to generate an additional
£5.46 in value to the UK economy as a whole (Retail chain ‘boosts East of England economy by
£4.4bn’, report suggests. 2018). Along with this it has been evaluated that this organisation is
serving community in a better way every day. This organisation makes food donation, charity
support in order to have a positive impact on society. Respective organisation recruited
approximately 45000 staff in past two weeks in order to fulfil soaring demands for home
deliveries in the time period of covid-19 (Tesco adds £37bn to wider UK economy, finds report.
2018). It has been evaluated that the TESCO is playing significant role in the lives of consumers
as well as society by making positive difference by offering opportunities to careers and skill.
Along with this, it has been identified that Tesco understands the important of innovation and
make sure that new technology is significantly supportable and understandable for management
and the staff. To manage expanded interest for online orders, the gathering opened a new, robot-
controlled satisfaction community inside its superstore. By obtaining goods and services from
United Kingdom based providers Tesco produces commitments to the economy as far as
employment as well as indirect GVA. The effects emerging from this spending are caught in
segment 3 of the report. It is likewise useful to consider the manner by which Tesco works with
its providers to see how the monetary commitments have been created over the long haul or
potentially may have been influenced by working practices. With the help of technology Tesco
keeps on making innovation in their products and services as to satisfy customers in effective
manner. For example, in the retail industrial sector TESCO is the first organisation who have
introduced self-checkout. This organisation also offered their customers with the facility of
automatic checkout machines with the help of which consumers can easily use these in order to
save their time. With the help of making continuous innovation this company attracts customers
and serve their needs in effective manner. In addition to this it has been evaluated that this
company is a leading retailer and is having over 25% of the market share in the United Kingdom.
TESCO organisation aims to create 1600 permanent role along with 4000 jobs in order to
support exceptional growth in its online business (Tesco announces 16,000 new permanent roles
as online sales boom. 2020). By hiring candidates and offering new roles to them Tesco not only
making a significant contribution in developing employment opportunity but also serving nation
in terms of enhancing living standards of income and per capita income which helps United
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Kingdom to be stable in terms of economy. In addition to this, it has identified that with the help
of technology Tesco keeps on providing tech-savvy services to their customers. For example,
respective organisation launched its virtual stores in which consumers can use their smartphones
to scan the QR codes of the products they want to purchase. With the help of this technology
Tesco is providing user-friendly experience to consumers. Thus, according to the analysis that
has been identified that Tesco is contributing to the society and economy in an effective manner
by creating jobs, offering new product innovation, creating wealth and enhancing per capita
income and maximizing individual living standard. Being a large-scale organisation Tesco keeps
on doing charity to create a meaningful and positive impact on society. This indicates that
respective organisation is having positive contribution on society and economy.
Outbreak of covid-19 have impacted markets as well as business around the world as due to
this outbreak government was forced to impose lock down which created financial as well as
operational challenges in front of business organisations to survive. Tesco during the time period
of covid-19 faced number of challenges as due to lockdown individual were restricted to stay at
their home, as to break the chain (Williams and You, 2021). This outbreak lead organisations
around the world to consider the impact of this pandemic on their way of conducting business
services. It has been identified that due to the outbreak of covid-19 super markets around the
globe were limited to the number of employees as well as consumers along with the drastic
changes in the requirement of consumer service, supply channel, closure of stores. In addition to
this it has been identified that covid-19 is significantly changing grocery shopping as it is leading
consumers to demand for home deliveries which is creating huge challenge for company to get
food from field to doorsteps. Furthermore, it has been identified that profitability index of Tesco
falls, as this outbreak caused organisation to stop their business activities for certain period of
time. Along with this it has been identified that due to this covid-19 Tesco also faced financial
losses which led company to lays off first wave of 45000 temporary workers. Tesco revealed a
20 percent decrease in pre-charge benefits to £825 million of every 2020, contrasted with £1.03
billion in the earlier year. The general store chain said that the decrease was an aftereffect of
£892 million worth of Coronavirus costs, including a third UK partner reward which was
reported today, and subsequent to doing without £535 million business rates alleviation.
Notwithstanding, pre-charge benefits dropped by almost 20% after various Covid-related
expenses including giving full compensation to staff off work sick or safeguarding (Tesco profits
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drop by 20% following covid costs. 2021). More significant levels of unemployment and lower
GDP conjectures brought about an increment in the arrangement for likely terrible obligations.
This outbreak led Tesco to robust their technology infrastructure and emphasize more on
digitalization as to overcome the challenges that has been created due to outbreak of this
pandemic. There were many changes such as offering online food delivery to consumers at their
doorstep optimising supply chain and undertake immediate action from a tech perspective in
order to serve consumers and perform sustainable business operations. Thus, according to the
analysis it has been identified that due to the outbreak of covid-19 TECO faced number of
challenges and survival issues that have impacted every unit of this company in adverse manner.
