Report on Business Context: M&S's Ethical and Social Responsibilities

This report analyzes the business context of Marks & Spencer (M&S), emphasizing the dynamic and changing nature of the retail industry. It discusses the importance of managing responsibility, sustainability, and ethical behavior within the company. The report highlights how changes in the social, cultural, and environmental contexts affect businesses, and the crucial role of leadership in implementing changes and addressing CSR issues. The report also explores the ethical and social responsibilities of organizations, addressing issues like discrimination and environmental protection. It concludes that businesses must adapt to a complex global environment, adhere to ethical standards, and contribute to society through CSR practices. The report also emphasizes the significance of technology and its influence on the retail sector, and the need for M&S to maintain a sustainable environment and positive image to ensure long-term success and customer loyalty. The report uses various sources to support its findings, including academic journals and online resources.

Context of Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................2
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
For very business it is necessary to perform their responsibilities in well manner. This is
because the change that occurs in relation to social, cultural context affects firms to a great
extent. However, leader plays an important role in organisation (Prajogo, 2016). They are
responsible for implementing change. Besides this, change in CSR impact on leadership style
within an organisation. The assignment will discuss reasons why it is important to manage
responsibility, sustainability and behave ethically in various aspects. The present report is based
on M&S. It operates in retail sector globally.
MAIN BODY
Understand dynamic and changing nature of business
In a fast moving world, there are many changes occurring within business. Due to
dynamic nature of business it is difficult for them to maintain their operational efficiency. Also,
in order to remain competitive in the market business has to develop strategies and expand in
new markets. The frequent changes in laws, policies, etc. are changing the context of business
operations (Business environment. 2016). Furthermore, the global business environment has
become such a complex that small firms are not able to survive in it. There has been many
changes occurred in different areas such as politics, social, environmental, etc. So, it has resulted
in rise in many issues in it. Thus, it has become important for enterprise to solve the issues so
that they can operate at global scale. In retail sector there are many companies operating. They
have to adhere rules and regulations of different country. Apart from it, there are many small
firms entering into retail sector and offering variety of products and services. Besides this, many
new concepts have emerged in retail industry.
In the future it is expected that every retail firm will face stiff competition (Contreras and
et.al., 2015). There will be vast number of opportunities exists which will allow businesses to
enter in new market. Alongside it, technology will play a major role in gaining competitive
advantage. It will transform the way of providing products at global level. Hence, it will provide
open platform for organisation to operate in retail sector. There will arise many risk related to
enter n retail sector. It includes failure of business, insufficient fund, etc. the organisation will
have to control and maintain their operations effectively.
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As M&S belongs to retail sector they will also face intense competition from rivals.
Moreover, in global environment firm will have to maintain product quality as well. The
operations and functions is to be modified accordingly. Besides this, the success of firm will
depend on how they are able to operate and retain customers. Also, how strategies and plans are
implemented.
Organisation to behave ethically and socially in social, cultural and environmental issues
In such a complex global business environment it is essential for organisation to maintain
their image. This is done by behaving ethically and contributing towards society. In recent times,
there are many social issues occurring (Ryan and Daly, 2019). Due to this business decisions
are affected and negative culture is developed. However, many times the issues are not solved.
This affects growth and development of business. It has impacted on firm goodwill. The issues
are related to discrimination, harassment, etc. within organisation. The business should respect
cultural ethics and beliefs. There should not be any discrimination among employees. The staff
must respect other religious beliefs and norms. The discipline has to be maintained.
Also, some ethical issues has arise as well such as improper workplace culture, unethical
behaviour of managers, etc So, these all is resulting in decrease in productivity. Furthermore, it is
affecting employee behaviour as well. In order to manage these issues management must behave
ethically. The policies formed should be implemented in proper way. An employee is also
responsible for following of ethical standards set. He or she perform task in ethical way and
attain goals and objectives. It helps in creating positive organisational culture. There are other
things as well for which business is responsible.
Organisation must protect environment as well. This is done by following certain CSR
practices. If issues are not resolved it affects organisation image within society. The issues
related to environment are rise in pollution, waste disposal, etc. hence, the issues must be
resolved otherwise it can affect on profitability and growth of company (Turker, 2015).
However, the decisions taken must be related to protecting atmosphere and maintaining
sustainability.
So, these are the needs due to which organisation manage responsibility to behave ethical
and social way. By following of some policies and taking proper measures issues related to the
areas are resolved. It enables in dealing with issues and performing practices. Henceforth, by
maintaining effective workplace discrimination or any other ethical issues are prohibited. This
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leads to developing positive culture and enhancing employee performance. In similar way, M&S
also have to maintain sustainable environment. This is useful for them to grow and contribute
towards society. Along with it, positive image of firm in market will benefit in sustaining for
long term. It will improve their efficiency and attract more customers (Prajogo, 2016). When
responsibility is followed, the practices are implemented properly. Through this, social life of
employees and people is improved.
CONCLUSION
From report it is concluded that many changes occurs in business environment. This highly
impact on the overall operations of business. In future technology will play vital role in bringing
changes. Thus, there will be frequent changes occurring. So, they have to behave in ethically in
social context. Also, there are several CSR practices that have to be performed to solve
environmental issues. Moreover, to solve cultural issues policies are formed and followed. The
main responsibility of organisation is to contribute towards society.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Contreras, L.M. and et.al., 2015. Operational, organizational and business challenges for network
operators in the context of SDN and NFV. Computer Networks. 92. pp.211-217.
Prajogo, D.I., 2016. The strategic fit between innovation strategies and business environment in
delivering business performance. International Journal of Production Economics. 171.
pp.241-249.
Ryan, J.C. and Daly, T.M., 2019. Barriers to innovation and knowledge generation: The
challenges of conducting business and social research in an emerging country
context. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 4(1), pp.47-54.
Turker, D., 2015. An analysis of corporate social responsibility in the Turkish business context.
In Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe (pp. 483-499). Springer, Cham.
Online
Business environment. 2016. [online] Available through : <
https://opentextbc.ca/businessopenstax/chapter/understanding-the-business-environment/>
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