SWOT and PESTLE analysis of Marks and Spencer

This report discusses the SWOT and PESTLE analysis of Marks and Spencer, evaluating the changes in PESTEL factors that influence the opportunities and threats of the company. It also evaluates and recommends leadership styles for Marks and Spencer. The report provides insights into the internal and external capabilities of the firm, its leadership style, and corporate social responsibilities.

BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
P1 Performing SWOT and Pestle analysis:.................................................................................3
P2 Evaluating changes in PESTEL factors that influence the opportunities and threats of
Marks and Spencer......................................................................................................................6
P3 Evaluation and recommending leadership styles for Marks and Spencer.............................9
P4 Evaluation corporate social responsibility of Marks and Spencer.......................................10
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Business environment consists of every external and internal factors which affect the operations
and results of businesses such management, trends, economic changes, employees, supply and
demand etc. It assists in recognizing opportunities, growth, improves overall performance and
profitably of the company (Yousaf, and et. al., 2018). The following report is based on
organisation Marks and Spencer, which deals in home products, food products and clothing
products and it is well known multinational retailer. It was founded by Michael Mark and
Thomas Spencer in 1884 and having its headquarter in London, England. The following report
will briefly cover internal and external capabilities of the firm, which leadership style they
follow and their corporate social responsibilities.
TASK
Performing SWOT and Pestle analysis:
SWOT ANALYSIS:
It is a tool which can help in evaluating firm's competitive position by analysing all internal
capabilities an organisation and to make a decent strategy to make proper decision making in
order to long term growth of the organisation. In simple words it is a method of assessing the
risk, potential, competition and performance of the company as well as their internal departments
(Cummings, and et. al.,2018). In context to Marks and Spencer, company use this method to
know their competitive environment and evaluate factors which can give a impact on their over
all operations and long term growth. The SWOT analysis of regarding company is discussed
below:
STRENGTH
 Marks and Spencer, is one of the most
popular retail brand globally. Brand
recognition is their strength as it helps
in getting more customer base to the
company.
 Brand has strong E- commerce network
which assist them in getting better sales
WEAKNESS
 High cost is one of their disadvantage
as company majorly depends on the
manual operations which is both costly
and time consuming. Firm needs to
adopt latest technology in order to
overcome this situation.
 Company suffers from their poor

revenue and it also provides better
services through with their online
portals.
 Firm has a brawny leadership, which
has helped them in expansion of their
brand globally.
supply chain network apart from UK,
which results in losses because of non
availability of many products.
 Other retail brands are giving M&S a
tough competition in regards of prices
and products which can lead to decline
in sales of the company.
Opportunity
 Firm can expand their brand in
economically developing countries like,
Africa, Peru, Paraguay etc. by proving
them with some low cost necessary
products. This will help them in brand
awareness in remote market places.
 Management can focus more on to their
research and development department
to understand the basic demand of the
consumers and to overcome the
problems of dynamic trends. It will
assist them in coping up with the
market trend and this can give M&S an
edge over their competitors in the
industry.
 Company should keep adopting latest
tech in order to survive and for their
long term growth. It can assist in saving
time and money both for the
management.
THREAT
 Rising cost of raw material can be a
threat to the organisation's profit
margins.
 High market competition is also a threat
to the company's long term profits
because old or new entrants can take
some part of their market share.
 Imitation of products and services and
low cost products of different brands
can be threat to the company in every
sector they deals in
PESTLE ANALYSIS:

