Business Environment and Strategy

The provided document is an assignment solution that covers various topics related to the business environment, including its definition, components, types, and strategies. The assignment also discusses the importance of corporate social responsibility and its impact on businesses. It provides a detailed analysis of case studies and research papers on the topic, showcasing examples from reputable sources such as Harvard Business Review Classics and Long Range Planning. The assignment concludes with a summary of key points and recommendations for future research.

BUSINESS AND THE BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT
BIANCA ANDREEA DRAGOMIR LH-B-D36

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
P.1 Purpose of organisations with their legal structure....................................................................2
P.2 Scope and size of organisational...............................................................................................6
P.3 Relations of functions affects organisational objectives...........................................................7
P.4 Positive and Negative impact of Macro environment..............................................................8
P.5 SWOT Analysis......................................................................................................................11
P.6 Relationship between SWOT and External factors................................................................14
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................14
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................15
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INTRODUCTION
Business environment is a very wide topic as it includes all the term and conditions of
business no matter this is of what field. Mark and Spencer (M&S) is a British firm, opened in
1884, the company introduces itself as major retailer of foods, clothes, household items and
financial services. This companies targets retail market instead of malls and high street shops to
access more and more customers by the time. This company focuses on the legal structure so that
they an serve the best to their employees and to their customers.
In 21st century they started focusing on customers so that they can satisfy the current and
can generate more customers in the market. There are many threats to this company and all these
can be removed only by considering all the macro factors of the environment (Wirtz, Schilke and
Ullrich, 2010). Above all this outlines the changing structure and culture of Mark and Spencer
(M&S) so that they can retain for longer period in the market and achieve efficiencies in the
organisation.
P.1 Purpose of organisations with their legal structure
Every organisation has some kind of basic purposes to achieve better and the best
position in their targeted market. There are many types of organisation such as public, private
and voluntary. Metropolitan police has basic purpose of satisfying the public as in public
organisation the maximum number of shares are hold by public. In private organisation the basic
purpose is to maximise profit at any cost by achieving efficiency in their operations. Cancer
research set up with the basic purpose of increasing the social awareness among public. Their
main purpose is to improve the society without focusing on the profit.
Mark and Spencer (M&S) is a private firm as it targets the retail market and their main is
to maximise their profit by satisfying their current and generating mare customers. This company
coordinates with their customers in such a way that currently it is ruling the retail market. They
target the audiences of all the gender and of all the age.
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Organisational structure is made by the company so that they can prepare a perfect
mission to achieve their vision. Mark and Spencer (M&S) generally follows flat organisational
structure and this type of organisational structure has limited levels of management. This
structure boosts the morale of the employees so that they can feel safe and free to express their
views in the company.
Illustration 1: M&S retail shop
( Source:Griffin and Pustay,2012)
By this structure company gets helps in their decision making process as employee
suggest new and better ways to maximise their profit, effectiveness in the work and efficiency in
the organisation. According to flat organisational structure the company runs hierarchy wise
unlike traditional one its broader and flatter (Wirtz, Schilke, and Ullrich, 2010). Mark and
Spancer (M&S) follows the order of decreasing the frauds and make employees more efficient in
their department of work. They follow bottom to top authority chain as this removes the
miscommunication barrier, coordinates all together and specify the goals that to be achieved by
the management.
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Top level authorities of different department have different responsibilities as at last they
are responsible for their department performance. Organisational structure of Mark and Spencer
(M&S) is very well organised as they follow the top to bottom authority chain and bottom to top
individual responsibility. This allows rapid growth, changes and problem solution. There are
many benefits of having less management level in the organisation such as this brings a base line
for communication between all employees of the organisation at the best possible level. There
should be perfect formal reporting system from lowest to the highest level.
PUBLIC SECTOR:
Is a section from national economy and is under government control
Is made to service citizen of them country
They work in areas like : Police. Education, Banking
From them job is secure , stability of job
Rise money of tax penalty
PRIVATE SECTOR:
The section of a nation economy
Them objective is earning profit
Rise money by issuing shares and debentures or by taking loan
Areas of activity: shops, technology, construction
Good salary is the working benefit
Jobs from them are not stability
VOLUNTARY SECTOR:
Is a non-profit, non-for-profit, ,charity and even beyond profit
sector.
