Leadership and Business Environment: A Case Study of Marks and Spencer’s

This report provides a PESTLE and SWOT analysis of Marks and Spencer’s, identifies the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit on the company, and suggests a leadership style and critical analysis of CSR activities.

LEADERSHIP AND
BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
PESTLE Analysis of Marks and Spencer’s.................................................................................3
SWOT analysis of Marks and Spencer’s.....................................................................................5
Impact of COVID19 and Brexit on the Marks and Spencer’s.....................................................6
Impact of strengths and weaknesses on the opportunities and threats.........................................6
Recommendations:......................................................................................................................7
Corporate Social Responsibilities activities by Marks and Spencer..........................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Business environment can be defined as those features which revolves around a business
organization which affects the functioning and operations of a business either positively or
negatively. The present report is based on the business environment and leadership within the
Marks and Spencer’s. The report aims to include a PESTEL analysis and a SWOT analysis for
the company. It identifies, the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit on the functioning of Marks and
Spencer’s. It includes how the strengths and weakness of the company has impacted its
opportunities and threats. Moreover, the reports suggest a leadership style with respect to the
organization and includes critical analysis of the Corporate social responsibility activities with
the help of proper research.
MAIN BODY
PESTLE Analysis of Marks and Spencer’s
PESTLE analysis is a tool which is used by organizations in order to determine the
external factors affecting the business operations (Bismark, and et.al 2018). These factors
include political, environmental, economical, technological, legal and economical. These factors
with respect to the Operations of Marks and Spencer’s are as follows:
Political factors
There are a number of political factors which have affected the operations and
functioning of the Marks and Spencer’s negatively. These includes government policies, political
stability, tax rates, industry regulations and global trade agreement within the United Kingdom.
The Brexit deal i.e., the exit of Britain from the European Union has affected the operations of
Marks and Spencer’s as the company has around 1500 stores across the globe and the Brexit deal
has led to imposition of tax rate on imports and exports processing within the boundaries of
European. The Brexit deals has also impact the value of pound negatively and has resulted in an
uncertain environment for the organization (Kuusela, 2019). Moreover, the outbreak of
COVID19 has also affected the business operations and led to a decline in the sales. Because of
the imposition of lockdown, most the stores of Marks and Spencer’s had to remain close and
restricted the people from making a purchase within that time period.
Economic factors
Even though the Marks and Spencer’s is a prestigious company operating within United
Kingdom with huge share in the market and serves the customers across the globe. However, it

has been noted the consumers of Marks and Spencer’s are shifting towards the budget buying.
The people within the market of United Kingdom prefers buying from local stores as compared
to premium outlets. This is so because not everyone can afford to make purchase of premium
products. This is affecting the sale of Marks and spencer’s and leading to a decline in the revenue
of the company.
Social factors
There was a time when Marks and Spencer’s was one of the most preferred premium
brands operating with the market of UK and across the globe. But, it has been observed that there
is a shift in the consumer preferences in the market. The young people falling within the age
group of 16 to 40 years of do not prefer buying from the outlets of Marks and Spencer’s. The
major reason behind the shift is that the company do not keep up with the trends that are
persisting within the industry relating to the young generation. This has also affected the revenue
of the company (Phan, 2021.). For the same reasons, the company had to widen its offerings and
provide the customers with groceries, home décor, accessories, etc.
Technological factors
Marks and Spencer’s implemented the use of technology and automation within the
organization. They have self-checkout based retail shopping stores as well as the food counter
which has helped the company attracting new customers towards the brand as well as retaining
the existing base of customers (Puyt, and et.al 2020). The e-commerce platform of the company
has also served its customers with the ease of making a purchase while sitting at home and
getting the orders delivered at your doorstep. This has helped the company in widening its
customer base.
Legal factors
There are certain legal factors which have led to a negative impact on the business
operations of the Marks and Spencer’s. The company has been involved in a number of legal
disputes during all these years which has affected the brand image of the company. Recently, the
Marks and Spencer’s was involved in the legal dispute with Frascati landlord. The change in
trading laws and procedures after the Brexit deal has also affected the brand.
Environmental factors
In today’s world, the consumers are well aware of all the negative and harmful impacts of
a business operations on an environment. Therefore, it is necessary for brands to take steps in

