Corporate strategy issue faced by organisation in operating as “Digital First” retailer. A study on Marks and Spencer

REPORT

Table of Contents
TITLE .............................................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
To acquire the knowledge about corporate strategy issue..........................................................3
Challenge faced in operating as “Digital First” retailer in industry............................................3
To study difference in working of Marks and Spencer due to digital platform..........................4
Recommend some ways through which operations can be improved with use of digital
techniques....................................................................................................................................5
DISCUSSION OF THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RESERACH ......................................7
CRITICAL REVIEW OF RESULTS ...........................................................................................11
RECOMMENDATION AND ACTION PLAN ...........................................................................21
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................22
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................23
.......................................................................................................................................................23
APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................24

TITLE
Corporate strategy issue faced by organisation in operating as “Digital First” retailer. A
study on Marks and Spencer.
INTRODUCTION
Background of the topic
Corporate strategy encompasses an organisation's corporate actions with the purpose to
attain company objectives and goals while accomplishing a competitive benefit. For this project
M&S is a chosen organisation that faced issue in operating Digital-first retail. It is a main issue
that arise due to improper utilisation of corporate strategy. This issue negatively impact on
business sales and also on growth (Khan, Serafeim and Yoon, 2016). Along with this, there are
number of challenges which is faced by company in becoming Digital-first Retailer such as
reduction in sales, internet trafficking etc. There is over 1 million retail establishments’
crossways the United States, and retail sales have grown around 4% annually since 2010.
Therefore proper utilisation of corporate strategy is important and essential for the success and
growth of M&S.
Research aim
To investigation about the corporate strategy issue faced by organisation in operating as
“Digital First” retailer. A study on Marks and Spencer.
Research objectives
 To acquire the knowledge about corporate strategy issue.
 To determine the challenge faced in operating as “Digital First” retailer in industry.
 To study difference in working of Marks and Spencer due to digital platform. Recommend some ways through which operations can be improved with use of digital
techniques.
Research Questions
 What do you understand about corporate strategy issue?
 What are the challenge faced in operating as “Digital First” retailer in industry?
 What is the difference in working of Marks and Spencer due to digital platform?
 Mention some ways through which operations can be improved with use of digital
techniques?
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Problem statement
One of the main problem that are faced by M&S such as operating of Digital-first in their
organisation. This is a main issue that negatively and directly impact on business sales and
development. There are certain reasons for increasing this issue in the organisation such as
supply chain issue, inadequate technological competencies and underperformance in clothing
and home. These are biggest reasons that impact on company while operating Digital-first. To
operating business in Digital First, Marks & Spencer face issues in declining market, this
underperformed in home and clothing where the revenue was reduced by 7.8% by 5.5% on like
for the like basis (Rahman, Rodríguez-Serrano and Lambkin, 2017). This company experienced
the availability challenges across sales channels as result of issues of supply chain. Other than
this, there are some structural issues faced by Marks & Spencer to address and taking the steps to
fixing these.
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LITERATURE REVIEW
It is a review of article and it scholarly paper that contains current knowledge including
analytical findings as well as theoretical contribution to a particular subject field. The purpose of
conducting the literature review for gaining positive understanding of the existing research and
debates relevant to the particular field of study. To collect information in this area, secondary
sources of data collection will be used with different sources such as articles, books, internet and
many others.
To acquire the knowledge about corporate strategy issue
On the basis of Vicki A. Benge (2019) Corporate strategy refers to corporate actions of
company with a goal to attain organisational objectives while accomplishing competitive benefit.
It entails clearly defined and the long term vision that set organisation, motivate workforce and
develop corporate value to execute actions effectively to attain customer satisfaction. Corporate
strategy is continuous process that needs efforts to engage the investors in trusting an
organisation with money to enhancing organisational equality. Organizations which manage in
providing unfailing consumer satisfaction are those that periodically review their corporate
strategy to strengthen areas that may not produce the expected outcomes. Corporate strategy is
the organization's highest strategic plan that determines the overall organizational priorities and
objectives, and how strategic management tasks are to be accomplished. Other than this,
Corporate strategy uses the portfolio approach to making strategic decisions through looking
across business to identify how to develop value.
When developing the strategies to carried out the regular activities, administrators will be
able to understand and evaluate improvements quickly. If the business operations are not
conducted properly in a specified format, instead issues arise and priorities and objectives are not
set. There will also be effect on the business operations with modifications in business policies
and strategies. In regards to this, there is more change in the business operations because
employees are not take initiatives in a proper manner. For managing the issues, it is necessary for
the management for focus on develop effective policies.
Challenge faced in operating as “Digital First” retailer in industry
On the basis of Elly Yates-Roberts (2015), Marks & Spencer is sparking digital first retail
experience. It is working with the Microsoft to adopt and execute latest technology and also
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become digital first business. In context to Digital First Strategy, consumers want to be purchase
from brands which understand them. The brands which strive to be learn regarding preferences
and lack of the data first strategy makes it near impossible. In this, capitalise on information
gathered by application visits and websites help in develop personalised marketing. Marks &
Spencer company is making the efforts to use AI. British homeware, food retailer and clothing is
executing Microsoft technology for an instance computer vision and machine learning across the
touchpoints. Under this, there are some issues faced by Marks & Spencer in operating as Digital
First. Due to changes in online trading, major issues faced are decline in revenue. Despite shifts
in online activities, customers face shopping problem due to website trafficking. When people
are unable to give a proper response using the site, then in this case there are some possibilities
that could switch to another brands.
To study difference in working of Marks and Spencer due to digital platform
On the basis of Ben Sillitoe (2020) this has been stated that Marks & Spencer company is
gearing for the digital first future with appointment of first data officer and chief digital. Due to
the digital platform, there are some differences in working of the Marks & Spencer. In regards to
digital transform, there will also be an effect on the operational efficiency of the work force with
shifts in business activities. When business activities change, company have to identify the
policies with which to enforce them easily. Training and development sessions are also required
for Marks and Spencer employees so that they can come up with new innovation. Other than this,
Operations can be done efficiently and effectively because managers are able to communicate
with staff regularly and acquire knowledge about what consumer demand is. On the other hand,
Marks & Spencer company bridges gap among new and old IT with the hybrid cloud strategy. It
has launched innovative digital services such as chatbot and “Try Tuesday” because this is
personal styling service for consumers to have the clothing hand-picked. This company is
gearing for digital first future with appointment of the first chief data officer. Through
implementing the digital first, market share of Marks & Spencer company grows, change in the
digital behaviour, culture and mindset. In relation to this, online revenue of this company for 26
weeks to enhanced by 0.2%. This attributes sluggish performance to the problems with proper
availability as well as product mix in online market. On the basis of Marks & Spencer that traffic
to website at the time of period grew through 8% per year, reflecting the strong development in
the mobile traffic. The main change that arise after implementing digital first is focus on
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