CASE STUDY – UNDERSTANDING PERFORMANCE IN RETAILING: The case of Omega Supermarkets
Background
Omega is a successful company and one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK, employing a large number of staff in stores across the country. Although the industry has seen very little growth in recent years, Omega has successfully increased its market share through a policy of lowering prices (the company claims to have reduced prices by 7.5 per cent between 2004-2009) and improving customer service. It currently holds a dominant share of the UK market in its core business and is growing rapidly in related areas. The company plans to continue expanding in the UK, opening up new stores on brownfield sites in regeneration areas.
The
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A more recent change within Omega has been the drive for consistency across stores, and all policies, procedures and processes are centrally determined and their implementation closely monitored. Each store is governed by the company routines handbook which provides detailed information on how every task is to be performed- this is down to the minutest detail even including details on office layout, such as where pictures should go on the wall. On the HR side all policies and procedures are highly centralised and controlled – the wage budget for example is fixed for each store and there is no local flexibility on pay - something which was obviously a cause for great frustration in some of the stores where recruitment, retention and staff quality are on-going major problems. Although the stores cannot function without these routines it is the way in which the rules and routines are implemented that is considered a key ingredient for success. It is management, in particular, store managers, who are responsible for how policies are implemented and their behaviour is therefore critical to a store’s performance.
Section managers occupy first line manager position within the store. Spans of control (The number of subordinates who report directly to a given manager or superior), are normally 12 general assistants to each section manager and in a large store there may be about 20 section
WAITROSE Ltd was found in 1904 by Wallace Wyndham Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor when they opened their shop in Acton (Andidas, 2003). In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership and its Self Service was introduced in 1951. From a small business selling grocery products, it has been built up to a network of over 300 shops known for its own historical and the quality of products. The majority of their customers are those who have stable incomes and above due to their uncompetitive price. Their key aims and objectives are to archive improvement in services and gain more profits by open new store and expand their business into the North-West. In addition, Waitrose also wants to archive more targets in the next period of time such as to motivate their staff to provide better services, which can increase levels of customer service, and develop their organic range as well as their relationships with local community In this project. In this essay, the dominant stakeholders and their main interest will be identified as well as the discussion of Waitrose 's detailed analysis.
Every organisation must have policies and guidelines on expected behaviour from staff, this is done when an organisation develops there own policies from the guidelines that they have been provided with. Policies enable people who are using the services to know what is acceptable and unacceptable with their own care.
Policies and procedures are what differentiate each work place. Every work place should develop and implement policies and procedures which is relevant to the individuals work place incorporating the legislations from the 2 statements for example: A newspaper shop would have a different set of policies then a care home because there are different tasks being carried out by the staff.
WAITROSE Ltd is currently the number seventh biggest grocery retailer in the UK with 5.2% share of the market. It was found in 1904 by Wallace Wyndham Waite, Arthur Rose and David Taylor when they opened their shop in Acton. In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership and it 's Self Service was introduced in 1951. From a small business selling grocery products, it has been built up to a network of over 300 shops know for its own historical and the quality of products. The majority of their customers are those who have stable incomes and above due to their uncompetitive price.Their key aims and objectives are to archive improvement in services and gain more profits by open new store and expand their business into the North-West. In addition, Waitrose also want to archive more targets in the next period of time such as to motivate their staff to provide better services, which can increase levels of customer service, and develop their organic range as well as their relationships with local community In this project. In this essay, the dominant stakeholders and their main interest will be identified as well as the discussion of Waitrose 's detailed analysis.
The objective of this report is to analyse the UK supermarkets industry for John Lewis in order to seek their competitive advantage in the market. This report is to be presented to the Board of Directors of John Lewis Partnership.