order to reduce its impact. Similarly, Marks and Spencer’s is a huge brand and is well aware of
its actions and takes necessary steps for the purpose making the operations environmentally
friendly (Simões, 2020). The company has committed to the policy of 5R’s which includes
replace, reuse, reduce, refuse and recycle.
SWOT analysis of Marks and Spencer’s
It is a technique used by companies for the purpose of determining the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the company. The SWOT analysis with respect to
Marks and Spencer’s has been explained below:
Strengths
 Marks and Spencer’s is a globally present with an estimate of 1463 locations in Asia,
Europe, and the middle East.
 The market value of the company was recorded to be 2.3 billion dollars in the year 2020
and ranked at 1944th position across the globe within the list top 2000 companies of the
world (Sysko-Romańczuk, Bachnik, and Kurek, 2022.).
 It serves its customers with designer products brands such as Blue harbour, Indigo
collection and many more.
 It company has its presence in the market for more than 137 years which results in the
immense experience and knowledge of the market.
Weaknesses
 Because of manual operating procedures, the cost of the company is high.
 Less variety of products for younger generation.
 Lower sales.
Opportunities
 Launching of products based on the customer segmentation across the world.
 Work on enhancing its e commerce platform in order to increase the revenue.
 Market expansion in developing countries where the company has already opened the
stores and increase their gains from the market.
Threats
 Existence of competition such as Zara, Tommy Hilfiger, United Colours of Benetton
(Vlados, 2019.).

Impact of COVID19 and Brexit on the Marks and Spencer’s
Because of the COVID19, the business of the Mark’s and Spencer’s has been affected in
a number of ways. The products offered by the Marks and Spencer’s within the market includes
clothes for men, women, food, home décor, accessories and Many more. However, with the
outbreak of COVID19, the government restricted the sale of anything other the the products
falling under the category of essential goods. Therefore, the company was only able to provide
its customers with necessary products such as food products (Kudriavtceva, 2019). Due to this,
the sale of the company for other products such as clothes, home décor and accessories, shoes,
electronics has been impacted negatively. While operating on ecommerce platforms also, the
company was not able to deliver or take orders for anything other than the essential products.
This led to a decline in the overall sales of the company. The sudden news of lockdown also affected the
revenue of the company as the Marks and Spencer’s has to shut down its stores on an urgent basis and let
to a decline in the revenue and profitability of the company.
The Brexit deal has affected the business operations of Marks and Spencer’s in both ways
positively, as well as negatively (Benzaghta, and et al 2021). Post Brexit deal, the company has the
opportunity expand its business in various countries across the globe and enhance the revenue as well as
the profitability of the company. Leaving the EU, has opened the door of opportunity for Marks and
Spencer’s to import the raw materials from countries other the European Union which can help the
company in acquiring raw material in much cheaper costs. There are certain negative aspects of Britain
leaving the European Union too. The main source of manual labour that the Marks and Spencer’s use
involves the individuals working as the labour from the European countries. The deal of Britain leaving
the European Union has restricted the number of labour that the company can acquire. The company will
have to source the labour from different countries which increases the labour cost of the company
(Jordan-Makely, 2019). Moreover, it has become hard for the Marks and Spencer’s to trade within the
countries that are a part of the European Union because of certain imposition and restrictions as a result of
the deal. Therefore, it can be stated that the COVID 19 has led to a decline in the revenue of the Marks
and Spencer’s and the Brexit deal has its own set of impacts on the profitability of the company.
Impact of strengths and weaknesses on the opportunities and threats
Since, Marks and Spencer’s is already present over around 1463 locations across the
globe, it is easier for the company to grab certain opportunities and make the most out of these.
Because of the global presence of the company and its existing brand image, the company has
the opportunity to conduct market research and expand its business operations in developing

countries which haven’t been explored by Marks and Spencer’s as well as the as those countries
where the company has initiated its operations and want to expand more. The company should
segment the markets in which it operates or is willing to expand on the basis of the needs of the
consumers, their preferences, demands, specifications and the expectations with regards to the
products offered by the company. Since, the valuation of the company was recorded as 2.3
billion dollars in the year 2020, it can be stated that the company can efficiently open its stores
and attract the potential customers towards the company (Zhang, Y., and et.al 2020.). Also, the
company is experienced which makes it easier for them to expand and enhance their ecommerce
platform as well. This will help the company in retaining the existing customers and attracting
the potential customers.
However, the outbreak of COVID19 is one such factor that could serve as a major threat
to the company while expanding its business operations. Even if the company makes use of all of
its strengths in order to increase the profitability, if the COVID19 comes up again, it will affect
the profitability of the company negatively. Another weakness that hinders the growth is high
production cost. Incurring high cost of production will lead to an increase in the selling cost of
the company. Therefore, the people belonging to low income backgrounds will not be interested
in buying the products.
Recommendations:
 Leadership skills and styles plays a very important role in the growth of the company.
Leadership is defined as the process of influencing the behaviour of the people in such a
manner and also motive the employees in achieving the goals and objectives of the
company(Rifaldi, and et.al, 2019). It is recommended to Marks and Spencer to possess
effective leadership style as it helps in the development of the company and also helps
increase its customer base by effective implementation of the strategies.
 With the help of effective leadership style , the leaders motivate the employees by
providing financial and non- financial benefits which will increase their performance
resulting into growth of the company. With the help of effective skills , the leader can
create a healthy working environment where the leaders listen to the opinions of their
employees and results in to profitability of the company.
 It is suggested that M&S should apply Democratic leadership style which is also called
participative leadership style which will help the managers of the company to express

