Silence is Golden for the Tesco Nuns

Its not often that students can combine religious studies with business studies all in one case study. But here is a cracker for illustrating the stakeholder conflicts that can arise from business growth.

In a nutshell, the story is this. Nuns at Whitby’s Order of the Holy Paraclete have agreed to sell off a parcel of land to enable Tesco to build a new supermarket in the North Yorkshire coastal town. Whitby doesn’t currently have a supermarket operated by one of the Big Four. Local residents rely on convenience stores and independent retailers - who as you might imagine are less than happy about the arrival of the global retail giant.

There is a useful related article here where TV retail guru Mary Portas argues the case against the “relentless” rise and domination of the large grocery chains.