SWOT and PESTLE Analysis of Sports Direct International PLC

This report comprises of SWOT, pestle analysis, strength, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, Goleman's leadership style and Corporate Social Responsibility for Sports Direct International PLC.

Context of Business
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
Perform a SWOT and PESTLE analysis for chosen business....................................................3
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Business context refers to understanding of the factors that effect business in different
sectors, furthermore it also tells about how decisions in business are executed and ultimately for
what aim it is directing towards. This can be a single business or a huge business community or a
specialized project( i.e. an initiative) (Cagin and Senvar, 2022). In this report there is in depth
information given on Sports Direct International PLC, headquartered in Shirebrook, England. Its
founder is Mike Ashley. It is owned by Frasers Group, is a UK based retailing intellectual
property company. It sells their products online and have some physical outlets of textile, sports
equipment, footwear, cosmetics and electronics. It is the largest sports goods retailing sector.
This company's operations are usually in low margins. It's gross profit was found to be £1.53
billion. This report comprises of SWOT, pestle analysis, strength, weaknesses, opportunities,
threats, Goleman's leadership style and Corporate Social Responsibility.
MAIN BODY
Perform a SWOT and PESTLE analysis for chosen business.
Strength Weakness
 It is the biggest retailing enterprise in
sports goods all over UK , the strategies
used by the organisation attracts
premium customers as they are
experienced.
 This company has partnership with
some brands for instances Puma, Nike,
Adidas and Under Armour, so they help
in approaching more customers and
they are strengthened in multi
channelled elevation strategy for
making more customers.
 This is a well known company spread
over countries like UK, Europe and
 Some weaknesses for which the
company need to be attentive are that
stores are not diversified so they should
expand for increasing the brand's
awareness somehow.
 They are underpaying for employees
that's why they stay temporarily.
 The weak part for the company goes
eventually in hiring workers, once UK
government identified that 260 workers
were unpaid even the minimum wage.
 The weak part for the company goes
eventually in hiring workers, once UK
government identified that 260 workers

America. The retail group has taken an
approximate revenue of £2,203.3
million for FY20 which has been grew
for about 23.6% from the previous
year. It is committed for enlarging its
premium segment in sportswear,
fashion and lifestyles. It reaches out to
the competitive pricing as the other
brands are also struggling in the matter
of price, meanwhile this company has
lowered its margins so as to make more
customers.
were unpaid even the minimum wage.
 It leads to an embarrassing situation for
the company. The company has been
criticised for an ill-mannered and poor
working situations for example the
company got caught in mistreating
workers.
 Their workers were penalised for
having short intervals, for just drinking
water or for sick leaves. These things
need to be improved within the internal
part of the organisation (Long and
Young, 2022).
Opportunity Threat
 Opportunity for Sports Direct is the
elevation in its stores for experienced
customers as they notice the strengths
of them. They increase health
precautions for rising sports market's
exponential growth.
 The organisation has captured U.S.
Market since 2017, Republic of Ireland,
Malaysia and many countries in Europe
so this brings an opportunity for them
to perform in geographical areas.
 Threats observable for them are some
fierce competing companies which
have already captured the market more
than this organisation and those
companies are Amazon, H&M, Foot
Locker, Hibbett Sports, ASOS and
Gensco.
 A big threat found for the company is
that ultimately production cycle will
degrade if the costs are becoming
higher. Brexit caused an impact in the
country's economical disruption as well
as to the sports industry eventually.
Pestle analysis
Pestle analysis for Sports Direct is mentioned thereon.

 Political – These factors in an industry can be change in government's policies and
international relations (Beausoleil, 2022). In political manner during Brexit there was no
certainty for the business environment to be challenging. The recent Covid-19 outbreak
has definitely hit the export policies of this company.
 Economical – They indicate the deflation, inflation, GDP and sales growth.
Economically the company was on a downgraded margins and sales because of Covid-
19. The financial rates got fluctuated and thus impacted the financial condition of the
company.
 Social factors – They are about behaviours, culture, demographics, population and the
social trends. In the social perspective for company the people already become health
conscious and concentrate on their fitness level according to the trends in public that lead
to a steering growth for the organisation in the sports sector.
 Technological factor – It comprises of updating technologies in stores for smart work
and saving time. This includes online payment facilities and pin pads in the country.
 Legal factor - It usually represents the governmental laws, company policies and
business laws. The unlawfulness in underpayment of temporary workers lead to
decreased workforce.
 Environmental factor - It indicate about global and ecological changes. There were
major initiatives taken on decreasing the harm caused to internal environmental that were
to provide sustainable goods and an automatic decrement of carbon footprint among the
individuals buying their products. This organisation focused on partnership with The
Woodland Trust. Sports Direct as they are keen to recycle their product. Furthermore,
they provide bags and other products which are 85% recycled. Nearly of 88% waste is
recycled which improves are environment. They contributed in ethical and sustainable
products by reducing 24% of CO2 per wetsuit and 26% of carbon footprints (Marjerison
and Pan, 2022).
The way Pestle factors has influenced the opportunities and threats of the business are
that if trading regulations and tariffs changes that are interlinked to consumer services will be an
opportunity to the company in terms of price in the domestic goods rather than the same products
which are imported, hence they increase revenue for the government (Sobhanallahi, Mohamadi

