The Changing Business Environment Of Sainsbury Marketing Essay

The Changing Business Environment Of Sainsbury Marketing Essay INTRODUCTION Sainsbury is a third largest food retailer in the United Kingdom. Sainsbury was founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann in London, England and grew rapidly during the Victorian era. It grew to become the largest grocery retailer in 1922, pioneered self service retailing in the UK, and its heyday during the 1980. The founding Sainsbury family still retain approximately 15% of Sainsbury plc shares (as of May 2008), through various trust. The family sold down their stake from 35% in 2005. The largest Sainsbury family shareholders are Lord Sainsbury of Turville with 5.83. Largest overall shareholder is the investment vehicle of the Qatari royal family who now hold 26.145% of the company. The report is analyzing the growth of the company by PESTLE, SWOT and Porters five force analysis. SAINSBURY STRATEGY Sainsbury plcs present focus is to improve the performance of the core UK supermarket chain. Whilst doing so we will continue to explore and develop growth opportunities in other markets. Through implementing Managing For Value we will stretch our ambitions and challenge the conventional wisdom within the Company, thereby unlocking our potential and delivering value. Source: Sainsbury Web site. Sainsburys have in place quality control at many stages of the food retailing business; in the development of new food products, the companys Food Centre operates a three stage process of quality assurance: Quality Control; Sensory Appraisal; and Development. In Quality Control, new and re-developed products are sampled by product managers and buyers; in Sensory Appraisal, focus groups are used to find out what consumers think about current and new products; and in Development, the Food Centre is interested in identifying trends in food to produce new recipe ideas. Sainsbury has many strategy planning. Old strategy plan was Making life taste better which seems fairly bland on its own but then off course thats the paint since Sainsbury sells such a wide variety of product to such a group of people. The company has shown strategy as a part of its semi-annual results which declare yesterday. It also has told that has joined the organization which promotes the electronic communications of the shareholder named eTree, and the young tree of wood charity of preservation Wood Trust for each shareholder who is registered in service will offer. Till now almost 5 000 shareholders have signed, equivalent approximately to six acres of planting of trees, she has told. At the same time the technology played roles in it 123 %-s profits during the period. The supermarket has told that its restoration should reach on the move its purpose of 2.5 billion pounds of total of additional sales to 2008. The Total amount of sales has raised on 8.3 % to  £9,6 billions. Registration is free, and gives you full access to our extensive library of the White Book, examples and the analysis, loadings and professional work spheres, and it is more. It has faced especially healthy, become online, where first half sales have grown by more than 40 %-s year in a year, while expansion intends to offer the home delivery shopping 85 % of the British house economy. Availability of a product of Sainsbury also promoted in favorable turn from problems, which face in run to last Christmas which has left regiments empty. It has told in its statement: the Center in system of deliveries was on maintenance of benefit of recent reorganization and delivery of the basic efficiency duties. The reorganized warehouses address with the increased volume compared to last year, giving the improved service to shops with smaller quantity of a resource. The company is in the middle of three-year business transformation which saw that it has finished the  £1,7 billion, the seven-year agreement making the contract on the party with Accenture and has brought it IT back internal in October of last year. MACRO ENVIRONMENT Macro Environment provides information about the environment which can guide strategic direction and helps in making decision making (Saxby, C.L, et al 2002). A successful strategy should result in a favorable position in an industry Competitive advantage (Porter, M.E, 2004). Sustainable competitive advantage is achieved by generating or possessing resources that are inimitable, are valued by customer and can be used effectively (Fahy, J. and Smithee, A, 1999). These classifiable capabilities characterize the organization from the competition and lead to the ability which can provide a competitive advantage in the market. These distinctive capabilities of the company will provide a competitive advantage in the market. Environmental scanning helps the organization in providing information about the strengths and weakness of competitors and consumer behavior and helps in preparing marketing strategies to leverage these resources and apply appropriately. (Saxby et al, 2002) Saxby highlighted the importance of regular scanning due to the dynamic nature of the modern business environment. This is very important because even very minute differences in the environment such as cultural changes, legislative can be the difference between becoming the market leader and insolvency. It is also very important to notice that the environmental changes on one company will be different to that of other company. A threat for one company can be an opportunity for another, environmental scanning helps in observing these threats or opportunities and act on them. PESTLE ANALYSIS Political forces: Political forces are referred to policies that are related to government such as the degree of intervention in the economic scale. What product and services does the mentioning country want to provide what extent does it depend in subsidizing organizations? Sainsburys is forced by these factors. Economic forces: The economic changes of any government have impact on local business. These include interest