Marks and Spencer: Business Communication Discussion Analysis

This discussion forum post analyzes Marks and Spencer (M&S), a major player in the retail industry, focusing on its business communication strategies. The post highlights M&S's global presence with 1463 stores and 80,787 employees, its diverse brand portfolio including M&S Energy and Per Una, and its key functional areas like operations, marketing, finance, and customer service. It also touches on M&S's competitive landscape, mentioning rivals like Tesco and Walmart, and its financial performance, noting a £10.4bn Group Revenue in 2019. The analysis further emphasizes the company's focus on affordable, fashionable clothing through both online and offline channels. The post concludes with a list of references used for research.

Business Communications

Discussion Forum 1
Marks and Spencer is one of the largest organisation that operates business in retail industry.
This British multinational company is headquartered in Westminster, London and mainly
specialises in offering high quality of home products, trendy apparels and food items (Strange
and Humphrey, 2019). It is founded in 1884 in UK, but selling the wide range of commodities in
high quality and reasonable prices, enable this firm to expand its business worldwide. Today, it
operates business in many countries where it has opened near about 1463 stores and have given
employment to more than 80,787 talented employees. In addition to this, with support of both
extrinsic (managers, shareholders, employees etc.) and intrinsic stakeholders (customers,
suppliers, creditors and more), it has established more than seven brands worldwide. It includes
M&S Energy, Blue Harbour, Per Una, Rosie and so on. These brands have made M&S enable to
give tough competition to other branded firms like Tesco, Sainsbury, Wallmart and more.
Furthermore, key functional areas of M&S which helps in running business at domestic and
international market successfully, includes operations, marketing, finance and customer service
department. Hereby, operational managers of this firm holds responsibility to monitor and track
records of raw materials, finished and semi-finished products etc. for completing demands of
potential customers efficiently (Rana, 2019). While marketing team mainly works primarily for
increasing sales and profitability, through identifying and tailoring needs of customers by online
and offline channels. In terms of profitability, in 2019, turnover of M&S is calculated as £10.4bn
Group Revenue, which reflects that apart from intense competition, this firm is still one of the
leading retailer having a unique and strong heritage of brand values (Annual Record, 2020).
Along with this, to run business successfully, its key people that are focusing on offering more
trendy and fashionable clothes on affordable rates through both offline and online channels.
1

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Rana, M. B. (2019). Lead MNE’s contribution to Changing Business System Characteristics’ and
Path-Dependent Lock-in Supplier Development: A case of Interstoff Apparel Company
Bangladesh. In International Scientific Conference: Sustainability of Global Garment
Industry.
Strange, R., & Humphrey, J. (2019). What lies between market and hierarchy? Insights from
internalization theory and global value chain theory. Journal of International Business
Studies, 50(8), 1401-1413.
Online
Annual Record. (2020). [Online] Available Through:<
https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/annualreport>.
2