Business Process Analysis - Essay Example

Business Process Analysis Introduction Business process is regarded as one of the major determinants for the organisations, which aid them to attain their predetermined targets. Justifiably, founded in the year 1919, Tesco PLC is one of the world’s largest multinational grocery retail chain stores, dealing in specialized grocery items. Owing to its unique and highly mechanized business process, the company has been able to expand its operations in various regions throughout the globe (1Tesco, 2015). With this concern, the essay intends to analyse the business process of Tesco in relation to “Burlton IGOE” and “Slack 4V” model with elaborately discussing about its type and layout. a) Short Text Description of the Process The business procedure of Tesco is fundamentally based on the achievement of the core objectives set by the company that include creation of value for the customers and enhancing their loyalty level at large. Tesco manages its business process with the help of three components namely the ‘Core Activities’, the ‘Virtuous Volume Circle’ and ‘the enablers.’ The ‘Core Activities’ of Tesco’s business process involve the functions of buy, move, sell and insight. The ‘Virtuous Volume Circle’ lays stress upon the simplification of inter-networking modules amid the suppliers and the customers, rather than working collaboratively to ensure sustainable growth. Finally, ‘Enablers’ inculcate conduct of responsible operations via corporate responsibility, offering innovations, creation of a positive brand image, progress of employees and generating greater customer value (4Tesco, 2015). b) Annotated Diagram of the Burlton IGOE Model The following diagrammatical representation illustrates the Burlton IGOE Model for logical understanding: (Source: Long, 2012) The above depicted model can be better analysed with reference to Tesco, which possess similar components that entail ‘inputs’, ‘guides’, ‘outputs’ and ‘enablers.’ The inputs of Tesco in relation to the stated model can be better understood by ascertaining the involvement level of the suppliers with the company while procuring products. The next component of the model is ‘enablers’. As illustrated above, enablers denote the functions of operations, manpower resources, group skills and innovation of products along with services. In this regard, Tesco adheres to this component of the model in the form of employing qualified as well as skilled personnel and also integrating advanced technological systems in its operational functions. The third element of the model is ‘output’, which involves selling products via physical outlets and online stores. Observably, Tesco conducts its business by offering its products to the customers by making them to visit physical stores and also purchasing the same through online (5Tesco, 2015). The final stage of the Burlton IGOE Model i.e. ‘guides’ lays stress upon introducing effective policies and regulations towards conducting business in an efficient manner. In this context, Tesco tries to ensure that proper governance is being followed throughout the organisation with the introduction of several policies and standards associated with health and safety and human resource among others. The company focused upon fulfilling its core objectives by maintaining an ethical code of conduct and evading negative situations such as delay and uncertainty while completing varied tasks (Tesco, 2014). c) Position of the Process Using the Slack 4V Model Nigel Slack, in the year 2004, introduced the concept of ‘Transformational Process Model’, which aims at structuring a business process based upon four dimensions that entail ‘visibility’, ‘variety’, ‘volume’ and ‘variation’ (Slack & et. al., 2010). ‘Volume’ dimension is measured in terms of evaluating the number of customers that a company is able to serve. Tesco has a high volume of customers in comparison with other retail chains, which certainly raises its ability to enlarge customer base throughout the globe wherein it operates (3Tesco, 2015). ‘Variety’ dimension denotes the variety of products and/or services that a company offers to its customers. In relation to Tesco, the variety dimension is considered to be moderate to high because of maintaining standardised service quality. The ‘variation’ dimension indicates the fluctuations observed in demand and supply of the products over a certain period. Justifiably, Tesco has a moderate to low variation, as it specialises in selling daily products that have a little impact upon the demand trends. Major fluctuations can be observed only during festive seasons. In Tesco, ‘visibility’ dimension relates to the visibility of the internal processes by the customers. The front-office environment in this company remains quite visible, whereas, the back office operations are identified to remain opaque (2Tesco, 2015). d) The Process Type and Process Layout The business process type of Tesco mainly represents the combination of both human and system-centric modules. Tesco is gaining constant success owing to its efficient arrangement of both the above stated approaches (Tesco PLC, 2012). The business process layout of Tesco can be better understood from the following pictorial illustration: (Source: Tesco PLC, 2012) Conclusion From the above analysis and discussion, it can be concluded that Tesco, from its very inception, has been able to maintain sustainability and constant growth, owing to its dependency on its business process. The varied components of Slack 4V model & Burlton IGOE Model provide evidences to the fact that Tesco possesses a strong business process, which enhanced its ability to prosper in the international grocery market. References Long, K. A., 2012. What is an IGOE? Business Rules Journal, Vol. 13, No. 1. Slack, N. & et. al., 2010. Operations Management. Prenctice Hall. Tesco PLC, 2012. It’s At the Heart of What We Do. Corporate Responsibility Review, pp. 1-32. Tesco, 2014. Tesco at a Glance. Annual Report and Financial Statements, pp. 1-144. 1Tesco, 2015. Governance. Investors. [Online]. Available at: http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=57 [Accessed February 25, 2015]. 2Tesco, 2015. Our Businesses. About Us. [Online]. Available at: http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=276 [Accessed February 25, 2015]. 3Tesco, 2015. Performance. Tesco and Society. [Online]. Available at: http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=654 [Accessed February 25, 2015]. 4Tesco, 2015. Resources. Tesco and Society. [Online]. Available at: http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=83 [Accessed February 25, 2015]. 5Tesco, 2015. Core Purpose and Values. About us. [Online]. Available at: http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=10 [Accessed February 25, 2015]. Read More