Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31648 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 372 pages

Review
"'Creative and compelling' The Guardian 'This book should be essential reading' Robert Watson, Head of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 'A compelling argument...find out you really owes what to whom' Tony Juniper, Friends of the Earth."

John Bird, founder of the Big Issue and local-shop loyalty scheme the Wedge Card
`Simms shows the creeping, invading unsustainable world of the
supershop, its tentacles strangling the life out of our communities. Read
it.'

Alain de Botton
`What should be done about Tesco? Many critics want the place
banned and hemmed in by regulation ... But ultimately the real trick is not
to ban such places, but to create different desires in consumers, to reach
a situation where people are sufficiently sensitised to the drawbacks of
Tesco or Macdonald's that they won't want to shop there.'

Customer Reviews

Tesco's corrosive effects on culture, society and the planet.
With a well crafted argument, supported by many references and illustrations, Andrew Simms explains that the supermarkets - and in the UK especially Tesco - are now a corrosive feature within our society. He tells of how their actions undermine our food culture and wider aspects of culture and society, how they destroy local and regional economies, and how they are endangering the environment and the planet in their quest for continuous growth in sales. He explains how the supermarkets and particularly Tesco have been able to achieve their frightening level of power within our society and, consequently, how our individual freedoms as consumers and citizens are being erroded. He also explains how Tesco (and others) have been able to get what they want for business growth by manipulating planning laws, bullying local councils, threatening farmers and suppliers, and eliminating competitors - the independent food stores - through unfair and anti-competitive practices. Amazingly, this has occurred with the full support of the Government. Essentially, Tescopoly tells of of the failure of the market economy and of how the supermarkets are being allowed to achieve monopoly status in the UK food marketplace and in many other countries.

Tescopoly is essential reading for students of marketing, business, management and retail management, and anyone with an interest in the workings of the food marketplace and the oppressive and destructive power of big business.

Couldn't finish it...
Before I begin, i must stress that i only managed to read the first 3 chapters. So this isn't so much of a review, more of a quick overview of why i couldn't finish it which might have an impact on certain potential readers.

As a Computer Scientist, i am well aware of good practice when it comes to experiments. One of the main rules is limit the bias, else many of your peers will not take your results as seriously as you might like. This is exactly what i didnt like with this book. Simms hates Tescos, and it shows.

One such niggly example is how he points out that the staff in the Tescos he visits for the purpose of his research arent as happy or bubbly as they are in the ads. I've worked in food retail, it's boring, don't hold that against them! Another example is how he claims he was "treated as a criminal" when his wife was asked not to push their child in a trolley at fast pace down an aisle (while he was researching i imagine) but in all honestly, if an accident occured then Tesco would be liable, so who can blame them?! The first chapters are riddled with examples which show his contempt for Tescos which for me, destroy his credabilty for providing a fair look at the situation, which in my opinion this book should be. If Tesco produced a highly biased overview of the main topics that surround them then i'm sure Simms would pick it to pieces, so asking for neutrality is only fair.

Sorry, this book just isn't for me. If however you don't like big multi-national corporations and want something to further your interest or provide interesting quotes or figures from the people involved then go for it. Simms at least does provide reference in his notes which is a plus.

Clumsy And Muddled
Not a particularly good book, and definetly not worth buying.

Simms offers very little insight into Tesco itself and instead gives a lot of very generalized sermons about why big business is bad and how we can save the planet by doing X,Y and Z better.

While I agree with his general message (encourage the small trader, level the playing field in business, use less resources in growing and transporting food, stop global warming, etc etc) it lacks clarity and the book comes across as clumsy and muddled.

If you are looking for the next earth-shattering expose of big business in the vein of Fast Food Nation etc then you will be sorely disappointed.