In Metropolitan police there is a superior who gives instruction to his subordinate that
what to do , how to do and when to do. Subordinates are totally controlled by their superior in all
the possible way.
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Cancer research follows the organisational structure that there are departments heads who
works under the chief executor of the company. There is a perfect hierarchy of authority
followed by them.
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Illustration 2: Metropolitian Police
(source Wheelen,. and Hunger, 2011.)
Illustration 3: Cancer research UK
(Source: Cancer research , 2017)

P.2 Scope and size of organisational
Existing three types of organization if we measure them by size : small business
organization, medium business organization and large business organization .
Small business organization : This organization have less then 50 employees , regardless
of revenue , if the number of employees is unknowing , then the revenue of less then £5.6m will
be taken as an indicator that is a small business.
Medium business organization: This organization have employees between 50 and 249 ,
regardless of revenue , if the number of employees is unknown , then revenue of greater then
equal to £5.6m and less then £22.8m will be taken as an indicator that it is a medium business .
Large business organization: This organization have 250 employees or more , then
revenue of greater then is equal or more then £22.8m will be taken as an indicator that it is a
large business .
Organisational size and scope can only be defined by its current position in the market.
The size of Mark and Spencer (M&S) company is very wide as this includes many levels and
departments. Scope of a company can only be identified with its current position in the market
and Mark and Spencer (M&S) holds very strong position in the market as they target all type
audience no matter they are of which gender and age(Wheelen,. and Hunger, 2011.). They are
going very good in the market only with help of their products and their currently working team.
A company can only grow when he adopts the best techniques which are running
currently in the market. There is wide scope for Mark and Spencer (M&S) only if they adopt the
new and the best techniques of the market, support and listen to their customers, provide
leadership strategy and policy etc. If we talk about the size of the company it can only determine
by the members and department it is having in it. Mark and Spencer (M&S) is a multinational
company as it has many branches and each branch have many numbers of departments and each
department carries approximately a hundred number of employees. The size of public
organisation is also very wide as it also includes many numbers of departments and every
department has many numbers of employees and in this type of organisation board also contains
many members.
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Metropolitan police can only grow if they follow what the shareholders are saying that is
public who have invested in their company. Cancer research has very vast scope to grow in the
society as their first priority is the social issues of the society. Cancer research size is bit small
as it does not have many numbers of departments because they work for societies health and
welfare. They have limited members in their organisation who plays specific roles towards the
society.
Mark and Spencer (M&S) is a private organisation and the size of private organisation is
bitten wider than above two as they deal with different things regarding one product that is why
they have many departments for each and every type of issues and have specialised work force
for their solutions. So basically the standing order, policies, procedures, drills and regulation
decides the size and scope of the organisation in the market.
P.3 Relations of functions affects organisational objectives
In an organisation every things are interrelated as the performance of one affect the
performance of the other and this defines that organisational goals is achieved or not.
Organisational can only be archived when all departments work with full professionalism and
efficiency. Performance of one department affects the performance of other department because
all are interrelated and this decides the organisational goals is achieved or not. M&S has all the
possible department to excess the whole market(Griffin and Pustay,2012).
Research and development department is a department is responsible for all as it is the
base and the first department of the company as it work as information provider to all other
department about their product and services that how should they improve all and works for the
development of the company(Yang, Hong, and Modi, 2011). Production department is
responsible for production of goods and services of the company. Production department
focusses on the packaging and the quantity of the product as this department employee is
responsible if something bad happen. This department is totally depends upon the purchasing
department as this department purchases the raw material for goods that are to be produced by
the production department and this department is also responsible for the quality material that
production department is using.
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Marketing department decides the future of the product as this department is responsible
for all the strategies to be made for selling the product in the market. Marketing department
decides that what should be done and in what manner so that the company can get benefit on
selling this product in the market. Human Resource Management department is responsible for
companies relation with others in the market(Bryman and Bell, 2015). Accounting and finance
department records all the incomes and expenditure of the company and makes the final report of
status of the company. All these departments are responsible for each other as if is not efficient
in his work then the other one will not be able to complete its tasks on time to achieve
organisational objectives.
