Introduction to Business Operations and Management: Sainsbury's Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Sainsbury's Plc's business operations and management decisions. It begins with an introduction to business operations and the company's background, including its structure and evolution. The main body critically evaluates Sainsbury's operational strategies across various functions, including marketing, finance, technology, and R&D. It then delves into specific areas of operation management, such as production, supply chain, logistics, location strategies, quality control, and human resources. The report examines Sainsbury's approach to ethical trading, supply chain transparency, and technological advancements like the Mobile Scan & Go system. It also assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the company's operations and its responses to changing consumer demands. The report concludes with an overview of the key findings and insights into Sainsbury's overall business performance and strategic decisions. This report is contributed by a student and published on Desklib, a platform providing AI-based study tools.

MODULE CODE BMM 3003
INTRODUCTION TO
BUSINESS OPERATIONS
AND MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents.
ASSESSMENT 1.............................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Concept and functions of business operations.............................................................................3
Background of Sainsbury's Plc....................................................................................................5
Critically evaluate the operation management decisions.............................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

ASSESSMENT 1
INTRODUCTION
Business operation is the process of activities which an organization is being
engaged on a day-to-day basis to keep running the company to earn revenue. In other words, it is
the method of extracting values from the assets acquired by the company whether tangible or
intangible (Guerreiro, 2020). All the actions that work together to generate income for an
organization is known as business operation. Whereas, management refers to the administration
of the company's resources in order to achieve aims and objectives in the best productive way.
The report will critically evaluate the background, business operation and operation management
decisions of Sainsbury's Plc by specifically explaining the production, supply chain, logistics,
location strategies, quality control and HR.
MAIN BODY
Concept and functions of business operations
The concept of business operation refers to the daily activities of an organization or
everything which happens within the firm to keep running the business on a regular basis to
enhance the value of the company (Cvjetković, Cvjetković and Josimović, 2022). Apart from
this, business operation is the foundation of an organization which are important in successfully
operating the functions of the company. There are various functions of business operation such
as:
 Strategy: In order to be competitive in the market the given company simplified its
operations by accelerating the cost saving schemes to invest in improving the quality of
the services and products.
 Marketing: The quoted company had implemented the omnichannel marketing which
focus across various outlets. Apart from innovative in-store and e-shopping experience,
an organisation has successfully integrated different product lines with the shopping
(Vyakina, 2019). The company has uses sales promotion activities which attract the
consumers by providing them offers. They also run Nectar reward card which is a loyalty
scheme by the company.
 Finance: As the quoted company is public limited company being listed on London
Stock Exchange and the major holdings of the quoted company are Qatar Holdings LLC,
VESA Equity Investment, BlackRock Inc., Schroders Plc which collectively has 35%

share of voting rights. Sainsbury's Bank had a joint-venture with the Scotland Bank
which is currently known as Lloyds Banking Group.
 Technology: Sainsbury's had followed a new initiative which is called as Mobile Scan &
Go which helps the customers to scan with their iPhone or Android Phone by paying at
the gate without unloading their bags (Pham, 2021). Just walk out technology is another
technology for contactless or checkout-free way for shopping.
 Equipment: The quoted company latest add on to the product line are the home fitness
and exercise equipments which also includes various ingredients like mats, dumbbells,
kettlebells, skipping ropes, water bottles etc. which could be found in the section of
sports & leisure with a great quality product.
 Purchasing: Sainsbury's follows on B2C and B2B models for its smooth functioning of
the business. They do not focus on manufacturing of goods and totally is the service-
based company which mainly deal with the suppliers for purchasing of the products, and
they highly emphasis on the different suppliers in the market (He and et.al., 2021). Their
main goal is to check the quality of the product which could be done by following the
quality standards.
 R&D: The quoted company invest more than 1m pound in research and development
process and use latest on-farm technology to manage the functioning of the company.
They emphasis on R&D because it provides a powerful knowledge which leads to the
improvement in the existing policies resulting in the enhancement of efficiency and
reduction in cost. It helps the company to match with the trend and helps to survive in the
changing market by fighting the market giants.
 Distribution: In specific reference to the supermarket business, distribution of goods
plays a key role as the quoted company is a service-based organization and it operates in
two ways, firstly they take products from the suppliers and then distribute it to the
ultimate consumers or retailers. After acquiring Argos, they both operate 34 distribution
centres across UK which delivers seven days per week. The quoted company operates
with 1,000 stores by selling more than 30000 products with the help of 150000 workforce
(Guo and Wang, 2019). Their distribution centre is being headquartered in England and
for distribution relied on the e-trucks reducing in the carbon emission. To reduce
distribution channel they emphasis on local producer for the products.

