TESCO is a transnational grocery and all-purpose merchandise dealer with its headquarters in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is among the three largest retailers across the world, coming third after Wal-Mart and Carrefour, when measured in terms of revenues. It is also the second largest, coming second to Wal-Mart when rated in terms of profits. It is the leading grocery distributor in UK and has multiple stores in fourteen countries across Europe, Asia, and North America (Humby, Hunt & Phillips 2008, p. 17). Jack Cohen established the company in 1919, starting out as a group of market stalls. He got the name TESCO after buying a shipment of tea from T.E Stockwell, where he combined the first initials of this company with the first two letters of his last name in 1924. The business then rapidly expanded, and has grown to the position it occupies today from that small venture. Tesco Mission

TESCO has developed a mission statement, from which it works towards achieving its objectives. The mission statement of Tesco is 'to retain loyal people' (Humby, Hunt & Phillips 2008, p 21). In working towards this statement, Tesco has rolled out a club card service, with which it awards people by giving special vouchers and extra points, thus maintaining its loyal customers.

Tesco Vision

The vision of an organization underpins what the organization focuses on delivering and how it operates. The vision of Tesco is to establish overarching internal shared values, which enable the organization to deliver the promises it makes to its customers (Humby, Hunt & Phillips 2008, p. 23). Under this vision, the organization has managed to expand and grow accordingly since it can deliver to customers.

Tesco Objectives

No organization or establishment can succeed without a target that it wishes to achieve. In this line, Tesco has several objectives, with which it works to achieve. Tesco, being among the leading food retailers in Britain, it has 519 stores across England, Scotland and Wales alone. It has 105 stores in France, and 44 in Hungary (Humby, Hunt & Phillips 2008, p. 31). This shows that Tesco has some commitments. These form the objectives of the retailer. The first of the objectives is to offer customers the top value for their money and at competitive prices. The second objective is to meet the needs of customers by constantly seeking the opinions of the customers regarding innovation, the quality of products, the choice and store facilities and service and acting on them. The third objective is to providing the shareholders with returns on their investments progressively and improving profitability through investing in efficient stores and distribution depots, productivity improvement and new technology. The fourth objective of the company is to build up the talents of its personnel through sound management and training practices while offering them equal opportunities for all and rewarding them fairly. Another objective is working closely with its suppliers to establish and grow long-term business relations, basing the relationships on strict quality and pricing criteria. Additionally, the company has the objective of participating in the process of formulation of national food industry policies on imperative issues such as health, nutrition, hygiene, safety and animal welfare. The last objective that the organization has is sustaining the well-being of the neighborhood and the protecting the environment from which it operates.

Tesco Core Competence

The core rationale of Tesco is to erect value for the customers so that they can earn their lifetime loyalty. Thus, the core values that enable the company to have the competence it holds are as follows. The first competence is because the success of Tesco is dependent on the people. These people shop from the stores and those who work within the stores. If the customers get pleased with the products they offer, they are likely to return and shop there another time. If the workers find the work they do for Tesco rewarding enough, they are likely to work the extra mile to help the company achieve the objectives. Thus, this forms the competence base for the company. The core competence is as expressed in the values they hold for the customers and the workers. For the workers, these values include, understanding the customers, being the first to meet the customers' needs and acting responsibly for the communities around them. This way, they satisfy the needs of the customers and earn their loyalty and that of the environment of operation. When it comes to the workers, they achieve the competence by working on the statement, "treat people as they we would like to be treated" (Humby, Hunt & Phillips 2008, p. 81). Under this, they encourage workers to work as a team, to trust and revere each other...

Additionally, they encourage workers to share knowledge and experience to grow together. This way, they establish strong working environment, with the workers enjoying their work, hence the reason they are able to attain the level of competence they have today.
Significance of Stakeholder Analysis in Tesco

Like in any other organization, Tesco has its share of stakeholders, who have an interest within the organization. The stakeholders of Tesco include the following groups of people. They include the customers, the employees, the government, local community, suppliers, financers, pressure groups and non-governmental organizations (Humby, Hunt & Phillips 2008, p. 110). These groups of people have a momentous influence on the actions and operations of the organization. The significance of analyzing the different stakeholders cannot be overemphasized. The customers look for a wide range of products, ease of accessibility to the stores and competitive prices for quality products. Therefore, knowing what the customers want, Tesco can plan accordingly, and work towards attaining the desires of the consumers. This is the significance of analyzing the customers as stakeholders of the company. The employees, as stakeholders work for the organization. Understanding their expectations and needs enables the company establish a strong and productive working environment. The government sets the policies under which the business operates, therefore, it is significant for Tesco to be involved in the making of polices that affect its working directly. This way, the organization works within the stipulated guidelines by law. The local community, within which the organization works, has some expectation on the organization. Therefore, analyzing the local community as a stakeholder helps Tesco develop programs that work for the community and maintain a harmonious community. The suppliers are key stakeholders in Tesco. They provide the goods and products that the company sells. Therefore, understanding their point-of-view allows the organization to make viable plans. The financers provide the investment and in return enjoy the profits. Thus, understanding their expectations allows Tesco to plan and invest properly. The pressure groups include the competitors. Therefore, analyzing the competitors allows Tesco know how to counter their moves as they compete. These are the reasons why, it is imperative for Tesco to analyze its stakeholders regularly.

Internal and external stakeholders' interests in Tesco strategic planning

As outlined in the significance of stakeholder analysis for Tesco, those stakeholders do have related interests within the strategic planning of the organization. For instance, the customers have an interest in that they expect quality products and a competitive price. Therefore, they have internal interest in the planning to ensure they get prices of products that fit their spending. The employees have internal interests since they have concerns about their rewarding. They also have concerns about their skills hence they need training programs as well as employee rewarding systems. These interests directly reflect in the strategic planning of the company. The government has external issues such as revenue among others in the strategic planning of Tesco. It is responsible for making policies that govern the business environment. Therefore, their external interests have an impact in the strategic planning of Tesco. The local community needs support in the form of services from the organization. The company has to maintain the environment within which it operates. This is an external interest, which also determines the strategic planning of Tesco. The suppliers have internal interest in that; they get income by selling products to Tesco. Therefore, they directly influence the strategic planning of Tesco. The financers' interest is an internal issue. These people invest in the business; hence, they want to be included in the strategic planning of the organization. The pressure groups have an external issue, though they are not involved in the planning, they influence the planning process as they pose competition in the market.

The ideal strategic planning technique for Tesco in achieving business growth

The ideal strategic planning technique that Tesco can employ is that of Ansoff Matrix. The Ansoff Matrix is a two by two matrix, used to assess the strategy of an organization based on two areas; that is the difference in products and the market scenarios (Kaplan & Norton 2008, p. 58). A simplistic approach takes the complex scenarios and allows for easy rapid assessment. It helps the company or organization measures its product and market growth. The technique indicates that a business growth depends on if…