Context of Business - SWOT and PESTLE Analysis of Mark and Spencer

CONTEXT OF
BUSINESS

INTRODUCTION
A business is that activity in which, it products and services to the customers with the
purpose of profit maximization. This profit is that financial reward which comes from taking risk
of owning a business. Business environment is the collection of some internal and external factors
which can effect a business. To run a business, it need the awareness about government's rules and
regulations. A business should determine SWOT and PESTLE analysis to run business efficiently.
The organisation chosen in this report is Mark and Spencer, it is a British multinational retailer
company that dealing in cloth selling, food products and home products. It was established by the
Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer in 1884 and it's headquartered is situated in London,
England. This report will include the SWOT and PESTEL analysis, how PESTEL is influencing
the opportunities and threats, different types of leadership and corporate social responsibility will
be discussed which are adopted and practised by the business enterprises (Dong, 2021).
MAIN BODY
SWOT and PESTLE Analysis of the organisation
It is an important method that is used by the Mark and Spencer to know about their
company's strong and weak parts. They determine their opportunities by reducing their threats.
They also comprise the threats and weakness that the business faces.
 Strength- Mark and Spencer has the strength of a well experience because it made several
partnerships and start their retail journey with the Penny bazaar. They also have a good
reputed image in the market as it offer offer good quality products to their customers and it
is the second most popular super market in United Kingdom. They provide the online and
offline services and has 1463 outlets in the world which has 1035 online UK. M&S has
the strength of offering a large variety of services and products to their customers. They
have a good relationship with the local farmers that helps them to bring fresh product to
serve their consumers (Gupta and et. al., 2021).
 Weakness- Mark and Spencer have many weakness such as because of poor supply chain
and the non-availability of products there is a decline in their sales. Due to this, M&S
faced adverse affects on their company's image and they could not meet the demands of
food and clothings. The another weakness is that it provide service to the older peoples

rather than teenagers and younger. The company faces a high cost as it relies on the
manual operation that is very costly and time consuming. Their another drawback is this
company does not invest sop much in technology.
 Opportunities- Due to their multinational brand and many stores in the other countries,
Mark and Spencer have the opportunity of the global expansion by opening their more
branches in new and different countries. They have the opportunity of increasing their
sales growth in the online stores by bringing a variety of clothes and home ware products.
The use of E-commerce and other advanced technology will help the Mark and Spencer to
attract a large and loyal customer base. This brand can have the opportunity of the market
segmentation by dividing their customers in the market in groups on the basis similar
characteristics and needs. It will help the their company's management and also maintain
cost reduction with maximum profit ( Heimes and et. al.2020).
 Threats- There are various threats in the way of Mark and Spencer, which impact at their
success. These threats are such as a high level competition as the retail market is become
very competitive in UK. M&S is facing tough competition with many big competitors such
as Amazon, Sainsbury and Tesco etc. the other retailer offer many types of discount ,
which become a big hurdle for the M&S. Their another threats is government policies due
to which they faces the situation of unsuitability.
PESTLE Analysis
It is that model which is used by an organisation to analysis the key factors that include a
business. Analysis of this model is very essential and helpful for a business organisation to find
out macro economic factors that impact their business. In context of Mark and Spencer, they have
six factor which affect on the macro level which are given below,(Tafazoli, Gómez-Parra and
Huertas-Abril, 2020)
 Political- In this, it examined the impact of government decisions and policies. Mark and
Spencer is impacted by two political factors that are Brexit and free trade. Brexit increase
their cost of products as the UK decide to leave EU that impact the company in the term of
tariffs and trade regulations. The other factor si free trade that has a positive impact on the

M&S, by allowing them to import foreign products to sale in their store at a cheap rate and
high profit margin.
 Economic- These factors determine performance of an economy and it has a direct impact
on a business with adverse and the long-standing effects. It can be inflation rate, stability
and the prosperity of a country. In context of Marks and Spencer, all the supermarkets and
even the clothing stores are offering discounts to encourage their customers. Due to this,
there is a situation of the financial crisis in United Kingdom as it also affect the Marks and
Spencer ( Iñiguez and et. al. 2021).
 Social- In this, it find out those factors that influence the social environment of a market
in which a business is working. This factor is very facilitative in making the improved
strategic plan for an organisation by identifies the demands and needs of their customers.
Marks and Spencer has a long standing brand reputation in the market, because customers
are associated with them from the past which can become less trendy brand for customers.
 Technological- This factor is related to the technology advancement and an innovation
impaction on the organisation's performance that includes the factors of artificial
intelligence, automation and other etc. in case of the Marks and Spencer, they provide the
facility of self-checkout to their customers in the stores by using technology. With the use
of latest technology, it can also offer their products such as foodstuffs, clothings and home
products through the online by creating a strong e-commerce presence.
 Legal- The factors include the certain legal laws which have an impact on the business
organisation as they are ever-changing considering the factors of legislation, laws related
to the employees safely etc. Marks and Spencer continuously conducted some training
sessions in which it provide the health updates. This company was also affected with a
change in the trade laws of British (Jacob, and et. al.2022).
 Environmental- This factors are related to the surroundings in environment that affects
ecological aspects of an organisation such as the waste disposable laws, Environmental
protection laws, sustainable development, etc. Marks and Spencer is now becoming more
sustainable to maintain their brand image by the acquisition of clothings, food products
and home ware items through the carbo emissions from the manufacturing and
deforestation to farming land as it also introduce own green policy.