Can Tesco be big…and entrepreneurial?
According to Joseph Schumpeter, entrepreneurship requires an emphasis on new products, markets, organizations and production methods. It can be easy to refer to entrepreneurs only as small businesses however as illustrated by Tesco, a British retailer, a company can be large but still be entrepreneurial.
In 2007 Tesco declared their intention to revolutionize the United States retailer market. Their CEO, Sir Terry Leahy, declared that “In retailing…you can’t hang around and trial this thing. You have to launch and go”. With the company spending $500 million a year on this project, in a highly competitive US market, they are clearly displaying an entrepreneurial willingness to take risks.
They are also being entrepreneurially innovative in their supply chain, by introducing new compartmentalized trucks for delivery, and environmentally innovative by reaching a target to divert of 100% of their waste from landfills. They have revolutionized how stores are organized with a focus on smaller stores (1/10th the size of a Walmart store) using lighting and display techniques copied from the fashion industry. They introduced a novel Clubcard loyalty program database that influences where certain products are sold to meet customers’ demands. Therefore by revolutionizing their market and taking risks Tesco is entrepreneurial.
Source: http://www.economist.com/node/9358986