Environmental Issues and Business Performance: Tesco Case Study Report

This research report investigates the extent to which environmental issues affect business performance, focusing on Tesco as a case study. The study explores the identification of environmental issues such as pollution, climate change, and waste management, analyzing their positive and negative impacts on business operations, employee well-being, and financial outcomes. The report reviews relevant literature, including the impact of pollution on employee health, supply chain disruptions due to climate change, and the role of waste recycling in complying with environmental regulations and reducing operational costs. Furthermore, the research offers suggestions for mitigating the negative effects of environmental issues, such as using alternative materials, implementing recycling programs, and collaborating with industry partners to improve air quality. The report aims to provide insights into how businesses can address environmental challenges to enhance their performance and sustainability.

To What Extent Do Environmental
Issues Affect Business Performance?

Abstract
Purpose: The main purpose of the study is to determine some environmental issues that
affect the business performance. For that, the study will use sustainability act which must be
comply by the firm in order to minimize the issues of environment. Apart from this, report will
also address positive as well as negative impact of environmental issues that affect the
environment of the company.
Methodology: for that, the researcher will uses quantitative data type in which SPSS tool
is used that helps to determine the exact views of the respondents. Researcher takes both primary
and secondary data collection methods in order to complete the research and meet the aims and
objectives in better way. Apart from this, researcher will chooses 30 respondents in order to
identify their views which will assist to complete the aim in systematic manner.
Findings: The report will interpret the data which is collected through SPSS tool in order
to determine the views of all respondents and their ideas.
Originality: This study is the contribution to on- going research in order to determine the
positive and negative impact of environmental issues upon the business performance. Further, it
also determine the ways which can be used by the company in order to minimize the impact of
the environmental issues.

Research Report
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Topic: “ To what extent do Environmental issues affect Business performance”
INTRODUCTION
In this modern era, every business wants to stay ahead In the competition and that is why,
it is essential for the firm to comply with all laws and regulations including environmental. Thus,
in the same way, currently top brand also suffer from different environmental issues and thus it
creates negative impact upon the business performance. Such that pollution, waste disposal,
climate change, inadequate access to water etc. Therefore, in the same way, this research report
is also based upon the environmental issues that affect the business performance. The research
will describe this environmental issues using literature review and further, through methodology
research able to accomplish the aim and objectives.
Company Overview: Tesco is one of the top multinational brand in UK who provide
groceries and general merchandise to their customer at reasonable rates. Further, the company is
considered the third largest retailer in world n the terms of its revenue and also has its various
unit at seven countries. Thus, it shows that the company has brand and international unit at world
level. Tesco also make strategy that helps to make the sustainable products which is accessible
and affordable to its customers. Company also follows the recycles material strategy in which it
recycles large amount of material in its process so that it will not affect the environment in
negative way. Beside this, Tesco also makes sure that its office supplies are manufactured by
using recycles material and all the paper waste also recycles and also uses green computing syste
that work in environment friendly manner.
Aim: “To examine the impact of Environment issue on business performance: A case study on
TESCO”
Research Objectives:
 To identify the environment issues which affect the business.
 To determine the positive and negative impact of environment issues that affect the
business performance.
 To suggest some measures that minimize the negative impact of environment issues in
Tesco.
Research questions:
 What are the environment issues that affect the business performance?
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 What are the positive and negative impact of environment issues that affect the Tesco's
performance?
 What are the ways that can be used by Tesco in order to minimize the environment
issues?
Rationale: For every successful business, it is quite essential for the firm to determine
what environmental issues are affecting the business and thus, The reason behind choosing the
topic is such that the researcher have their own interest and by research on the particular topic
will help to gain the Knowledge and enhance the research skills. Apart from this, another reason
of choosing the topic, maybe university provide the topic. But on the other side, by research on
the topic will help to gain knowledge about the environmental issues that affect the business ine
negative way.
