Business Environment Report: M&S, Public, and Voluntary Sectors

This report delves into the intricacies of the business environment, primarily focusing on Marks & Spencer (M&S) alongside the private, public, and voluntary sectors. It commences by elucidating the purposes and legal structures inherent to each sector, providing a comparative analysis of M&S, the Forestry Commission, and Age Concern concerning their size and scope. The report then examines the interrelationships between various functions within M&S, emphasizing their contribution to organizational mission and objectives. A significant portion is dedicated to identifying both the positive and negative impacts of the macro environment on M&S, followed by an analysis of internal and external factors through a SWOT framework. Furthermore, the report explores how strengths and weaknesses interact with external macro factors, using M&S as a case study. The report concludes with a comprehensive overview of the discussed elements, providing a holistic understanding of the business environment and its implications for organizational success.

Business and the Business
Environment

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Purpose of private, public and voluntary sector and the legal structure...........................1
P2 Size and scope of M&S, Forestry Commission and Age concern....................................3
P3 Relationship between various function within M&S for achieving organisational mission
and objective...........................................................................................................................4
P4 Identification of positive and negative impact in macro environment..............................4
P5 Internal and external factors and analysis of SWOT of M&S..........................................6
P6 Using M&S as your example, explain how strengths and weaknesses interrelate with
external macro factors............................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business environment means the internal and external factors which affect the company
including its employees, customers, management, supply and the demand of the business. The
environment related to the business affect the growth and the sustainability of the firm in the
market like any law related to the product of a certain firm will affect the sales of that product.
The purpose of the private, public and the voluntary sector of organisation is the growth and
development of country and society. The present case scenario is on of the UK's leading retailers
Marks and Spencer (M&S) with about 1400+ stores worldwide and also having the online
servicing high quality, owned brand food, clothing and home products, macro factors which is
regarded as the political, economic, social, legal and the environment factors and how will all
they affect the growth of M&S. The report will shed light on such as the private, public and the
voluntary sector in the nation to help the economy to grow and sustain in the global market. All
the organisations mainly focused on profit maximization but also on the economic growth and
the social fulfilment as well.
TASK 1
1.1 Purpose of private, public and voluntary sector and the legal structure.
 Private sector enterprise- the private organisation in the course of M&S will be
discussed as follows. It includes those type of enterprises who mainly deals with the
firms profit maximization. The aim of Marks & Spencer is to earn maximum profit, to
grow in the market and to again use the profit in the firm's expansion. Marks & Spencer
‘s business is not controlled by the government of the country and generate profits from
the sales they made. Marks & Spencer is a private limited company selling online
also and specialise in selling home, clothing and food products (Worthington and
Britton ,2015). But the regulation of the Marks & Spencer is the matter of concern of
the government only as it gets affected by the rules made by government. The main
purpose of the Marks & Spencer is to maximize its profit, to regularly grow and develop
in the market. It is set up with the motive of the profit maximization and investing this
profit again in the business or benefiting its employees and stakeholders. Legal structure
includes:
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 Public sector organisation- Refers to as the setup generally owned managed and
regulated by government or state of country for benefit of citizen by giving them
employment. They mostly comprise military, police, infrastructure, public transit, public
health and education. The Forestry Commission is organisation which on general terms
benefit country as a whole or for betterment of poor and weaker section of society
(Hamilton and Webster, 2015). The Forestry Commission is not for profit organisation of
society but earn profit for people only and use that profit for improvement of them only.
The regulation and rules of organisation depend upon the rules framed by the government
orl aws passed by the parliament of that country. Purpose of The Forestry Commission is
to provide employment to unemployed citizens of nation. The Forestry Commission is
the non- ministerial government which is mostly responsible for forestry in England and
Scotland. Main purpose of The Forestry Commission now has broadened and included
many other activities beyond production of timber. The major purpose are scientific
research, which is carried out across Britain. The legal form of public-sector
organisations are:
 Voluntary sector organisation- include the organisation working for the social motive
to promote the weaker section of society. They are the NGOs working to help the people
who are in need of them. Their main aim is to assist poor and needy people of the society
and environment and the animals. Age concern is the NGO working in UK which
specifically is concerned with needs and interest of all older people who are above 50-
year-old. Its objective is to provide practical support to old age group. They fight for
rights of the old age people such as pension and age discrimination and also to influence
the public opinion about them (Beaumont, WHITAKER and PEDERSEN, 2013). They
make them grow after retirement so that they are not depended upon anyone and also
giving them food and shelter.
