Tesco and the Analysts
22/10/2014
I teach a lot of executives and they always complain that the City is so focused on the short term – the next quarter’s results, the profit made in the coming year. I usually counter by stating how much of the value of a company is not tied up in its short term performance but in its ability to survive and make normal profits in the long term. If you remove this value from any financial model, most companies look very sick and their share price over valued. So you ignore the longer term at your peril, but so many executives keep forgetting this.
I was really heartened to hear an analyst from HSBC talking about Tesco on Radio 4’s Today Programme this morning. The gist of his comment was that Tesco started to go wrong “6 or 7 years ago when they started to spend more time looking at pleasing the City rather than focusing on the needs of their customers”
Mike Bourne
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
Building more than research: Reflections from the ECRn Symposium 2026
There’s something quietly powerful about a room full of early career researchers. Not just the ideas, although there were plenty of those—but the conversations, the curiosity, and the sense that everyone is figuring things ...
Library services over Easter, 3-6 April
Kings Norton Library will remain open for study 24/7. You will need your University ID card to enter the building and can use the self-service machines to borrow and return items as usual. Barrington Library ...
How do I access the full-text of Harvard Business Review (HBR)?
This is a frequently asked question, and it's worth knowing how to access this key management journal. So, how do you access HBR in full-text? The short answer is via our eJournals finder. You can find ...
Engineering problem to solve? Let Knovel help you find a solution
Did you know that Knovel provides you with more than just eBooks? Knovel is a key database for many engineering, mechanical and materials courses here at Cranfield University, and contains content from an extensive range ...
What happens when female scholars meet influential leaders?
On the 5 March 2026, our British Council Women in STEM Scholars had the privilege of sitting down with two excellent role models of industry and academia: Professor Dame Karen Holford, ...
From MSc to CEO: Igniting a research revolution
For many, a master’s degree is achieving a big milestone. Kilyan Ocampo, Computational Fluid Dynamics alumni shares how studying at Cranfield helped launch his career in the energy sector. Today, Kilyan ...