The Making of Tesco: A Story of British Shopping - Hardcover

Ryle, Sarah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593070445 ISBN 13: 9780593070444

Publisher: Bantam Press, 2013

Synopsis

From one man’s Hackney market stall to a company serving fifty million customers in thirteen countries every week, this is the extraordinary story of one of Britain’s most remarkable companies. Told by those who themselves feature in it – Tesco’s own employees – it relates a fascinating social history as well as an epic business venture.

Drawn from hundreds of hours of interviews with Tesco staff, collected by National Life Stories at the British Library, these personal accounts from across the decades are frank, insightful, sometimes funny and, above all, very human.

How, then, did Tesco grow from Jack Cohen’s barrow in Hackney to the hypermarkets in Hungary and Thailand and a home-delivery service to customers from Cheshire to the Czech Republic? Why and how did Tesco survive and (mostly) thrive where other British companies stalled? And what impact has Tesco’s success had on its employees and consumers? Here is Tesco’s authentic story, carefully researched and engagingly written by Sarah Ryle, told for the first time by the people at the very heart of the business.

About this title

Book Description

The story of one of Britain's most successful companies, told by the people at its heart.

From the Back Cover

‘For ninety-three years, Tesco has been serving customers in this country. In the life of the company, we are all only here for a short while. But in our time together, we can touch the lives of millions of people and make as big a contribution as any politician or government. It's an incredibly precious responsibility that we hold.’ Philip Clarke, chief executive, October 2012

‘When you get to be as big and as successful as Tesco has become, people put a sort of sheen on the journey – as if the place we got to was inevitable. But it really wasn’t. I think it’s important that Tesco’s story is told honestly because there were moments when we could just as easily have gone the other way. That we didn’t came as a big surprise to plenty of people who predicted that others would be the winners in what is still one of the most competitive markets in the world.’
Sir Terry Leahy, former chief executive, February 2011

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0593070445
• ISBN 13: 9780593070444
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384