I was wondering at what point this becomes ridiculous and/or anti competitive

A certain business who have HQ at a G1 postcode owns tons of pubs and restaurants in Glasgow where the staff aren’t even aware they work for said company.. Just because folk wouldn’t go there if they knew who owned them.
Can understand why Tesco wouldn’t want folk to know about this as well..

I’m not sure as I see the problem.

Sure, on the face it it’s all ZOMG TESCO IZ SNEEKY, but from reading that article they’re basically just providing capital to smaller businesses like any other shareholders; they (presumably deliberately) have no control over them. Companies have held shares in other companies since time immemorial.

Am I missing something here?

they (presumably deliberately) have no control over them

Are there many 49% shareholders who have no interest in how the company they partly own is run?

Cougar – Member
I’m not sure as I see the problem.

I think the problem is pretty much self evident if you take a walk along any high street in the UK. However, lets get a bit blunt about it. The technical definition of a monopoly in the UK is 25% of any given market. Currently Tesco’s is approx 30% in “theirs”. Obviously they will have high powered lawyers whio will argue that water flows uphill and day follows night and night doesn’t follow day. However, at what point does this or any other company become so vast as for it to be a problem to the nation at large?

Tescos’s2012 Revenue = £64 billion approx of which £42 billion was in the UK.

Tesco are getting in to anything and everything now, including Garden Centres – they own Dobbies.

What do they say, of every £100 spent in the UK £8 is spent with Tesco.

Any different from CRC/Hotline/Kinetic Distrubtion/Nukeproof/Ragley etc etc etc. ?

Any different from CRC/Hotline/Kinetic Distrubtion/Nukeproof/Ragley etc etc etc. ?

I’m pretty sure that those companies annual revenues do not put them into the world nations GDP hierarchy at 68th place. So yep pretty different IMHO.

Tesco also represent 4.1% of the GB’s GDP, again not something that I suspect any cycling related company currently aspires to.

Thank goodness for that – a UK success story.

Never said it wasn’t, just asked at what point it ceases being a success and starts being a problem.

I’m not sure as I see the problem.

It’s marketing by deception.

People obviously prefer to get their coffee from a small independent, rather than putting even more of their cash into mega corporations profits. So the mega corporation is trying to appear like a small independent.

It’s obvious that people will be annoyed when they discover the deception.

I prefer to get my coffee from somewhere that sells good coffee at a decent price. Anything else is just marketing.

I’m going to don the flame-proof bib and say I like Starbucks. Well, the coffee anyway so drinking from the big corporation doesn’t bother me.

It’s an interesting article. I didn’t know a lot of that, the reaction of some people when they find out is daft IMO. A local employer who makes nice coffee is still a local employer who makes nice coffee. Doesn’t matter who owns it. Just my thoughts though.

Good link though OP.

But what if to obtain that lovely coffee there’s a man out the back molesting kittens? Then you’ve got a problem Druid 😐

A certain business who have HQ at a G1 postcode owns tons of pubs and restaurants in Glasgow where the staff aren’t even aware they work for said company.. Just because folk wouldn’t go there if they knew who owned them.

Care to elaborate, Al?

Kitty molestation aside this sort of stuff really interests me. Its a perception thing – “I wear Howies clothing because its really good stuff OMFG they are owned by timberland JESUS CHRIST i am supporting belzebub and I only wore it to be cool.” That sort of stuff. I sold a company 18 months ago, sold out apparently according to some sources (known to me but not very well). I was “in it for the money”, “never believed in it”, “totally sold out”. Which is interesting really as i don’t remember seeing them in 2003 when i sold pretty much everything i had to capaitalise it, paid myself a whopping $n,000 for the year and worked my bum off to get it going. Second year i think i maxed my wages out paying myself $20,000 for that year. WOW. Then year 4 I think it was we needed more capital (were turning over just shy of $nm at that point) as self funding is OK to a point, and I sold 49% of my shareholding to THE DEVIL incarnate. They injected seed to get us to 140 staff and land a couple of big deals plus some much needed back office stuff. Then I sold out completely 2 years ago as I am a capitalist pig. The perecption of my running a ‘small business’ which was backed financially by a multi-billoin global one always amused me. It made not a jot of difference to how i ran it, what decisions I made and how I treated people. The shareholders were certainly different but they wanted returns the same as any rational business person does. It utter bullshine when someone says “I started this business for love” Bolax my friend, day 1 you may have but they day you made a profit I guarantee my left gonad you realised that it could be worth something and adjusted your mindset accordingly. If you truly do it for love it is whats called a charity. Good link though.

Interesting article, particularly the observations about PJ Smoothies/Innocent, and how global corporations acquiring smaller concerns are changing their approach to how they are then continued to be managed.

Wasn’t there a similar situation last year with HP buying a successful UK software house, only to find that without the leadership team, the company didn’t really work? Seems obvious to me 😕 They lost a f***-ton of money on it I think.

I think there’s some similarities with biking here too maybe…. a kind of reverse snobbery whereby something built in a shed out of steel is preferable to a big-brand carbon wonderbike, regardless of performance.

Not saying that Cotics are built in a shed, but if people suddenly found out that Cotic was 49% owned by Specialized, would they lose any fanbois?

Specialized is 49% owned by Merida, yet Specialized still trade on being a home grown US company.

The thing with brands is they are just marketing and their value is all in the public perception of that brand, if that perception is built on a lie then it has foundations of sand.

Coitic as a brand rely on Cy being a British engineer but are very open about the frames being made by a faceless Taiwanese corporation. If Cy sold up and left or was no longer involved in designing the frames then that brand is suddenly worthless as its then built on a lie. It might take a while but people will soon realise they are paying for worthless branding and could get the same product from a different faceless mega corporation for less.

See Trek and the myriad of brands they have bought and closed over the years. Once people realised a Gary Fisher was just a Trek with a different sticker they stopped buying them.

The same will happen to Tesco coffee, once people know its just Tesco coffee then they may as well go to Starbucks or Costa for the same product or get a coffee for half the price at the tesco cafe, they will lose any brand equity attached to being a small independent.

Nobeer- the post code says it all really..
I believe they’re not very popular with residents at the top of Byres road either!

Feel better for that Col? 😆

In my business the adage is that you never have either a customer or a supplier that reprsents more than 10% of your turnover, otherwise they run you. Always found it to be wise, albeit a little on thehigh side if anything.

I think the point being missed above is that Tesco’s is pretty much a monopoly in their market, (i.e. 25% of the market), and therefore under the MMC rules should be being looked at and in all liklihood asked to shed elements of its business. That clearly isn’t happening. Secondly, what chances are there of Government actually being unduly “influenced” by a corporation that as a finacial entity is bigger than the majority of the nations sitting at the UN.

Duckman – 🙂 yes thanks for listening !

not to mention , how many of their staff receive tax credits to top up their wages– that would be an interesting figure- – profits are being subsidised by the tax payer/govt…. but the truth about mega-opolies is that they smother all others, to ensure monopolisation — free market my arse..

a good mate of mine loves tesco– they provide him with batteries, cheese, coffee, and other treats—- all for nowt !!