Going Global Case Study

Tesco: The British Supermarket Chain's Global Expansion Strategies and Challenges

OR

Abstract:
Tesco Plc. is the UK's largest and the world's third largest retail supermarket chain. Established in 1929 by Jack Cohen, Tesco steadily increased its presence in the UK by concentrating on customer needs and their convenience. By the mid-1990s, saturation of the UK market led Tesco to expand its activities to other countries. It initiated expansion plans in the developing markets of the Central European and Asian countries, which provided scope for growth of retail business. In 2005, Tesco planned to continue its international expansion activity by opening a number of hypermarkets in Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, China, Thailand and South Korea.

Pedagogical Objectives:

• To understand and discuss the market entry strategies of Tesco
• To analyse the challenges it faced in catering to the varied needs of the customers in markets across countries and the competitive strategies adopted by it in those countries.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Tesco in Britain
• Expansion into Central Europe and Asia
• Major Challenges
• Growth Ahead

Keywords : Tesco; Competition among British supermarkets; Gap; International expansion strategies; Expansion into Central Growth Strategies Case Study; Europe and Asia; Hypermarkets; Growth challenges; Varied customer needs; Localisation strategies