I will analyse the legal, ethical and operation issues in relation to the use of business…

I will analyse the legal, ethical and operation issues in relation to the use of business information, and by including appropriate examples. Legal, ethical and operational issues all contribute to the overall success or failure of Tesco. The legislations set in place by the government is the law and must be followed otherwise Tesco could fall under many legal problems resulting in the closure of the organisation. The many various acts are there to not only prevent Tesco from performing illegal acts but also to protect them as well, as this ensures that they are not falsely accused and protects Tesco from any other individuals or organisations who have violated any legal areas against Tesco. The ethical issues allow Tesco to remain morally and legally successful if they behave appropriately.

If Tesco follow the codes of practice correctly then they won’t have any problems arising with the ASA and the OFT. If the ASA or the OFT get involved for inappropriate conduct of the codes of practice Tesco could receive heavy fines, this could disrupt Tesco’s profit margin as these fines would be an added expense. The operational issues are yet another issue which contributes to Tesco’s overall success, as these are what relate to how Tesco operates their procedures and policies within the organisation. If all 3 of these areas fail to function according to legislation and government bodies Tesco cannot, and will not be successful. One main example of Tesco not morally and legally operating would be a news paper article which was published earlier in the year stating that Tesco had sold the information, they had collected on their Club Card customers, onto third parties.

This not only goes against the data protection act but also shows Tesco behaving unmorally towards their customers. Obviously the whistle-blowing procedure was used and has been communicated externally, it is unknown whether or not this was within the Tesco employees this happened, and therefore I cannot be certain the whistle-blowing procedure is in place within Tesco policies. I don’t think any fines were issues by the OFT for this allegation, and if they are not mentioned within the article. The practices which I have looked at before, within the Legal, Ethical and Operational Issues, I do believe Tesco has complete intentions of putting them into practice.

Unfortunately a lot of employees and individuals can see that there is a profit to be made out of some of the information Tesco acquires, even though this profit would be obtained illegally they are unlikely to think about the consequences as they are so focused on greed. The Tesco website does state that any information they obtain on customers is for the use it was obtained for and unless the customer has agreed to their information being passed along to others, they will not share any details, apart from within the Tesco organisation. Tesco does train their staff to high standards and they are put through various training before they are allowed to operate any new machinery and systems. If the management of Tesco regularly keep on top of the policies within Tesco they can update, introduce or change any which are not appropriate or are required at various times.

While looking at the Tesco Annual Report I can clearly see that Tesco have a strong customer base and their sales have increased by 8.1% in the past year. This shows that Tesco is growing firmly, and regardless of a few areas which they have failed to comply with legislation, shows that they must be guaranteeing that they have achieved to act in accordance with the ethical and legal issues.