Operations Management in the Workplace: A Case Study of Marks & Spencer

This report discusses the operations management of Marks & Spencer and its comparison with Next plc. It also covers the interrelationships between operations and core support functions, impact of operations on other functions, challenges faced by operations management, key performance indicators, benefits and limitations of different approaches for improving and optimizing organizational performance, and the role and importance of supply chain management in Marks & Spencer.

Operation
Management in the
Workplace

Contents
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................2
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
Interrelationships between operations and the core support functions-.......................................3
Impact of operation and processes on other Functions-...............................................................4
Challenges faced by Operations Management-...........................................................................4
Key Performance Indicator-.........................................................................................................5
Benefits and limitations of different approaches for improving and optimizing organizational
performance.................................................................................................................................6
Role and importance of supply chain management-....................................................................7
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
There are different practices which an organisation performs to improve its functioning, in order
to get good earning on the product and services which they are offering to the customers.
Operation management is the framework which supports the business to get advance level of
productivity in their organisation (Jemai, Do Chung, and Sarkar, 2020). It allows the business to
use their different manufacturing factors like raw material, workers, to produce their goods and
services. Marks & Spencer is a retail company which deals in different kind of products like
clothing, home items and food products. The company was established by Leeds, in the year
1884, currently its headquarter is located in London, United Kingdom. This report is about the
operations management of the Marks & Spencer and its comparison with another famous
manufacturing company Next plc. It also discusses about the impact and challenges of the
operations management in the Marks & Spencer, along with role and importance of supply chain
management in an organisation.
Main Body
Interrelationships between operations and the core support functions-
 Marks & Spencer- Company focus on identifying what kind of services customers are
experiencing from them and for this company offers variety of products to their
customers. This helps them in giving choices to their customers to select the products
according to their preferences. By performing a smooth operations management,
company concentrate on enhancing the skills of their employees so that they can that
efficiency in their work and helps in improving the productivity of the business
(Albergaria, and Jabbour, 2020). It also helps in making the Marks & Spencer more
financially strong by using different types of accounting strategies, company easily make
the fund availability at the time of requirement to perform the various expenses in the
organisation. But company have to focus more on its financial planning skills, as in lack
of this company is unable to predicts the future risks in relation to their finance.
Operations management and its core supporting functions help the organisation to make
the better use of funds in the working of the organisation.

 Next Plc- It is a clothing company which also deals in sectors like footwear and home
products. The company is located in Ender by, England. The main concern of the
company to make such strategies regarding its operation management and core functions,
which makes the working of the institution highly productive. Company concentrate on
developing better coordination among its operation management and human resource
management, so that they do not have to face any issues related payroll in the
organisation.
Impact of operation and processes on other Functions-
 On Marketing- Operations management support marketing management in supervising
the complete marketing process of the business. Operations management and marketing
structure of Marks & Spencer together become very effective for making the marketing
strategy of the company for different products (Bashan, and Armon, 2019). Marketing
operations management allows the company to get necessary information regarding the
activities which have conducted in the past, by this Marks & Spencer is able to create a
good marketing program and maximum profitability on their outputs.
 On Human resource- Activities of operations management and human resources are not
very similar, as these two are connected from different aspects of business. In Marks &
Spencer operations managers are generally interfere in the activities of human resource
managers at the time of distribution of salaries and other beneficiary incentives.
 On Finance- Finance is an important component in the functioning of any business
organisation, as it helps them in finding the different sources from where companies can
raise their funds and also identify the best possible area for the investment. This will
assist Marks & Spencer to make such financial budgets, by which company easily
accomplish its production targets and examine the different investments opportunities
which help the company in getting good returns.
Challenges faced by Operations Management-

 Quality- For making good customer base it is important for a business to provide
products with good quality, as people are becoming more conscious for their health in
present time. If a company offers poor quality of products, then they might face the
problem where their consumers shifts from their goods and services to another.
 Price- Nowadays, customers are interested in buying such products which are of good
quality with an affordable price range. This could have a great impact on the operation
management as they need to change their pricing policy according to the preference of
their customers, in order to attract them for buying their goods and services (Isaksson, R.,
2019).
 Delivery- Operation managements must focus on the issue related to the delivery of the
products to the customers, because customers become happier when they receive their
product on time. Late delivery of goods can lead to dissatisfied customer who will not
buy the company's product again.
 Efficiency- It refers to the ability of management to issue good quality of product to the
customers by taking optimum utilization of their resources and without any wastage in
their production activities. Avoiding efficiency in the practice of operation management
can result in excess of expenses and heavy loses to the company.
Key Performance Indicator-
 Revenue Growth- It is concerned about the earning of the company and its comparison
with the last year's earning. The growth of Marks & Spencer has shown downward, in
year 2019 its revenue was 10377.3 which has declined to 10181.9 in year 2020. Whereas,
Next plc has seen a good growth its revenue with 4.9 billion pounds.
 Revenue Per Client- This is related to the amount of revenue which a company have
earned from each client among the clients they have deal in one accounting year. It is
calculated by dividing annual revenue from the number of clients. Because of the decline
which Marks & Spencer has observed in its revenue the revenue per client of the