Literature Review
Theme 1 : Identification of environmental issues that may affect the business.
The term environmental issues refers to the harmful impact of different types of activities
of human on the environment. As per the view of Harper, Harper, C.L. and Snowden (2017)
protecting the environment is the practise through which natural environment can be protected at
different levels such as individual, company and at the level of Government with the aim of
providing benefits to human as well as for the environment. Environmentalism is a movement
that aims to address the issues related with environment with the help of activism, education and
advocacy etc. Furthermore, many researchers are having opinion that, marketing department of
the organisation is responsible for developing strategies for identifying and reducing the impact
of various environmental factors on the business. If, firm ignores the aspects related with
environment it means that it is the weakness of marketing department of the firm and it will
create negative impact on the reputation of the business.
According to Salic, A. and Zelic (2018) there are various types of environmental issues
tat can impact the business of the company in either positive or negative way. One of the most
important environmental issue is Climate change. Changes in the climate can become a threat to
the business if, management fails to recognize its impact. Example – Due to global warming and
other adverse conditions of weather it has become difficult to conduct business for such
companies that are majorly dependent on water supply Tur-Porcar, Roig-Tierno, N. and Llorca
Mestre (2018) have argued that there are other environmental issues also that can impact the
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business. One of them is pollution. It is one of the major problem that may affect the business.
Such as air pollution, water pollution etc. Companies performs various types of activities that can
result in pollution. For Example – Process of production and distribution of Tesco to
manufacture and distribute products to the customers can contribute to the level of pollution in
the environment. Changes in environment can result in lack of supply of raw materials that will
leads to inflation in the country. For Example – If, there is shortage of supply of raw material in
the country it will affect revenue of Tesco.
Another important factor related with the environment that can affect the business of the
firm is recycling of waste. Recycling is another major aspect that is related with greener
environment. Wastage of material will results in increase in the cost of dumping waste material
in dumps for the company and it also affects the environment in which business is operating.
Availability of natural resources is also a major issue of physical environment. Natural resources
plays an important role in production of goods and supply of services to the customers. Most of
the firms like Tesco uses natural resources as a raw material. If there is lack of adequate
availability of the raw material in that case, it will affect the ability of business for manufacturing
goods and ultimately it will affect the sales of the company.
Theme 2 : Impact of environmental issues on business performance.
The above environmental issues can affect the performance of the business in positive or
negative way. As per the view of Chuang, S.P. and Huang (2018) pollution is one of the major
factor that can impact daily routine activities of the firm. Employees of the company will not like
to work in polluted environment. Therefore, pollution has the ability to impact work performance
of the employees. For Example – If, Tesco is using tools for developing products or services
that creates pollution. In that case, it will negatively affect the health of workers that are involved
in manufacturing process. Further employees will not like to work in such type of organisations
and it will affect talent recruitment in negative way. Pollution can also impact the revenue of
business. It can also impact strategies of the firm. Moreover, it can disrupt the supply chain of
the firm.
Availability of natural resources like water etc. may also impact the business of
organisation in both positive and negative way. As, natural resources are the first step of every
supply chain, they plays an important role in production of goods, energy and food items etc.
For Example – In year 2017, Tesco has paid fine of £ 8 million to the Government for non-
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compliance of law related with environment safety. Firm has failed to solve the issue related with
delivery system of fuel. Therefore, companies should take measures for protecting natural
resources. Otherwise, it will create negative impact on the performance of business and also
affects the reputation of the company ( Hole, G. and Hole, 2018).
Besanko ( 2018) in their paper has point out that, recycling of the waste material such as
packaging of the products may also impact the business of the company in positive or negative
way. There are various positive impact of Recycling of waste material such as helps the business
to comply with rules and regulations of the government. This will help the organisation to
prepare themselves better for future legislations and it will not have to pay the amount as a fine
to the government. Further, it will also help the firm to reduce the cost of operations of the
company. Tseng, Chiu, A.S. and Liang (2018) critics that, recycling can also create negative
impact on the business such as there are various types of hidden cost that are related with
recycling of material and it also requires lot of time. For Example – Tesco have to invest huge
amount of funds for implementing equipments and tools for recycling of packaging of food items
etc.