P2 Size and scope of M&S, Forestry Commission and Age concern.
The factors that determine the size of the organisation whether public or private or
voluntary depends on the managerial ability, availability of the finance, availability of the labour,
extent of market, entrepreneurial skills and the nature of the business. The finance which is
available with the firm will tell to what extent it can grow the business the ability of the manager
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also determine how big will be the company. Scope of the company means all the area which it
is operating in whether it is a global or a local or a national or an international or the
multinational company (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund,2013). Marks & Spencer is an international
company as is operating worldwide and having its headquarter at London, UK. It is operating
since 1884 and is a public limited company selling online also and specialise in selling home,
clothing and food products.
The size of the Forestry Commission is very wide as operating all over the world in a
global market having about 1000+ stores across UK. And also having about 60+ stores in India,
50 in Turkey, 40 in Russia, 30 in Greece, 20 in Ireland, 16 in France, 13 in Poland, 8 in Hungary
and Finland and about 8 in Spain.
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department which is operating
only in England and Scotland only and is the form of public limited company so a national
company. It deals with department of environment, food and rural affairs of Scotland and now
also in the research department of the forest. The scope of the Forestry Commission is narrow as
is only related to UK and not on a global level. Scope is limited to the research and the forest
level only that too in UK.
Age concern is chiefly based in four countries of UK and has having a very narrow scope
and size. The Age concern also exist in New Zealand, Spain and Ukraine which shows that it is
having international network as well (Boons and Lüdeke-Freund, 2013). After the merger of the
Age concern England and Help age the Age UK was taken over by Age concern. The legal
structures of Forestry Commission is not very well defined as it is a voluntary sector company.
But Forestry Commission is divided into the 4 parts i.e. north, south, west and east. All these
parts are governed by the head of all the parts and the subordinated by different employees and
volunteers.
All these size. Scope and structures of different organisation are linked to the business
objectives and the product and services offered by the organisation. Like the size of the private
sector organisation will help them to grow and develop in the market and in the industry also by
increasing the profits and revenue of company .
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P3 Relationship between various function within M&S for achieving organisational mission and
objective.
All the function and the department within M&S are interrelated with each other as the
main objective is to achieve the organisational goal. The different departments such as finance,
marketing, sales, production all of them are interlinked and depended on each other.
Finance- If any of the department of M&S want to raise fund for their work they certainly will
inform the finance department which will by looking the availability of fund will be providing
them.
Sales- If the sales department of M&S want to increase the sales it will in turn tell the marketing
department to make a suitable marketing plan to increase the same.
Production- the work of this department is to do the manufacturing work it collects all the raw
material and input and convert it into output. The marketing department do the market research
of the customers and take out the demand of the product so that marketing department could
convey this to production department. Then thereafter the production team does the
manufacturing according to the demand in the market.
Human resource- this department work for the selection, recruitment and also for the betterment
of the employees. So marketing department help the HR team in selecting the best candidate for
the right post.
Research and development- if the marketing department do the market research about what all
changes customers want in the product of M&S then all those necessary changes and
development would be done by the R&D department. Thus, R&D department is also linked with
the marketing department as this help R&D to do the necessary changes and development in the
product so that the demand of the product are increased. And after the R&D have done the
necessary changes in the said product then the marketing department will do the marketing of the
product.
So, all the functions of M&S are correlated to one another for the smooth working of the
M&S. This relationship binds the organisational goal to the personal and the departmental goals
as well (Carroll, and Buchholtz, 2014). If all the department work together by helping one
another them only can function in a well manner by achieving the set objectives. The ultimate
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mission is to earn more and more profit which will attain if the department of M&S are working
together and solving all the dispute.
P4 Identification of positive and negative impact in macro environment
The environmental analysis is related to the process by which economic, political, legal,
social, competitive, geographical factors are determined. The macro environment relates to
situation where economy as a whole is considered as an initial part.
