Today (7th of January) you can buy a share of Safeway for £2.08. According to the Times Top 200 Companies it is the 80th in the biggest company in the UK with a market capacity of – 2,914 million pounds.
I am going to produce a case study which looks at how this company works and I have accessed their website which is www.safeway.com, contacted safe way and looked at materials published by them and by the top 100 companies index.
Section 1
Safeway buys in bulk stock from farmers and manufactures or processes it and then sell the goods to the public.
Safeway’s stated aim is “to be the best at fresh food – offering outstanding fresh foods of consistently high quality, sold in a stimulating and different way”. They also aim to be best at availability, so customers can always find the products they want on the shelves.
Safeway’s objectives are stated as
-
“Focus on product and price - Safeway will be recognised for offering great value and above all, great offers.
-
Best at fresh – Safeway offer outstanding fresh foods of consistently high quality, sold in a stimulating and different way. The stores will have better lighting, improved layouts, wider assortment, and a real sense of abundance in merchandising as well as more colours.
-
Best at availability – Safeway will be first for availability at all times. Our goal is that our customers will always find the product they want to buy on our shelves whenever they want it.
4. Best at customer service – Safeway will offer the best all-round customer care in the sector. They have invested in increased store staffing and better training.”
Safeway’s mission statement is to “sell food product at low prices.”
I think that despite what Safeway says, its main aims are to make a profit, and get a bigger market share. I don’t know if they have an environmental policy on foods, but they do not on packaging.
The board of directors are in charge of writing the aims of the business. They can decide to change the aims at their meetings. They will change the aims if targets have not been met, the company has already met its aim and need new ones; competitors are affecting the business or the government is changing the law. One of the main reasons that they check the business so that it runs well. The objectives change according to the competition they have from other companies like Tesco and ASDA, for prices, number of goods side etc.
Here is a table, which shows its activities: -
