Task 1
1.1 Types of Organisations, Structures and Purpose
1.1.1 Tesco plc
Tesco plc is a publicly listed limited company based in the United Kingdom and its shares are actively traded at the London Stock Exchange. Tesco, being a public limited company, can raise significant amounts of capital through equity issues to the larger group of shareholders. The firm had been established in 1919 and Tesco generated over £69.9 billion in revenue in 2024 and employs approximately 341,108 people across 4,572 stores globally, as mentioned by Tesco Plc, (2025).
The strategic mandate of the institution is to provide low-priced, non-food and grocery foods as well as present convenient shopping basket formats. This is implemented in the mission statement, which aims to offer shoppers a little better every day, through competitive pricing, portfolio product diversification and enhancing an omnichannel retailing structure.
Tesco is a firm in a very competitive market in the grocery industry, which is characterised by high sales volumes but with low profit margins. The market dynamics are pressured by economic demands, changing buying habits of the consumers and increased competition posed by low-cost retailers, including Aldi and Lidl. Tesco has stated that its sales have increased with the sharp fall in full-year profits following a spend of close to 900 million to continue operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as discussed by Eley, (2021).
1.1.2 Unilever plc
Unilever plc is a publicly listed and multinational fast-moving consumer goods (FMG) company that is based in London. The company owns a wide range of brands, with upwards of 400 brands warehoused in over 190 countries, with some of their brands like Dove, Knorr and Surf being high profile. Unilever generated revenues of around 60.8 billion Euros in 2024, as mentioned by Unilever PLC, (2025)
The core business goal of Unilever focuses on making sustainable consumer products, including food, beauty, hygiene and household care products. Unilever’s vision pre-empts the sustainable living that is incorporated within the normal processes and at the same time, it supports growth in the long term. The company was confronted with high prices of raw materials and logistical bottlenecks in the Asian regions post-COVID-19.
1.2 Stakeholders, Their Needs and Influence and Mapping
1.2.1 Tesco Stakeholders
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Customers: Expect low pricing, product safety, convenience and online availability.
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Employees: Demand security, capacity to develop skills and fair pay.
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Suppliers: Need long-term contracts, punctual payments and constant volumes.
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Shareholders: Require financial rewards, dividend paid 10.9 pence per share in 2024 as stated by Tesco plc, (2024).
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Government: Stipulates compliance with regulations and the observation of the employment law.
The customers and shareholders of Tesco have a high level of interest, with the shareholders having a high level of influence, given that they invest capital in the business and customers having a high level of interest with a medium level of influence. The power that suppliers have is medium, considering that Tesco has high bargaining power. Tesco responds to these forces through the specific stakeholder approaches, for example, through the loyalty programme provided to more than 21 million customers with the help of the Clubcard programme, the sustainability codes related to suppliers, as mentioned by Carroll, (2023).
1.2.2 Unilever Stakeholders
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Customers: demand quality of merchandise, hygiene levels and affordable prices.
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Suppliers: Need continuous development and procurement.
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Employees: Insist on decent working conditions and opportunities for global mobility.
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Shareholders: Unilever decreased earnings per share is 10.6% in 2024, as discussed by Unilever PLC, (2025).
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Retail Partners: Stable demand and price maintenance.
Shareholders and international retail partners (for example, Walmart, Carrefour) are located in the high-influence/high-interest quadrant of the stakeholder mapping, as they have a financial interest and due to the channel's importance. The customers have a high interest, but middle influences the bargaining power of the customer is eroded by the competitive nature of the FMCG sector.
Unilever maintains stakeholder alignment by having integrated supply-chain programmes, raw-material sustainability initiatives and disclosed-ESR initiatives.
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1.3 Digitisation and Technological Impact (IoT, collaboration, e-commerce, networking, social technologies)
1.3.1 Tesco
Digitisation has radically changed the organisational structure, the working processes, decision-making protocols and the workforce at Tesco. Implementation of Internet-of-Things-based inventory management services has resulted in real-time inventory locations, minimisation of waste and automated refill. These trends intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, with demand increasing by about 70%, which forced the fast expansion of online order-fulfilment centres.
The analytics of the clubcards support the individualised pricing and promotion efforts. Tesco has more than 23 million active loyalty customers and it focuses on product mix, store logistics and marketing campaigns, as mentioned by Statista, (2025). The most recent updates have added built-in payment gateways, live chat with clients and delivery routing services in the online shopping facility. Information flows and information visibility via lead-times and information sharing have been strengthened with collaboration tools and supplier data-sharing tools.
1.3.2 Unilever
The impact of digitisation on Unilever consists of increased investment in AI-driven forecasting, marketing automation and online stores. The company collaborated with several major digital stores like Amazon as distribution partners to extend its distribution channels and the analytics hub, owned by the company, processes global consumption behaviour to hasten product innovation.
The implementation of IoT in production lines has lowered downtime as well as enhanced quality control. Social platforms can be used to engage customers directly through a personalised brand community (for example, Dove). Digital innovation has widened the direct-to-consumer presence in Unilever and this has been supported by automated innovative fulfilment systems.
The digitisation has triggered the restructuring of organisations flexibly, on the global platform of Unilever, bringing together the digital/audience-insight unit. Such integration maximises the role of making decisions, surveillance of the market and positioning of the product, in particular in emerging markets.
