Company : Tesco

Founded in 1919 in London, Tesco plc is a British‐based international grocery and general
merchandising retail chain. With revenues of £60 billion (2009), it is the largest British retailer
by both global sales and domestic market share, with profits exceeding £3 billion. With almost
500,000 Employees (2009) and over 4000 stores Tesco is currently the third largest global
retailer. Originally specialising in food and drink, it has diversified into areas such as clothing,
consumer electronics, financial services, telecoms; home, health and car insurance, Internet
services, and software.

Tesco's UK stores are divided into six formats, differentiated by size and the range of products
sold: Tesco Extra stores are larger, mainly out-of-town hypermarkets that stock nearly all of
Tesco's product ranges; Tesco superstores are standard large supermarkets, stocking groceries
and a much smaller range of non-food goods than Extra stores; Tesco Metro stores are sized
between Tesco superstores and Tesco Express stores. They are mainly located in city centres and
on the high streets of small towns; Tesco Express stores are neighbourhood convenience shops,
stocking mainly food; One Stop stores are the only category which does not include the word
Tesco in its name. These are the very smallest stores. In addition, Tesco has a banking arm called
Tesco Personal Finance; operates as an ISP, mobile phone, home phone and VoIP businesses;
sells petrol and diesel at their own petrol stations; and offers a loyalty card-scheme to customers.
Customers can collect one Clubcard point for every £1 they spend in a Tesco store, Tesco Petrol
or Tesco.com. Tesco has operated on the internet since 1994 and was the first retailer in the
world to offer a robust home shopping service in 1996. Tesco.com was formally launched in
2000.

In common with most other large retailers, Tesco draws goods from suppliers into regional
distribution centres, for preparation and onward delivery to stores. Tesco is extending this
logistic practice to cover collection from suppliers (factory gate pricing) and the input to
suppliers, in a drive to reduce costs and improve reliability. Radio-frequency identification
(RFID) technology is taking an increasing role in the distribution process.

1. How would a modern MIS play a crucial role for Tesco, when it is planning on
expanding it’s business into the international arena?
2. What Information Security parameters must Tesco pay special attention to considering
the potential threats it can face to it’s Information System?
The Market Information System (MIS) created by the Agricultural Marketing Project (AMP)
jointly with its Ukrainian subcontractor APK-Inform helped boost sales and profits of small and
medium sized growers, and attracted significant investments. It resulted in about $20 in
additional benefits to farmers for each $ spent and became self-sufficient in 3 years from its
launch.

Although 95% of farmers did not have access to the Internet, thanks to AMP experts they
managed to sell most of their produce with higher profits through publications and web-portal
created by AMP. The portal itself quickly became the largest virtual wholesale market in the
Eastern Europe, significantly (by 100-200 times) reducing transaction costs for all market
players: growers, traders, processors, input suppliers and supermarkets.

Based on the market information received through the numerous contacts with market players as
well as official statistics, AMP analysts have created a flow of analytical information, making
horticultural market of the country more transparent and predictable. It, in turn, has lead to the
increased amount of investments into the industry, helped create additional production, trade and
processing opportunities, create new jobs and increase incomes of rural population.

1. What according to you is the key to success of the MIS project of AMP?
2. How has the MIS of AMP helped boost sales and profits of small and medium growers?
And why?
COMPANY OUTLINE:

• Procter & Gamble (P & G) is the largest manufacturer of consumer products

• One of the top 10 largest companies by market capitalization
• Founded in 1837, headquartered in Cincinnati , Ohio by William Procter and James
Gamble
• Mainstay in American business for over 150 yrs.
• Known for Successful brands, introducing new products and maintaining popularity
• Pampers, Tide, Bounty, Folgers, Pringles Charmin, Swiffer, Crest , food, beverages and
many more
• $83.62 billion in sales and $14.48 billion profit by 2012

Three main units -

1. Beauty care 2. House hold care 3. Health and well being
Others -
Baby care, Pet care, Grooming segment

Three main focuses –

• Maintaining popularity of existing product
• Developing new related products
• Innovating and introducing new products from scratch

Results of using Information Systems

• 80000 people using IM, 20000 MS Outlook for mailing, calendaring, contact
management, task management, note taking.
• Researchers use the tools to share the data they’ve collected on various brands
• Marketers can more effectively access the data they need to create highly targeted ad
campaigns.
• Managers are more easily able to find the people and data they need to make critical
business decisions.
• Using Telepresence managers and officers can hold high-definition meetings over long
distances.
• 35 percent of its employees are using Telepresence regularly.
• Company has saved $4 for every $1 invested in the 70 high-end telepresence systems it
has installed over the past few years.
• Reduced amount of travel and cost for travel
• Significant reduction of time and cost in Research and development.
• Faster and more efficient management system.

1. What according to you are the main benefits which P&G had derived from
successfully implementing a MIS?
2. How does the MIS help P&G it’s future goals based upon it’s main focus areas?