It is a strategic method which helps in assessing the external environment of the company and it
gives management an insight into outside factors which can impact their organisation. It
examines factors such as, political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal
(Bambale, Girei, and Barwa, 2017). In case of Marks and Spencer, firm can examine this
framework for better decision making and to make proper strategy out of it. PESTLE analysis for
the business is briefly mentioned below:
 Political Factor- It refers that how an organisation is affected by the action, policies and
other factors of the government. These factors can be anything including trade
restrictions, tax policies, bureaucracy, tariffs etc. It can have both positive and negative
impact on the operations of the businesses. In case of Marks and Spencer, Brexit law is a
major setback for the company, as it impacts the operations of the organisation because
of this firm has faced many losses .
 Economic Factor- These factors include cost of living, unemployment, minimum
wages, inflation, interest rates, foreign exchange rates etc, it can affect the long term
business effects and cannot be controlled by the company. In terms of Marks and
Spencer, during COVID – 19 it was very challenging for the them to manage their
declining sales, because of pandemic firm faced major losses.
 Social Factors- This factor states that how consumer behaviour, employment rates,
gender ratio, socio culture, fluctuations can exert an impact production and operation of
the businesses, it can reduce or increase efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation.
In case of Marks and Spencer, company lacks to stay trendy in the market as compare to
its competitors, which is not good for firm's long term growth
 Technological Factors- It is one of the most important factor of PESTLE analysis, as
this factor can helps in manufacturing, production and distribution of the products. In
these competitive markets, businesses gets lots of help because of evolution in
technology (Liu, and Yang, 2019). In context to Marks and Spencer, adopting latest tech
can help the firm in smooth operations of the business which can be reduce time
consumption and it can also help in generating more revenues for the company
 Legal Factors- It refers to any legal force which can tell what a business is allowed to do
and what not allowed to do. These laws can be anything related consumer safety,
antitrust, environment, health of employees etc. Every businesses have to deal with some

sort of legal issues. Same as Marks and Spencers, organisation faces some legal issues,
when they were unable to protect their staff and consumers from the risk of asbestos and
faced penalty of 1 million GPB.
 Environment Factors- This factor can also be called as ecological factors. In today's
scenario protection of environment has become very essential component and business
are taking many steps to do that such as they are battling climate change, trade ethically,
not wasting natural resources, recycling, carbon footprints etc. (Curtis, 2020). In relation
to Marks And Spencer, they initiated a campaign named “Plan A” in January 2007 in
which they are focused to make sustainable products for their consumers
Evaluating changes in PESTEL factors that influence the opportunities and threats of Marks and
Spencer.
FACTORS THREAT OPPORTUNITY SOLUTION
Political- Brexit After implementation
of Brexit law, which
have forced companies
to increase their costs
and faced major
problems in their
overall production and
their supply chain,
which have negatively
impacted the
functions, profitability,
and market growth of
the organisation.
This law gave an
opportunity to the
company to expand
their brand overseas,
as company will be
free to strike their own
deal with non - EU
countries which can
help them in brand
awareness, long term
growth globally and
profitably.
In order to overcome
these, company can
use their goodwill and
can produce more
quality products at
lower cost and can
attract consumers by
offering them many
discounts and offers, it
can support in increase
their sale and customer
base which will assist
in regaining the
negative effects post
Brexit.

Economical-
COVID – 19
Due to COVID – 19
company is not able to
generate sales
revenues, which has
forced firm to hike
their product prices to
cope up with the losses
and if this price
fluctuation is
continuous then it can
be a big threat to the
company (Fitt, and et.
al., 2019)..
After Brexit firm is
free to trade in entire
world without any
restrictions. It can
allows the firm to
import and export the
raw material and
products at lower cost
which can help
organisation in their
long term growth and
profits.
To overcome situation
of declining sales
during the pandemic,
management can offer
their consumers daily
use products or
products which are
essential for daily
household, by
following every
possible protocol in
supplying products
which can prevent
Covid from spreading
to others. I will assist
firm to generate sales
Social- Trend Company is unable to
understand the
dynamic changes in
trend of the consumers
globally which leads
to decrease in their
popularity. This is a
potential threat for the
organisation, which
can result in decline of
revenue and over all
brand recognition.
Customers are loosing
faith in the company
which is not beneficial
Management can offer
their consumers, ready
meals which are easy
to cook and serve.
This is different and
attractive and
beneficial for the
company in terms of
profitability and
expansion in the
business.
Management should
invest more capital in
their Research and
development
department, which can
help in researching
needs and wants of the
consumers and can
produce their products
in accordance to the
demand of their
customers.