Janaki and Arshadi Khamseh, 2022). Much more than this opportunities for the firm have been
in political stability only when got normalised after Brexit, the China imports goods from
America imposing tariffs however UK doesn't apply these conditions. In international trade the
company has a set of qualification levels for hiring an employee that do enough . The company
examines beliefs, attitudes, traditions, culture and choices to make a suitable design of the retail
sector. The technologies used in firm are heavily advanced as UK has been a developed nation to
adopt techniques so that the customers can shop online for 24*7 and also the staff executes their
work on time in an efficient way. The number of world wide customers attract and prefer to go
for an online shopping despite for in stores. There is no cost of transport and time involved in
this is so less which gives an opportunity on an online basis. The threats that exist for Sports
Direct PLC is more of an inflation in economy which can't be known by the company whenever
its costs are increased thereby their profit reflected will be decreased anyhow. The company may
suffer by an economical threat during those fluctuating times and can become bankrupt and
financially unstable (Subanidja, Sorongan and Legowo, 2022). The company if focus on
unemployment rates in the form of help to the host countries which would moreover affect the
business skills as the labour hired have less skills and qualities. In international trading when
company hires among high employment rate that would affect risk of workforce quantity. The
skills of older generation isn't qualitative that would definitely decrease the ability of the
company. The business may not operate in the countries which can get any type of uncertainty
and loss in result. There are different laws of various countries which are unknown and sometime
can't be followed by the company hence the company won't allow or accept the deals which
would be a geographical loss accordingly. This firm follows employment law when they operate
in host countries if they fail in this, then they might exploit their goodwill which would have an
adverse effect in market, sponsors and partners. Sometimes the countries which are prone to
disasters will be a downgrade to the overall firm's profitability. For an instance the earthquakes
commonly happen in America and Central America which is prone to volcanic eruption not only
disrupts the industry but also to the people's lifestyles and infrastructure in which the stores are
of no use. However in north there is a condition of flood chances as the level of water is high.
The company operates among host countries according to the climate and weather so that it
doesn't have to surge in revenue. This is how the organisation addresses strengths to negate
their threats and weaknesses affecting their opportunities in the way that there is that Sports

Direct has been entering into new developed countries and succeeding in competition among the
new entrants. They have been diversifying and expanding which leads to revenue generation.
This reflects their strength in performance (Aityan, 2022). They company has much updated
built-n technologies which helps in mergers and acquisition, thus builds reliability in supply
chain. They hire people who are intelligent, skilled, have done training and learning programs,
results the firm to be motivated and achieve more. It has a strong dealer community of
distributors and dealers who promotes in products and invest in sales training to extract the
meaning of their product's maximum benefit. The customer relationship has risen the customer
satisfaction level among the loyal and potential customers. Capital expenditure of the firm gets
high returns by the proceedings of new projects. Automated technology has brought the firm to
meet the demanding situation in market. More and more cash flow also provides quantity and
quality of resources to be a leader in the market and extent their new projects in other countries.
There are 6 Goleman's Leadership styles that tells that being a leader is always better
than being a boss. The head should possess the skills to understand and acquire about these
styles. The coercive leadership style is commonly also known as “directive” or “commanding”
emotional leadership style (Adams-Robinson, 2022). It represents when a leader assigns work to
the employee and they must perform it without any doubts. It is used often for short time period.
It should be adopted when they want to sort a problem urgently and effectively. It could be used
in a fast company transformation in which there is no discussion time left or also because of
specific rules and regulations must be considered in the next steps. Authoritative leadership style
is commonly referred to visionary leadership style. It is very motivative for the workers as
somehow it energises them to contribute the organisation towards achieving goals. The team
leaders are inspired as they have enough contributions in their field with work experience and
find themselves very expertise. They show empathy to their workers as they know how to handle
their various kind of emotions. It is most utilized when a company is changing its path on how
they are working or when they have changed their goal (Mustansir, Shahzad and Malik, 2022).
The affiliative leadership style is used when a company is in wrong ambiance. The leader solved
the problematic conflicts among the employees by consideration of collaborating them. They aim
for realising value to the workers and make them feel as an essential part of the firm. In its
drawback the workers don't receive any actionable suggestions and corrections and thus the

