Level 5 Business Strategy Assignment: John Lewis Ltd Report Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive business strategy analysis of John Lewis Ltd., a prominent retail company in the UK. The assignment begins with an introduction and company overview, followed by a detailed SWOT analysis, identifying the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report then applies Porter’s Five Forces model to assess the competitive landscape, analyzing competitive rivalry, the threat of substitutions, bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, and the threat of new entrants. A PEST analysis is also conducted to evaluate the political, economic, social, and technological factors impacting the organization. The report concludes with an evaluation of environmental factors and a strategic plan. References are included to support the analysis.

Running head: BUSINESS STRATEGY ASSIGNMENT
Business Strategy Assignment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................3
Company Overview:..................................................................................................................3
SWOT Analysis:........................................................................................................................4
Strengths:............................................................................................................................4
Weakness:..........................................................................................................................4
Opportunities:.....................................................................................................................5
Threats:...............................................................................................................................5
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis:...................................................................................................6
Competitive Rivalry: High.................................................................................................6
Threat of Substitutions: High.............................................................................................6
Bargaining Power of the Buyers: High..............................................................................6
Bargaining Power of the Suppliers: Moderate...................................................................7
Threat of New Entrants: Low.............................................................................................7
PEST Analysis:......................................................................................................................7
Political impact on the organization:..................................................................................7
Economic impact on the organization:...............................................................................8
Social impact on the organization:.....................................................................................8
Technological impact on the organization:........................................................................8
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................8
References:...............................................................................................................................10

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Introduction:.............................................................................................................................12
Evaluation of the Environmental Factors:................................................................................12
Strategic Plan:..........................................................................................................................15
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................0
References:.................................................................................................................................1

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Assignment 1:
Introduction:
The paper is focused in the elaboration of business environment of a chosen
organization named as John Lewis Ltd. The selected company is also known as John Lewis
and Partners in the British market. The paper analyses the macro-environmental condition of
the chosen organization and at the same time, it also produces an evaluation of the micro
environmental factors as well. The paper includes the findings of a PEST analysis for the
effective elaboration of the business environment to which the chosen organization is
subjected. Apart from this, the paper provides an in depth analysis on the market competition
with an accurate application of the Porter’s five forces model. In addition to this, the paper
provides an analysis of the internal environment of the organization with the application of
the SWOT analysis.
Company Overview:
The selected organization is a renowned name in the retail industry of United
Kingdom for their excellence in the establishment of a chain of high-end departmental stores
that are operating successfully throughout United Kingdom. In addition to this, the chosen
company was founded by John Lewis in the year 1864 and the company is currently
headquartered in London (Johnlewis.com. 2019). With more than 51 number of store
presence in various locations of the nation, the company is able to serve the customers with
the optimum quality household products (Johnlewispartnership.co.uk 2019). The company is
observed to experience the excellent leadership of the managing director of the organization,
Paula Nickolds and the finance director of the organization, Bérangère Michel
(Johnlewispartnership.co.uk 2019). The visionary leadership of the above mentioned leaders
and the operational excellence of the 38100 number of employees of the organization played

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a crucial role in increasing the generation of revenue to £ 3.78 billion in the year 2017
(Johnlewis.com. 2019). With a precise monitoring of the parent organization, John Lewis
Partnership, the selected organization is able to improve the business operations in terms of
the infrastructure and the quality of the products that they offer to the customers.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths:
The selected organization is seen to experience a significantly strong brand for their
products. The organization is able to provide the value for their customers’ money and that
has enabled it to create a strong sense of customer loyalty amongst the customers of the
organization (Zakaria et al. 2014).
The selected organization is subjected a significant economic growth and that is
playing a crucial role in expanding their business to reach out to the customers with the
products and the services.
The organization provides significant amount of scope to the customers of getting
products of other brands and their own brand under one roof.
The significant skills and competencies of the employees of the organization is seen
to provide the much required competitive advantage to the selected organization in competing
with the competitor organizations in the aspect of quality in the services of the employees.
The selected organization provides the scope of achieving the international deliveries
which enables it to serve the global customers in an efficient manner.
Weakness:
One of the major weakness of the selected organization is the lack of sufficient
products to meet the diverse needs and requirements of the customers in an effortless manner.

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It is pretty evident that the supermarkets of modern generation are creating different sections
for the products of different genres and the plan is influenced with the idea of selling products
in accordance to the diverse requirements of the customers (Zakaria et al. 2014). Hence it is
pretty evident that the selected organization is significantly limited in terms of offering
variety of products to the customers.
Opportunities:
With a precise focus on the increasing number of the young professionals leaving
away from their homes, the company has the chance to target the youth generation in a more
efficient manner. The company will be able to generate significant amount of revenue
through targeting the youth generation with their optimum quality products.
The company has the scope of increasing their product chain with the inclusion of
bestseller products that it currently does not sell. The effective expansion of their business
through opening new stores will be a significantly profitable idea for the senior management
of the selected organization.
Threats:
The impact of the economic turmoil in the European region has the potential to affect
the business operations of the selected organization in a detrimental manner (Lamey 2014).
Apart from that, the impact of the recession is pretty evident with the decrease in the
purchase quantity of the customers of the modern generation.
The increasing labour and employment charges in the UK region has the potential to
affect the business operation of the selected organization and along with that the frequent
changes in the business regulations and the labour laws has the possibility to affect the
business conduction of the mentioned organization.