However, there are number of changes in terms of technology, business operation and strategy
which TESCO is making in order to overcome the negative impact of covid-19 as to increase
sales and profitability and serve customers according to the new normal.
CONCLUSION
According to the above-mentioned analysis it has been identified that entrepreneurship is an
activity to set up a business by taking risk with and hoping for profitability and sustainable
business operation. An entrepreneur is an individual who take risk with a visionary aim and
recognises import opportunities to develop a successful business organisation in order to serve
consumer needs. From this report it has been identified that entrepreneurial role plays important
role for the growth of any business organisation whether it is small or large states. Being a
leading organisation in retail industrial sector Tesco keeps on innovating and adopting change
which allow this company to maintain its leading positioning in industry. It has been identified
from this report that company contributes in economy in terms of creating jobs, developing new
product and innovative services, creating wealth, contributing in society, conducting charity and
more. This organisation aims towards satisfying consumer needs by providing them affordable
services and products. However, this report states that there are different types of issues that
company faced during the time period of covid-19. These issues have created bad impact upon
company operation as well as financial aspect. For this, it is recommended to Tesco to undertake
use of building strategic resilience and conduct in-depth research of post covid-19 business
opportunity. Company is also recommended to develop a crisis response team with a high
resilience governance in order enhance overall profitability. Tesco is also recommended to
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emphasise upon enhancing their digital business operations aspect to serve customers in seamless
manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ahmad Tajuddin, S., 2021. Technology Entrepreneurship Project (ENT 600): Tesco PLC.
Assarzadegan, P. and Hejazi, S.R., 2021. A game theoretic approach for analyzing the
competition between national and store brands by considering store loyalty. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, 60, p.102449.
Berger, E.S., von Briel, F., Davidsson, P. and Kuckertz, A., 2021. Digital or not–The future of
entrepreneurship and innovation: Introduction to the special issue.
Blundel, R., Lockett, N., Wang, C. and Mawson, S., 2021. Exploring entrepreneurship. Sage.
Hensmans, M., 2021. The innovation pyramid: five approaches to strategic decision-
making. Journal of Business Strategy.
Mariani, M.M. and Nambisan, S., 2021. Innovation analytics and digital innovation
experimentation: the rise of research-driven online review platforms. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change, 172, p.121009.
Pisani, N., 2021. How COVID-19 Will Change the Geography of Competition. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 62(4), pp.1-4.
Ratten, V. and Usmanij, P., 2021. Entrepreneurship education: Time for a change in research
direction?. The International Journal of Management Education, 19(1), p.100367.
Sahut, J.M., Iandoli, L. and Teulon, F., 2021. The age of digital entrepreneurship. Small Business
Economics, 56(3), pp.1159-1169.
Taqatqa, A., 2021. 5 Tesco. Business Management Case Studies: Pran-RFL, Netflix, Mc
Donalds, Google, Tesco, Apple, COCA COLA, PSA Group, Mercedes, Tesla, Toyota,
Beximco, KFC, LBC Lao Brewery Company, p.97.
Williams, C. and You, J.J., 2021. ORGANIZING FOR RESILIENCE: Leading and Managing
Risk in a Disruptive World. Routledge.
Zahra, S.A., 2021. International entrepreneurship in the post Covid world. Journal of World
Business, 56(1), p.101143.
Online
Tesco announces 16,000 new permanent roles as online sales boom. 2020. [Online]. Available
throughhttps://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/tesco-jobs-growth-online-
pickers-drivers-delivery-a9685836.html
Tesco adds £37bn to wider UK economy, finds report. 2018. [Online]. Available
throughhttps://www.thegrocer.co.uk/supermarkets/tesco-contributes-37bn-to-wider-uk-
economy-finds-report/567824.article#:~:text=Tesco's%20activities%20added
%20%C2%A337.3,as%20charities%20and%20community%20organisations.
Retail chain ‘boosts East of England economy by £4.4bn’, report suggests. 2018. [Online].
Available throughhttps://www.eadt.co.uk/news/business/retail-giant-tesco-boosts-east-
of-england-economy-by-4-2463468
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Tesco profits drop by 20% following covid costs. 2021. [Online]. Available
throughhttps://www.retailsystems.com/rs/Tesco_Profits_Drop_By_20Pc_Following_Co
vid_Costs.php
The History of Tesco. 2021. [Online]. Available throughhttps://www.thefactsite.com/history-of-
tescos/
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APPENDIX 1
Organisation profile
Company: TESCO plc, a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailing
organisation.
Number of employees: 423,092 by the year 2020
Founder: Jack Cohen
Number of locations: 7007 shops (2020)
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