Business Environment - Essay Example

Comparison between Waitrose Ltd., & Albam Contents Introduction 3 Development 3 Conclusion 4 References 5 Introduction The assignment is based on comparison of business ownership between two firms that are Waitrose Ltd, a British supermarket chain and Albam, a small British food retailer. The Waitrose is a food retail chain and is a division of John Lewis Partnership which is the biggest employee owned British retailer. Development Waitrose is a subsidiary firm of a renowned supermarket chain of United Kingdom.

The business ownership model of this organization is based on the concept that there is a parent company which controls all the operation of this organization. It has got its branches across United Kingdom and deals with food products in all its supermarket outlets. The firm has developed its brand through the high quality food and service that it offers to all its customers. The firm has been able to capture a desirable percentage of market shares in terms of food market and on the other hand Waitrose has also gained its importance in the organic food market and fish market.

This British supermarket chain which is partnership firm has an employee base of 91,000 (Randall and Seth, 2011).The organization operates on the concept of centralized decision making. Albam a small high street retailer was founded by Alastair Rae and James Shaw who have proved to be great partners through their decision making approach and strategy formulation. Both of them worked together with all its workers so as to deliver the best services to all its customers and position themselves as a strong brand in the market (Pride, Hughes and Kapoor, 2011).

The retail business of Albam is focused towards developing sophisticated and practical menswear that is aligned with the ever changing fashion scenario. The small retailer has extended its branches into two other locations in London. The business ownership structure of this small retail firm is that the owners and staff aim at providing personal service to all its customers. The staffs get feedback from the customers and on that basis they develop their designs so that they are able to retain their customers and create more of timeless fashion (Menipaz and Menipaz, 2011).

Thus it can be stated that ownership structure of Waitrose which is a big firm, is completely different with that of a small firm such as Albam. In case of Albam the focus towards customer loyalty and dealing individually with customers but on the other hand the owners of Waitrose are more aligned towards smooth running of the subsidiary by enhancing their level of service through providing online facilities to all its customers (Heskett, Sasser and Wheeler, 2013).Waitrose does invest a lump sum amount on advertising and other promotional techniques so that it can maintain its brand position and on the other hand the Albam considers its customers to be their true brand ambassadors who can trigger the growth of this small retail chain.

Conclusion The two retail chains are very different in terms of operations and ownership structure. While Waitrose is a subsidiary and has a separate parent company on the other hand Albam is a partnership firm that operates on a small scale and works together with its customers to deliver superior quality products and service. References Heskett, J.L., Sasser, W. E., and Wheeler, J. 2013. The Ownership Quotient: Putting the Service Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage. USA: Harvard Business Press.

Menipaz, E., and Menipaz, A. 2011. International Business: Theory and Practice. UK: SAGE. Pride, W., Hughes, R., and Kapoor, J. 2011. Business. USA: Cengage Learning. Randall, G., and Seth, A. 2011. The Grocers: The Rise and Rise of Supermarket Chains. UK: Kogan Page Publishers.