An Analysis Into The Uk Food Retail Industry Marketing Essay

An Analysis Into The Uk Food Retail Industry Marketing Essay The analysis will begin with a presentation of the food retail industry and a highlight of its significant features. Furthermore, to assess the remote environment of the industry a PEST analysis will be conducted, analysing the political, economical, social and technological factors that affect the industry. Furthermore, a Porter’s 5 forces analysis will be used to evaluate the operating environment and the nature of competition. Moreover the major competitors and their competition strategies will be identified. Additionally, the effect of the remote and operating environment on the players of the industry will be highlighted. Also, a critical analysis of the industry’s strength and its future will be presented. Finally, a critical evaluation on the used business analysis techniques will be illustrated. 2 .Industry profile The UK food retail industry is an established sector of the UK economy. During the last thirty years the food retail corporations expanded their act ivities to serve various consumer needs. The products that are provided to the public include food and its sub-products, but also alcohol, tobacco, health and beauty products, clothing, electrical products, homeware, fuel and financial services. However, according to the Mintel report 2009, more than half of the total sales in 2008 were assigned to food. Furthermore, concerning the size of the industry an increasing trend of sales can be observed of about 4% per year from 2004 to 2008 and a total amount of 108.1 billion pounds in 2008 (National Statistics – Mintel report 2009). The food retail industry is mainly controlled by large supermarket chains that possess the overwhelming majority of the industry’s market share, as it will be analysed further in the report. Concerning the size diversification of the retail stores, the majority are large units like hypermarkets, supermarkets and discounters with a percentage of 62% of the total number of stores. Furthermore, sma ll units as convenience stores and gas stations represent the 21.2% and food and drink specialists the 11.3%. The minority are drug stores, warehouses and cash and carry stores (Datamonitor 2009). 3. PEST analysis Macro-environment To analyse the macro-environment or otherwise known remote environment of the food retail industry, a PEST analysis will be used to specify how Political and legal, Economical, Social and Technological issues affect the industry. 3.1 Political There are many political and legal factors that affect the food retail industry. Future political decisions concerning taxation or the retail industry legislation will definitely have an impact in the industry competitors’ policies and strategies. The current legislation and regulation concern competition, employment, environmental, food and grocery safety, financial services and health issues. Specifically, the UK food retailers are obliged to follow food hygiene legislation set by the Food Standards Agency and the equivalent European Union regulation such as the General Food Law Regulation. In the UK the food safety act of 1990 was enacted to set the food safety requirements for food intended for human consumption. The Food Standards Agency was created in 2000 after the food standards act of 1999, which was enacted to further secure the public health related to food safety (Office of Public Sector Information, 1999). The UK food retailers are obliged to follow the above regulations in conjunction with the General Food Regulations 2004 that set the rules about the transportation, distribution, quality, hygiene, maintenance, advertising and selling of food and its substances.

The Vertical Boundaries of the Firm Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Vertical Boundaries of the Firm - Essay Example â€Å"Total Quality Management is a wide management perspective that deals with processes and attitudes† (Delfmann & Thorsten, 2008). It emphasizes quality as a major objective in a manufacturing environment as opposed to traditional mode of maximizing production. It is worth noting that quality in production not only applies to manufacturing environment but also in knowledge service industries for instance universities. â€Å"Total quality management operates under the principles of continuous improvement of quality as opposed to maintenance of a static level† (Gattorna, 1998). It aims at approaching quality at an increasing scale. This is possible through training and motivation of employees so as to better quality. It is therefore paramount for the top management to state their commitment open to all employees. The advantage of the mode is that it has the ability to immediately detect and correct quality problems. It doesn’t rectify problems after occurrence. â€Å"Just in Time† is a philosophy in management that seeks to eliminate manufacturing wastes by producing right quantity at the right time and at the right place. Its main goal is to do away with non-value adding operations during production. Lean production or stockless production is a philosophy that aims at reducing inventory levels to an absolute minimum. Effectiveness of logistics performance index to transnational organisations in decision making. Relationship between logistics index and supply chain location selection.... It aims at approaching quality at an increasing scale. This is possible through training and motivation of employees so as to better quality. It is therefore paramount for the top management to state their commitment open to all employees. The advantage of the mode is that it has the ability to immediately detect and correct quality problems. It doesn’t rectify problems after occurrence. â€Å"Just in Time† is a philosophy in management that seeks to eliminate manufacturing wastes by producing right quantity at the right time and at the right place. Its main goal is to do away with non-value adding operations during production. Lean production or stockless production is a philosophy that aims at reducing inventory levels to an absolute minimum. Looking closely at the three aspects, Just in Time increases production, performance and quality in manufacturing industry. Lean, controls stock levels to avoid unnecessary production while Total Quality Management works towards good quality of products. The three aspects support each other in a manufacturing environment. â€Å"Toyota manufacturing industry adopted this principle which saw a reduction in manufacturing defects and parts storage problem† (ElMaraghy, 2012). Question 3 Rough plan Effectiveness of logistics performance index to transnational organisations in decision making Relationship between logistics index and supply chain location selection Management in transnational organisations is a challenging task especially in decisions making pertaining to supply chain. The use of logistics plays a crucial role in the success of supply chain. â€Å"Order execution is an imperative element

Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Responses to Warm Whirlpool Treatment Article

Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Responses to Warm Whirlpool Treatment - Article Example The human body in normal conditions has a temperature set point of 37 degrees Centigrade, which may get altered during the circadian rhythm, after sleep loss, during hypobaria, and subsequent to dehydration. The stability in temperature that the body maintains is achieved by maintaining a balance between the rate of heat production that occurs mainly through metabolism and rate of heat lost or gained from the environment. Normal rules of thermodynamics are involved in this transfer of heat from the body and to the body. Differences between the temperature the skin and the environment is the governing factor in the thermodynamics involved (Lloyd, 1994). The thermodynamics involved in the attempt of the body to maintain the setpoint temperature of 37 degrees Centigrade is responsible for the thermal stimulus on hemodynamics, and it is for this reason that causes Ishijima and Togawa, 1999, to maintain that bathing in hot water puts stress on the heart.  The human body in normal condit ions has a temperature set point of 37 degrees Centigrade, which may get altered during the circadian rhythm, after sleep loss, during hypobaria, and subsequent to dehydration. The stability in temperature that the body maintains is achieved by maintaining a balance between the rate of heat production that occurs mainly through metabolism and rate of heat lost or gained from the environment. Normal rules of thermodynamics are involved in this transfer of heat from the body and to the body. Differences between the temperature the skin and the environment is the governing factor in the thermodynamics involved (Lloyd, 1994). The thermodynamics involved in the attempt of the body to maintain the setpoint temperature of 37 degrees Centigrade is responsible for the thermal stimulus on hemodynamics, and it is for this reason that causes Ishijima and Togawa, 1999, to maintain that bathing in hot water puts stress on the heart.   According to Press, 1991, this stress on the heart originate s from the increased pressure from the water causing vasodilation, profuse perspiration leading to a decrease in the extracellular volume of blood, increase in hematocrit levels with shortened clotting times, and an increase in the consumption of oxygen, due to the conditions of the environment saunas, spas, and hot tub baths. This raises the possibility of cardiac arrests resulting in patients during their use of saunas, spas and hot water tubs, with particular emphasis on individuals with a history of cardiovascular problems (Press, 1991). Such an understanding of the hemodynamics associated with an individual in the environmental conditions of hot tub baths, has caused physicians to warn individuals with elevated blood pressure levels and cardiac problems on the possible risks they face in hot water baths (Shin, Wilson & Wilson, 2003). Nagasawa, et al, 2001, points out that there is the risk of sudden death from hot water baths as such deaths have been associated with bathing in hot water.   This study aims to answer the question of how heart rate and blood pressure changes during a full body warm whirlpool treatment. The purpose of the study is to observe changes in the heart rate and blood pressure that occur with a warm whirlpool treatment as against the heart rate and blood pressure at rest and hypothesize the reason why certain special populations are advised precautions in the use of warm whirlpool treatments or hot tub baths. The study revolves around the hypothesis that heart rate will increase with warm whirlpool treatment and there will be a decrease in blood pressure.