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Porter’s Five Forces Analysis:
Competitive Rivalry: High
The selected organization is subjected to significant amount of competition from the
competitor organizations such as the Marks and Spencer, ASDA and Tesco in the retail
segment and considering the product categories, the company is seen to face notable amount
of competition from the business organizations such as the Zara and Next Plc in the fashion
retail segment. The basis of the competition is seen to be the quality of the products and the
pricing strategies of the companies. With a precise focus on the significant market share of
the above mentioned organizations, it is pretty evident that the company is facing an intense
market competition.
Threat of Substitutions: High
As mentioned above, the UK retail industry is currently populated by considerable
number of organizations with the capability of providing quality products and the services.
Along with that, majority of the organizations are seen to apply competitive pricing policy
which enables them to target the customers of low and the middle income groups in an
efficient manner. In addition to this, organizations such as Zara or ASDA are seen to use their
expertise of designing the products in accordance to the preferences of the customers and that
is playing a crucial role in improving the customer loyalty amongst the customers (Zakaria et
al. 2014). Hence it is pretty evident that the organizations operating in the UK retail industry
is facing high threat of getting substituted.
Bargaining Power of the Buyers: High
With a precise focus on the number of available organizations capable of offering
quality products at a significantly competitive prices, the customers of the UK retail industry
are observed to have high bargaining power. With a precise understanding of the impact of

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the price war initiated by the market leaders of the industry, it is evident that the customers
will get the chance to purchase the products in accordance to their preferences from a number
of efficient organizations.
Bargaining Power of the Suppliers: Moderate
With a precise focus on the need of quality supply, on time supply, accurate supply at
reasonable prices, the impact of the suppliers on the mentioned business industry is pretty
significant. However, the above mentioned ideal characteristics are seen to present in
majority of the suppliers of industry and that produces a significant barging power to the
customer organizations in selecting the supplies. However, the impact of Brexit is significant
in reducing the number of international suppliers in the region and that makes the bargaining
power of the existing suppliers to be moderate (Sahr et al.2016).
Threat of New Entrants: Low
The scope of entering the market for the new organizations is seen to be limited
owing to their concern of bulk investment for the setting up of the required infrastructure and
the high level of competition that these organizations are expected to face in the industry
from the organizations such as Zara, ASDA, Marks and Spencer or Next Plc.
PEST Analysis:
Political impact on the organization:
The impact of Brexit on the business operations of the selected organization is
significant. With a precise focus on effects of Brexit, it is pretty visible that majority of the
business organizations of the nation are finding it difficult to achieve skilled labours and
along with that, the business operations of many of the multinational business organization is
observed be restricted as a result of Brexit (Sahr et al.2016).

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Economic impact on the organization:
With a precise focus on the economic condition of Europe, it is pretty visible that the
impact of recession is pretty maturely managed by majority of the business organizations
operating in the industry (Sulaiman, Abdullah and Ridzuan 2014). However, the impact of
the economic turmoil in the European region has pretty prominent effect on the business
operations of the organizations operating in the mentioned industry.
Social impact on the organization:
The retail industry is seen to be significantly influenced with the varying preferences
of the customers and that is significantly evident in the fashion retailing section. The
increasing urgency amongst the organizations in reducing the lead times and increasing the
design cycles is considered to be one of major proof or adjustment that the organizations are
able to conduct.
Technological impact on the organization:
Considering the technological aspect, it is visible that the organizations are
incorporating the digital solutions in the promotional and marketing campaigns. Along with
that, majority of the organizations are seen to focus on the utilization of the digital catalogues
for effective communication of the features of their products and services to the customers
(Sulaiman, Abdullah and Ridzuan 2014).
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it is pretty evident that the mentioned organization is facing
significant amount of competition from the competitor organizations such as Zara, ASDA,
Marks and Spencer or Next Plc. Considering the various aspects of the business environment
of the mentioned organization, it is visible that the company is facing notable amount of
difficulty in the sourcing of the skilled employees and in the triggering the purchase intention

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of the customers owing to the impact of the economic turmoil. From the findings of the
macro and micro environmental studies of the selected organization, it is pretty evident that
the mentioned organization is expected to introduce some necessary changes for the
improvement of the business operations of the organization.

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References:
Johnlewis.com. 2019. John Lewis & Partners. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.johnlewis.com/
Johnlewispartnership.co.uk 2019. John Lewis Partnership. [Online]. Available at:
https://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/
Lamey, L., 2014. Hard economic times: a dream for discounters. European Journal of
Marketing, 48(3/4), pp.641-656.
Sahr, D., Compton, M., Carr, A., Wilkes, G. and Behrens, A., 2016. Brexit: what are the
options for the financial services industry?. Journal of Investment Compliance, 17(4), pp.45-
53.
Sulaiman, M.A., Abdullah, M.A. and Ridzuan, A., 2014. Customer relationship management
(CRM) strategies practices in Malaysia retailers. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,
130, pp.354-361.
Webber, R., 2013. The evolution of direct, data and digital marketing. Journal of Direct,
Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 14(4), pp.291-309.
Zakaria, I., Rahman, B.A., Othman, A.K., Yunus, N.A.M., Dzulkipli, M.R. and Osman,
M.A.F., 2014. The relationship between loyalty program, customer satisfaction and customer
loyalty in retail industry: A case study. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 129, pp.23-
30.