company is also very low. On the other hand, Next plc make good revenue earning on its
each customers.
 Profit Margin- This means the amount of by which revenue exceeds from sales. Marks
& Spencer is able the generate the profit margin of 33.2% and talking about Next plc, the
company is able to maintain the profit margin of around 14.17%.
 Client Retention Rate- It is the rate of customers who stay connected with the
organisation after a given period of time. As company works in giving better offers and
quality to their customers so the holding rate of the customers of Marks & Spencer is
84%. Next plc has also secured the maximum number of its customers according to last
year annual report of the company.
 Customer Satisfaction- It is a type of measurement which is used by various
organisation to identify satisfaction level of the customers from their product. Both the
company’s focus on giving maximum satisfaction to their customers by offering them
good quality of products.
Benefits and limitations of different approaches for improving and optimizing
organizational performance
Use of different quality management approaches benefits a business in several ways.
These approaches make the product more improved by implementing certain changes and
modification among, this will enhance the willingness to buy the product among the customers.
When employees work in such an environment where they are getting good feedback for their
products and services, this contributes in building up their morale and confidence level. With
such energy these employees will become more efficient and effective in their tasks and this will
automatically boost the productivity of the business organisation (Sarkar, and Seo, 2021).
Improved quality of product ensures the better satisfaction to the customers in the market, as they
are mostly attracted towards those companies who offer good attribute of products and services.
With the help of quality management approaches, companies keep checking on their outputs to
ascertain the features of the product and this make the process of production more improved.
There various limitations of the quality management approaches, because these
approaches mainly concentrate on giving such products to the consumers which are of standard
quality, so workers are unable to perform any kind of innovation and creation in the production
process. Quality management is not an easy task; it requires lots expenses in order to achieve the

better quality in the product. Some approaches also create changes in the culture and
environment of the firm and this is not possible for every business organisation. But without such
changes which are demanded by these quality management approaches it becomes difficult for
the company to succeed in these approaches. Hence, it is not simple for any other organisation to
adopt these approaches of quality management in their management functions, due to the several
limitations which are attached to it.
Role and importance of supply chain management-
In the preservation of a small or large business, contribution of each and every workers of
the organisation is necessary. Prosperity and effectiveness of an organisation is highly depending
on its work force, as they use their skills and knowledge to promote the working of the business.
Along with different activities which are performed in a business enterprise such as production
or marketing, supply is also an important factor of business, especially in manufacturing
organisation. It is duty of supply manager to take care the supply chain management of the firm,
in order to ensure the availability of the products. The foremost role of supply chain management
is to provide better services to their targeted customers in the market, for this company always
focus on manufacturing such kind of product which are highly demanded. Company must be
accountable for all kind of queries and issues which are coming from customer’s side in relation
to the services (Tortorella, Narayanamurthy, and Cauchick-Miguel, 2021). Supply chain
management works in providing the better facility to their customers and ready to help them in
time of need, this helps in increasing the loyalty of the customers towards the firm.
It also helps in reducing the various expenses like operating cost and also ensures the
higher productivity in the business organisation. Company's financial health also relies on the
supply chain management, as it takes the most sufficient method to evaluate the accounts of the
business. Good management of supply chain also affects the variety and improves the quality of
the product which results in better profit generation. SCM also supports the customers by making
the fast product delivery and reduced prices of products in the market. In this way, company may
experience better growth by adopting a proper and smooth management of supply for its product.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that the operation management is an activity by which an
organisation gets efficiency in its functioning and improves its profit earning skills. There are

various benefits of operations management which an organisation experience like increase in
revenue of the firm, better use of resources and much more. This report also discusses the
relation of the operations management and core support functions of the business. And the uses
of different quality management approaches and their limitation and advantages in an
organisation. Lastly, there is discussion the management of supply chain and its role in the
organisation.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
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understanding the challenges of service information and operations management in the
sharing economy: Evidence of peer effects in libraries. International Journal of
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Bashan, A. and Armon, D., 2019. Quality management challenges in a dynamic reality of
mergers, acquisitions and global expansion. International Journal of Quality &
Reliability Management.
Isaksson, R., 2019. A proposed preliminary maturity grid for assessing sustainability reporting
based on quality management principles. The TQM Journal, 31(3), pp.451-466.
Jemai, J., Do Chung, B. and Sarkar, B., 2020. Environmental effect for a complex green supply-
chain management to control waste: A sustainable approach. Journal of cleaner
production, 277, p.122919.
Sarkar, M. and Seo, Y.W., 2021. Renewable energy supply chain management with flexibility
and automation in a production system. Journal of Cleaner Production, 324, p.129149.
Tortorella, G.L., Narayanamurthy, G. and Cauchick-Miguel, P.A., 2021. Operations
Management teaching practices and information technologies adoption in emerging
economies during COVID-19 outbreak. Technological Forecasting and Social Change,
171, p.120996.