rates, taxation charges, economic growth, inflation and exchange rates. So business influenced by the economical factors has impact nationally as well as globally. Sainsburys is automatically gripped by those forces. Social forces: (Argenti, 1974) It is very important for any business to understand the values and the culture of the society even before starting the business. Changes in social trends can impact on the demand for a firms products and the availability of individuals to work. This may also includes the tastes, habits, dislikes, customs, traditions, demographics etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Sainsbury does totally follow these factors. It is operating effective charities, sponsoring games, arranging social activities, raising fund for Animal welfare, and many more. Technological forces: New technologies create new products and new processes are created by modern technology. (Galbraith, 1967) Technology is The systematic application of scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks. Online shopping, bar coding and computer aided design are all improvements to the way we do business as a result of better technology. These developments can benefit consumers as well as organizations providing the products. Internet shopping, bar coding and computer proofed designs are all upgrading to the way .Sainsburys do to run their business as a result of better technology. Sainsburys is now using the self service counter. Environmental forces: Environmental forces include the changing of weather and climate. Changes in temperature can impact on many industries including farming, leisure and tourism and insurance as well. With major climate changes occurring due to global warming and with better environmental awareness this external forces is becoming an important issue for Sainsburys to consider. Legal forces: Sainsburys is in the boundaries of legal forces locally, nationally, globally. These are very close to the legal enforcements in which firms operate. The introduction of discrimination of age and disability discrimination, legislation, Show ID, etc. SWOT ANALYSIS SWOT analysis is done on internal and external environment one of the most important strategic planning process. The environmental factors in the organization are divided into Internal and External factors. Internal factors are further classified as Strengths or Weakness and the external factors are further classified into Opportunities or Threats. Such an analysis of the strategic environment is referred to as SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis provides all the information that is required to match the organizations capabilities to the competitive environment in which it runs. How SWOT analysis fits into environmental scanning is shown as SWOT Analysis Framework SWOT ANALYSIS OF SAINSBURYS: Strengths à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ This is a very strong company with huge traders who are interested and trust worthy to the company. Also it had 509 supermarkets and 276 stores, thus became a Established trader. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ To develop in business every company has to depend on customers. It is said that Customer is God, as a popular and reputed company Sainsburys followed the saying and won its customers trust and developed a good customer base. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Had a huge chain of Supermarkets with 509 supermarkets, 276 stores and a bank. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Also it had large volumes of stock so it helps in reducing the cost. Weakness à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Having huge staffs make them pay more. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Having 509 supermarkets and 276 stores it is having high maintenance cost. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Because of heavy stocks if product is failed huge stock will be leftover. Threats à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ As UK is having many supermarkets there is always heavy completion among ASDA, WALMART, TESCO etc à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Having many discount offers company may lose profits on certain products. Opportunities à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Having good volumes it is planning for new activities. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ It is a huge success in United Kingdom and now planning to expand into Eastern Europe. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Also had large customer base and there is scope for huge employment. PORTERS 5 FORCES ANALYSIS Competitive rivalry à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ the retail market is extremely competitive with a very crowded market. Now, more and more companies are trying to get into non food sectors (Rigby and Killgren 2008) further intensifying the competition. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Sainsburys has a market share of 14.9% in 2007, steadily increasing since its restructuring program that started in 2004 (Annual Report 2007). This is a positive trend but it lags well behind the runaway market leader Tesco, showing that there is considerable distance to cover. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Tesco, Asda, and Morrisons are the other three big supermarket chains in the UK retail sector. All of them have a different competitive advantage over their competitors. Sainsburys reach in the convenience stores makes it have a larger customer reach. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Banks and building societies compete with Sainsbury bank but it is not a core business for Sainsburys. Barriers for entry à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Barriers to entry are extremely high in the food retail market due to a number of factors. Firstly, organized retail is amongst the most sophisticated sectors within the UK and needs a lot of investment, along with significant brand development, which takes years to establish (Doyle 2002). Secondly, retail is also at an advanced stage within the UK and most of the western world, which means there is little scope for new entrants to establish themselves. