Unit 34 (P3, M1): Physical and Technological Resources

Physical Resources

Describe the main physical and technological resources required in the operation of a selected organisation (P3)

Buildings and Facilities

At Tesco, there are approximately 3,378 stores across the UK. The main reason why people shop at different shops is because certain shops are closer to them in their local area than others. So, having a lot of stores spreading across the UK gives diversity and variety and the most important to Tesco, customers. Tesco are able to gain customers as the people who shop at Tesco than any other store is because it is closer to them. This means that having buildings enable new customers who may not want to shop online.

Equipment Including ICT

In the offices they would need a phone, computer, chair, desk, file/storage and other equipment. This would mean that they would be able to manage all of the things that they do and record everything that they need. This would mean that the physical resources would need to insure that the job gets done effectively. Without these physical resources in the office there would be nothing to use to get the job done and organise the company effectively.

Planned Maintenance and Refurbishment

Tesco is planning to provide the best experience for their customers and they claim that they are making a big programme of store refurbishment. This means that customers will be satisfied when they walk into a clean environment.

Emergency Provision

Tesco explains that they want to tackle three important issues in 2015 which are: food waste, improving health and youth unemployment.

Tesco has developed and improved the way they process their frequently purchased products. These now show where most food waste occurs in the value chain. Tesco can then identify these hotspots and focus their action plans to reduce food waste where they can make big differences.

In improving health, Tesco’s new Healthy Little Differences Tracker will map the health profile of their customers’ shopping trips over time. Tesco has carried out extensive research with young people to find out their ambitions, the challenges they face and the support that they need.

Insurance

Tesco would have to have legal aspects such as insurance; this would mean that they would be able to protect their buildings. If they do not have insurance then they would not be protected and any damage that is caused to the building, then Tesco would have to pay to repair them. The insurance would also cover the people who work at Tesco’s as well. This would protect them if they had an accident. Therefore Tesco would have to have the legal aspects to insure that everything is protected.

Security

They would also need some form of security system in place such as fire/burglar alarms or detectors that can identify non-purchased products. This would reduce the amount of people that shoplift as appose to buying the product. Without security, Tesco would not be able to insure that products will not get stolen which Tesco could lose a considerable amount of money. Tesco would also need to have fire alarms to protect the people who are currently in the building and make them aware that there are hazardous areas so that they can leave immediately with near to no injuries. This would mean that Tesco would have to insure that there are alarms to protect the resources and the people who go there.

Without the physical resources at Tesco they would not be able to get the job done. This would mean that Tesco would not be effective and they would not have a base for the business activities. Therefore they would need these physical resources to get the job done effectively.

Technological Resources

One technological resource that Tesco would need is a domain name which in this case is Tesco.com. Fortunately, Tesco already has a domain name registered. However, if they were a starting company or a company that was interested in going online, then they would need to secure a domain name. This would mean that they would have to insure that there is no other site that has the same potential name as them and they would have to pay for the domain name, so that they can have the name for their business.