Mark and Spencer (M&S) very well manages all his departments that are discussed above
that's why it is holding very good position currently in the market by providing basic priority to
the customers who are king of the market (Crane and Matten, 2016.)t. They listen to what they
are saying, what they need and what they are expecting from them.
P.4 Positive and Negative impact of Macro environment
Macro environment includes all those factors which are wide in terms of expressing. From
a company point of view macro environment includes all the external factors like customers,
suppliers, market and marketing of the product. There is nothing left in this world who does not
have defected in it (Elliot, 2011.).
Macro environment is a very wide to express as there are uncountable factors in it. This
determines the key of success for a company because there are many factors and through
controlling them a company can achieve its organisational goal on time and can stay in the
market for longer period. Some important Macro environment factors are as follows :
11 Demographic. Demographic factor of macro environment is based on the
democracy of the nation that how the company is doing in the market with the
support of its customers by providing its best quality of goods and services in less
than others(Cantwell, Dunning, and Lundan, 2010.). M&S is highly known by its
customers for its best quality of goods and services that he is providing in less pay
than others.
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11 Positive :It is having a variety of products that helps marks and Spencer to operate
in many countries.11 Negative: Due to its high pricing policy it becomes difficult for them to attract
middle class people that leads to alteration in their business strategies.11 Economic. Macro environment also focus on the economic factor as the economy
of the nation decides the demand and supply of the product and what is gonna be
the price after analysing the whole market. M&S supplies their according to the
demand of their product by the customers and mould the product quality and the
quantity according to their needs.11 Positive: It has established its popular brand image in European market that
allows them to expand its business in developing economies like India.11 Negative: Uncertainty in economic conditions affects business to a large extent
and reduces profitability.11 Government. Macro environment includes this factor as company needs
government approval in each and every work that is newly establishing by them
in the nation. Government has granted full permission to Mark and Spencer
(M&S) to establish its company and sell their product in the market.11 Positive: due to its global presence it becomes easy for them to operate business
in different countries by cooperating and following government rules and
regulations effectively.11 Negative: marks and Spencer has developed or modify different strategies or
policies according to various government situations.
111 Legal. Legal factor is considered by the macro environment as each and every
company nowadays deals in legal basis that is contract. If there is anything
happens against the clause then the company has full right against taking action to
that (Welford, 2013). Mark and Spencer(M&S) make contact for each and every
thing weather it is dealing for goods or with the employees. They mention each
and every thing as a clause so that they can make every thing clear to everyone.
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111 Positive: Various laws and policies ensures effective business culture and creating
a positive working environment.
111 Negative: Any changes made in these laws may affect business growth and
development.
111 Political. Political factors covers all the important issues regarding politics that
may affect the business in a very way. Mark and Spencer(M&S) deals with
political issues so that they can survive in the market for longer period without
any hurdles.
111 Positive: Its major business operations are done in European market which is
having very stable political conditions.
111 negative: Its global presence affects business decisions and strategies
111 Cultural. According to the cultural factor the company should focus on the society
so that they can achieve more in less time with their help. Mark and Spencer
(M&S) company give first priority to its customers so that they can satisfy the
existing and will be able to generate more by providing the best quality product
and services.
111 Positive: Availability of high quality products for every one helps in enhancing
living standard of people in the society.
111 Negative: Due to its lack of focus on middle class people it builds negative brand
image of marks and Spencer.
111 Technological. A company should give preference to technological factors as
these factors ensures efficiency in the organisation(Carroll and Shabana, 2010). A
company cannot outdated technology because it might result very unexpected by
them. Mark and Spencer (M&S) update their technologies time to time so that
they can compete with their competitors and can stay for long run in the market.111 Positive: With he use of advanced technology they are able to meet changing taste
and preference of people.111 Negative: It will lead to increase in expenses and reduction in profits.
