Analyzing Innovation & Tech Impact on Business Management at M&S

This dissertation explores the impact of innovation and technology on business management, using Marks & Spencer as a case study. It begins by introducing the concepts of innovation and technology in business, highlighting their importance in addressing challenges and fostering growth. The research aims to analyze how technology is used in various business management processes to boost innovation at M&S. Key objectives include assessing technological advancements, understanding business management processes, and determining the impact of technology on managing business functions. The study uses a literature review to examine business management concepts, innovations in technology, and their impact on business processes. The report concludes with recommendations for boosting innovation in business management, emphasizing the significance of innovation for organizational success and competitive advantage. Desklib offers a platform to access similar dissertations and solved assignments for students.

DISSERTATION

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 84795.........................................................................................3
About the topic............................................................................................................................3
About the organisation................................................................................................................3
Research aim and objectives.......................................................................................................3
Research rationale.......................................................................................................................4
Significance of the research........................................................................................................4
Structure of the report.................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................6
What is the concept of business management?...........................................................................6
What are the innovations and advancements in technology?......................................................8
What is the impact of technology on process of managing business?......................................10
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................12
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS ..............................................................................17
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMEDNATION.....................................................22
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................22
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................23
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................24

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 84795
About the topic
Innovation is undertaken as the concept and procedures which an individuals or firm
considers for conceptualising the brand new items, methods and thoughts or to approach existent
goods, methods and ideas into new manners. Additionally, this is often essential for entities for
adopting as well as overcoming the challenges of changes. This also fosters growth. In addition
to this, technology describes as the application of science, information and data for business
intent like attainment of economic as well as organisational objectives (Chang, Chen and Lu,
2019). The key component off technology is the change ideas and how this may impact the
business. This is the concept which explains that aids an entity perform their business as well as
operational procedures. Those technologies may be consumer- facing applications& solution,
business-critical production and logistics solutions or back office monetary systems among
others. The key aim of this study is to analyze the impact of innovation and technology on
business management.
About the organisation
Marks and Spencer is the British retailer which is providing higher quality to their
customers in order to meet needs of their customers. The company is headquartered in London
and was founded in the year of 1884. Marks & Spencer is having significant market image in
which the company is managing different competitors in such a way that the company is holding
appropriate competitive edge. The organisation is fully devoted to include innovation in their
organisation so that business newness can be acquired and at the same time the company is
managing their business functions in unique manner. The company is having separate edge into
food market which means that the organisation is selling different packaged food by which the
company has monopoly into the market. The current report is focused over examining business
management and its role within developing innovation in an organisation. This can be analysed
that with the help of innovation business process can be managed in such manner that ease of
access can be provided.
Research aim and objectives
Research aim

To present and analyse the use of technology in the various processes of managing
business and boosting innovation. A study on Marks & Spencer.
Research objective
 To assess the advancements of technology.
 To understand the process of managing business.
 To determine the impact of technology in managing business.
 To recommend ways of boosting innovation in managing business.
Research questions
 Q1. What is the concept of business management?
 Q2. What are the innovations and advancements in technology?
 Q3. What is the impact of technology on process of managing business?
Research rationale
One of the key reason for performing this investigation is to analyze the impact of
innovation and technology on business management. Additionally, it aids investigator to analyse
the fundamental about innovation and technology related to business management and
significance of technology in improving organisational productivity (Anwar, 2018). In addition
to this, it is also helpful in knowing the role of technology in enhancing business operations and
to analyse barriers in effective adoption of technology and innovation at the workplace. In
respect to personal context, this aids to improve the competencies and develop new ideas etc.
This assists researchers to improve the personality that can aids effectual personality that can
aids into innovation. Also, by assistance of this, researcher may able to enhance their
communication, time management, and others skills.
Significance of the research
The current research is going to contribute to various businesses those are planning to
include innovation into their business functions. For an organisation using of innovation could be
the boon as there are several measures that can be used by the organisation in order to acquire
success into the business functions. The significance of the business is related with examining
role of innovation into the business so that business complexities can be eliminated and at the
same time ease of functionality can be provided (Puklavec, Oliveira and Popovič, 2018). The
innovation is the significant step which is associated with encouraging business functions and to
get prominence into the same. Using the information of the research organisation may set up

