Your rival has cut the price of milk by 1p a pint. Do you:

A Match his price cut;

B Do nothing, in the belief your customers will remain loyal;

C Cut the price of your milk by 2p

a pint, then phone up your milk supplier and demand a 3% rebate on everything you've paid them in the past five years.



A competitor is bidding for a site within a mile of one of your stores. Do you:

A Go in and make a better offer - even though you'll never actually put anything on the land;

B Do nothing - after all, more competition is a good thing;

C Wait until they've built their store, then buy up the local school playing fields next to it and build an even bigger one.



You hear there will be a protest against a store you are planning to build. Do you:

A Ignore it - it'll blow over;

B Address the protesters directly, and try to win them over;

C Take out an injunction against the protesters and hire actors to stage a demonstration in favour

of the store development.



Unprecedented levels of farmers are going bust - allegedly because of downward price pressures from your company. Do you:

A Point out you are one of British farming's biggest customers;

B Sit down with farmers' leaders and agree a series of immediate price rises to stem the exodus;

C Buy more produce from abroad.



A c-store complains that a voucher promotion at your out-of-town store is threatening to put him out of business. Do you:

A Insist that shoppers are simply exercising their freedom of choice;

B Develop a joint loyalty scheme to encourage his customers to

remain loyal. Guys like him are

the lifeblood of our communities;

C Buy his store.



One of your produce buyers has cancelled a salad contract at the last minute, leaving the grower facing ruin. Do you:

A Say you sympathise, but insist the buyer acted in accordance with the Supermarkets Code of Practice;

B Pay compensation to cover the grower's loss and sack the buyer;

C Give the buyer a pay rise.



A price war you prompted is

spiralling out of control, wiping millions off the value of key

commodity markets. Do you:

A Insist that you are absorbing all of the price cuts yourself - and urge your rivals to do the same;

B Break down and weep, as you ­realise the monster you've become;

C Laugh manically, before choosing the next category in which to wield your price-cutting hatchet.



An environmental report claims your company is responsible for destroying communities. Do you:

A Acknowledge that supermarkets have changed the way we live, but insist it is due to consumer choice;

B Launch a 200-point community action plan and pledge to donate 75% of all future profits to urban and rural regeneration projects;

C Commission your own report, showing that crime and adultery have fallen in towns with more than seven supermarkets.

Topics