workers got confused and aimless. The democratic leadership style is also referred to
participative leadership. It explains that every team members have some valued thoughts to
which heads pay attention and time. The workplace is much acceptable, collaborative and
flexible, but that is offered in a price and involves meetings to have a discussion among
everyone's point of views, ideas and opinions so the leaders can be dependable on the staff's
expertise. It is utilized when any proactive steps are measured for decision. Urgent steps are
taken in this style as the necessary information is known already that helps in influence leaders to
adopt the decision choice. Pacesetting leadership style leads the members to offer the quality of
assigned work as desired by the leaders, as they want them to work independently and provide
the status of their part of work frequently (Kumar, 2022). They generally work in great
competency with their team and motivate their group to fight the competition against the team.
However this may lead to stressful situations for them as they couldn't manage their work on
time. This is best suitable for a heavily encouraged and engaged group. The coaching leadership
style is understandable through its name itself, it says that a leader need to test strength and
weaknesses of the workers to improve skills and motivate them. It is much concerned in the long
term goals of the company and also the workers contribute for the company's goal. They develop
them personally despite just completing quotas or sales target. They focus separately on their
employees who are willing to change for their own betterments. It is most useful in improving
weaknesses so that the team builds more competent. Leaders should keep interacting with the
staff so they could contribute to help and develop the members (Schinzel, 2022). In context to
Sports Direct PLC it is recommended the transformational leadership should be applied since
the start of 2021 so that it could survive the changes of business environment. The leaders
convert their personal values of the organisation's followers to grow the vision and goals of the
company. It also provides as environment in which relationships are supported and trusts are
formed in that visions can be given. Idealised influence is a charismatic thing of this leadership
style as if the leaders have to be their role models who should be inspiring, admirable, respected
by the followers. Inspirational motivation is a quality found in those leaders which gives
challenge and meaning to the work of followers. There is an intellectual stimulation for efforts of
followers that should be creative and innovative by the ways of assumption questioning, reframe
the issues and adopting previous situations in somehow new techniques (Hu and Kee, 2022). The
leaders give special attention to the followers personally contributed to provide the need of

followers for the growth and achievement of them as well as to the organisation. Now workers
are provided intervals for toilet and drinking water, also they can chat anytime and even they can
acquire sick leaves. The top management neglects to rise the level of productivity by investing
into heavy technologies.
Corporate Social Responsibilities is known as an independent business model which
concerns an organisation to be socially accountable to themselves, stakeholders and the other
people. Thi8s belongs to the terms of practices and policies followed in corporates that
influences the society positively (Mattingly and McBrayer, 2022). It is commonly renamed as
corporate citizenship, so the firms could have related to the economical, social and
environmental aspects in society. CSR enhances brand image of an organisation and the society.
It is the most efficient way to increase the morale of workplace. The companies have to put
efforts in its functions rather than to downgrade the environment and society. When a company
is socially accountable, it priorly needs to be responsible towards itself and their shareholders.
This brings the company to the heights of achievement and success so as they react by giving
back to the society (Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),2021 [online]). In context to Sports
Direct company there are diversified corporate social responsibilities which aim to get
partnership with other sports company so that to launch any independent charity project or events
to meet the requirements of CSR objectives. These objectives which a sports company wants to
achieve are such that get the partnership with Adidas and other similar brands to sells the same
products as them and they want to organise a program of sports in which their aim is to get the
funds health and sports based products for the under privileged and younger ones. The company
would be interested in CSR initiative if it is growing in the terms of profit maximisation, as when
the CSR objectives rise then it will eventually the goodwill will also rise that attracts the
customers as well, building of the brand image in all over the world and the CSR initiative can
expand the scope of product expansion and business. The advantages of taking initiatives in
CSR in the field of sports brand are like sports being a attractive and re owned business. Their
objective must be collaborating with some sports events will automatically increase their
goodwill (Grainger, 2022). This sports brand can get the focus from customers globally and
media this will lead to the rise in turnover and profit maximization. There are lot of enthusiastic
customers among youngsters the partnership from other sports based brands will also increase

the participation of company in society's program for the reason of sociality. In the big programs
for instances Olympics and Fifa World Cup the company will sell their products. The way this
company promotes its product does enhance sustainability, environmental awareness and social
cohesion (Umiarso, 2022). It will clarify the followers of Sports Direct their Corporate Social
Responsibility by noticing their behaviour in social responsibilities in the sight of existing
customers and emerging market, therefore gives opportunity to extent awareness. Another
advantage is about diversified promotion and a level of understandability in cultural diversity
and society's social needs. In combination it is top grow social awareness and environment, so
the company will be gratified, satisfied, business related activities for fun which also promotes
responsibility in behaviour and rise in sales.
CONCLUSION
In concluding this report this is to be examined that there is a brief introduction is given
about a UK public company which is dealing in sports products, this report analyses a SWOT
and pestle about this firm then on the concern of the pestle their opportunities and threat are
related. Accordingly the strength of them negated on the basis of threats and weaknesses. This
report discusses the leadership style of Goleman's and an appropriate style is recommended to
them as per the changes of business environment since 2020 from the help of relevant literature.
At last the corporate social responsibilities of Sports Direct are mentioned using an evidence of
the research report which is referred there on. The report finishes at the and by concluding for the
aim of its making.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Online reference
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR),2021 [online] available through

<https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/corp-social-responsibility.asp>