innovation into their business and get to know regarding importance and significance of
innovation into making enhanced business functions.
Structure of the report
The report consists of 5 major chapter such as:
Introduction: Under this chapter introductory remarks related with the topic of research. Under
the chapter aim and objectives of the research are entailed for which the research is needed to be
executed. On the other hand, this chapter is holding higher significance in which aspects related
with the research topic can be explained.
Literature review: This chapter is based on collection of secondary data methods in which
different articles and journals are added so that appropriate information can be gathered. This
chapter is holding higher significance as this is the root for the researcher and the research as
well.
Research methodology: Under this chapter different methods are selected those are used within
the research for the purpose of gaining research objectives in appropriate manner. This chapter is
accumulation of different methods and techniques which is used into the research so that to carry
out the research in effective manner.
Analysis and findings: Under this chapter discussion is going to take place using secondary
information and to conclude the same in respect of research objectives.
Conclusion and recommendation: Under this chapter statements are written in a manner that to
show that research objectives are attained. Along with this the chapter is related with providing
different recommendation that can be be used by the businesses in order to develop their
functions.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This is undertaken as the second chapter of particular study wherein the information from
existent available data is accumulated from various sources which is previously researched
through other individuals. In addition to this, it aids upon identifying the research area nature
through accumulating point of view of various scholars as well as thereafter evaluates it
essentially for extracting the effective information which covers overall key aspects as well as
aids to develop in future direction for fundamental investigation. For the current research
literature review is elaborated as under:
What is the concept of business management?
As per the opinion of Nguyen, Newby and Macaulay (2015),business management is a
process of managing the business activity in effective and efficient manner due to which goals
and objective of company can be attained in better manner. Business management mainly
includes money, production of materials, machines, marketing and innovation. It mainly includes
all the functions and activities which provides direction to company for achieving the
organisational goals. There are different types of business management which have their unique
roles and responsibility within an organisation such as financial management, marketing
management, sales management, production management, knowledge management and human
resource management. These types of business management plays an important role in company
due to which they gain success in market.
Business management is important for workplace as it helps in achieving the goals and
objective of an organisation in smooth and effective manner. It helps company to reach the goals
in quick and faster manner. Manager can also use the resources effectively by planing and
cutting the wastage. Business management focuses on reducing the cost of company and also
maximise the productivity of business. The main aim of business management is to direct and
unifies the group efforts so that organisational goals can be achieved in appropriate manner.
There are various roles and responsibility of manager within business such as creating positive
working environment, making proper use of scientific and technology advancements, improving
the deficiency of employees, managing overall business activities, hiring talented workforce and
many others. The different levels of management are top level management, upper middle
management, middle management, lower management and operating force of rank and file

workmen (Carayannis, Sindakis and Walter, 2015). Thus, the role of management is to run the
functioning and activities of business in systematic way so that business goals can be attained.
There are certain objectives of management which are fulfilled within business such as to ensure
survival of organisation, revenue generation, planning for growth, producing high quality of
goods and services, managing financial resources, creating employment and many others. For
example, the management of Marks and Spencer ensures that they hire talented workforce within
an organisation so that they can contribute their best efforts in providing better services to
customers. There are various function which are performed within Marks and Spencer such as
human resource management, financial management, sales management, marketing management
and various others. Human resource management of Marks and Spencer focuses on hiring best
and talented employees within company by examining their skills, capabilities and experiences.
They hire the candidate on the basis of set expectation so that they can give best efforts in
enhancing the business performance and productivity.
The other role of human resource management within an organisation is compensation
management, performance management, implementing legal policies, developing strategies,
providing training and development, retaining employees and also maintaining strong employee
relations. Within Marks and Spencer, human resource management ensures that their staff must
feel comfortable while working in organisation so that they can contribute their productive
outcomes in accomplishing the business goals. Financial management also plays a vital role
within business as they manage the financial resources of Marks and Spencer in effective manner
so that they can run the business activities in smooth way. The main role of financial
management is to conduct proper plan and organise all the activities of finance (Belfo and
Andreica, 2018). Different roles and functions of financial manager within Marks and Spencer
are planning the financial needs, investment of funds, dividend decision, profit planning and
control, working capital management and analysing and interpreting of financial statement.
Marketing management also plays a vital role within Marks and Spencer as they focuses on
developing the strategies for promoting the products and services in market.
The main motive of marketing management is to convert the potential consumers into
actual prospects. Marketing management mainly includes setting marketing goals and objectives,
developing marketing plan, organising the marketing function, putting the marketing plan into
action and also controlling the marketing programmes. In Marks and Spencer, Marketing