Assessment of macro-environmental as an initial factor: -
The largest democracy in the universe is taken as a whole in analysis of macro environment. It
relates to the federal system where the powerful bifurcation between state and British
government. The organisation M&S (Marks and Spencer) is a British retailer organisation, os a
retailer company with about 800 stores across the world. M&S is first British retailer company
who make pre-tax in the global world (Abushaiba and Zainuddin, 2012). The size of M&S is
very wide as it is operating across the world with about 800 stores
PEST Analysis of Marks and Spencer (M&S): -
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Political Factors: -
The well-known retailer company which is favoured as arrangements of trade system and
let to reducing the source costs. Politically M&S retailer organisation is based on that retail
company which is operating in the retail industry across the world market. M&S is major retail
industry which provide good products, foods, clothing and value their customers wants and
needs. The M&S concept is to analyse the customers’ expectations and then provide them cheap
and good quality product at low prices. This company considers the requirement of their
consumers and introduce new ideas in their productivity and packaging. If M&S is not able
develop a good relationship with the government of all the countries where they are operating
then it will never be able to work there and this is the negative effect of political factors.
Economic Factor: -The economic outlook is more likely effected in retail sector. Thus,
people do not want to invest money in purchasing of luxurious items such as branded garments
and accessories watches this is the negative impact of the economical factor of the analysis. On
this critical situation M&S create a strategy to attract their existing and new market customers
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Illustration 1: Bah and Fang
[Source: Bah and Fang, 2015]

(Bah and Fang, 2015). But on critical economical fluctuation the M&S closed so much stores
and on that job get affect around 2% approx. 70000 staff members. But they again come to
market with their new idea to selling in discount for short time basis and is the positive effect of
economical factor of analysis.
Social Factors: -The Social factors positively and negatively affect the entire
organisation. The sociological culture is based on the element which includes the society
attributes, cultures, preferences of their moral and cultural beliefs. The socio- culture for the
entire environment is very much difficult.
Cross cultures of different countries in single global market will affect company’s
strategies and productivity. The organisational culture of various companies creates positive and
negative impact on authorities and the business environment. The concerned retailer organisation
M&S have to change their organisational culture on the basis of their taste, fashion and
preferences changes. They change their strategies on the basis of their customers wants and
requirements. They introduced organic and green products for their health-conscious customers
as compare to baby boomers is the positive effect of social factor of analysis.(Eichner and
Pethig, 2014).
Technological Factors: - M&S retail company is well known company which provide
their customers high range of products. The company is technologically advanced and provide
high range of innovative products to their customers. They are managing their brand value very
carefully. Their market share is very much high amount of rate. The M&S use high and advance
technology to produce their products like garments, accessories and food products which is the
positive effect of technological factor of analysis.
Conclusion- thus from the above PESTLE analysis of M&S it is concluded that despite the
company is operating in many countries of the world and all those countries have their own
culture and policies in the countries. M&S need to maintain the relationship with the government
and the suppliers of all the nations with this relationship only it can work in a better and good
manner. All the factors of PESTLE effect the company and its working in many ways whether
good or bad.
P5 Internal and external factors and analysis of SWOT of M&S
The external and internal factors are the factors which may affect positively and negatively the
entire organisation.
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SWOT Analysis of M&S: -
Marks and Spencer have many strengths that are based on their internal environment. They
mainly focus on brand value of their product and in a wide range of various outlets. There are
some
Strength as internal factors of M&S: -
The strength of M&S retail organisation is their brand image. They have powerful and
top level of brand image with the top customer based organisation. It perceives as valuable
money on the basis of quality, convenience and the wide and large of their productions. They
have their individual brand labels by which they produce their own brand products. It is more
than thousands of stores are situated around forty countries (Marks and Spencer SWOT Analysis,
USP & Competitors, 2016). They provide employment around eighty thousand workers as a part
of labour force globally. The strengths of M&S include its brand image, wide size of M&S, the
employees working is the main essences and strengths of M&S and the innovative ideas of the
research team is also one of the strengths.
Weaknesses: - M&S give strong and powerful competition to new retail brands which
have limited market shares. They are very much popular and famous from which it can be used
as for misuse and for fake products in market. The main weak point of M&S is the duplicate
products in the market which are there in the market many of the local firms in many countries of
the world are selling the same replica of the big brands and this problem is also faced by M&S.
