Context of Business: SWOT and PESTEL Analysis, Leadership Styles, and Corporate Social Responsibility of Marks and Spencer

Context of business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P1 Performing SWOT and PESTEL analysis........................................................................1
P2 Evaluating changes in PESTEL factors that influence the opportunities and threats of
Marks and Spencer.................................................................................................................4
P3 Evaluation and recommending leadership styles for Marks and Spencer.........................5
P4 Evaluation corporate social responsibility of Marks and Spencer....................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Business context encircle an understanding of various factors that impact business in various
orientations. It comprises of how decisions are made and what an organisation is ultimately
trying to achieve. It is crucial in order to track and monitor organisation objectives and create a
purpose-driven approach. Marks and Spence has been taken into consideration to further
understand business context. Marks and Spence is a major British multinational retailer, founded
in year 1884 and headquartered in London, UK. It has over 1000 establishments across UK.
Moreover, they have reputed global brand image. Marks and Spencer has been taken into
consideration for the following report. The report will evaluate environment of business by
conducting SWOT and PESTEL analysis. Moreover, various business leadership styles will be
elaborated to understand its impact on an organisation
P1 Performing SWOT and PESTEL analysis.
It is a strategic planning technique that enable an organisation to identify its overall
strengthen and opportunities. Moreover, it provides companies with in-depth information
regarding there weakness and threats (Alpaslan ., 2018). It assist an organisation to reduce its
risk and address segments that they lack in. Furthermore, it helps in identifying competitive
market for companies and provide assistance in drawing future strategic plans. In context to
Marks and Spencer, management utilize this analysis in order to understand their competitive
market and evaluate micro factors that affect overall operations of their business. It enables them
get visibility on their weakness and potential areas of improvement and help develop future
strategic plan to mitigate hindrances which ensure long term growth. The SWOT analysis of the
respective company is elaborated below:
Strengths:
These are described as what an organisation excels at and creates a differentiation factor
in relation to their competitors. These are internal, positive attributes such as strong brand image,
loyal customer base, etc. and provide an organisation with a competitive advantage in market
(Booth ., 2018). In context to Marks and Spencer, it has a huge market presence through their
vast line of products and years of experience in the established market. Moreover, it has a
reputable brand image combined with a loyal customer base that they are able to acquire through
their impressive marketing and research and development department.
1

Weaknesses:
These stop an organisation to perform its organisational operation at optimum level. They
are areas where a company lacks and needs to improve in order to be competitive in
market(Castillo-Vergara, Alvarez-Marin and Placencio-Hidalgo ., 2018). It includes factors such
as weak brand image, inadequate supply chain, etc. In context to Marks and Spencer, it heavily
relies on manual operations which is result in increased cost and is time consuming. It suffers
from a poor supply chain system which results in non-availability of products leading to
increased loses.
Opportunities:
These refer to favourable factors that can help an organisation grow and develop. It is
crucial to grab potential opportunities in order to gain competitive advantage in market
(Deshpande ., 2019). In context to Marks and Spencer, the company should enhance its online
presence in order to compete with leading online retail competitors. Moreover, management
should pay emphasis on market segmentation in order to understand customer needs and increase
their profitability.
Threats:
These refer to factors that have potential to harm an organisation and hamper its
performance. In context to Marks and Spencer, company has faced financial issues post Brexit
due to instability in economy. Furthermore, it is facing stiff competition from the food sector. It
can also face threat from the shift in clothing trend in market.
PESTEL analysis:
It is a framework that focuses on the macro factors which affect the functioning of an
organisation. It examines the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and
Legal factors in the external environment (Dupire and M’Zali ., 2018). In context to Marks and
Spencer, the management utilize this framework to understand external factors that could impact
decision making within their organisation. By gaining in-depth knowledge of these factors
management is able to develop suitable strategic plans. PESTEL analysis for Marks and Spencer
is mentioned below:
Political:
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