SWOT Analysis & Operational Impact Analysis

You can use a SWOT analysis to determine the advantages, threats, and weaknesses of your company. It directs you to enhance your strengths, fill in your weaknesses, take advantage of fresh opportunities, and reduce risks. Before deciding on a new strategy, perform a SWOT Analysis to evaluate your organization's position.

GLOBAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
BM461
NATALIA MARTA
CZYZ
BNU: 22022322
LECTURER: Dr Muddasir
CW2: SWOT Analysis & Operational
Impact Analysis
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1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This report includes a SWOT analysis of internal and external factors on the UK
retail company Mark and Spencer, as well as an operational impact analysis of
SWOT selected drivers on departments such as Marketing and Finance and
concludes with a conclusion. Throughout this report, the secondary research method
has been used.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:......................................................................................2
2. INTRODUCTION:..................................................................................................4
3. SWOT ANALYSIS OF MARK AND SPENCER:..................................................5
3A. STRENTGHS:....................................................................................................5
3B. WEAKNESSES:................................................................................................5
3C. OPPORTUNITIES:.............................................................................................6
3D. THREATHS:.......................................................................................................6
4. OPERATIONAL IMPACT ANALYSIS ON MARKETING AND FINANCE:..........7
4.A MARKETING......................................................................................................7
4.B FINANCE............................................................................................................7
5. CONCLUSION:......................................................................................................8
6. REFERENCES:.....................................................................................................9
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2. INTRODUCTION:
The purpose of this report is to demonstrate SWOT analysis along with
Operational Impact Analysis on well-known British retail brand such as Mark and
Spencer. The company has been founded in 1884, by Michael Marks and
Thomas Spencer. Marks and Spencer's main products include home goods, food,
and edible items, and clothing. The company sells its own brand of products. The
brand has over 1,509 stores and over 100 websites worldwide. (M&S, 2021).
M&S is a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange.
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3. SWOT ANALYSIS OF MARK AND SPENCER:
SWOT analyse is planning tool that attempt to identify the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a project or organization.
Organizations use it to align their goals, programs, and capabilities to the
environments in which they operate. (CIPD, 2020).
3A. STRENTGHS:
 M&S is a well-established company that has formed numerous significant
partnerships all over the world over the years. A wealth of experience is a
tremendous asset to the company. (Marketing Tutor, 2020).
 The company has earned a well-deserved market reputation for delivering
high-quality products to its customers. The result is that people choose to go
shopping at Marks & Spencer when walking in the streets of the United
Kingdom. (Shaw, 2021).
 Product portfolio of M&S is very impressive which includes food, homeware,
clothes, and also financial services (Mark and Spencer,2021).
3B. WEAKNESSES:
 Public perception is one of M&S's weaknesses; the general public believes
that the company does not sell clothing to children and teenagers. The
company is often mistakenly seen as only catering to the elderly.
(HowandWhat.net, 2018).
 Inadequate supply chain, which causes delays in delivery and, as a result,
a loss of customer base.
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 One of Marks & Spencer's major disadvantages is that the company relies
heavily on manual operations. It is expensive and time-consuming (Marketing
Tutor, 2020).
.
3C. OPPORTUNITIES:
 A key opportunity for Marks & Spencer is global expansion. Among the
countries where the company has opened stores are Indonesia, Russia,
Poland, Brazil, and India. To succeed in these countries, the brand should
open more and more branches there. (M&S International, 2021)
 Introducing new technologies into their manufacturing sector can be cost-
effective while also increasing customer satisfaction.
 The company would benefit from a customer segmentation policy in a variety
of ways. Smaller stores, for example, imply lower management and
maintenance costs, but also lower rental rates, resulting in an increase in
profit. (Fern Fort University, 2021).
3D. THREATHS:
 Competition rivalry within the UK’s and worldwide retail market is very high.
 Liability laws vary by country, and Marks & Spencer may be subject to a
variety of liability claims if policies in those markets change (Marketing91,
2018).
 Post-Brexit trade policies changes and instability might cause extra cost for
the company along with supply-chain issues.
 The current unstable global pandemic situation may result in additional losses
for the company and have a significant impact on the future.
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4. OPERATIONAL IMPACT ANALYSIS ON MARKETING AND
FINANCE:
4.A MARKETING
Based on conducted SWOT analysis the internal drivers have a significant impact on
Marketing operational in Mark and Spencer. Perfectly recognized brand image and
well-established selection of the products available for costumer is a strong benefit of
M&S, in this areas Marketing strategy has been beneficial for the company, however,
the company must improve their perception of the public view on the company as, is
seen as old-fashioned mostly available for older generations, which cost company
potential young costumers. Furthermore, constant growing of the company all over
the world impact is on costumer segmentation which M&S needs to consider along
with pricing strategy, as retails business has grown over the years, and is consider
as very competitive market, therefore is very important to be competitive among the
others.