To staff: It is important for staff to fully comprehend policies and procedures in order to carry them out as successfully as possible. Some of the following ways that will support them in doing this is re – training and having team meetings. These adjustments may allow the chance for staff and managers to discuss the pros and cons of any changes. It is essential for senior management to be encouraging and have a good understanding about the intended purposes. They can do this by demonstration within their setting. When these policies are introduced there is usually a designated member of staff who will take on the role of the
Martin Luther King Junior said, “Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.” Higher education does not exist for the sole purpose of preparing students for future jobs; it’s there in order to prepare individuals for life where they are expected to participate in their community, their government, and the lives of those around them. Liberal arts, in particular, exist for the broadening of students’ minds in order for them to be successful not only in their chosen career but also in their lives outside of it. Liberal arts lost their past popularity during the last few decades, but they shouldn’t be disregarded in favor of technical and professional degrees because they still provide students with skills that are perhaps less tangible, but no less necessary for life in modern world.
Larger stores also offer people the convenience of additional services along with their shopping, for example post office, pharmacy and opticians. By addressing consumer’s expectations and using their buyer power they can offer a choice of products to reflect consumer’s diverse budgetary, dietary, ethical and environmental requirements. Furthermore their global buyer power enables consumers to benefit from choosing exotic produce all year round. With 30,000,000 customers (Bevan cited in Allen, 2009) choosing to use the big four supermarkets on a weekly basis it would suggest that they provide a format that consumers want.
Tesco has expanded into many other countries over the years, but as the “BRICS” economies are becoming increasingly attractive, an opportunity to venture into these economies seemed to be a ‘rising star’ for Tesco. Tesco’s ‘eye on the prize’ meant that they took their eyes off what made them successful in the first place- their UK stores. Ultimately, expansion into China, India and Thailand has left what was their ‘cash cow’ UK stores to currently become their ‘problem child’. Losing focus on their original investments meant that they “slipped behind in terms of stores, service and innovation.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17767565 In addition to their struggles to maintain the success of their UK stores, focus on China, Thailand and India had a massive impact on their competitors such as Asda, Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi. During the time that Tesco focused on the new move, it was an opportunity for its competitors to steal Tesco’s 30% market share – Sainsbury’s brought in “By Sainsbury’s” and Asda brought in “Chosen By You”. When Tesco realised their mistake and focused their attention on their UK stores, they invested in the “Big Price Drop Flop” but the £500m campaign only damaged their branding image, as customers thought the quality of their products had dropped. It was a clear step by step process for Tesco losing its place
I agree with Pacificus because the authority is given to the executive to preserve the peace in the nation, yet Overall I agree with the idea that the president’s power should not be limited for he is representing the entire nation.
Whilst retailers elsewhere are struggling, several commentators have been going beyond the marketing factors, behind their success, instead paying closer attention to the firm’s unusual model of ownership and control.
Successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island pedagogy requires efficient context knowledge as well as the knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students learning needs. The topics covered will include Indigenous placement and displacement, the impact of socio-economic status on Indigenous students and the health and wellness of Indigenous students with the focus being on whole school and classroom practices, with examples of resources, to support teaching Indigenous students.
Spark NZ is New Zealand's largest telecommunication company, which was formed on 1 April 1987 as a part of New Zealand post office and Privatised in 1994, which is currently providing different services like Fixed-line telephone service, a mobile network, broadband, communications, entertainment, cloud computing as well as Providing separate telecom retail and telecom wholesale operations to New Zealanders (Sparknz, n.d.). Spark has invested more than 1.25 billion in digital performance since 2014 and got 14 locations nationwide and 900+ experts who can help their partners as well as customers to reach their goal, this makes Spark unique, collaborative and innovative (Sparkdigital, n.d.). In mobile services, Spark is one of three major mobile network operators who each compete for customers over their own network of cell towers, utilizing radio spectrum licensed from the Government and spark is already among the world’s heaviest users of smartphones for banking, shopping and searching for local businesses and services, and mobile data use is expected to grow
First-line managers supervise the individuals who are directly responsible for producing the organization’s product or delivering its service. They carry titles such as production supervisor, line manager, section chief, or account manager. First-line managers along with all the other managers are involved in three skills conceptual, human, and technical. In each three different levels of management, each one of these
Span of control - Span of control is the number of people that one individual is responsible for in an organisation. The wider the span of control is then the greater the number of whom the individual is responsible. A manager who is responsible for too many people may be so overworked that their staff in turn may not be able to perform their duties effectively.