Strategic Management: Evaluation and Strategic Plan for Marks & Spencer

This report evaluates the performance of Marks & Spencer, proposes a strategic plan using appropriate tools, and includes a reflection on the module. It highlights the competitive strengths, market position, and areas for improvement across the value chain. The strategic plan focuses on enhancing the digital presence and online sales of Marks & Spencer. The report also discusses the use of strategic models such as Ansoff Matrix and Porter's Generic Model.

Strategic Management
(Assessment 2)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
PART 1............................................................................................................................................3
A. Critically evaluate the performance of Marks & Spencer highlighting its competitive
strengths, market position and areas where improvement across the value chain may be
required.......................................................................................................................................3
B. Propose a strategic plan for Marks & Spencer using appropriate tools to explain and justify
the strategic choices....................................................................................................................4
PART 2............................................................................................................................................8
Reflection upon the module........................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Strategic management is a process for keeping the company's administration effective in
order to attain all organisational goals and agendas. The process involved in Strategic
management is simple where the company take stock on their present strategies and situation,
develop blue print of new strategies, implement them and then make dissects for its effectiveness
on the organisation (Ansoff and et. al., 2018). The present report is developed upon Marks &
Spencer a retail chain which is operating through United Kingdom and has its presence in the
world. The assignment involves the evaluation and analysis of performances of Marks & Spencer
for highlighting and enlightening its competitive strengths, moving along the market position of
the organisation is identified and examined too. Moreover, a strategic plan is proposed in the
next section of the report and lastly, a reflection on the whole module is presented.
PART 1
A. Critically evaluate the performance of Marks & Spencer highlighting its competitive
strengths, market position and areas where improvement across the value chain may be
required.
Marks & Spencer is a retail organisation which is flourishing its operations and business
in separate parts of the world by keeping focus on making itself accessible and available to all
the potential buyers and customers around the globe. The company deals in the retail sector
holding number of advantages and power over others which are supported and constitutes by its
strengths. Thus, the evaluation of competitive strengths and market position of Marks & Spencer
is presented below:
COMPETITIVE STRENGTH:
Marks & Spencer is a deals in retail industry offering clothings, home ware and
accessories to customers for all men, women and kids. The company offers goods in its own
brand name and stay less in contact with external suppliers. The term competitive strength refers
to the capabilities and competencies developed by the organisation over the period of time while
operating in the competitive market. The competitive edge and strength of Marks & Spencer is
its unique product offering and regularly developing innovative styles according to the fashion
industry.

In simpler works, Marks & Spencer is a brand which offers unique value to customer by
its upgraded and uplifted innovative designs of clothings for all men, women and kids. Also, the
company do offer a huge value to its customers by rendering the best quality services and
shopping experiences. In case of increasing profit margins and organisational productivity the
company holds the strength of cost cutting by bringing feasibility and consistency within the
operations which offers lowered costs, leading to lowered prices and making the firm cost
effective (Lasserre, 2017).
MARKET POSITION:
Marks & Spencer is a strong and effective brand with strategies and approaches like
which offers it the unique value in regards to functioning and operations. The same strategies and
approaches enable the company Marks & Spencer to develop its position in the market place and
work in a manner to keep the functions going on as planned and as strongly as possible (Engert,
Rauter and Baumgartner, 2016). In present the market position of Marks & Spencer is of the
leading organisation in terms of sales and profitability in regards to the industry it deals. But in
past decades the company lost its power and competitive position and now it is in threat to lose
its highest position to Primark.
B. Propose a strategic plan for Marks & Spencer using appropriate tools to explain and justify
the strategic choices.
Strategic planning process involves planning and administrating the vision, mission and
values of the company which will help in achieving the long term goals of the company. An
effective strategic plan and planning plays a key role in growth and development of organisations
(Wheelen and et. al., 2017). In regards to Marks & Spencer, the company is suffering and on
verge of losing its leading position in the market. Hence, Marks & Spencer is focusing on
enhancing its digital presence and diverting its lost sales to online sales with the help of change
management across the group. In terms of this Marks & Spencer the strategic plan is as follows:
VISION:
A vision statement of an entity helps working in goal congruence and harmony. It comes
from within as well as form the external environment of the organisation. The values of Marks &
Spencer vision is to be the standard against which others are measured that is to become a
Benchmark.
MISSION:

The mission statement of Marks & Spencer states that company is highly focused on
rendering the best to customers and to make inspirational quality accessible to others.
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES:
 To increase and enhance its sales percentage by 10% in next 6 months.
 To increase the customer base by 15% in the next one year and by 20% in coming 6
months.
 To improve the profit digits and by 20% increment in the next 18 months.
STRATEGIC MODELS FOR THE COMPANY:
In regards to the strategical and model and performance evaluation the company Marks &
Spencer can make use of number of models and approaches. Some of these models which can be
used in regards with strategical analysis of Marks & Spencer and its performance are Ansoff
Matrix and Porter's Generic model (Rothaermel, 2016).
Ansoff Matrix:
The Ansoff matrix is a framework showcasing four strategies which the company can and
should apply in regards with making strategical move with the changing environment and times.
The strategies of the model are as follows and elaborated below:
Illustration 1: ANSOFF Matrix Strategy, 2020
(Source: ANSOFF Matrix Strategy, 2020)

