Consultancy



Consultancy for the ABC consulting group

Introduction

The Mass-merchandise retail industry is the industry selected for this paper, while the companies are Tesco and Wal-Mart. The retail industry is on the boom in the United States of America. The current position of the mass-merchandise retail industry is very prosperous and its almost completely dominated by these two companies.

The name of the company derives from its founder, Sam Walton from (Wal Mart's ton). On 2 July 1962 Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart in Rogers (Arkansas), after its first store in 1950, a dime store at Town Square & Nickle town Bentonville, Arkansas had opened (Zellner, Schmidt, Ihlwan, & Dawley, 2001). Ten years later, in 1972, the company went public, which gave Sam Walton the necessary capital for expansion. The big rise only started in 1987 when Wal-Mart opened its first supermarkets under the name “Hypermarket USA”, with a time over the department store average ten times as large retail space (Rock, 2001).

Tesco Plc was established in 1919 by Jack Cohen, by utilizing the bonus which he achieved for his services in the World War I army. Then in 1924, he purchased a tea consignment from the company TE Stock well. He decided to put the initial three alphabets of TE Stock well, and the initials of his name Cohen collectively to name his brand 'Tesco'.

Operational Objective

The operational objective of TESCO is "Pile it high, sell it cheap"(Achrol, 2003, 146). Despite the fact that this strategy assisted Tesco in attracting a great amount of consumers, it also assisted Tesco in branding itself as a store for average class consumers and even earned an image as a low-end store. While for Wal-Mart, the objective is “Satisfying customers around the globe with its product.” Wal-Mart is famous for its low cost strategies and competitive prices. It has power over suppliers as well due to its operations and processes (Narver & Slater, 1990, Pp: 20-35).

The Specific Operational Challenges of this Industry

The specific operational challenges for the chosen companies are described below:

Although, Tesco has obtained quite a secure position in the retail industry but nothing is for sure in this world. Following are the challenges that Tesco is currently facing or is likely to face in the near future. In order to be at top Tesco should address these challenges well before in advance (Christchurch, Turner & Wilson, 2006, pp.958-64).

Increased customers awareness of environment

Nowadays, customers are more aware and concerned about environment. As the phenomena of global warming and urge of the people to go green increasing awareness and consciousness among customers to buy products that are environmental friendly

Maintenance of quality

Quality is one of the most important things on which different organizations create their value. As Tesco operates on a large scale at times it can cause difficulty for the organization to maintain its quality. In June, 2005, Tesco recalled its products because some pieces of plastics were found inside the products (Christchurch, Turner & Wilson, 2006, pp.958-64).

E-buzz

In today's world everything is online and everything ...