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111 Global. These factors include the whole world because there are many factors
which cannot get controlled within the nation (Bughin, Chui, and Manyika,,
2010). Mark and Spencer (M&S) is a multinational company as it has many
branches all over the world. This company also affects the global economy as it
holds very strong position in the market.111 Positive: Its strong brand image makes them a successful multi national company.111 Negative: High price and less variety of women appraisals reduces their growth
efficiency.
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P.5 SWOT Analysis
Strengths – Strengths can only be identified by
these points like advantages of a company,
what you are best in and at what level you can
go to serve the best to your customers.
Strengths are the strong points that a company
carry to move forward so that they can
compete the market.
Weakness – Weakness includes all those points
on that company needs work like on what they
need to improve, what they should avoid for
maintaining the position in the market and
factors that are affecting companies
sales(oltCarroll and Buchz 2014.). M&S needs
to pay attention an all those things which are
affecting their business in a harmful ways and
should take corrective actions for then.
Opportunity – Opportunity is a word use for
chances that a company gets in while doing
business. Some opportunities are such as a
company can adopt interesting trends that are
going on, adopt the new launched technology,
government policy related to field. M&S have
the opportunity to expand their business by
adopting all the above things.
Threats – Threats are like fears in business
terms as these includes obstacles coming in
between, competitors along with you, cash
flow problems and many more. M&S can
remove all the above threats by taking
corrective actions against them.
SWOT analysis:-
Strengths:- due to its high recognition it is able to spread its business all over the world. Also
high quality products have attracted a lot of customers and it has helped them to expand their
business. A large variety of products helps in meeting the demands of all people ranging from
youngsters to adults and old age people.
Weakness- Its major weakness is old fashioned clothes that has created a bad brand image in the
market. Moreover, manual working has increased their product cost that has lead to decrease in
sales as most customers find it very high price of the products.
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Opportunities- They have a vast opportunity to expand their business in developing countries
like India. Also, they can expand its business globally to increase their presence. Market
segmentation can be done to identify demands of people and increasing sales.
Threats- Major threat is increasing competition in the market and industry. This restricts their
growth. For this they have to focus on making innovative marketing strategies, this will help
them to survive in the market.
External analysis- These analysis helps in identifying weakness and strengths of marks and
Spencer it means that due to its global presence and variety in products it is having a strong
brand image in the industry. Whereas weakness is old fashioned products and high price that is
affecting its growth.
PESTLE Analysis
Marks & Spencer (M&S) is a most popular British retailer which is more than in 30 countries
around the world. It is the largest clothing retailer in the United Kingdom(UK) ,as well as in food
retailer. This is the description of PESTLE or Pest of M&S a in their operation in retail industry.
The headquarter of Mark and Spencer (M&S) is in UK with 1382 stores it also worldwide
according to its 2016 financial report.
Political
Mark and Spencer (M&S) has been response through EC's free trade agreements and have
led to decreased sourcing costs. The disadvantage of the M&S is the higher cost in international
markets. Company is known for its plan a CSR in initiative but shortage of clarity of UK
government on energy efficiency scheme which affects Mark and Spencer (M&S) initiatives
negatively.
Economical
The given discounted pricing affects the competitors of Mark and Spencer (M&S). Mark
and Spencer (M&S) makes satisfy their customers by providing them higher quality which only
led to short term loss and they also attracted to quality with value. Mark and Spencer (M&S)
create efforts to satisfied customers needs through which they enhanced the quality. Financial
crises get affects to more price sensitive consumers and if Mark and Spencer (M&S) wants to
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have a sustained sales so they need to work on the market flow. On the present time the
consumers are on the lookout for the best deals online or offline. The falling prices of oil get a
big affects on the store's performance in UAE and Middle Eastern Countries(M&S 2016).
Socio-cultural Factors
By the change over from baby boomers into the generation x and millennial require
changing strategy to follows for the new segments and ideas. Many baby boomers are now
retired and there is no longer the prime consideration. There is need to rethink which brand to
push for getting interest in the organic and green produces.
Technological Factors
Mark and Spencer (M&S) has a strong force of social media and also a online presence so
it is a well placed and also well known to capitalize on this avenue. Now the time the consumers
are more technologically focused and they also prefer mobile commerce , e-commerce and
online retailing to in-store purchases. M&S is also built a good image in digital marketing to get
the full advantages of this shift.