 Market Penetration strategy suggest the company that is Marks & Spencer to move its
focus on increasing sales units of the entity by offering its existing offering in existing
market but with strong processes and better marketing actions.
 Market Development strategy states a recommendation to Marks & Spencer for keeping
its offerings same but move to new market with them in order to develop a new customer
base.
 Product Development strategy enable the entity to make use of innovative approaches
and resources to develop new goods and services and address needs and requirements of
customers in a unique manner and adds value to their shopping experiences (Schilling
and Shankar, 2019).
 Diversification is the last strategy by which states that Marks & Spencer should
innovate and enter an entirely new market where Marks & Spencer will be presenting
new goods to potential buyers with addressing their unique needs.
In accordance to the objectives of Marks & Spencer the company needs to have
improvement in its sales for maintaining its leading position. Thus, Marks & Spencer will be
benefited by using marketing penetration strategy for keeping the existing customer base loyal to
the brand and increase their sales with better product and service offerings in regards with the
new marketing strategies.
Porters Generic Model:
 Bargaining power of suppliers is a force which is low in regards to Marks & Spencer as
the company is self dependent. Marks & Spencer make offering available to customer
under its own brand name rather than depending upon any suppliers and external parties
(Trigeorgis and Reuer, 2017).
 Bargaining power of customers is a force which is moderate over Marks & Spencer as
the company is dependent upon its sales and profitability which is offered by the
customers of the brand by making purchases and their loyalty towards the association.
 Threat of new entrants is a moderate force over Marks & Spencer as the size and
position of the brand is huge. Thus, new entrants needs a lot of time, money and expertise
to reach to the level of Marks & Spencer.

 Threat of substitutes is low as the company beholds the strategy of continuously
innovating and developing which results in offering goods which are required by people
without losing the buyers.
 Existing rivalry hold a high force over Marks & Spencer as it is evident that the
company is losing its competitive position and leading towards downfall and being
replaced by Primark (Meyer, Neck and Meeks, 2017). Thus the force of existing rivals is
high and huge in regards to Marks & Spencer.
ACTION PLAN:
Budget is a tool which is used within the organisation and by the management for
keeping the balance in spending and utilisation of resources of the company. A budget is a
strategy which helps in the purpose of allocation of resources and funds of the company
efficiently. In order to use Budgets as a strategy the company focuses on preparation of budget to
avoid wastage of capital and other financial resources. In order to enhancing their online services
Marks & Spencer is using the following budget to ensure the accurate use of resources and funds
of the company (Makadok, Burton and Barney, 2018).
Particulars (£) Amount
Marketing 4500
Human resources 11000
Technological advancements 24500
Raw materials 39000
TOTAL 79000
CONTROLLING AND MONITORING:
The processes and actions within the company needs to be evaluated, thus a important
aspects for the company is to control and monitor the resources and funds of the company to
ensure the effectiveness and maintain its position as a benchmark. In regards to monitor and
control the performances and processes within Marks & Spencer the management can make use
of KPI's to do so. These are known as Key Performance Indicators those elements which
showcases the targets which are needed to be achieved in order to accomplish the goals
determined and values required by the firm (Velikorossov and et. al., 2020).

PART 2
Reflection upon the module.
In the mean time while I was undertaking this module I learnt numerous aspects about the
working environment of the industry in which the respective organisation that is Marks &
Spencer is operating and dealing I got to know and learnt about the strategic viewpoint of the
entity and how a Marks & Spencer have implements the strategy to maintain the
competitiveness. Moving further in the assessment I also understood the ways and processes by
which Marks & Spencer is meeting their targets by achieving of being in a position to become a
benchmark by making the most effective use of resources available to the brand. With this I also,
developed an understanding about the most common ways to make the best use of available
resources in the most productive and efficient manner.
Through this modules I also received an understanding and information about the
policies and procedures by which Marks & Spencer maintains their profitability level and their
strategies in regards to customers retention. I learnt about the concept of strategic planning and
how a organisation can channel their information and processes of different departments in a way
to make sure of all the objectives are attained and achieved effectively. By completing this
module, my personal skills also gets developed and I have analysed the progress of different
sectors in the industry. Not only my professional understanding is improved through the module
my personal understandings about the ways in which business takes place and number of tasks
are performed is also gathered.
CONCLUSION
The above report concludes on the advantages and value offered by strategic management
and planning process to business. In the assignment the evaluation is conducted on number of
factors such as identifying the competitive strengths of the business and determining its position
in order to make changes and upgrading the strategies. Moving along a plan is proposed to the
business in concern with increasing online sales of the organisation and compensating for the
loss made by it in sales units through physician store. Lastly, in the assignment a reflection is
presented in relation to learnings and development with completing the module and the
assessments.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ansoff, H. I. and et. al., 2018. Implanting strategic management. Springer.
Engert, S., Rauter, R. and Baumgartner, R. J., 2016. Exploring the integration of corporate
sustainability into strategic management: a literature review. Journal of cleaner
production, 112, pp.2833-2850.
Lasserre, P., 2017. Global strategic management. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Makadok, R., Burton, R. and Barney, J., 2018. A practical guide for making theory contributions
in strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 39(6), pp.1530-1545.
Meyer, G. D., Neck, H. M. and Meeks, M. D., 2017. The entrepreneurship‐strategic management
interface. Strategic entrepreneurship: Creating a new mindset, pp.17-44.
Rothaermel, F. T., 2016. Strategic management: concepts (Vol. 2). McGraw-Hill Education.
Schilling, M. A. and Shankar, R., 2019. Strategic management of technological innovation.
McGraw-Hill Education.
Trigeorgis, L. and Reuer, J. J., 2017. Real options theory in strategic management. Strategic
Management Journal, 38(1), pp.42-63.
Velikorossov, V. V. and et. al., 2020. Strategic management.
Wheelen, T. L. and et. al., 2017. Strategic management and business policy (p. 55). Boston, MA:
pearson.