SWOT Analysis of Marks and Spencer and Factors Impacting Functional Areas of the Organisation

This report covers the SWOT analysis of Marks and Spencer and the key driving factors impacting the functional areas of the organisation. It also discusses the impact of the global business environment on the decision making of the company. The report highlights the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the company. The key driving factors impacting the marketing and research and development departments of the company have also been discussed.

Global Business
Environment - CW2
Portfolio papers

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
SWOT analysis on Marks and Spencer:-....................................................................................3
The factors which impacts the functional areas of the organisation. ........................................5
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Global business environment may be define as the environment of different countries
with exogenous factor which has a huge impact on the decision making of an organisation and
resources of the company(Hrechyshkina and Samakhavets, 2019) . These forces not only affect
the working of those organisation who working at the national level but also affect the working
of firms who operate at the global level. The following report is based on Marks and Spencer
which is a multinational retail brand of UK. The company was founded in 1884 by Michael
Marks and Thomas Spencer and the headquarter of the company is situated in the London,
England, UK. The following report is going to cover the SWOT analysis on the Marks and
Spencer company and along with this, this report also cover the key driving factor which impact
on the functional areas of business.
TASK
SWOT analysis on Marks and Spencer:-
SWOT analysis may be define as an tool and technique which are used by the
organisation in order to identify their competitive position in the market and also help the firm in
developing the strategic planning. With the help of this analysis the organisation is able to
identify their internal strength and weaknesses and what types of opportunities and threat
available in the market. In context to the Marks and Spencer the SWOT analysis has been
discussed below:-
Strengths
 Goodwill:- as company has a good
image in the market and the M&S has a
good brand value all across the globe.
The products in which the company
deals especially in the clothing is very
modern and sophisticated(Hamilton and
Webster, 2018) . Due to their quality
product the consumer are vary much
sure about the company product.
Weaknesses
 Product availability:- The one of the
biggest problem which has been faced
by the respective company is
availability of the products in their
showroom. Due to this they are not
able to meet the need and demand of
the consumer on time. According to the
report of Wood 2019, decline on the
sales of the company has been seen

 Diversity:- Around 80000 employees
has work in the showrooms and offices
of the M&S company all across the
globe. The management of the
company not only encourage or
motivate their employees but also
provide equal opportunity to them so
that they can work hard and attain the
objectives of the company in a very
effective manner. Their is no gender
diversification and no discrimination
among the employees.
because of the poor supply chain.
 Customer Satisfaction:- Different
types of issues has been faced by the
company in relation to their return
policy, non availability of the goods,
bad staff behaviour and in store
experience. Due to this customer of the
M&S has not been fully satisfied, this
result in brand switching and
decreasing in the brand loyalty(Pikhart,
2017).
Opportunities
 Global Expansion:- As company has a
well known image all across the globe,
they have a good opportunity to expand
their business in the countries like
India, Poland, Russia, Brazil. As the
population of these countries is very
high which result in generating more
and more profit.
 E-commerce:- online shopping is
becoming the future of the business and
because of the busy schedule of people
they prefer online shopping. The
management of the company have to
think about to place their product in the
online market. The company recently
announced their clothing and home
product on online platform.
Threat
 Government Norms:- The rules and
regulation which are developed by the
government of the nation sometimes
are not in the favour of the company.
Increase in the tax rate from 5% to
12% not only result in decreasing the
sales but also decrease in the profit
margin of the company.
 Rivals:- Due to the globalization
immense competition has been faced
by the company at the international
level. Their biggest rivals of the
company are Uniqlo, Gap, Tommy
Hilfiger, Zara, and United Colors of
Benetton(Hampden-Turner,
Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner,
2020). It is very important for the
company to make changes in their

policies and program to stand in the
market for a long period of time.
The factors which impacts the functional areas of the organisation.
Marketing Department – This department of the company is responsible for spreading the
awareness of the company product in the market. The employees of the marketing department do
the market research and make a report which is helpful for the operational department of the
company. The key driving factor which affect the different department of the company has been
discussed below:-
 E commerce – in the present era most of the companies use the online methods in order
to provide their goods and services to their consumer. In context to the respective
company, the marketing department of the company majorly focus on making the
strategies according to the online market and along with this different social media
method has been used by the organisation in order to promote their goods in the online
platform (Ajmal, Helo and Kassem, 2017).
 Goodwill:- as the goodwill of the Marks and Spencer is very good in the market, so it
helps the company to expand their business in all over the globe in a very effective
manner. The helps the marketing department of the company for developing their
marketing campaigns in a very effective manner.
Research and development- This department of the company is responsible for making
changes in the the existing product and develop the new product according to the need and
demand of the customer.
 E commerce – with the help of online market the R&D department of the company
effectively understand the need and wants of the customer and evolve the company's
products according to the market.
 Goodwill:- as the respective company has a good image in the market so any changes
which have been made by the R&D department of the company is easily accept by the
consumer. Less efforts has to be made by the M&S in order to launch a new product in
the market.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that the environment of the different
countries directly affect the different activities of the business. This report concluded a SWOT
analysis of the M&S company and along with this, this report also concluded the key driving
factor like e-commerce and goodwill will affect the functioning of the different department of the
chosen company.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hrechyshkina, O. and Samakhavets, M., 2019. Changing business environment in
Belarus. Journal of Geography, Politics and Society. 9(1). pp.1-11.

Hamilton, L. and Webster, P., 2018. The international business environment. Oxford University
Press.
Pikhart, M., 2017. Managerial communication and its changes in the global intercultural business
world. In SHS Web of Conferences (Vol. 37, p. 01013). EDP Sciences.
Hampden-Turner, C., Trompenaars, F. and Hampden-Turner, C., 2020. Riding the waves of
culture: Understanding diversity in global business. Hachette UK.
Ajmal, M., Helo, P. and Kassem, R., 2017. Conceptualizing trust with cultural perspective in
international business operations. Benchmarking: An International Journal.