Managing Information and Technology in Marks and Spencer

Managing Information
and Technology

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Introduction of company.............................................................................................................3
TASK2.............................................................................................................................................4
Porter's Five force model............................................................................................................4
TASK3.............................................................................................................................................6
Chain analysis of organisation....................................................................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................8
Reflection and summarization of how IT is helpful in achieving competitive advantages in
market..........................................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
Books and journals....................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Information and technology is being increasingly used in businesses in the contemporary
competitive marketplace so as to increase the competitiveness of company and to increase
customer base by attracting more number of customers. IT management refers to practices,
procedures and policies related to managing IT in company so that it can be used to optimise
resources and staffing, improve business processes and communication. IT helps businesses to
store and use information related to them in an efficient manner so that business products,
services and processes can be improved and high profits can be generated for company. This
report is based on Marks and Spencer which is a major British multinational retailer that offer
high quality clothing, home and food products with its headquarters in London, UK. The
company was founded in 1884 and employs about 80,787 workers in company. In this report the
role of IT in M&S, analysis of competitive environment of company, use of Porter's five forces
mode, value chain of company, inbound and outbound logistics of company etc. will be
discussed so that a company can gain a competitive edge in market.
MAIN BODY
Introduction of company
M&S is an international British retailer which was founded in 1884 by Michael Marks
and Thomas Spencer and has its headquarters in London, UK. The company deals in high quality
fashionable clothings and also offer home products and food products through its 1463 stores
which are present all across the world. There are about 80,787 employees working in the
company and earns a revenue for about £ 10.6 billion euro (Storey. and Song, 2017). Product
provided by M&S is clothes, eatables and high standard of house hold products. This company is
only selling products that are made in Britain. The current CEO of this company is Steve Rowe
and he has been appointed in the year 2016 and is holding the position till present time. Business
of this company is spread across 157 countries in the world. M&S has established as an clothing
wear for men and women in United Kingdom. Objective of this company is to provide quality in
products and introduce innovative trends to survive in a long term. Vision of the company is to
be efficient in working and gives best out of its services to its customer. Company has targeted
customers who are ranged between 25- 60 age group and also those people who are looking for
latest trends and stylish wear in clothing. Those customers are also attracted by company who are

looking for new and tasty food items. The company mainly deals with denim and sell jeans of
new style, shape or sizes (Hemker, 2020). It has improved its sales by 20% in recent years.
They also introduced special item like prawn sandwich in which hight quality of prawns are
used and is served with an unique sauce. This become very popular in the market. This Brand is
enhancing itself day by day to increaser satisfaction among its customers. This has been done by
M&S company through fluctuating prices of its product which made it approachable to
customers of every class. The company has also maintain its standard in quality. To enhance
their quality and make it more superior M&S is using marketing plan that is mid term plan of
marketing.
TASK2
Porter's Five force model
In Porter's five force model there is a framework or a skeleton structure that is there to
help industries and organisations. It analyses those elements which impacts the organisation in
growing itself within a market (Wilkerson 2018). This model basically creates an influence over
both internal and external factors of an organisation. Concepts which are covered in this model is
related to both customers and buyer. Further five forces of this model is explained below in more
detail.
Rivalry among existing competition in a market: The force is used to measure the
amount of competitors which are present in a market (Omboni, Caserini. and Coronetti, 2016). It
is also there to make an analyse over the phase which is there in present market and condition of
rivals of the company in it. This is also there to high light those areas and point which has made
rivals a strong rival. It can be understood in a way as techniques used by other company to
sustain in market and create a competition for existing country. Range of rivals are very large
and there is lot of rivals present in market to compete against M&S because it is an cloth and
food product manufacturer. Due to increasing competition with companies like Tesco, Zara.
M&S has modified its prices for both clothing wear in order to attract more customers which are
from different classes of society. This is also done for the purpose of maintaining its suitability
and healthy competition in market. This can create an negative impact over Marks and Spencer
in a way that loss of customers leads toward lack of selling of product and decreases rate of
profit.