FY021 Introduction to Business Studies CW1 Portfolio

Report

Introduction

Human resource management is the organisational practice of managing the workforce for achieving enhanced performance (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Marketing is the business activity of promotion and sales of products through advertising and market research (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). Financial management is an organisational function that deals with the assessment of expenses and revenue generation along with profitability. This report has considered the case study of Tesco for evaluating the organisational functions of HR, finance and marketing, along with evaluating the purpose of collaborative working practices and financial management in the company. Tesco is the largest retail company in the UK, having more than 6,800 outlets in the country (Tescoplc, 2020). The report delivers on the role of HR in the company in recruitment and training, along with the marketing mix and promotional activities undertaken by the company. This report discusses the collaborative working practices, and financial management in the company, along with providing recommendations for improvement.

Role of HR in Tesco

Human resource management is the practice of managing the people across a company to ensure their preparedness for work along with handling their training and other needs (Albrecht et al., 2015). The HR management of Tesco is responsible for recruiting new candidates along with providing induction to them to enable them to perform as per their job requirements as well as provide training to the existing and new employees. The HRM of Tesco is also responsible for conducting performance assessments of the existing employees along with motivating them with constant communication and engagement. It is the duty of HR in a company to condition the employees to help the company achieve its organisational objectives (Tescoplc, 2020). The management of Tesco has implemented a total rewards strategy for providing extrinsic benefits to the employees in the form of monetary and developmental rewards for their contribution towards the business goals (Tescounderwriting, 2020). The HRM of Tesco has been able to improve employee engagement and dedication towards work along with reducing absenteeism and staff turnover through the incorporation of the total reward strategy (Employee benefits, 2006).

Marketing in Tesco

The marketing department of Tesco is concerned with the promotion of the products and services towards the consumers for maximizing revenue generation and profits (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). Despite having the highest number of physical outlets in the UK, the company has also focused on its E-Commerce to boost online retail sales. Hence, the marketing department of Tesco integrates both the traditional and digital approaches of marketing for advertising the products. The marketing department of the company is required to conduct market research to try to formulate a marketing strategy for understanding the needs and requirements of the customers along with their feedback based on the existing products. The marketing mix of Tesco is as follows:

Product:

The products of Tesco include regular groceries and household products that are used regularly by the customers (Tescoplc, 2020). The retail supermarket chain offers everyday grocery products along with apparel and other household consumables to the customers, along with toiletries and confectionaries.

Price:

Tesco employs a competitive pricing strategy for its products to maximize sales by capturing value (Baker & Saren, 2016). The management of Tesco keeps the prices of the products slightly less or at the same level as the market competitors to enable the customers to purchase and providing value.

Promotion:

The products of Tesco are promoted with the traditional marketing methods of billboards and newspaper advertisements. Tesco had sponsored the world cup team of England in 2010 for supplying food and groceries (Theguardian, 2010). The company has also employed digital marketing strategies like social media promotions and uses celebrity influencers as well as banner ads to promote its products online (Bala & Verma, 2018).

Place:

Tesco has multiple trade channels of suppliers and distributors across the UK, providing a consistent supply of products along with having segmented channels of customers.

Finance function in Tesco

The finance department at Tesco performs the role of controlling and planning the financial resources of the company (Tescoplc, 2020). This involves the acquisition and utilisation of financial capital in the company for the execution of operations efficiently. The predominant goal of any business is to earn profits through its operations and provide valuable returns to the investors and shareholders. The finance department of Tesco performs the role of evaluating the investment cost for the company in a fiscal year, along with the budgeting of the expenses. The finance department prepares the balance sheet for the company to evaluate the financial position of the company and its financial health. This enables the organisational management to understand with the company is making profits are running in losses and formulate their policies accordingly (Tescoplc, 2020). The finance function in the company works towards curtailing the organisational expenses and operational costs by determining the profits and losses to the operations along with preparing an account of the assets and liabilities. The valuable inputs generated by the finance department are used as a parameter for decision-making by the senior management in the company and are conveyed to the other departments like HR, manufacturing and marketing. The finance department of the company analysis the need for finances along with determining the sources from where the company can procure funds for operations.

