The Manufacturing Leadership Council, a global business network for senior industrial executives, has elected Dana S. Deasy, group CIO and group VP of information technology and services at BP, to the board of governors.

A survey by open-cloud company Rackspace Hosting of 1,300 U.S. and U.K. companies revealed that retail in both countries has benefited from cloud computing via IT cost reductions, increased profits, improved disaster recovery and business agility, as well as strengthened out-of-office employee performance.

Unilever United States and Canada has achieved 100% zero waste to landfill in all 26 of its manufacturing and non-manufacturing headquarter facilities. Other countries in which Unilever has achieved this milestone include the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Japan.

U.K.-based Tesco has lost up to $2 billion in its failed Fresh & Easy California venture, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times — Tesco had placed the troubled grocer on the sales bloc in December following the departure of Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason.

Same day delivery firm Shutl will begin offering its service next month in New York, San Francisco and Chicago.

U.K. department store chain, John Lewis, has named Mak Lewis as online director, effective March 4. He will join the John Lewis management board (JLMB), reporting to managing director Andy Street.

Leading U.K. retailer J. Sainsbury named Jean Tomlin to its board as a non-executive director, effective January 1, 2013.

Tesco and Walmart’s Asda division are intense competitors in the U.K. and that was supposed to be the case in the U.S. when Tesco arrived in 2007 with its Fresh & Easy format.

Tesco arrived in the U.S. in 2007 amid great fanfare with its first Fresh & Easy stores. Now, just five years later, the 30 year Tesco veteran in charge of the 200 unit operation is gone and the company is looking to unload the stores.

U.K. retailer John Lewis has become the first company outside of the United States to partner with Barnes & Noble for the sale of Nook devices.

U.K. retailing giant Tesco PLC could give up its American supermarket venture, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, if the chain continues to disappoint and not make a profit, according to various news reports.