for the company as
their competitors can
acquire their market
share.
Technological As company is
adopting many latest
technology which can
take high cost, in order
to overcome this
company raised the
prices of the products
and services they are
offering which is a
threat to the company
as customers can
switch from their
brand to other.
Proper implementation
of E- Commerce tech
can give organisation
more traffic towards
the sale of products
and services offered
by the company and it
can also lead to more
brand recognition
globally with low cost
of marketing (Citta,
and et. al., 2019).
Management should
not exceed or invest
more in technology
which can lead to the
increasing in prices of
products rather then
they should only invest
in technology which is
cost and time effective
Legal Company is facing
serious threat, as
management is not
working on the safety
of their employs and
consumers from many
problems either
absetos or in
production of their
products. Earlier
company was also
penalised because of
this reason.
Firm should always
comply with laws,
such as, employ laws,
if the firm follow these
laws and give their
staff what they deserve
then it can lead to
motivation in the
employees which will
eventually help in
more production and
sales and for smooth
organisational
Management should
work on the safety of
their employs and
consumers by
providing them ,ore
sustainable and eco
friendly products and
providing their
employees with safe
working environment .
If anything bad happen
company should
compensate equally to

operations. their clients and
employees.
Environment Industrial wastage and
pollution can be threat
to the company's
operations because if
company does not care
about reducing
wastage or anything
which can harm
environment then
consumers will slowly
shift towards the
organisations which
are more aware of it.
Management should
regularly focused on
doing corporate social
responsibilities, it can
be a great opportunity
for the firm to build
goodwill which can
lead to getting more
customers and
maintain customer
loyalty.
In order to overcome
threats, company
should focus more on
producing eco friendly
products with minimal
industrial wastage and
production of products
should not affect the
environment (Zhang,
Yang, and Cui, 2018).
Evaluation and recommending leadership styles for Marks and Spencer.
Leadership refers to capability of a person or a group of individuals to motivate and guide their
followers or the members of an organisations to set and accomplish their desire goals. Leaders
can work together with their followers to turn the vision of their organisation into the reality.
Several leadership style of Daniel Goleman's are discussed below:
Daniel Goleman's leadership styles:
It refers to leadership style that leader can adopt to ensure of a healthy work surroundings. This
theory states that leader should have quality to change the working environment of an
organisation through their emotional ability (Mortreuil, 2017).
In this theory there are six leadership styles, which are mentioned below:
 Affiliative Leadership- In this type of leadership style, manger mainly concentrate on
team building, boost positivity and harmonious work environment. It also focuses on
creating and maintaining personal relation between managers and their employees to
construct a bond and trust. It is important because it creates unity and helps in reducing

pressure on employees which can lead to increase in job satisfaction and productivity. It
is the primary duty for the leader to make sure friendship and harmony inside the
organisation.
 Democratic Leaderships- It is also known as share or participative leadership, which
permits everyone in decision making process equally. It gives everyone a chance to
participate, encourage discussion, exchange ideas, still it requires manager to give
direction and guidance to its employees in order to achieve the desire goals and it can
also lead to getting more creative solutions (Azubuike, and et. al., 2018).
 Commanding Leaderships- This leadership style is all about power and control and
leaders are tough, direct and forceful. Leaders in it can take any unpopular decision
without discussing with others in the group. They expect employees to do what they ask
in any condition.
 Coaching Leadership- This style of leadership is defined by guidance, support and
collaboration and the main duty of leaders is to bring out what is best in their group by
motivating and leading them. A leader supports its employees to perform their task
independently without any pressure and makes them feel backed in their task.
After analysing different leadership style above Marks and Spencer can overcome several issues
like Covid 19 pandemic, post Brexit issues, decrease in sale due to dynamic trends, by adopting a
democratic leadership style as it will allow leaders to support and motivate people in the
organisation to enhance their effectiveness and efficiency during the phase of pandemic, which is
when a a person requires right direction and motivation from their leader to perform properly.
Therefore, highly motivated team can enhance the sales and increase the client base which will
assist in growth of the organisation. Motivated employees also enables the firm to improve its
brand recognition and company can gain edge over its competitors.
Evaluation corporate social responsibility of Marks and Spencer.
Corporate social responsibility is a method of how businesses manage their operations activities
to give a whole positive impact on society. It includes sustainability, ethics, social impacts etc. It
is very much essential for stakeholder value and to improve brand reputation. It helps in retaining
employees as CSR strategy tells that company is very much compassionate and treats all equally
well including their staff and it promotes positive hard work from employees which is beneficial
for the firm. It is important as it enhance in brand awareness, by having CSR method in the firm,