Collaborative working practices of Tesco

Collaborative working practices are certain behaviours and processes followed in the company that explains the level of collaboration among the workers (Armstrong & Taylor, 2014). Collaborative working practices in Tesco increase employee engagement and collaborative problem-solving. The employees of Tesco work in multiple shifts across the day, and both full-time and zero-hour contract-based workers have been employed in this company. The contractual and casual workers are provided full flexibility regarding their choice of ships and schedules (Tesco-Careers, 2020). The collaborative working practices in Tesco include the development of team spirit for the accomplishment of team goals for fulfilling the greater organisational objectives. The management of the company can communicate the expectations to the employees, along with facilitating the creation of positive momentum.

Working in teams and flexibility to the employees have resulted in the encouragement of collaboration and innovation in the workplace for simplifying the process of service delivery to the customers (Guest, 2017). Collaborative behaviour in Tesco is appreciated and rewarded, which encourages the development of team spirit. The staff is provided flexibility along with the health and safety measures at the workplace. The total rewards strategy implemented in the organisation is also associated with the staff insurance scheme for long-term welfare and financial security. The health and safety initiatives at this company focus on the physical and nutritional well-being of the employees along with the mental wellbeing and women’s health (Tescoplc, 2020).

Role of Financial Management within Tesco

Financial management consists of planning and controlling the overall activities related to finance in a company involving its procurement as well as utilisation (Burtonshaw-Gunn, 2017). Financial management within Tesco deals with the investment decisions for the fixed assets of the company, along with the decisions relating to working capital. Financial management in the company is also concerned with the source of finance and the period of financing for the company as well as assessing the overall returns. Financial management also deals with the decision to provide the evidence to the shareholders as well as the amount of retained profits for the company. Financial management in Tesco plays the role of ensuring the adequate supply of funds for maintaining the business operations along with a guarantee and adequate returns to the shareholders and investors.

Financial management also places the important function of ensuring the optimum utilisation of the available funds along with ensuring the safety of the investment. The functions of financial management in Tesco include the estimation of the capital requirements of the company, followed by determining the composition of capital. The choice of sources of funds for the company is also an important financial decision, along with how funds can be invested (Jelic & Wright, 2011). Financial management also deals with the function of disposal of the surplus profits of the company along with the management of cash and financial controls. The financial management in Tesco is successful until the present scenario as the company had been able to generate a profit of £1.3 billion in 2019 in comparison to 2018, which is an increase of more than £350 million (Statista, 2020). 

Recommendations for improvement

The financial managers of Tesco are recommended to introduce a good budget in the coming financial year for maintaining the quality of operations and service delivery. The human resource managers of the company are recommended to recruit qualified and experienced staff for optimum performance and the highest level of service delivery and quality to the customers. The HR department of the company is also recommended to motivate the staff by providing extrinsic motivation factors like increments in wages and welfare schemes like insurance.

Conclusion

From the report, it is concluded that Tesco is the largest retail company in the UK, and the HR department of the company has introduced the total reward strategy for maximizing the performance of the workers through motivation. The company markets its products by using the traditional and digital methods of marketing, whereas the financial management is also strong as the company has registered surplus profits in the previous year.

References

Albrecht, S. et al., 2015. Employee engagement, human resource management practices and competitive advantage: An integrated approach. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness. People and Performance, 1(2), pp. 7-35.

Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’s handbook of human resource management practice. 1st ed. London: Kogan Page Publishers.

Babin, B. & Zikmund, W., 2015. Exploring marketing research. 2nd ed. Boston: Cengage Learning.

Baker, M. & Saren, M. e., 2016. Marketing theory: a student text. 2nd ed. London: Sage.

Bala, M. & Verma, D., 2018. Digital Marketing and strategies of customer acquisition. International Journal of Management, IT & Engineering, 8(10), pp. 321-339.

Burtonshaw-Gunn, S., 2017. Risk and financial management in construction. 4th ed. London: Routledge.

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Guest, D., 2017. Human resource management and employee well‐being: Towards a new analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal, 27(1), pp. 22-38.

Jelic, R. & Wright, M., 2011. Exits, Performance, and Late Stage Private Equity: The Case of UK Management Buy‐outs. European Financial Management, 17(3), pp. 560-593.

Statista, 2020. Annual revenue of Tesco Group in the United Kingdom (UK) and the Republic of Ireland from financial year 2015 to 2020. [Online]

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