One of the weaknesses of the company is their manual working as the company is not using the
technology and this manual working is increasing the cost of the company.
External factors: -
Opportunities: -The M&S is well developed retail company which provide high amount
related to garment products, accessories and foods items. As the opportunities they can vast to
different more innovative products and attractive packaging. There future elemental
opportunities is based on expand their brand and products to china and other developing
countries. The opportunities are the market of China and that of South East Pacific region.
Threats: The other retail stores are threats for M&S company because of their
discounted strategies which attract large number of customers (Gallemore and Labro, 2015).
M&S being the world-wide retailer that means they are more and more expose to different
political factors. The British government policies will affect the M&S innovative strategies. The
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competition of M&S are the main threats to its work and they are more innovative. The
competitors of M&S are ALDI, Asos and TESCO.
P6 Using M&S as your example, explain how strengths and weaknesses interrelate with external
macro factors.
M&S is popular for delivering clothing products and it has gained popularity for retail
brands. Its products are marked by value as they provide best branded products. It has more than
1000 stores in 40 countries which has helped it to regain the satisfaction level of its old as well as
new customers. Further, it has employed 80,000 employees in its workplace which has helped
them to increase their productivity and market value. They have properly examined the political
factors, market value, economic conditions of the countries in which it has set up its roots.
Further, this has helped them to make their brands popular in other countries (Hamilton and
Webster, 2015).
Political factor- It has also analysed political stability, tariff, tax policies and governmental
policies to understand all the rules and regulation of that country. This has assisted them in fixing
and setting the price of their products so that they can make more profits. Furthermore, due to
high competition from other retail companies, M & S has faced the problem of tough
competition from them. They are not able to attract the customers and their gain their confidence
to purchase their products. M&S did not follow the British government standards of health and
safety and thus was charged for this negligence.
Environment factor- of different countries have affected the methods of manufacturing the
company's products. They have to manufacture products according to the policies of that
particular country which affects budget of company (Kuklinski, Moser and Callarman, 2014).
Social factors have also affected revenue and profits of M & S. Different culture, tradition and
beliefs of people demands different variety of products. These has created the problem for their
development and making effective position in competitive market. The present climate issues
which are there M&S have been pressurised by the government of all the countries to change the
way they use the materials and how they do the manufacturing. It need to do the carbon neutral,
ethical trading and promote healthy and sustainable goods.
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Technological factors and its advancement in different countries has helped the company to use
effective methods which can increase their customers. The organisation has developed its
website and apps to provide best services to their customers. This facility has helped the
customers to purchase their products online and save their money and time. Furthermore, it has
also increased the satisfaction level of buyers of different countries. Legal factors have also
affected the business expenditure of M & S. They have to follow all the rules and regulation of
the government. This has affected revenue and profits of the organisation (Lee, Chen and Liu,
2013).
Legal Factors: - The legal factors are based on the aspect where the rules and analysis of legal
availabilities on the basis of customer requirements (Eng, 2015). M&S introduced new digital
channel where customer enjoy the home delivery services. Another problem which the company
has faced is from their misuse of fake imitation products. These has created great problem for
them to make effective image upon the customers.
Environmental Factors: -The environment influenced on business of aspects which is useful for
the internal and external factors. M&S is worldwide retail company which includes entire
business environment. The environment can be macro and micro environment. Particularly
external environment of the global world is uncontrollable, but the internal environment of the
organisation can be controlled by management.
Social factors have also affected revenue and profits of M & S. Different culture, tradition and
beliefs of people demands different variety of products. These has created the problem for their
development and making effective position in competitive market.
Economic factors- the company was also hit by the recession of 2007-08 and closed many of its
stores with a job cut of 2% of their 70000 employees. M&S always need to work according to
the changes in the market and need to make the decisions accordingly.
CONCLUSION
The present assignment shows the value of business environment and the factors which
affect internal and external aspects of macro environment culture. This assignment conclude
includes PESTLE Analysis and SWOT analysis of Mark and Spencer retail company. The
strengths of company that have wide range of products. Weaknesses of M&S is based on the
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