management plays an important role within business as they develop the strategies for attracting
and retaining the customers by promoting products through using different channels. Therefore,
it is important to focus on managing the business activities in order to gain competitive
advantage in market.
What are the innovations and advancements in technology?
As per the perspective of Kraus and Kraus (2016), innovation is a procedure of brining
something new within business by developing and introducing new things. Innovation is
important for an organisation as it helps in bringing new products and services in market so that
they can attract more and more potential customer towards the brand. There are various benefits
which can be availed by Marks and Spencer through innovating something within workplace
such as it helps in improving the productivity of business, reduces cost, improves brand
recognition and value, increased turnover rate, enhance competitiveness and also build new
partnership and relationship. Thus, innovation is a process of developing more effective
products, process and ideas (Davenport and Ronanki, 2018). Marks and Spencer is focusing on
launching innovation hub, it is specialist team which brings disruptive innovation for creating
industry leading products and addresses the challenges faced by the company in market. The
innovation hub team generally focuses on increasing the demand of food products of Marks and
Spencer so that they can grow in this field and also creates strong customer base. Therefore, the
innovation hub team focuses on supporting the Marks and Spencer food strategy to protect and
build market leading innovation. It is important for company to bring innovation within an
organisation so that they can gain competitive edge in market by attracting maximum number of
people. For example, company can bring new products and services by analysing the need and
demand of customers.
In order to gain competitive edge in market, it is important for company to implement the
right technology within workplace that helps in increasing the productivity and performance of
business. Technology generally helps in increasing the efficiency and productivity of business
due to which company can attract more and more customer towards the brand. The latest
advancements of technology which are used by the organisation are artificial intelligence, robotic
process automation, edge computing, virtual reality, internet of things, social media and cloud
computing (Ghazaleh, Abdallah and Zabadi, 2019). Marks and Spencer uses artificial
intelligence and machine learning technology in order to improve the performance and

productivity of business. By using artificial intelligence technology, company handles repetitive
tasks across the business due to which employees can focus on complex problem solving,
impactful work and creative solutions. Artificial intelligence technology focuses on changing the
way of working of Marks and Spencer as it helps in finding, hiring and retaining talent, build
collaboration among staff, improves remote working, optimise workplace, increases productivity
and also improves training and development programs. Therefore, there is a great importance of
artificial intelligence within workplace as it helps in identifying important changes in patterns,
isolate trends and also helps company to be on right track. Artificial intelligence helps in
increasing the productivity of business by predicting sales, reviewing and extracting information,
leveraging smart chatbots, implementing AI tools and managing real time operations. Marks and
Spencer is also focusing on modernising its supply chain unit by implementing artificial
intelligence and machine learning as it helps in improving the availability by cutting the food
waste. The AI tools are implemented within Marks and Spencer food stores so that it helps in
improving forecasting, smoothing delivery flow, optimising fresh availability and also cutting
waste. The implementation of this technology helps in accounting the shelf space, focuses on
doing adjustments based on weather forecasting and also do promotion of company. There are
various uses of machine learning technology within business such as decision support, customer
churn modeling, fraud detection and many others. Machine learning is important for business as
it helps in increasing the capacity of business by optimising the production process and also it
focuses on reducing the cost by guiding predictive maintenance (Bruce and Hogan, 2019).
Thus, there are various benefits which are gained by Marks and Spencer while implementing
effective technologies within workplace such as it makes the work faster, encourages company to
update, focuses on remote connectivity and various others. Marks and Spencer have strong
presence on social media marketing channels due to which they can attract more and more
prospect buyers towards the brand. Due to pandemic, the brand has transform their way of
working in order to sustain in market for long run and gain competitive advantage in market.
Thus, the implementation of effective technology within workplace helps in automating business
process and also boost the engagement level with customer and employees. Technology helps in
improving the productivity of business and also makes communication better and easier due to
which work can be accomplished in better manner.

