Context of Business: SWOT and PESTEL Analysis of Marks and Spencer

The report analyses the working environment of Marks and Spencer by performing SWOT and PESTEL analysis. It critically analyses the strengths and weaknesses impacting the opportunities and threats from environmental factors due to Covid-19. It recommends a suitable leadership style and comments on the company's CSR activities.

Context of Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
Perform a SWOT and PESTEL analysis for chosen business....................................................3
Critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses you identified in task 1 impacting the
opportunities and threats from the environmental factors as direct result of Covid-19. ............6
3. Recommend a suitable leadership style that will suit the company of your choice Justify
your choice using appropriate literature and examples...............................................................7
4. Critically comment on their Corporate Social Responsibilities activities .............................8
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................9
REFERNCES:................................................................................................................................10
Books and Journals:..................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
The report aims to analyse the working environment of company. A business is
functioning into wide market and among large number of customer. There is requirement of
strategies and effective functioning which is required to eliminate negative impact from the
organisation. The internal and external market forces impact on the working activities of firm
which creates uncertainties and challenges. One of the most regulated problems which are faced
by today's business is Covid-19. It has influence the whole economy which declines sales and
growth opportunities. Therefore, this report is going to discuss its impact on Marks and Spencer.
The company was founded in 1884 in London, United Kingdom (Linnenluecke, 2022). The
company is selling varieties of clothing, footwear, accessories and beauty essential across many
pats of the world. It has created a reputed brand name into fashion industry. The report is going
to analyse companionway's potential through applying Swot and Pestle analysis. Also, it will be
critically discuss about how the strength and weak factors could impact on opportunities and
threats. Leadership style will also be justify as per the company's requirement.
MAIN BODY
TASK
Perform a SWOT and PESTEL analysis for chosen business.
SWOT analysis refers to the framework which identifies the organisation's competitive
position. It helps in assessment of external and internal factors which affect the operations of
business (Kane and et.al., 2019). This analysis is based on fact based and realistic data which
help organisation in evaluating their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Marks and
Spencer uses this tool to assess their current position. Future potentials are evaluated by the
managers with the help of SWOT analysis which help them in growth and development. SWOT
analysis of Marks and Spencer is mentioned below:
Strength Weaknesses
Marks and Spencer is highest leading retail
organisation in United Kingdom. They
have various partners across the world
which results in higher profitability. They
Some people have perception that Marks and
Spencer serves the need of young age
customers by offering clothes only for
them (Fox, Davis and Baucus, 2020). But

are well experienced and captured largest
market area which is the strength of Marks
and Spencer.
Marks and Spencer offers variety of products
which attracts large customer base. They
set prices which justify the quality of
product which helps in maximization of
sales.
it is a wrong perception because they offer
clothes for each and every age group.
Due to the high manual operations, company
have to bear more expenses and also it
consumes more time. Marks and Spencer
should use advanced technology which
saves time and cost.
Threats Opportunities
 There are various competitors who are
selling same products which Marks and
Spencer is selling (Mehta,
2020Hutchins, 2019). Those
competitors are ASDA, Amazon,
Sainsbury and Sports Direct.
 Marks and Spencer is using same
strategies from last many years. To
cope up with competition they have to
formulate new strategies which are
more effective. They also do not use up
graded technology which slower down
their production process.
 It is a international brand which is
expanding their operations in different
parts. They have set up their new stores
in Brazil, India, Indonesia and Russia
which helps them in acquiring more
customers.
 Along with the physical stores, they
have also started business on online
platform. They offer opportunity for
online shopping through their websites.
This creates more ease and flexibility in
shopping.
PESTLE analysis
This refers to a tool which analyse the external factors of business environment. It helps
in formulating strategic plans and various strategies to overcome the risk factors. Marks and
Spencer use PESTLE analysis which is as follows:
 Political factors: Government policies affect business operations which are tax policies,
trade restrictions, tariffs and bureaucracy. Headquarter of marks and Spencer is located in
UK which is positive factor for them because political environment of UK is quite stable

