Marks & Spencer: An Ethical Business Organisation

This presentation explores the ethical philosophy and practices of Marks & Spencer, a renowned ethical organisation in the UK's retail industry. It discusses their supply chain transparency, environmental responsibility, and response to ethical challenges such as the sweatshop scandal in India. The role of senior management and employees in maintaining the company's standards is also highlighted.

Marks & Spencer: An Ethical Business Organisation
Organisational Overview
• Marks & Spencer is one of the largest British retailer of clothing and food companies along with being
headquartered in London. The organization was established in the year of 1884 as a small stall in open
markets in Leeds, Yorkshire. It was then known as Marks’ Penny Bazaar and offered household goods such
as toys and sheet-music.
• In context to the ethics of the organization, the aspects are both positive as well as negative in nature as it
has a negative reputation relative to animal rights factory farming along with anti-social finance. On the
other hand the business has some positive ethical aspects as well relative to its environmental reporting,
habitat and resource utilization along with toxics and supply chain management.
Ethical Philosophy of M&S
The company follows ethical approaches towards people and planet. A portion of the profit also goes for charity. However, the philosophical standpoint regarding the organisation’s ethics starts from the
motto, “Ethically Made, Trusted Value”. By stating the concept, the company has maintained a significant evidence on ethics and morality.
• Ethical philosophy refers to that discipline which is concerned with majorly what is good and bad and what is right and wrong on moral level. The ethical philosophy that Marks & Spence follows is that
they have to treat each other with respect and dignity. It means that all partners are entitled to work in an environment which are free of bullying, harassment and discrimination as well. In terms of
supply chain management, Marks & Spencer is considered as a middle ethical consumer rating in the overall manner. Marks & Spencer chain social responsibility document basically contains adequate
clauses on freedom of association, discrimination and forced labor as well. The company followed certain practices in ethical manner and they fulfil its environmental mission through understanding
environmental issues and sharing information with its partners
• They develop flexible and innovative solutions in order to bring out the changes, strives to buy and sell and also uses environmental friendly products. It has been observed that Marks & Spencer are
concerned about the environment and also they are committed towards resource positive future. They also have formalized their goals on environmental level in order to reduce their overall carbon
foot print produced from their business operations. The company is also commits to carbon neutral development of products along with evaluating various sources of sustainable raw material in order
to develop products that have a positive impact on the environment. Marks & Spencer is committed towards utilization of technology as well as innovation in order to promote sustainability within their
business operations as it will allow them to have a positive influence over the natural surrounding and help the business to maintain its operations in the long run. Through reducing carbon emissions
and conserving resources they can help the suppliers by being more productive and also contribute towards a better planet and brings the products developed through sustainable raw material for their
customers in a sustainable manner. So these are the ethical philosophies followed by the Marks & Spencer company. In the overall manner it is very significant for the company to follow ethical
philosophies so that they can develop and grow themselves in a result oriented and positive manner as well. That's why it is important for the company to behave in the ethical manner.
Ethical challenges and Overcoming Strategies
Sweatshop Scandal 2010
• It happened in India. The company terminated the contract and entered into a lawsuit against the Indian sweatshop. The issue brought changes to the organisation’s ethical standing (Chamberlain, 2010).
Marks & Spencer was established in 1884 and it has been running its operation as a retailer of the UK. Since then, the firm has increased its operational capability and supply processes. Currently, it has 368
direct supply sources among which 302 are food suppliers and 32 are beverage suppliers. The rest are apparel and footwear suppliers. The entire supply network is covered with people from different
labour contract, wage contract, and age ranges. By digging into the history, the first issue in the supply chain the 21st century appeared in 2010. Alongside GAP and Next, M&S was accused of getting
supplies from an Indian sweatshop that was accused of labour abusing (Chamberlain, 2010). When labour abusing takes place, it hampers the organisation itself and all the organisations connected with it.
