In this assignment I am going to produce a detailed business report on a large size company. So therefore I have chosen Tesco, the report on Tesco will fulfil all the criteria needed for the completion of my ‘unit 1’ business at work. History of Tesco: Jack Cohen, the founder of Tesco, began in 1919 as a street trader with a market stall. His first stock was ex-army foodstuff, which was no longer, needed, bought for less than i?? 3 – it included Lyle’s Golden Syrup and Nestli?? ‘s condensed milk.

With self-confidence, a persuasive manner, good humour and a fairly loud voice he sold it in a day for i?? 4. The first principle of Tesco approach was born: ‘fast turnover generated by low prices and requiring an expanding supply of items’. He quickly established himself as a natural salesman. Within a few months he was already asking his friends and family for extra help and had exchanged the original wheelbarrow for a horse and cart. In 1924 he married and the first partnership began.

His first branded product was tea bought from a company called Torring and Stockwell. Tesco comes from the initial of Mr T E Stockwell and the first two letters of Cohen. For the first ten years no proper financial records were kept until he took on a bookkeeper. In 1930 he formed his first business partnership and opened the first retail outlet with Sam Freeman. With the entrepreneurial skill and enthusiasm of jack Cohen the business grew rapidly. In 1932 a private limited company, Tesco store, was registered, it was already selling the Tesco own brand.

In 1947 it became a public limited company. Most organisation start has a sole trader like Tesco, although few are successful as Tesco. In Sole trader the owner/entrepreneur (investing their own money and taking all the risk) has to carry out all the functions of the business. For Jack Cohen this meant purchasing in bulk and reselling quickly. If the sole trader employs other people (usually friends and family) the structure is likely to be a simple hierarchy with the sole trader being responsible for them.

The successful culture in this situation is likely to be informal. To grow, the business will need extra capital. It could borrow funds or take on partners or private shareholders and set up a private limited company. With Tesco this process took nearly 13 years. Public limited company: few businesses reach this stage of development. The business will need to be large and successful with continued prospects for growth and be capable of generating sufficient profits to satisfy the demands of its shareholders if it is to become a public limited company.

In contrast to Tesco, which took nearly 28 years to reach this stage, Internet and e-commerce businesses have ‘gone public’, i. e. become a public limited company, within a few years of starting up, mainly to cash in on the dramatic rise in share prices. In 1990’s Tesco expanded all over the world, at this point the business turned into a public limited company (PLC). This is possible because Tesco offers shares to the general public. A minimum of i?? 50 000 in share capital is required before a company can go public. There are also advantages and disadvantages of public limited companies.