can construct good reputation (Harjoto, 2017). Businesses must establish CSR in order to retain
customer and for success of brand. It let organisations to be socially responsible toward
environment an society.
Several social responsibilities are mentioned below:
 Ethical Responsibility- It refers to well being of workforce to check that a company is
exercising fair employ practices. This responsibility helps in removing discrimination
such as race, gender, religious among the working staff and employees are being treated
fairly in terms of wages for their better way. It also helps in promoting ethical suppliers
which meet fair trade standards. In case of Marks and Spencer, firm should focus on
building healthy and positive environment for their staff and consumers to keep them
happy, which help in efficient work and in generating more revenues.
 Environmental Responsibilities- This responsibilities are very important because as
global warming is increasing, so it let firms to be more cautions for environment and
should promote more to focus on building products and services which doesn't affect the
environment like recycling waste of their business which will definitely give a positive
impact to the environment. It is duty of every organisation to follow this responsibility in
order to sustain long term growth (Teoli, Sanvictores, and An, 2019). In case of Marks
and Spencer, company is well know brand globally that's why they are very much
concerned about their goodwill. So, M&S started an initiative named “PLAN A” on
January 2007, and since many years company is following this initiative where it is
battling climate change, using sustainable raw material, more recycling their waste and
help their clients to live healthier life.
 Economic responsibility- This is a responsibility of a business to make a decision in its
commitment to be a good in the areas. The objective of the firm is to achieve a goal and
maximize profit and put positive impact on the organisation, people and society. It is
interconnected field that focuses to keep balance between business and environment.
Business tries to find out a solution that can give growth and generate income by
benefiting organisation and society. In case of Marks and Spencer, management can
follow this strategy by providing their customer quality products at cheaper price with
minimal wastage of resources. This make suers not only that firm is saving cost of

production and increasing profits but provide satisfaction to their consumers and
suppliers.
 Philanthropic Responsibility- It refers to an organisation's vision to make the earth and
society a better place to live. In this type of responsibility people or organisations tend to
donate a portion of their earning. Businesses can donate to many non profits
organisations, charities and can donate to different worthy causes which can help society
and they can also start their own NGO or charitable trust. In terms of Marks and Spencer,
management always support in donating many different charitable trust and NGO and
they also started their own fund raising program 2019-2020 which helps in development
of different backward section of the society. Even since 2011 M&S and UNICEF are
focusing on giving life developing programmes for unprivileged children and their
families (Mytilinou, Kolios, and Lorenzo, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it has been concluded that, business environment consists of various
factors workforce, resources, consumers, suppliers, government policies, social trend, market
trends and business environment is dynamic in nature which keeps on changing.. It is necessary
to have knowledge of internal and external factors and operations of businesses in order to
smooth and profitable working of business. For better decision making company should
eliminate their threats and focus more on to grabbing the opportunities they get. Management of
the company is adopting many leadership style which gives employees motivation to work
effectively and efficiently. It is also important that organisation should always up for performing
their social responsibilities such as welfare for unprivileged people, opening their own charitable
trust, starting fund raising campaign etc to have a better impact on their brand name.
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