How changes in external environment affected Marks and Spencer in last three years

Changes in External Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
ESSAY.............................................................................................................................................3
Changes in external environment over last three years affected the company...........................3
Ways to adapt the changes..........................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
The essay is based on the external environment factors that influenced the performance
and profitability of business. It determines how changes in its external environment over the last
three years have affected the growth and productivity of company. Essay also cover the ways
which company have adapted to deal with the changes. The chosen company for completing this
essay is Marks and Spencer, it is multinational retailer firm that deals in home products, food
products and selling clothes. Organisation was founded by Thomas Spencer and Michael Marks
in 1884. Marks and Spencer also formed a joint venture with Ocado in order offer online food
delivery service to its customer.
ESSAY
Changes in external environment over last three years affected the company and ways to adapt
the changes
External environment generally includes the factors which are outside of organisation and
affect its performance and profitability. For running the business in smooth and effective
manner, it is important to analyse the external factors that could influence the company's
operation (Shahid and et. al., 2017). The few external environmental factors that creates a huge
impact on the business are political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental
factors. In order to identify the external environmental factors, Marks and Spencer can use pestle
analysis as it helps to understand the market dynamics and also focus on improving the business
performance.
Political factors mainly include the factors which are changed, run and made by
authorities. The few political factors which influence the operational activities of business are
political stability, legal framework for contract enforcement, environmental regulations, tariffs
and trade restriction. Marks and Spencer operates their business in dozens of countries due to
which they have to deal with different types of political system risks and political environment.
Each country has its own rules and regulations regarding the health and safety, risk management,
risk control and planning for hazard identification which company have to follow. In last three
years, Brexit has created a huge impact on the performance of Marks and Spencer as it was
unclear where UK will stand in terms of trade regulations and tariffs. The separation between
UK and European Union results in loss of numerous free trade policies which impacts Marks and