From different evidences, the supply site was forcing employees to work more than 16 hours with limited break. The food was not given. Also, child abuse was a major accusation against the supplier. Being
an importer, M&S had to face these allegations too (Schroeder, Salzer-Mörling and Askegaard, 2006) . Through the judgement and finding out the actual situation supporting these issues, M&S got the
evidence. The evidence further pushed Marks & Spencer’s brand value to a degrading position. The company was falling into a controversial situation and sudden recovery was needed. The brand value
was supposed to be developed from the end of customers. Within the turmoil, the company announced its policies and revamped the whole situation of labour harassment. The supplier’s supply contract
was terminated and the company filed a lawsuit to mitigate the challenge through the court. The outcome was enormously helpful for Marks & Spencer. Consumers find it a bold move from the end of
M&S. an ethical philosophy contributes developing the brand image. Soon, M&S started to grow and no other ethical challenges was addressed for the next 9 years.
Syrian Refugee Scandal 2016
• The firm had a supplier in Turkey where Syrian refugees were working at a significantly lower wage. The firm restricted the supply and developed further plan (Sankey, 2020).
In 2016, the firm was accused again naming the “Sweatshop scandal”. This is a similar accusation of labour misuse like the decade ago. According to Turkish reporters, Syrian refugees were working hard in
low wage to survive. They were putting their effort to produce the cloths of M&S. Among the other brands, the Marks & Spencer was included. This increased the controversy once again similar to the prior
practice of Marks & Spencer. Though there was a strict regulation of M&S regarding the labour policy and supply chain transparency, the company failed to notice a hole in the process. The brand integrity
once entered into the challenging process for M&S.
Sweatshop Scandal 2020
• Bangladeshi workers who were making clothes for M&S was underpaid. The firm produced Plan A-2025 to eliminate the issue.
Before the company started recovering, another report published regarding the same sweatshop scandal in the India’s neighbour Bangladesh. Bangladeshi workers are getting the lowest wage to produce
cloths for M&S. 35p per hour was the payment to workers in this sweatshop. Employees were unable to take a break or vacation or even maternity leave due to the extreme work pressure. 16 hours long
shift reminded M&S of the previous scandal in India. To address these challenges and focus on a better plan, the company announced Plan A-2025 (Burgess, 2020). This is a strategic process to remove all
the negative elements from the organisation’s course. The firm is now targeting to improve the whole guideline for supply chain management according to the labour rights and human rights aspects. If the
firm can produce a better effectiveness in these area, the brand image can be resurrected too (Siegle, 2013). Four scandals with similar allegation is indicating a failure to maintain standard. Thereby, the
company’s plan includes mostly the use of better standards and more improved benchmarks.
Reasons for the company is considered in ethical spectrum
• There are certain reasons due to which company is considered in the ethical spectrum and it is defined into the following
manner:
• The company believes in this parameter that they conduct business in ethical way and strive to do the right things which are
very vital for the success. They provide their products with highest quality and ethically sourced in those places where they
improve the lives of others. Partners must be passionate in terms of nature and treat others with dignity and also respect each
other with a particular standard. Marks & Spencer is considered in the ethical spectrum because they demonstrate as
achievements in terms of integrity, transparency, compliance and business ethics as well. The company has taken initiative in
terms of doing right things for the community and each other as well. Their mission is to inspire and nurture the human spirit
with ethics and integrity on the forefront level.
• Marks & Spencer is also considered as ethical company because the company is successful in all the parameters such as major
concern about quality, take action for the right things and also thinks about the community and social level as well. The
company also take care about the health of their customers so for that purpose they do not produce those products which are
harmful and dangerous as well. Marks & Spencer also take initiative towards rewarding the employees and also concern about
the issues at organizational level. They also don't retaliate against employees who voice their concerns against employees. Due
to these reasons Marks & Spencer is considered as the ethical company. So at organizational level, it is important that a
company should follow the ethical rules and regulations so that their customers can build up a high level of trust on them. By
following these activities they can build up a strong image into the market and at international level as well.
Reference list
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[Accessed 12 Dec. 2021].
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Introduction
Business ethics refers to the study of appropriate business practices and policies regarding controversial
subjects in the potential manner. It basically includes insider trading, corporate governance, discrimination,
bribery, fiduciary responsibility and corporate social responsibility. Marks & Spencer is one of the most
renowned ethical organisations. The organisation has a long history to operate in the UK’s retail industry.