(Farrukh and et.al., 2019). This helps them in smooth operations and higher revenue
generation. Managers formulate business plans according to the requirements of the
political environment which is suitable for Marks and Spencer. Legitimate interests are
maintained by them as they follow all the rules and regulations which are necessary to
run a business on international level.
 Economic factors: Various aspects of economy may impact the businesses. Factors such
as interest rate, inflation rate, economic growth rate and unemployment rate are included
in economic factors. Economic growth of UK is very good and its economy is also largest
among all the countries in world. Marks and Spencer earn profits because per capita
income is also very high in UK. Marks and Spencer offer quality products to their
customers which satisfy their needs and wants. Government of UK possess very strong
financial position and their inflation rate is also very low.
 Social factors: Factors which includes career attitudes, population growth rate, age
distribution, cultural aspects and perceptions are termed as social factors (Ngibe and
Lekhanya, 2019). Social environment of UK changes on regular basis which should be
evaluated by companies. Marks and Spencer study the market and involve survey in their
operations which help them to cater the needs of customers. They involve different
varieties in their products which attract more people from the society.
 Technological factors: Technological environmental factors affect the operations of
companies as it help in production of goods and products. Research and development,
technological incentives, automation and changes in technology are considered as
technological factors. Marks and Spencer uses up graded technology to manufacture their
products which attract large number of customers. It helps in reducing manual efforts and
reduces excessive cost.
 Legal factors: Legal forces which plays important role in business environment should
be evaluated by business organisations (Mendenhall and et.al., 2020). Labour laws,
intellectual property, industry regulations, permits and licences are categorized as legal
factors. UK establishes favourable legal policies which help Marks and Spencer in
smooth operation. They always update their policies which met the needs of legal
environment.

 Environmental factors: businesses are impacted by various environmental factors such
as weather condition, temperature, climate change, pollution and natural disaster. To
minimize the environmental risks, Marks and Spencer invented their green policy which
reduces the negative impact of production on environment (Moccia, Zhao and Flanagan,
2019). They focus on the well being of planet and eliminate the use of plastic in their
stores. Various sustainable practices are adopted by Marks and Spencer so that they
reduce global warming and create green environment.
SWOT analysis and PESTLE analyses help Marks and Spencer in identification of their
external and internal environmental factors which hamper the day to day operations. Various
strategies are formulated by the managers so that they can control the risk factors and grab future
opportunities effectively. This helps Marks and Spencer in effective operation which results in
higher profitability. With the help of these analysis they can increase their sale by offering high
quality products in affordable prices. Various excessive costs can be cut down which improves
the efficiency and performance of the employees. To acquire the large market area it is necessary
to evaluate these factors which impact the working of Marks and Spencer. Higher abilities and
improved working conditions helps them in becoming successful.
Critically analyse the strengths and weaknesses you identified in task 1 impacting the
opportunities and threats from the environmental factors as direct result of Covid-19.
In the current surroundings of business, Covid-19 and Brexit has been the most impacting
elements for the whole market. The business is suffering from the decline and reduction in the
sales and growth. At this time of pandemic, many business have shut down or get bankrupt due
to loss of customer and buying power. This caused crises and failure for the economy that
impacted on the working of companies. From the analysis of swot and pestle analysis, it has
analysed that Marks and Spencer has strength of capturing large market area (Mustafina, 2019).
Due to having global partners, the company could make collaboration and take support from
others. Also, the M&S has varieties of product which is enough to fulfil needs and demands of
customers. They set affordable prices as per the product quality which can be used by every
customer. These strength has shown that the company has potential to grow in market by using
right technology for right context.
The Marks and Spencer has a lot of weak factors as well. The company is suffering from
various negative consequences into market that have much impact on the profitability and