1.4 Leadership and Management Theories and Challenges
1.4.1 Application in Tesco
The concept of transformational leadership in the Tesco Company and its dedicated to the principle of innovation and customer focus. Sustainability transformation, digitisation and workforce empowerment programmes have been the initiative of leadership under CEO Ken Murphy. The firm facilitates lifelong learning towards quality of service provision and digital capability.
Management practice correlates to the scientific management theory, which can be seen in Tesco through the use of the standardised inventory, performance goals and efficiency models at the store level. The group food waste is reduced by approximately 18% between 2022 and 2023, as discussed by Tesco, (2024).
Tesco is facing an employee leadership challenge due to global strategic pressures regarding business model, which requires the inclusion of omnichannel operations, inflation management processes and supply-chain resiliency. The organisational agility of Tesco relies on strategic environmental scanning on the basis of PESTLE analysis and market forecasting.
1.4.2 Application in Unilever
At Unilever, the company uses transformational leadership in terms of sustainability, innovation and talent involvement. The global strategy of the organisation facilitates cross-functional traits and creativity, as well as standardised performance systems that correspond to the tenets of scientific management via lean production and global quality guidelines.
The scientific management theory includes the management of cross-cultural teams, the maintenance of ESG promises and the maintenance of competitive prices through the rising cost of raw materials. The opportunities are identified and the risks mitigated based on systematic environmental scanning.
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TASK 2
2.1 Microeconomic & Macroeconomic Impacts
The microeconomic theory involves supply and demand, market structure and cost strategies.
Tesco competes in an oligopolistic market, which entails Aldi, Sainsbury's and Lidl. Competitive prices in the oligopoly structure, coupled with promotion and differentiation of the product range, as stated by Emanuele and Garella, (2025). Consumer price sensitivity has a very strong impact on demand. The inflation in 2024 shifted the consumer preference towards Tesco's own-brand lines and the price-matching policies that Tesco helped maintain value-oriented shoppers. The relationships with suppliers have an impact on cost and supply stability. Tesco maintains its long-term contracts at low levels by using global sourcing and logistics optimisation to reduce cost variability.
Unilever is in a monopolistic-competition market structure where the other competitors include P&G and Nestle. Brand positioning is affected by differentiation of products and innovation in hygienic and beauty products is what maintains the consumer preference. Supply and pricing are influenced by micro-forces, which include the availability of raw materials. Unilever has production efficiencies and brand loyalty, which have placed it in a competitive edge in the market, as discussed by Nenkov, (2024).
2.1.1 Macroeconomics
The most important macroeconomic variables that influence both organisations include inflation, monetary policy, unemployment rate, national income and expansion of the GDP. The operating costs and consumer expenditure directly depend on the inflationary dynamics and monetary policy and the demand patterns are targeted by unemployment and the distribution of income. Strong GDP growth normally creates a more conducive market, thus acting as an informed strategic decision-making and long-term investment strategy for both companies.
The high inflation has been a major cost burden on Tesco as it has raised the logistics and procurement costs. The interest rates in the UK the Bank of England is experiencing an increase which has lowered consumer spending habits through decreased disposable incomes. The impact of fiscal expenditure on employment, as Tesco is offering more wages to keep its employees on board, as the labour market faces shortages, as discussed by Payne, Rose and Butler, (2025). Tesco has a large workforce that leads to the circular flow of income in the UK economy.
Unilever is also subject to similar effects of exchange-rate fluctuations and pressure on inflation that increase the cost of raw materials and production. At the current stage of investment, revenue instability is also high, especially in emerging markets where risks in investment decisions are low. Differences in monetary policy influence expansion policies, particularly the distribution of capital to production capacity. Although the large international coverage of Unilever stands as the source of diversification that would help to mitigate the effect of these risks, macroeconomic monitoring must always be carried out in order to predict and counter the effect of economic changes.
2.2 Global Issues and Responsible Citizenship
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Cultural diversity: Cultural diversity is a problem of growing importance on the international level, which is caused by the rise of multinational corporations as well as the inclusion of heterogeneous workforces. Tesco has stores in various regions and has a workforce of more than 341,108 employees with a variety of different cultures among them as mentioned by Tesco Plc, (2025). Tesco is also responsive to issues involving diversity by ensuring inclusive policies in the workplace, equal opportunities in the workplace and anti-discrimination practices. There are training programmes that the organisation offers in order to strengthen cultural sensitivity and the quality of service.
Unilever also handles cultural diversity by developing global talent programmes that help to keep employees enabled to communicate effectively, despite their geographical location. Inclusive leadership and innovation are enhanced by cross-cultural communication programmes and opportunities to be mobile. These practices help Unilever to understand the expectations of consumers and tailor products to suit international markets.
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Ethical decision-making: Ethical decision-making forms through the global focal issues as sustainability expectations increase and there is a need to open up reporting. The ethical aura in Tesco has involved responsible sourcing of products, intensive supplier audits and the drive to minimise the environment. Tesco also addresses labour risks through the establishment of sustainability codes, which are applied across the supply networks as discussed by Wilhelm et al., (2024).
Unilever is a company that supports sound ethical decisions by its Sustainable Living Plan that focuses on reducing carbon emissions, circular packaging concepts and fair-trade sourcing. Ethical governance is also supported by the investment that Unilever makes in sustainable supply chains and community development. Both organisations show proactive approaches to overcome various ethical and cultural issues in the international market which increases trust levels, minimises risks in operations and enhances the relationships between stakeholders.
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