Environmental
With the effective planning the Mark and Spencer (M&S) get successes in their
capitalization. Mark and Spencer (M&S) has applied strict regulations on environment and
enhancing the consumer presences on ethical green practices would require stricter standards ,
however Mark and Spencer (M&S) is well poised to take benefit from this development as it has
already been showing its concern for the environment.
Legal
Legal factors are always changing. Mark and Spencer (M&S) carry out retraining and
update their laws rules and regulations every year. Mark and Spencer (M&S) also retraining
and updated the new laws and legislation in their business. Mark and Spencer (M&S) invite the
new objectives and methods that need to be changed and new training for development of
business.
Environmental Factors
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Environmental climate are changes day by day on daily basis, issues are being promoted
daily on the television , in magazines and newspaper and on the radio. These environmental
climate creates affects on all companies, industries and organisations they are also pressured to
change their ways when it comes to the materials they use and also how to they manufacture.
M&S have propounded their own Green Policy which they call “Plan A” The chief executive of
M&S stands that it is called this because there is no “Plan B”. Today Mark and Spencer (M&S)
also announced a 100-point five -year plans to re-develop itself to become a carbon neutral, zero-
waste -to-landfill, ethical-trading, sustainable-sourcing, health-promoting business.
Conclusion:
It is concluded that external factors affects marks and Spencer in expanding the business.
They are providing high quality product but on the other hand developing economies like India
they must focus on middle class people to meet their requirements. This will help them to grow
and expand their business and larger revenues.
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P.6 Relationship between SWOT and External factors
Strength, weakness, opportunity and threats affects all the external factors of environment
as these factors includes all the possible terms of the economy on very high level . All macro
factors are related to business in one way or the other that's how they can relate to the SWOT.
Strength includes all the strong factors that can help company like M&S to grow and expand in
the competitive market (Business environment., 2017). Weakness includes those factors which
holds M&S back as these factors are not allowing company to overcome them. Opportunity
includes those macro factors which are helping company in gaining recognition in the market in
terms of every thing. Mark and Spencer (M&S) are getting more and more opportunities to show
and give their best in the market with the help of these macro factors(Teece, 2010). Threats
includes those factors that are somewhat internally related to the business terms. These are called
fears in business terms as this can result in a very bad way for a company. Mark and Spencer
(M&S) can remove or clear these threats to achieve a better and the best possible position in the
market. Strength and opportunities are in and out can relate to the external factor but when we
talk about weakness and threats these are somewhat internal environment of the company.
Organisation strengths depends upon how business strategies are related to external factors. It
helps them to identify changes in the and accordingly these strategies are modified. If company
is able to deal with external factors then it can attain its objectives easily. These factors affects
the operations and decisions that are taken by managers. These decisions depend upon the way a
business responds to its surrounding environment. Effective planning is done to deal with threats
that may occur in the future. Also, opportunities are found by identifying weakness and
improving it.
If any political change occurs it affects the company strengths as it leads to modifying the entire
strategies that are made for business operations. And if any new technology is developed it will
offer marks and Spencer to grab that opportunity. They will adopt them to develop new products
or to reduce the cost per unit. Therefore, it will lead to increase in sales.
CONCLUSION
Mark and Spencer (M&S) is a company having long history of success in all areas of
market as they hold very high position in the market. To overcome the current competition of the
market it should prepare all the legal structure by promoting its strength, overcoming all the
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weaknesses, by garbing all the possible opportunity and removing all the threats with the help of
external factor that is macro environment. They need to revamp the strategies of their business so
that they can stay or Survive for longer period in the market. If they consider all the factors then
this will help them to fight competition. By considering all the above they can have scope for
growth and expansion in the market. Their company is a retailer company and their target market
is retail market so there is only one way left that is to fight the current competition to maintain
their current position and to succeed in achieving organisational goals.
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REFERENCES
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Carroll, A. and Buchz, A., 2014. Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and stakeholder
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pp.272-290.. The Theory of the Business (Harvard Business Review Classics). Harvard
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