What is the impact of technology on process of managing business?
As per the viewpoint of Mazzarol (2015), technology creates a great impact on the
process of managing business. It focuses on improving the productivity and performance of
business due to which company can sustain in market for long run and attain their goals and
objective in effective and efficient manner. Technology generally helps organisation to keep
their ideas away from the competition which helps in achieving the competitive edge in market.
There are various roles which are played by technology while managing the business.
Technology focuses on reshaping the organisation process increasing the speed and reducing the
time on ordinary work tasks. The implementation of technology within Marks and Spencer
brings positive impact on the performance and efficiency of business as it helps in creating new
culture and manage the time and resources in effective manner. While managing the business, it
is important to ensures that growth and performance of company must be improved. Technology
plays a vital role in improving the growth of business and also helps in inflowing the business
information (Fernando, Jabbour and Wah, 2019). By implementing the effective technology,
Marks and Spencer can improve their growth by creating strong presence on social media,
creating website, developing mobile application and also supporting customers.
Marks and Spencer have strong presence on different social media platforms which helps
in promoting the brand and expanding the business globally. Through using technology,
company can reach to large number of audience and also promote their products and brand in
significant manner. The brand also have its own website which provides detail information
related to the products and services. Mobile application helps customers to buy the products from
anywhere at anytime according to their comfort. Marks and Spencer also ensures that their
employees provides better services to its customer by solving their queries and issues related to
the products and services. They provide training and development opportunity to staff so that
they can provide high quality of customer services and make them satisfied. Due to advancement
in digital technology and application, payment and transaction process becomes easy and safe.
The implementation of technology helps in making business payments in easy manner and also it
encourages customer to shop nationally as well as internationally (Den Hertog and Bilderbeek,
2019). Technology also helps in flowing the business information in effective manner so that
they can avoid the losses and focuses on gaining more benefits for changes. The other important
role of technology while managing the business is that is helps in keeping record in better way.

Through technology, company can share and sent the records in easy manner and also the
information can be backed up very easily. The use of technology also helps in improving the
safety and security of of organisation by using various devices and software. Technology helps
in encrypting the business data in order to protect it from unauthorised users and also cloud
storage backup provides a storage facility for files for protecting them from loss. Thus, the
technology helps in increasing the performance and profitability of business due to which
company can attain competitive edge.

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research refers to carefully designing the study in order to address the problem in
scientific manner. Research methodology is a systematic process which helps in identifying,
analysing and interpreting the data about the chosen topic. This is the third chapter of the
research which helps the investigator to carry out the investigation as per their requirement. The
methodology section facilitates the researcher to accumulated answer for their two vital
questions that are how data will be collected and how it will be analysed. This section also helps
the researcher to achieve the aim and objective in effective manner (Mukherjee, 2019). The part
also allows readers to evaluate the validity and reliability of the data in order to reach to ultimate
conclusion. Through the gathered data they address their aim and objective in valuable manner.
It is very important for the researcher to systematically design this section by using various
philosophies, approaches, choices, strategies and many more. Research methodology section
justify the choices made by the researcher so that they can provide validity of the gathered data.
It is very important for the researcher to have a good research methodology in the dissertation as
it helps in providing a sound proof investigation to the researcher. Research methodology is
further divided into various components which are discussed below with the help of Saunders
research onion framework (Bairagi and Munot, 2019).
Research philosophy: The research philosophy is a set of belief and principle about the way or
phenomenon that used by the researcher to gather, analyse and used data in their investigation.
There are three types of research philosophies which are positivism, interpretivism and realism.
Positivism philosophy gathers and analysed objective data from the society, interpretivism
philosophy collect and measures subjective data so that detailed information can be gained from
the community. In last realism philosophy gathers both objective and subjective data about the
human perception on the topic. In the current investigation researcher has selected interpretivism
philosophy (Säfsten and Gustavsson, 2020). The main reason for choosing this is that through
this reality of the topic can be understood in detailed manner. It will gather and analyse
quantitative data so that deeper insight can be made. As well as using this researcher will be very
close to the truth and responses that they will get is more valid. The main reason for not selecting
positivism philosophy is it collect and measure quantitative data only. In which information is in
number so deeper insight cannot be made on the topic.