productivity of the company. It has identified that, people have created this rumour that the
company does not sell clothes for every group. These perception has caused negative impact on
the companies functioning due to which the Marks and Spencer could not able to get rid of
market uncertainties. In addition to this, the company has suffering with high additional cost of
production and other expenses. This impact on their pricing policy and consumer needs to get
product at high price. Therefore, these weak factors hiders their growth and potential and rise
competitiveness into market. This shows that, Marks and Spencer is required to make
appropriate changes in manufacturing process and creates cost development policy to minimise
waste, use effective methods and many more. The cost and customer perception are both
essential for the company to create an effective image into market.
The opportunities involve in context of Marks and Spencer is to have potential of going
into different market. They could grab opportunities and benefits into other emerging countries
which will expand their reach and profitability (Dhir,2020). Due to having good collaborative
relation and wide range of products, they can enter into new markets like India, Brazil and
Indonesia. These opportunities might creates challenges for the company due to the Covid-19
restriction. Government has put a lot of barriers to enter in new countries which require a lot of
policies and trade barriers. The pandemic has caused a lot influence on the economy as people
have reduced their buying potential and rising inflation. These changes drastically impact on the
workplace motivation and functioning of the firm. Also, the Brexit is also being a threat for the
marks and Spencer. The company could not trade in the European market due to high trade and
tax policies. So that, it is required to take care of unnecessary restriction and get a free market to
trade.
3. Recommend a suitable leadership style that will suit the company of your choice Justify your
choice using appropriate literature and examples.
Leadership and management are both an effective practices in the organisation. Without
proper management, no organisation could get success which may impact on its functioning.
This will result in creating workplace conflicts, poor relations, ineffective performance and many
more. Therefore, managers use leadership styles which helps in maintaining good environment,
support employees and make them influence to work dedicatedly. There are some leadership
style that could choose by Marks and Spencer which are described below:

Autocratic style: this style of leadership influence on the working potential of the
individual in the organisation. The leaders provide clear direction, objectives and guidance to
achieve goals. They put full control over the performance and expect the desired result. These
kinds of leaders dopes not give right to the employees to take free decisions which make less
creative environment (Yusoff, Omar, and Zaman, M.D.K., 2019). This shows that, these leaders
perform and optimistic role in order to get the work done right. The marks and Spencer could
follow this style but it will lose their creativity to think about new changes in products and
features as per market trend.
Participative: As per this style, the leaders works among the employees by making a
team. They influence other to take decisions and participate in new challenges and workplace
criteria (Zioło, Bąk, Cheba, and Spoz, 2020). This kind of leadership style is required for large
organisation where there are a lot department and work field. Marks and Spencer could use this
style in order to bring new ideas into market by taking advices from employees and make them
feel valued.
Delegative: as per this style, the business provide freedom to work, take decisions and
creates roles and responsibilities. Therefore, this could not apply on large companies or else there
would be a situation of discrimination and conflicts takes place.
The marks and Spencer needs to use participate leadership styles to gain positive impact on their
operations (Tan, and Meyer, 2021). With the help of leaders support, the employees will take
effective decisions, bring innovation in product and formulate new strategies in the competitive
market. Therefore, the marks and Spencer needs to involve new young employees which will
provide ideas to cope up with the modern business requirements.
4. Critically comment on their Corporate Social Responsibilities activities
Corporate social responsibilities is an act of working for the welfare of others and fulfil
corporate responsibilities for the people. It is required for the company to be accountable for
what they do for the betterment of society, every decisions must be in favour for stakeholders,
employees and planet as well. The Marks and Spencer is fulfilling CSR activities by focusing on
reduce carbon emission, avoid wastage and making awareness in the market for healthy and
organic products (Soomro, Abdelwahed, and Shah, 2019). The company have started providing
organic foods in their store for health conscious customer in order to deal with the situation of
Covid-19. Also, they have created policies for reducing carbon footprints by 50% till 2025. along

with this, marks and Spencer is working on recycling and reusing through avoiding plastic bags
and packaging. It has seen that, the company positively investing in their corporate acts by
providing goods and services as per customer needs and wants.
CONCLUSION
The report has concluded that, there is requirement of the potential market which can
drive growth opportunities for the organisation. The report has identified swot and pestle analysis
through which the company could make appropriate strategies. It has analysed that, Covid-19
and Brexit are the two most influence factors for the chosen company which declines their
growth and sales. Due to which the organisation needs to take care of market forces and
changing business environment. Hence, the strength and weakness of company may drive strong
hopes for the firm to get rid of threats and use opportunities by bringing new strategies. Along
with this, the report has shown that the company needs to bring technological up gradation into
market. Also, innovation in products and services would also require.

REFERNCES:
Books and Journals:
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Hutchins, G., 2019. Regenerative leadership. eBook Partnership.
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Mehta, M., 2020. Effect of leadership styles on corporate entrepreneurship: a critical literature
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Mendenhall and et.al., 2020. Responsible global leadership: Dilemmas, paradoxes, and
opportunities. Routledge.
Moccia, S., Zhao, S. and Flanagan, P., 2019. Innovation, dynamic capabilities, leadership, and
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