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Local knowledge is extremely crucial within the food retail sector, something that is difficult for foreign firms to replicate. This is corroborated by the presence of few global supermarkets within UK. Threats of Substitutes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The threat of substitutes in the food retail industry is a low one simply because consumers view it as a necessity, especially in the developed world and increasingly in the emerging markets. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The retail market is always trying to converge and assimilate new innovations with respect to food products or alternative businesses, to make shopping an extremely pleasurable experience. This makes them extremely difficult to substitute à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The only major threat of substitute is an internal industry threat whereby one supermarket can lap up the business of other supermarkets. Buyer power à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Buyer power is high in this industry simply due to the presence of so many competitors selling the same products. It is only differentiated in price and consumer loyalty and increasingly on green credentials. Moreover, the switching costs are low for consumers. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ As the economy goes further towards recession (ODoherty 2008) consumers needs are likely to be given more weight, increasing their power considerably. Supplier power à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Supplier power is usually more complicated as it is difficult to categorize it. It is safe to call it a mutually dependent relationship as suppliers are in itself huge companies, like PG, Unilever, Cadbury etc. with huge brand appeal. It can be argued that if supermarkets do not sell their products consumers will shift loyalties, making suppliers very powerful. However, if the products of big companies do not reach supermarkets, their sales volumes will be affected hugely. The relationship might change depending on the situation of the big branded supplier, for example, when sales of Cadburys dairy milk increased through the successful Gorilla ad campaign (Wiggins and Urry 2007). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Supplier power of smaller suppliers will not be considerable because of their sales volumes on dependence on these supermarkets. Conclusion Here we can see that Sainsbury always use the market mix to develop and implement its strategies by using the market mix. It satisfies the customers by improving the strategies which meet the needs of the customer. It always research on the market to know the interest of a customer who is able to buy its products. It continues to implement the market segmentation to develop its business strategies which shows the development of a business. Sainsbury use the market segmentation to display large variety of products and sell to deferent groups and to achieve large amount of sales overall. It offers a large number of products in a convenient location and opens the store for long hours. It also encourages the customers by easy cash options through debit card and credit card. It also offers the cash back facility to the customers on their purchases. Recommendation Sainsbury have to give high quality product and have to care about customers satisfactions. They have to sell product with particular prize for customer. They have to care about customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Literary Response to Gulliver’s Travels :: essays papers

Literary Response to Gulliver’s Travels 1.) Interpret the ending of Book IV in Gulliver’s Travels. How are we to understand Gulliver’s very strange behavior? In Book IV, Lemuel Gulliver’s fourth and final journey places him in the land of the Houyhnhnm, a civilization of intellectual, sensible horses, and senseless, inferior, and indecent humans. As Swift does throughout the novel, he ties his satire closely with Gulliver’s perceptions of the different world around him in his last adventure; these chapters do not change the method of Swift’s satire. During Gulliver’s experience in the land of Houyhnhnm, he encounters the wise and friendly Houyhnhnms, or horses, which are superior to the Yahoos, or salve humans. Although Gulliver is referred to as a â€Å"Yahoo,† the Houyhnhnms treat him with more respect than their captives, due to his intelligent division from the Yahoos. In theses chapters Gulliver comes to realize how much he loathes the human race, after being in contact with the Yahoos. Gulliver finds himself in a society controlled by creatures usually at the dispatch of humans, and in a sort of oblivion of his own, between the humane horses and the untamed, unruly Yahoos. The humans and their inability to compare to the Houyhnhnms instantly disgust him. Gulliver then grows fond of the Houyhnhnms and beings to enjoy life conversing with them about the differences in their worlds. He no longer desires to return to humankind. Soon Gulliver is accepted as an intellectual among the Houyhnhnms. He begins to think of every human he has ever known as Yahoos, and no longer has any respect for them, he thinks of the Houyhnhnms as the most respected and well-mannered living things on the earth. Gulliver is given a room, and is treated as a member of the family. However due to his acquired fortune, the Yahoos begin to complain and Gulliver is forced to return to Europe. He does not want to return to Europe, but decides that he would rather live with the barbarians that he once lived with, than with the uncivilized Yahoos. When Gulliver does arrive in England, he is filled with disgust and disgrace for them. For a year he cannot stand to be with his family, but instead buys two horses and speaks with them.