their view points which will help in the achievement of the organizational goals and
objectives. In the process of decision-making , leaders will ask for the suggestions which
can benefit the company(Odumegwu, 2019). Although the decisions lies in the hands of
superiors but it enables the subordinates to actively participate in the decision-making.
 With the help of adopting the leadership style , M&S can easily solve the complex
problems as the subordinates will be able to share the ideas and creativity in the situation
where quick decisions is to be taken. With the help of this approach , it will help to
enhance the communication among the employees and also enhance the active listening
skills which helps in achieving the goals and objectives of the company.
 It is also recommended that with the help of this leadership approach will help to create a
good relation among the managers and subordinates which will boost the morale of the
employees which positively affects their performance(Oberer, and Erkollar, 2018). But
on the other hand sometimes this leadership approach don't work in many situations such
as where thee is lack of participation and communication among the team members. It
becomes difficult for the manager to first create a environment among the team members
which takes a lot of time and results into delay in the decision-making of the company
resulting into loss to M&S.
Corporate Social Responsibilities activities by Marks and Spencer
Corporate social responsibility is defined as the business model through which the
company make efforts and operate in such a way so that it does not cause any harm to the
society and also helps in fulfilling the objectives of the company. With the help of corporate
social responsibility , the company can also build the brand image of the company and also for
the betterment of the society. It plays a very important role in increasing the brand image and
also attract the customers, employees and investors(Ashrafi, and et.al, 2018). With help of
implementation of CSR activities , the company can focus towards causing less harm to the
society and environment and also benefit their business. The role of corporate social
responsibility has increased in the present world. The management of the company is
continuously making efforts and providing training to their employees regarding the programs to
be undertaken by the company for the welfare of the society. The CSR strategies of the Marks
and Spencer is that with the help of these programs the company can improve the lives of the
target people and also for the betterment of the society. The company considered the

effectiveness of operating a business and has taken various measures and created various
policies in order to protect the environment.
Marks and Spencer has launched its new program associated with the CSR that is
'Ready for work” that focused on offering management and business knowledge to the target
people and providing necessary skills so that they can set up and manage their own
business(Yuan, and et.al, 2020). These programs were initiated with the objective of improving
the economic condition of the community and also concentrated on protecting and preserving the
environment. With help of these initiatives taken by the company , they can increase their
reputation in the market. While focusing on these areas, M&S focused on unemployed and
disabled children in order to provide education and also for enhancement of their skills and for
their development. The company also took various initiatives in building schools , hospitals ,
medical centres and also provided scholarship for the students which contributes in their
development. For the development and betterment of society , the company partnered with
various institutions such as business action for homelessness, Prince's Trust and initiated
various other programs for the welfare of the society and also improving the life of the people.
The activities and initiative taken by Marks and Spencer had shown positive impact on the
society and also resulted in improving the skills and lives of the people which also helps in their
development in their career(John, and et.al, 2019.). By assisting in the development of the
society , the company achieved its objectives in serving the society and also resulted in increase
the customer base and improvement in the brand image of the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that business environment is dynamic nature
and there are various factors present which can impact the functioning of the company. It is very
necessary that Marks and Spencer should identify those factors and make changes in their
management accordingly. The changes implemented in the management can help in the
development of the company. The report summarizes the SWOT analysis and Pestle analysis of
Marks and Spencer that will help to determine the factors and also the current position of the
company in the market. The study also summarize the impact of Covid-19 and Brexit on Marks
and Spencer. Recommendation regarding the leadership style that is to be applied by the
company for effective functioning of the company and also about Corporate social responsibility
initiatives taken by the company.

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