4.B FINANCE
Finance is a second operational department which has important role within the
business organisation. In current situation with Brexit and COVID-19 pandemic all
businesses have been impacted financially, reason for that is instable situation on
the market, constantly changing trades policies, for instance M&S has its first ever
annual loss, and sales were down about 53% (BBC News, 2020). As a well-known
and successful company Mark and Spencer is the brand with other labels would like
to work, therefore M&S start partnership with Ocado which turns out to be excellent
decision as it brings 43.7% revenue growth. (MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC
FULL YEAR RESULTS FOR 53 WEEKS ENDED 3 APRIL 2021). In addition,
investment in new technologies, especially in the manufacturing department could
bring long last profit to the company, as M&S is currently mainly operating in manual
processes it is cost company more money.
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5. CONCLUSION:
Following a detailed examination of Marks and Spencer's SWOT analysis, it has
been determined that the company is very strong and has a good reputation for
providing high-quality products. Competitors, on the other hand, are a real threat.
As a result, closing stores isn't the answer. Global presence of the company seek
for improvement Company needs to invest funds in technology and build up a
strong e-commerce side. The management should segment the customers and
continue to improve marketing strategies. Moreover, Mark and Spencer need to
focus to adapt their company culture with ongoing customer behavioural changes
along with awareness of younger generations, as this is the future. Marks and
Spencer is the largest retailer in the United Kingdom. However, some of the
challenges include contentious positions, competitors, rising costs, and declining
sales. Marks and Spencer should make use of its resources to address these
concerns.
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6. REFERENCES:
BBC News (2020). M&S suffers first loss in 94 years as clothing slumps. BBC News.
[online] 4 Nov. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54807247.
[Accessed 19 Dec. 2021].
chris-newlands (2021). Marks & Spencer to shut 30 stores as pandemic forces
retailer into multi-million-pound losses. [online] inews.co.uk. Available at:
https://inews.co.uk/news/marks-spencer-shut-30-stores-pandemic-multi-million-
pound-losses-1020015. [Accessed 19 Dec. 2021].
CIPD (2020). SWOT Analysis | Factsheets. [online] CIPD. Available at:
https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/strategy/organisational-development/swot-
analysis-factsheet#gref. [Accessed 19 Dec. 2021].
Dac Teoli and An, J. (2019). SWOT Analysis. [online] Nih.gov. Available at:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537302/. [Accessed 19 Dec. 2021].
Fern Fort University. (2021) Marks & Spencer SWOT Analysis Matrix [step by step]
Weighted SWOT. [online] Available at:
http://fernfortuniversity.com/term-papers/swot/1433/1247-marks---spencer.php.
[Accessed 18 Dec 2021].
M&S (2018). About Us. [online] About Us. Available at:
https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus. [ Accessed 19 Dec. 2021].
M&S International. (2021). M&S International. [online] Available at:
https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/aboutus/mands-international. [Accessed 19
Dec. 2021].
Marketing91 (2018). SWOT analysis of Marks & Spencer - Marks & Spencer SWOT
analysis. [online] Marketing91. Available at: https://www.marketing91.com/swot-
analysis-of-marks-spencer/. [ Accessed 18 Dec. 2021].
MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC FULL YEAR RESULTS FOR 53 WEEKS
ENDED 3 APRIL 2021. MARKS AND SPENCER GROUP PLC FULL YEAR
RESULTS FOR 53 WEEKS ENDED 3 APRIL 2021. [online] Available at:
https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/media/press-releases/5ff7017fc6fe1bc26cb2
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1d12/marks-and-spencer-group-plc-full-year-results-for-52-weeks-ended-3-april-
2021. [Accessed 19 Dec. 2021].
Porter, M.E. (1980). Competitive Strategy : Techniques for Analysing Industries and
Competitors. New York: Free Press.
Prynn, J. (2021). Not just any loss, an M&S £200m loss as sales plunge during
pandemic. [online] www.standard.co.uk. Available at:
https://www.standard.co.uk/business/business-news/m-s-marks-spencer-200m-
pound-loss-sales-covid-pandemic-b937336.html [Accessed 19 Dec. 2021].
White, R.E. (1986). Generic business strategies, organizational context, and
performance: An empirical investigation. Strategic Management Journal, [online]
7(3), pp.217–231. Available at:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smj.4250070304.
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