Information Technology for Pims Pumps Essay

Analysis section 1 – Background/to identification of problem Pims Pumps are an industrial pumping company which are involved in the distribution, installation and maintenance of industrial pumping units. The company has a large fleet of vans and many specialised tools and lots of equipment. Currently all of the equipment is logged in and out of the workshop and vans and this information is stored on paper. Analysis section 2 – identification of the prospective user(s) The prospective users are the managers of the business all of whom are computer literate and are already using a computer system for other aspects of the business. The company have a small network of computers installed and all involved are competent in opening and using Microsoft access 2000 Analysis section 3 – identification of user needs and acceptable limitations The system needs to be able to store large amounts of data about the whereabouts of equipment, it must be able to search through the data for any specified criteria, it must be able to be edited, it must be secure and user friendly. Interview Example documents from user Observation The proposed system can only be tested to a certain extent on being able to store large amounts of data Analysis section 4 – realistic appraisal of the feasibility of potential solutions. Analysis section 5 – justification of chosen solution I have chosen to use this system because Analysis section 6 – description of current system & data sources and destinations The current system involves the user logging in and out equipment to vans and back into the warehouse. The user must enter his/her name, the date and time, the registration of the vehicle they are taking it to, the name of the piece of equipment and the serial number of the piece of equipment. At the end of each week the logbook except for the most recent page is taken to the admin office and stored in a filing cabinet in date order. When a piece of equipment is missing, needed of has been damaged the user can then refer back to the log book to find out who if anyone still has the piece of equipment and who else has used it recently. This can be very time consuming, as the user has to visually scan through the logbooks until he comes to the entry, which could be anything up to 15 pages. This could easily result in human error and is a big waste of time Analysis section 8 – data flow diagram of current system At current there is no flow of data as the information is simply logged and referred to if needed in the future. Analysis section 7 – objectives of the project Input tasks (Data entry / Modification / View) The system will provide a user-friendly simple interface with the initial user allowing them to enter the same information as they usually do just on a keyboard. This should avoid all complications. The user interface for the initial user will be very secure to try and prevent accidental damage to the system however the management features will be able to be accessed by the management team through a password. There will be a user guide and a trouble shooting section to try and solve any potential problems. The system will be presented in form view with a main menu and various forms for different functions Output tasks (Reports) The system will be able to produce a report showing the location of any piece of equipment, or all the equipment one member of staff has recently used or all the equipment currently in a particular van. The system must be able to search through all the records for any criteria and produce a report for each one Processing tasks The system must be able to process the information and sort it into any order that the user wishes. Quantitative performance considerations The system is going to be run over a long period of time and so will need to be able to store a very large amount of data. This s one thing I will not be able to test to its full extent however I can estimate through hardware performance whether the system is adequate or not. Qualitative evaluation criteria Data security of the new system The system will have security passwords and all obvious features that would allow the user to enter restricted areas of the system would be disabled. The system will prompt the user to save changes or automatically save changes on exit anyway. Analysis section 9 – Data flow diagram of new system Analysis section 10 – E-R Model Project stage 2 : design Design section 1 – Overall system design The system will involve a series of tables, queries, reports and forms all linked together to provide a user-friendly system capable of all of the system requirements. I will have tables for vans, equipment, warehouse and users and will link these together and display them on one form. There will be a menu form giving the user options and security passwords for management to access and edit existing data or to view existing data. All of the data entry will be validated and the tables will be set to certain data types to try and ensure the user is entering the correct information. There will be four main tables related to bookings, employees, equipment and vehicles. There will also be four forms based upon these tables and then a main menu form for easy navigation of my database system Design section 2 – Description of modular structure of system The system will be based around 4 main tables. These are TblEmployees, which contains information about the employees that work at the company. TblEquipment, which lists equipment, details about it, its current location and a list of who has recently used it. TblVehicles will contain a list of all of the vans that Pims Pumps use and contain a list of all the equipment that is currently in each van. TblBookings will record all the bookings in an out that a piece of equipment makes and records the equipment and employee ID numbers. These tables will all be linked together in an entity relationship diagram. Design section 3 – Definition of data requirements The database will have to store relevant information about the employees using the booking system information about the company’s vehicles and equipment information. The fields I will store in my equipment table are as follows: 1. Equipment ID – A unique number assigned to each piece of equipment. 