"Capitol" wrote in message
...


Doctor Evil wrote:

The man who took them from near
disappearing in the 1980s with a cheap
image, was a Mr Lehey (sp), who was
European businessman of the year a
few years ago, who is an Everton fan
and that is why the Tesco bags are blue
and white. He was brought up on a council
estate in Liverpool, which many attribute to
his understanding a greater range of people
than the typical blinkered upper middle class
management type.

Please do a little more homework. Tesco
became successful because Jack
Cohen was brave enough to take on a
privately schooled university
educated Scot called MacLaurin.

Leahy was educated at St Edwards College (not a snot school), Liverpool
before studying at the University of Manchester (UMIST).

He then made him work his way through
the business for a few years, before living
dangerously and telling him
to run it and make the decisions. MacLaurin
grew Tesco into a major and
forward looking chain with excellent IT facilities.
He trained Leahy and then moved on to
Chairman (now retired) with Leahy as Managing director.

Not quite. MacLaurin took it from near extinction in the early 1980s to
being in a position it might compete with Sainsbury's, etc. Quality at
Tesco was always suspect to the others. It was a shop I always avoided and
looked like it was to go under any minute. Leahy took it to the mega-giant
it is now. £1 in every 10 spent on retail in the UK is in Tesco. They also
have a large European section too, even in the likes of Poland. Leahy did
that. That is why he was voted European Businessman of the year a few years
back. He took it to a point were they are out of sight to the rest in
quality, relative price and market share.

Morrisons have cocked up? Please. they
are one of the biggest. and bought
out Safeway.

Selling Morrisons shares was a no
brainer decision when they took over
Safeway on borrowed money. They had
no IT facility worth a light and their shops
offerings were not attractive to the southern
preferences.

What do southerners prefer that the rest of country do not? Jellied eels? I
have never noticed myself.

When you merge two businesses
and quarter the profits, you are
incompetent.

Their strategy is medium to long term. Merging two supermarket chains is not
that easy and will not return big licks next week. The Money programme had a
full spot on them.

BTW, Tesco have also expanded via acquisition. They bought up a number of
smaller, small shop chains to make Tesco Express. The Tesco Express in
Maida Vale takes in more than any Tesco shop per qu foot.