Changes in climate is also one of the major environmental issue that has ability to create
positive or negative impact on the performance of company. Changes in weather creates negative
impact especially for manufacturing firms and companies that are based on agriculture products.
It can result in disruption of supply chain of the company. For Example – Severe drought in the
country can result in shortage in supply of raw material that are used in producing food items in
Tesco.
Theme 3 : Suggestions to reduce negative impact of environmental issues on Tesco.
There are different ways in which organisation can reduce the negative impact of
environmental issues such as wastage of raw material, conservation of resources, pollution,
recycling of material etc. on the performance of the business.
According to Doppelt (2017) there are various ways through company can reduce the impact of
pollution on the business such as Tesco should use alternative material and tools during the
process of production of goods for the customers. Before using other materials management
should ensure that it will not result in any other type of toxic waste and does not have to invest in
additional equipments. This will help to reduce pollution that will result in improvement in
productivity of workers. For Example – Tesco is working in collaboration with other companies
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in the industry for improving the air quality. It has expertise in the field of modelling, study of
emissions, software and atmospheric computing etc. Further, it has conducted research for
identifying the sources of pollution and other risks that are related with pollution. On the basis of
research, it has develop action plan for measuring the pollutants.
Further, there are different ways in which Tesco can manage the wastage of raw material.
So that, it will not create negative impact on company as well as on environment. For effective
management of wastage, management should adopt practice of recycling the waste items It
should implement approach of reduce/recycle/reuse that will help to reduce the cost of business,
improves the reputation of firm in the minds of customers and also benefit the planet etc. For
Example – Tesco has already developed and implemented the plans for waste management by
using advanced technologies that are economically and technically feasible like collecting,
treating and recycling the disposal. Management of Tesco is committed towards the use of
renewable sources for using energy to develop the products or services for the customers. The
aim of the organisation is to use 100% electricity through renewable sources till year 2020.
As per the view of Webb (2015) changes in weather can create negative impact on
business performance. Tesco should adopt various approaches for reducing the negative impact
of climate change on the performance of company. Management should develop plans for water
recycling or the system of rain collection. It may be possible that suppliers or customers get
affected by extreme weather. To improve the efficiency of supply chain of the company, it
should take insurance cover for mitigating the negative impact that may result due to interruption
in the business of the firm. Tesco should change its strategy for managing the risk of change in
climate.
For promoting the protection of environment, Tesco should develop small plans that will
help to develop products in sustainable way that is affordable to all the people. To achieve this,
management of the firm should focus on resolving issues related with supply chain that starts
with important ingredients that are being used in the production of products for the customers.
Methodology
Research Philosophy: It is the content about the structure in which the information is
collected and then analysed. Thus, it is also concern with the beginning, quality and evolution of
the research. Further, it is divided into two main types such as Positivism in which researcher
depend upon the quantifiable observation that helps to leads to statistical data, Interpretivism
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research philosophy means that researcher have their interest in order to conduct the research and
it also integrates the human interest intro a study (Dougherty, Slevc and Grand, 2019).
Among all, researcher chooses Interpretivism research philosophy because it helps to
attain the aim that is To examine the impact of Environment issue on business performance in
more precise and systematic manner.
Research design: It is the model or the techniques which is chosen by the researcher in
order to conduct the research in more logical manner so that it will help to handle the research
problem in systematic manner and efficiently. The research design is of two types such that
exploratory in which its main intend is to explore the research question but doest not provide
conclusive solution. Next is conclusive research design which helps researcher to generate
finding in practical manner (Kumar, 2019).
Among all, researcher chooses descriptive research design under conclusive research
because it helps to get insights and provide better understanding of the information that directly
leads to attain aim that is To examine the impact of Environment issue on business performance.