There were plenty of opportunities and risks. Even if there were power or ability to make more profit with
unethical practice, Marks & Spencer tried the best according to secondary evidences for avoiding such
unethical practice. The sweatshop scandal is one of the major ethical scandals where M&S got involved
without any prior evidence. After being exposed, the company cut the connection with several suppliers who
were accused of child labour, low wage rate, and pressurised overtime. After finding the evidence and getting
accusation, the company ran a full check. This was the second time in two decades. The company remain
clean from 2010 to 2019. By remaining clean in the eye of ethics in supply chain, the company gets a position
in the history. The most influential reason for considering Marks & Spencer as an ethical organisation is its
generation of value through a transparent supply chain. Steve Rowe, the CEO of Marks & Spencer has a
strong observation on the supply chain and its effectiveness on the organisation. Even though a portion was
missed, the company paid the penalty. The organisation’s policies on choosing the supply chain is now more
ethical than before. There is an inspection strategy where the company enters into the contract after judging
the transparency and legal procedures from the end of the supplying company. Because of the vitalising on
the transparency and the proper mitigation strategies right after being exposed in the scandal, M&S is an
ethical company in my opinion (Sankey, 2020). The next portion in the poster will state different ethical
perspectives followed by Marks & Spencer in regard to its business operations. Thereby, it will be easier to
get positive result out of the context.
Conclusion
To conclude the poster presentation, business ethics plays a very important role in terms of organizational level. It has been
concluded that ethics are very important for an organization because on the basis of that they do their every task in a right manner
and in the context of benefit of growth and development of an organization. It has been determined that there are certain reasons
due to which company is considered under the ethical spectrum. It has been analyzed that there are certain ethical philosophies due
to which a company has to follow certain rules and regulations into effective manner. The role of senior management is very
important in terms of maintaining the standards of the company. It has been concluded that the role of employees is very significant
in terms of maintaining standard and brand image of the company. So in the overall manner it has been observed that business
ethics is very essential in terms of achieving objectives and goals into successful manner.
Philosophical Theories
• Deontology: The philosophical approach that defines a clearly set rules to
determine whether actions are good or bad.
• Utilitarianism: The cause of happiness or unhappiness from action is the
key factor in deciding the ethics.
• Kantianism: Immanuel Kant described actions to be right or wrong
according to the particular approaches rather than consequences.
Marks & Spencer’s Philosophical Foundation
The company follows deontology approach. It has standard of procedures to
follow ethics and morality. Any deviation from these rules will be resulted in
bad consequences.
Role of senior management
• The senior management plays a very important role in terms of maintaining the business standards
of the company. It basically includes devising an appropriate strategy and also need to ensure that it
should be implemented into effective manner. It is important to set ambitious and achievable goals as
well
• It is important to manage the demands of stakeholders through board of directors as well. Senior
management is basically responsible for taking major decisions in terms of further growth of the
company present new technology. In context to Marks & Spencer, they also give and resources in
order to support every proposed change.
This approach also ensures that that the firm provides qualitative services to the targeted customers. The
strategy also makes the Marks & Spencer a profitable company. The senior management is also
responsible for this spectrum in terms of major decision and changes that has been taken within the
company. The senior management also has to take decision according to changing requirements of the
company, customers and their priorities as well. The senior management is also responsible for
overseeing the global expansion of stores and the development of Marks & Spencer reserve and principle
stores as well. Marks & Spencer is also responsible for retail sales in all over the world and also have
responsibility towards performance of the company and its relationship with other people as well.
Role of employees to maintain the business
standards of the company
Employees play a very important role in terms of maintaining the business standards of the
company because they act as an important role in terms of contributing into effective manner
towards successful functioning of an organization. They also strive in hard manner in order to
deliver the best level and achieve the assigned tasks within set period of time. Employees help
in terms of maintaining standards of the company through meeting deadlines and also build the
brand through positive customer interactions. When employees perform into effective manner
then consumers feel that the company is apathetic to their needs and also seek help elsewhere.
In context to Marks & Spencer, employees play a very significant role in terms of raising the
standard of the company where they have create an image in such a manner that their
employees respect each other and also understand others point of views into positive spectrum.
Employees are the people who contribute in terms of marketing and building the strong image
of the company. Employees are the one who convey good things about Marks & Spencer to their
customers and their quality standards to their near and dear ones. It has been observed that
their standards and specifications has been meet out through employees ethical working and
their contribution in terms of achieving their overall objectives and goals as well. In this manner,
the role of employees is very significant in terms of achieving and maintaining the business
standards of the company.