Background of Sainsbury's Plc
Sainsbury's Plc is the second largest supermarket chain in British founded in 1869 by the
John James Sainsbury being headquartered in London. It is a Public Limited Company which
further divided into three divisions i.e. Sainsbury's Supermarket Ltd, Sainsbury's Bank and Argos
Ltd. The company is second largest chain of supermarket in UK and listed on the London Stock
Exchange and has hierarchical organizational structure because of the various levels within the
company and each level is accountable for their roles and capabilities (Kim, Lan and Dobson,
2021).
It was started as a fresh food store which was further expanded into packaged items i.e.
sugar and tea. Their motto was to provide products “Quality perfect with low price”. In 2008, the
quoted company brought administrative changes and launched new supermarkets in Ireland
which the company consistently followed to increase the business. The multinational retailer
acquired Home Retail Group in 2016 which includes complete acquisition of Argos and Habitat
which add one more division in the form of general merchandising & TU clothing which include
Argos Ltd. Simon Roberts is the current CEO of the company, effectively leading the biggest
retail group with other various segments since 2020. The quoted company is selling wide range
of products i.e. more than 23,000 with over 1400 suppliers across the globe. The company has
focused on selling products in own-brand name which covers half of the sales. They are
emphasizing more on the organic products which are barely affected the health of the customers
providing an edge from the competitors. With a 1400 offline stores and huge digital presence the
quoted company could easily accessible to the customers with selling wide variety of products
i.e. groceries, homewares, clothing, electronics, financial assistance, furniture, fresh food etc.
Sainsbury's highly invest on the product innovation with a greater rate by planning to add
1900 innovative products which is a strategy to build trust amongst the loyal customers that the
given organisation is always working in the favour of the customers (El Sayad, 2022). Due to
Covid-19 pandemic the company had made various changes to be in the market because there
were many businesses who witnessed huge losses and even had to shutdown during the worst
time. Due to the complete imposing of restrictions the quoted company had to cut short the jobs
because of managing the business activities smoothly. The quoted company is always frame
strategies considering the competitor, new trends, consumer demand & needs and their own
mission which assist them to be successful in the given market. They had launched Just Walk

Out technology which is in-store digital innovation providing contactless experience to the
customers and are being focused to reduce the plastic waste for the better environment.
Critically evaluate the operation management decisions
Operation management refers to the administration of business practices which helps to
create a highest level of productivity or in simple term it is concerned with converting raw
materials into goods and services with the assistance of labour resulting in maximizing the
revenue of the company (Upadhyay, Kumar and Akter, 2022). The role of operation management
plan, control or supervise the goods & services as well as supply chain of the enterprise. It
effectively administers and supervise the goods, services and workforce of the firm. Planning,
organizing, staffing, directing and controlling are the five fundamental principles of operation
management. The modern operation management revolves mainly around the four theories i.e.
business process redesign (BPR), six sigma, lean manufacturing and reconfigurable
manufacturing systems. Sainsbury's Plc operation management decision could be evaluated in
following ways:
 Production: The quoted company is highly dependent on the suppliers for the products
as it is the service-based company but are actively involved in the production service.
The quoted company clothing business is named as Tu clothing for which they have
developed ethical code before launching products in the market. Ethical and sustainable
trading is the key part in forming a good relationship between the suppliers and company
(Liu, 2020). They had three gate process before the product goes into factories in order to
be approved must comply with the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and Sainsbury's Code
of Conduct. They conduct regular workshops to add suppliers for enhancement in the
production activity. Apart from this the quoted company support British producers which
indirectly reduce the food transport miles. They maintained a strong relationship with the
UK farmers and Grower Development Groups to gain access in the agriculture industry.
 Supply chain: Sainsbury's Plc had a robust supply chain system which track the
deliveries and based on that information up-to-date inventory detail, enhancing
availability for customers as well as minimizing the waste material (Ali, 2020). The
service-based company had sourced products from over 60 countries and closely work
with the suppliers to frame better plan. This would help to overcome the environmental
and social challenges. They create transparency among the supply chain by providing