Research Approach: It is the method which is mainly help to collect the information in
detail manner and then interpret those in better way. Through research approach researcher will
easily conduct the research in better manner and handle the research questions effectively.
Further, it is of three types such as deductive that leads the generate the relationship between two
variables, Inductive that involves search for observation and also develop the explanation of the
research and last is Abductive which address weakness that is link with deductive and Inductive
(Israel and et.al., 2019).
Among all, researcher chooses Quantitative research approach by using deductive
because it will help to generate the best result and also show the relationship between different
variables. Further, through this, researcher also meet the aims and objectives in defined time
without any errors.
Data Collection: It is the process which Is used to collect and measure the data in
systematic manner so that it will help to handles the research problem. For that researcher also
follow the formal plan for gather information and also ensure that all the collected data has clear
and correct definitions. Further, it is of two types and researcher chooses both types such as
primary data collection, which is the first handed tool used by researcher in the form of
interview, questionnaire and survey (Cella and et.al., 2019). For that, researcher uses
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Questionnaire by using SPSS tool in order to collect the information and determine the view
points of the respondents. Next is secondary data collection method which are already published
in news, books and articles. Thus, researcher also uses the same in literature review section with
the help of author's point of view. Further, using both data collection methods, researcher easily
generate the best results and also attain the aim of the research that is To examine the impact of
Environment issue on business performance in systematic manner.
Data Analysis: It is the process of inspecting, cleansing and transferring the entire data
which is collected by the researcher with the aim of discovering the useful information that helps
to generate the best result by supporting business decision as well. Therefore, it is the process of
examining data by using systematic and specialised software that helps to enable the
organization in order to make the decision more informed and accurate (Mihas, 2019). The data
analysis is of two types such as qualitative in which non numeric for of information is used and
respondents used hypothetical data. While other is quantitative data analysis in which researcher
uses numeric form of data by using SPSS tool to generate the best form of results.
Among all, researcher uses quantitative data analysis using thematic data with SPSS tool
that helps to generate the accurate decisions. This also helps a researcher to conduct the research
in better and systematic way and helps to accomplish the aim that is To examine the impact of
Environment issue on business performance in better way.
Sampling: It is the process which is used in which the predetermined number of
observation are used from the large population so that the result is generated. Thus, sampling is
mainly used to sample from a large population and that is further depend on different types of
analysis. There are two types of sampling that is probability sampling in which some sample are
taken from the large population and the biggest advantage of using this is such that the sampling
is bias and errorless and further it help to increase the accuracy of sampling error estimation.
While another is non-probability sampling in which all member has a chance to participate in
the study but it does not help a researcher to generate best results (Lohr, 2019).
From the above, researcher chooses simple random sampling method under probability
sampling in which 20 managers are chosen randomly in order to handle the research question in
effective manner and also generate the best results that is To examine the impact of
Environment issue on business performance.
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Ethical Consideration: In order to conduct the research in better way, researcher has to
follow all ethics that helps to conduct the result without any bias. Therefore, proper level of
confidentiality should be maintain so that it will help to ensured about research data. Apart from
this, the participants should not be subject to harm and prior consent should be taken. There
should not be any type of misleading the information with regard to presenting the primary data
and the entire work should be done with full honesty and transparency.
Questionnaire
Name:
Age:
Occupation:
1. Do you think, currently Tesco faces any environmental issues?
 Yes
 No
2. Which of the following will you think impact the biggest cause of environmental pollution?
 Industrial activities
 Plastic consumption
 Rapid urbanization
 Dumping solid waste.
3. How often do you recycle?
 Never
 Once in a while
 About half the time
 Always
4. How likely do you change company's operation to better suite the environment?
 Very unlikely
 Unlikely
 Neutral
 Likely
 Very Likely
5. Which of the following measures are taken by the firm to minimize the environmental issue?
 Sustainable agriculture
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