2. Description – a brief description of the piece of equipment 3. Service interval – The next date when the piece of equipment is due to be serviced The fields I will store in my employee table are as follows: 1. Employee name – full name of the employee 2. Employee ID – a unique number assigned to each employee The fields I will store in my vehicles table are as follows: 1. Registration – The registration number of my vehicle 2. Vehicle ID – A unique number assigned to each vehicle I will also have a bookings table, which will store the employee and equipment ID for each booking of equipment, and the date on which the booking was made. This will enable me to run a query to find out for example what equipment any employee has used or what equipment is currently in a certain van etc. Design section 4 – Identification of storage requirements and media Development hardware I can design my system on any hardware running Microsoft Windows 95 or later and that is capable of running Microsoft Access at speed. I do not require any additional specific hardware for designing my database. End-user hardware The end user already has hardware capable of running my database and all the staff are familiar with Microsoft based programs. Development software I will design the database in Microsoft Access as this is very flexible and powerful enough to undertake all or the required tasks End-user software The end user will also have to use Microsoft Access as that is the only program that my database will run on I will design the database to be user friendly and limit access to all of its functions to try and prevent accidental damage to the system. Design section 5 – Identification of suitable algorithms for data transformation Queries Macros Visual basic code Design section 6 – identification of any validation required I have several input masks throughout my tables however no validations are needed. The input masks that ii have used are simply in place to ensure that the user is entering the correct information or at least information that is in the correct format. Design section 7 – overall user interface design Here is a plan of the layout of my main menu; Design section 8 – Sample of planned data capture and entry (e.g. forms Design section 9 – sample of planned data validation Design section 8 – Description of record/database structure & normalisation Normalisation Tables design Design section 11 – Sample of planned valid output (e.g. reports) I will produce reports based on queries related to different things however the format will remain the same. Below is an example of what a report would look like if the user queried for what equipment an employee has recently used: Design section 12 – Database design including relations, foreign keys, and primary keys. Entity-relationship diagram List and describe all relations separately 1. There is a one to many relationship from Equipment ID in the Equipment table to Equipment ID in the booking table. This enables there to be many pieces of equipment logged in the bookings table. 2. There is a one to many relationship from Employee ID in the Employee’s table to Employee ID in the Bookings table. This enables there to be many employees listed in the bookings table of that one employee can have many bookings. Indicate all primary and foreign keys for each table TblEquipment’s primary key is Equipment ID and it contains no foreign keys TblBooking’s primary key is Booking ID and it contains Equipment ID and Employee ID as foreign keys TblVehicle’s primary key is Vehicle ID and it contains no foreign keys TblEmployee’s primary key is Employee ID and it contains no foreign keys Design section 13 – Planned measures for security and integrity of data Design section 14 – Planned measures for systems security Design section 15 – Overall test strategy Project stage 3 : Technical solution Project stage 4 : System testing Test section 1- Design of test plan & strategy Test section 2 – Minimal test data Test section 3 – Expected results for typical test data Test section 4 – Erroneous data (Check forms reject invalid data) Test section 5 – Expected results for extreme data Check that data just within range is accepted and stored Check that calculations using extreme data works Test section 6 – Hard copy of representative samples of test runs Project stage 5 : Maintenance Maintenance section 1 – System overview Maintenance section 2 – Summary of features used Maintenance section 3 -Sample of detailed algorithm design using a recognised methodology Maintenance section 4 – Annotated listings of program code, macro code & tailoring Maintenance section 5 – Screenshots (Mainly from design view) Table screenshots Reports screenshots Query screenshots Macro’s screenshots Visual basic code Maintenance section 6 – List/description of package items developed Project stage 6 : User manual User manual – Brief introduction User manual – Samples of actual screen displays in situ User manual – Samples of error messages and/or error recovery procedures Project stage 7 : Appraisal Appraisal section 1 – Comparison of project performance against objectives Evaluation of end-user requirements Evaluation of the qualitative criteria

Exploring the 1922 Schindler House