data on the website in the form of Tier 1. Apart from this, the quoted company deploy
Blue Yonder end-to-end Luminate platform to improve its supply chain management.
This tool would provide AI-powered digital control in every sphere of its function
whether it is related to the warehouse, labour, demand-supply of product, consumer
satisfaction etc. The solution company provide leading machine learning (ML) abilities
which provide unique supply chain.
 Logistics: It mainly includes storage, warehouse, packaging, material handling, inventory
and transport which combine known as logistics. It has evolved after the prologued of
technology in the retail business. Management of logistics could be simplified after the
enhancement of technology. Sainsbury's Plc had modified its logistics scheme from time-
to-time as they alter with the market change. They relied on outsourcing the logistics
providers and involve third party like Exel for better distribution management. Because
of acquiring Argos Ltd, the quoted company enable to use the K.Motion Warehouse
Management System (WMS) which transform the logistics and networks. Sainsbury's
could upgrade to new technology by adapting the latest system (Burman, 2022).
 Location strategies: Sainsbury's took the help of Aimia to establish connection with the
customers by sending personalized messages and offers to boost sales and visits. They
used the location strategy with the help of this app to enhance the shopping experience of
the customers and the company could use navigation data by combining the location and
customer information. This campaign helped the quoted company to figure out its
potential customers and better connect with them.
 Quality control: Sainsbury's quality control and quality assurance plays an important
part of the operation management which assures that the quality of the product should be
better provided to the end-user. The product description should ensure the quality of the
product which must be carried out from the company's objectives. Quality control of the
given company should create principles and standards that need to be followed for every
product which need to be distributed. Sainsbury's Quality Attribute System (QAS)
guarantee the quality of the products and services which are to be displayed to the
potential customers (Terry and Mur, 2019). They also have food safety standard i.e.
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) which ensure the protection of the
consumer.

 Human Resources: Sainsbury's uses Human Resources Management (HRM) strategy
which provide new recruitment tactics which provide job opportunities to different
number of people and electing the suitable candidate for the correct job.
CONCLUSION
The report has been concluded by explaining the meaning of business operation &
management and its significant role in the Sainsbury's success during to harsh time of pandemic
and financial crisis. It was able to determine the functions of business operations which primarily
include quoted company's strategy, marketing, finance, technology, equipment, purchasing,
R&D and distribution. The case study described the overall introduction of the Sainsbury's Plc
and how it developed over a period to be the UK's second largest supermarket. Further, the
research has been summarized by evaluating the operation management of Sainsbury's company
and its role to get competitive advantage in the market.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ali, H., 2020. What Factors Contribute to Efficient Management of The Supply Chain of
Supermarket Within UK Retailers? Case Study―Sainsbury Supermarket PLC Supply
Chain.
Cvjetković, M., Cvjetković, M. and Josimović, M., 2022. Improving the quality of SME business
operations by applying the concept of organizational learning. Ekonomija: teorija i
praksa. 15(1). pp.98-113.
El Sayad, S., 2022. Delineation of UK Retail Sector: An Actor-Network Perspective. Academic
Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. 11(2). pp.83-83.
Guerreiro, S., 2020. Conceptualizing on dynamically stable business processes operation: a
literature review on existing concepts. Business Process Management Journal.
Guo, L. and Wang, Z., 2019. Ratio analysis of J Sainsbury plc financial performance between
2015 and 2018 in comparison with Tesco and Morrisons. American Journal of
Industrial and Business Management. 9(2). pp.325-341.
He, J. and et.al., 2021. Improving oil stability in deep‐fried snack production: A case
study. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation. 45(2). p.e15119.
Kim, S. H., Lan, H. and Dobson, P. W., 2021. Identifying price-leadership structures in
oligopoly. Oxford Economic Papers. 73(1). pp.350-370.
Liu, T., 2020. Informatization construction of human resource management in retail industry
based on SaaS platform. In Proceedings of the 2020 International Conference on
Cyberspace Innovation of Advanced Technologies (pp. 290-294).
Terry, L. A. and Mur, L., 2019. FoodBioSystems DTP-PhD Project Advertisement.
Upadhyay, A., Kumar, A. and Akter, S., 2022. An analysis of UK retailers’ initiatives towards
circular economy transition and policy-driven directions. Clean Technologies and
Environmental Policy. 24(4). pp.1209-1217.
Vyakina, I., 2019. Security of business operations and supervisory functions of the state as
characteristics of the business environment. Journal of Advanced Research in Law and
Economics (JARLE). 10(44). pp.1696-1705.
Online references
Pham, M., 2021. Sainsbury’s speeds up innovation as part of value drive [Online]. Available
through <https://www.marketingweek.com/sainsburys-innovation-value>
Burman, J., 2022. Körber partners with Sainsbury’s [Online]. Available through
<https://www.shdlogistics.com/warehouse-management-systems/krber-partners-
sainsburys>
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