There are many things Tesco’s can do to improve their operations ethically, which I am going to explain below how.

Tesco’s can differ the way they operate, by becoming greener They should show more keen interest and be environmentally conscious by having green policies, less packaging, recyclable bins for the public to use and charge for bags; encourage people to reuse their bags. Moreover all their stores should have sustainable environmental technology such as solar panels, to reduce the amount of electricity used (saving energy), which will reduce their carbon footprint too. Likewise they can join originations like “Friends of the Earth, Environmentalism and Green Peace” etc.

This is a social problem because it encourages people to eat ‘fast food’ type products such as pasties, sausage rolls, pre-packaged sandwiches and microwavable take-away items such as burgers & hot dogs etc, which all have high percentages of saturated fats, sugars and salts. These ‘fast foods’ are eaten because of their convenience and due to time shortages from working longer hours these food are the easy option. This implicates less healthy diets and obesity in the UK population. However, I do believe that Tesco could improve upon this by ensuring that they introduce healthier foods which may encourage customers to purchase the healthier option which is the same price as the fast food and some supermarkets tend to have healthier and organic foods more expensive than the fast foods,which can then reduce the amount of customers that purchase fast food as well as it may reduce obesity and health related issues that may occur due to a poor diet.However,Tesco’s have and still currently sell these items but to combat this problem in 2000 Tesco launched their ‘Healthy Living’ brand of foods which are lower in fat, no added sugar and low in sodium, and in 2004 launched their ‘Healthy Living Club’, which has over 350, 000 members and offer over 500 ‘Healthy Living’ Products. The club offers customers information on diets, weight loss and other health issues. To re-enforce this, Tesco’s policy on healthy living states “We aim to be a retailer that customers trust to meet all their healthy living needs. We believe in healthy living for all, ensuring that a healthy lifestyle is accessible, affordable, and appeals to our customers.” (Tesco 2004)
Tesco can improve upon ensuring that their foods are healthy as

Social trends are another issue in today’s society and supermarket customers. They encourage people to follow these trends in a number of areas. More recently there has a great demand for strictly organic food products in Tesco’s and other supermarkets, because there are growing concerns about genetically modified foods. Genetically modified foods impact on the environment as well as customer health, when transporting genetically modified products it creates high carbon emissions and the effects ecosystems. However, I believe that Tesco cam improve upon this issue by removing gm foods from their supermarkets as genetically modified food harm other organisms as genes and their effect included in a crop may turn out to be poisonous to insects and humans as well as genetically modified foods disrupts the food web in the ecosystem which can have a negative impact on pollinating insects such as bees and butterflies. However, to meet this social trend and demand of the customers and solve the problem, Tesco’s have researched into this and formed a policy on genetic modification to combat these concerns and follow these trends, “Tesco has removed GM ingredients from all own brand food products. We also have an extensive range of over 1200 Organic products and are the leading UK supermarket for Organic food.” (Tesco 2005)

The difference in cultural taste and preferences of customers in supermarkets today is another ethical problem, this is due to the expansion of multi-cultural societies in the UK today, it has become necessary to provide different selections of foods, and an example of this would be the increase of British supermarkets now supplying Halal meat for cultures like Muslims. The growth of multi-cultural societies creates an issue because a high percentage of the customers will be from a different culture than British. To improve upon this I believe that Tesco can not only ensure that their foods are Halal but also as well as ensuring that they have Kosher foods at their supermarket for their Muslim and Jewish customers as the UK is a multicultural country and would therefore have residents who may need special food requirements and this would ensure that these requirements are met ensuring that customers equal.However, Tesco’s have adapted to this by offering a wide selection of food ranges from different cultures such as, Indian, Chinese, Spanish and Halal meats. Tesco’s have a policy on the variety of different cultural foods to meet demands and the personal tastes and preferences of customers, “We at Tesco are committed to satisfaction of the customer’s demands and that we offer a wide range of multi-cultural products to the customers tastes”

Low unemployment in UK can cause companies to employ out of the country, but this can also cause a big ethical issue within the workplace in the form of language barriers of the different cultures. Recently in a newspaper article Tesco’s had announced that they would be employing people from Poland. By employing these Polish people it would create a language barrier between both customers and employees, this effecting the performance and efficiency of the employees. Tesco’s have a policy on diversity,
“We are committed to ensuring that at all times and in every aspect of employment, including recruitment, training and development, everybody receives the same treatment. Both internal and external applicants are considered on individual ability, regardless of factors such as gender, age, colour, creed, race, ethnic origin, disability, marital status, religion or belief, trade union membership or sexual preference and orientation.” (Tesco 2010)
This policy shows that all different types of people are welcome at Tesco’s and that they are treated equally, but this policy could be adapted in a way to provide a form of a language school teaching International employees English. This would break language barriers and improve the performance and efficiency of employees.
Waste packaging from supermarkets creates an environmental issue that turns into an ethical, this is because Tesco’s are opening more and more stores across the country but this also means that the packaging waste from the products rises also. This can be seen to be acting in an unethical manner in the customer’s and the community’s eyes for the well being off the environment. Tesco’s have formed a variety of policies to tackle these issues by introducing bio-degradable packaging, re-cycling schemes .
Tesco’s ‘Green Tray Scheme’ policy will show that Tesco’s are acting in an ethical way to overcome previous problems of increasing waste packaging. The way that farming supplies are supplied to supermarkets can cause ethical issues. If the standards of the farm in which the product is supplied from, are not abiding by common laws of animal cruelty and hygiene factors, it can be seen for the company who uses them for supplies are unethical in their method of supplies. A main supplier of Tesco’s, Bowes Group, which supply all of Tesco’s, pork bacon and other meats, was video taped inside their Cherry Tree Farm in Attlesborough. It was found that the animals were suffering in cages that were too small for them and animals sharing pens with rotten maggot infested corpses. This will show that Tesco are acting unethically regarding were they gain their farming supplies from and give a bad impression to the public, which could then result in sale losses. Tesco can improve upon this by ensuring that they monitor the places where their animals are kept as not only to ensure the safety of the animals but also to ensure the health of customers at Tesco as if the animals are in unhygienic conditions then they most likely would develop an infection that may affect human health when they eaten Tesco now have a policy to ensure that this will not be repeated, in the policy it states, “The code sets demanding but achievable standards of production, incorporating the requirement to the farm being in an environmentally friendly state” it was also said by Tesco’s that “With these policies in place that will provide a solution to this issue.

This essay has shown how different social. Cultural and ethical issues have affected Tesco’s operation. It has shown how Tesco’s has adopted its ‘Healthy Living’, ‘Genetically Modified’, ‘Product Variety’, ‘Diversity’, ‘Reducing packaging waste’ and ‘Supply Chain’ policies to provide solutions for the social attitudes of customers, the social trends of customers, the cultural tastes and preferences, low unemployment, waste packaging and farming supplies issues and has suggested possible solutions for the problems Tesco’s still face.