Minimising the Impact of Energy on Rising Cost of Products: A Case of Tesco
ASSIGNMENT QUESTION:
Organisations across the world have been dealing with different form of challenges associated with business environment. Apart from the existing challenges, the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has created another type of problem facing organisations of all sizes. While every crisis is unique in terms of risks and opportunities, as a manager in your organisation, discuss strategic approach that can help your organisation to minimise the impact of rising cost of energy on items, reduce customers living cost and achieve business growth during and post energy crisis.
Students are expected to clearly draw on relevant organisational management concepts, practices and techniques to propose how their selected organization(s) can minimise the impact of energy on rising cost of products and achieve business growth despite the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine war. For example, students can use ideas from the notion of resilience to discuss their propositions. Likewise, students can draw on the concept of strategic innovation or crisis management to discuss their propositions. Students are expected to define and explain how their selected concept(s) is conceptualised and provide an understanding of how organizations can manage the current impact of energy on customers, minimise the rising cost of running business and achieve business growth. Through wider reading, students should be able to identify the salient features which enable organizations to manage the likely negative impact of energy crisis on business environment. What is essential to do well in response to the question is to address (i) define and explain how their selected notion is conceptualized, and (ii) provide critical discussion of the features that makes organizations achieve business growth in the face of energy crisis. In the first instance, students can use case examples to illustrate their core points. In another context, students should engage with empirical case evidence and real-life examples that supports their points.
A good work will use case study or real-life examples to illustrate the underpinning points/arguments, draw on relevant organizational management theories/concepts, make clear arguments that are supported by empirical evidence, and make practical recommendations. Moreover, a good work will apply some of the concepts taught in the module to their arguments/points. Students will be rewarded for the integration of relevant and appropriately cited wider reading of academic literature, original case and real-life examples. A poor work will be generally descriptive, fail to address the question, present materials without contextual insights, present arguments without supporting evidences, lack critical evaluation of sources, and include appendices that have not been cited in the assignment body, poorly written, contain grammatical errors, spelling mistakes that could have been proofread and corrected before submission.
TIPs:
- 1. Make sure you understand the question before you start writing. Ask your seminar tutors.
- 2. Make use of specific organization as a case study to illustrate your points.
- 3. How many references do I need? At least 15 academic references.
- 4. Do I need appendices? Only include appendices if they are relevant and have been cited in your work.
- 5. Should I include theory? Why not. This is an academic assignment and you are required to use theory/ theories
- 6. How does this relate to the assignment? Think about how the topics taught in the module can be applied in practice.
- 7. Not more than 10% over the word count.
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS:
Friday 16th December 2022, 11:59 via Turnitin upload
In Blackboard: CORP2544-2022-Organisational Management > Turnitin >
ASSIGNMENT STRUCTURE:
You should present your assignment in report format, including an executive summary, a content page and a correctly presented reference list, and be 1250 words (excluding title page, executive summary, references, and appendices) in total. State the word count on the front page of your assignment. Text should be fully justified, in double line spacing, with a decimal numbering system used for headings and sub-headings. Please submit one file, named with module assignment title CORP2544 and your student number.
The following structure and headings are recommended, amongst others:
1. Introduction, Context and Objectives
2. Literature Review/
3. Findings/Discussion/Implications
4. Conclusion/Recommendations
5. References
6. Appendices
Note: Your sources should be referenced using Harvard referencing. Advice can be found in the Higher Education Assessment Toolkit (part of the CLaSS resources) at http://www.library.dmu.ac.uk/Images/Selfstudy/Harvard.pdf
MINIMISING THE IMPACT OF ENERGY ON RISING COST OF PRODUCTS: A CASE OF TESCO
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Word Count: 1312
Executive Summary
The recent energy crisis has increased the cost of products and contributed to consumers' rising cost of living. Using the case of Tesco, this report illustrates how managers can reduce consumers’ cost of living while still achieving organisational growth during and after the crisis. The report finds that managers can utilise the concept of strategic innovation to lower the cost of products, offer competitive prices, and create value for consumers and other stakeholders. Based on these findings, the paper recommends using strategic approaches that will create cost leadership and give firms a competitive edge.
Contents 1. Introduction, Context and Objectives. 4 2. Literature Review.. 4 3. Findings and Discussion. 6 4. Conclusion/Recommendations. 7 5. References. 9
1 Introduction, Context and Objectives
Many organisations are now dealing with rising energy costs and their impact on products, consumers’ spending, and the overall cost of living. The energy crisis presents organisations with a challenging time, and if left unaddressed, it will mark the downfall of most organisations' bottom lines. According to Griffin (2022, p.175) failure of managers to respond to external forces, such as energy crises in a changing and competitive business world, is a great cause of organisational failure. Responding to a changing business environment requires managers to have a flexible and innovative strategic framework in place.
This paper examines how managers should respond to the energy crisis to minimise its impact on the cost of products, reduce the cost of living for consumers, and attain growth during and after the crisis. To this end, the paper will use Tesco PLC as a case study. Tesco is a British multinational retailer that provides customers with healthy, sustainable, and affordable food to enhance their ease of living and quality of life (Tesco PLC, n.d.). As the energy crisis persists, the cost of living has become increasingly high, and consumers are spending more on food. Tesco has observed these changes and recently created a reduced price section in its UK stores to ensure consumers can shop more for less as they battle the high cost of living (Smart, 2022). This makes Tesco an ideal case study because it offers insights into how managers can address the crisis and reduce consumers’ cost of living while still achieving organisational growth during and after the crisis.
2 Literature Review
Managers can rely on many management practices and strategies to address organisational challenges and remain competitive in a changing business environment. One essential management practice is strategic innovation. Innovation is considered a necessary ingredient for competitive advantage. However, it can also be an effective way of addressing organisational challenges or crises. According to Kahn (2018), innovation provides organisations with longevity through radical or incremental changes. It allows organisations to create new products, processes, or outcomes from a new idea or a combination of existing ideas. Managers can use innovation to create new solutions to existing organisational challenges or crises.
However, they must first understand the organisation’s innovation capability. According to Rajapathirana and Hui (2018), a firm’s innovation capability is a source of competitive advantage in a changing, competitive business environment. It allows the organisation to effectively and constantly respond to changes in the market environment, ultimately enhancing organisational performance and growth. Firms can build innovation capability by accumulating assets, resources and capabilities (Rajapathirana & Hui, 2018). Managers can help their firms build innovation capabilities by investing in research and development and creating a culture of innovation.
Strategic innovation is a combination of both strategy and innovation, making it a powerful tool for managers. It refers to the capacity of a firm to redefine an existing industry model or its corporate strategy to create new value for customers and shareholders while outdoing competitors (Leitao & Ratten 2022, p.2). Strategic innovation allows companies to realise their corporate strategy amidst changes in the business environment. Specifically, it allows organisations to holistically invest in an approach that combines its capabilities and assets to achieve organisational growth by pursuing growth opportunities (Goodman & Dingli 2017, p.111; Kumar 2022, p.1). Through strategic innovation, managers can change the nature of competition in the business environment and address an organisational challenge, pushing their organisations to high growth during and after the organisational challenge.
Strategic innovation significantly affects how firms perform during and after a crisis. According to Su and Tang (2017, p.6), strategic innovation can help firms survive an economic crisis because of its cost-cutting effects. Specifically, cost reduction through strategic innovation helps firms to effectively manage their resources, increasing their capacity to survive through a crisis and come out stronger post-crisis. In addition, strategic innovation is linked to improved firm performance. In their study, Bayraktar et al. (2017, p.47) found that strategic innovation is positively associated with firm performance. This positive association is attributed to economies of s...