Analysis of Corporate Strategy and Governance Framework

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of corporate strategy and governance, focusing on key issues such as corporate culture, compliance with laws, accountability, and data protection. It begins with an introduction to corporate governance and its importance, followed by a literature review exploring various perspectives on the subject. The report then delves into specific issues, using Mark & Spencer as a case study to illustrate challenges and potential solutions. Data collection methods, including primary and secondary approaches, are outlined, and a detailed giant chart outlines the project's timeline. The report concludes with a list of references, providing a solid foundation for understanding corporate governance principles and their practical application in the business world. This assignment aims to understand how corporate governance impacts business performance and stakeholder relations.

Corporate Strategy and
Governance

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Literature review-.............................................................................................................................3
Data Collection Methods.............................................................................................................3
Giant Chart..................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Corporate government is a system of rules and regulations for company to direct and
control the firm. It becomes a buzz in the world of business management field. Every
organisation has to follow certain rules and legislations which made by government. Small,
medium or large organisation implemented the concept of corporate government to develop
strategic plans for business. It defines the relationship between board, shareholders, management
and other stakeholders in order to promote long term growth. Corporate government strategies
include: methods to design structure, balancing responsibility and providing accountability to
stakeholders such as customers, suppliers, management etc. Basically corporate governance is all
about sustainability and profitability. Corporate governance is a framework for organisation to
achieve goals and objectives and encompasses in every sphere of management.
Corporate Governance Importance:
Corporate business should develop specific policies and standards of financial reporting
and accountability in order to protect money invested by for Investors and stakeholders. So they
force management to become more efficient, transparent, accountable etc. Corporate governance
is process of governing organisation such as sovereign state, instating its own customs, policies
and laws to workers from highest to the lowest level (Herrera, 2015). This helps organisation to
maintain relations with management. According to policies mentioned in government,
organisation has to develop strategies and plans for operations. Good corporate policies will help
company to develop better organisational structure Organisation focuses on strategies in which
stakeholder also take interest that helps in building good image in market. M&S believes in
effective governance through leadership and collaboration.
Issues in Corporate Governance:
Corporate government plays an important role in business. It is directly impact on profits
of company and having poor policies can lead to company lawsuits, fines, loss of capital and
reputation. There are various important issues which are interrelated, interdependent to deal with
each other. Such issues are:

11 Corporate culture: For any organisation the main objective is to run smoothly, it
requires to have certain ethics and values. Values are based on corporate culture is good
practice for corporate governance It is a set of beliefs, ethics, principles which are
inviolable (Ferkins and Shilbury, 2015). Mark and Spencer has also their own principles
of marketing. The company only sells clothing, luxury home and food product in UK.
This can affect them in global market.11 Compliance with Laws: Organisation have to follow all the rules and regulations and
having high ethical values in order to progress. For surviving in market for long term
business abide and comply with laws of security, cyber, banking law etc. M&S is not
operating with the laws in different countries. This issue has resulted in poor brand image
of company.11 Accountability: For effective corporate governance accountability is necessary. The
action of corporation is accountable to all level of stakeholders and the public. Without
accountability, corporation might in danger the success of company because stakeholders
loose interest to invest in company. Mark & Spencer boards of director appointed
existing chief Executive to hold position of Executive chairman. Many shareholders and
stakeholders disagreed with this decision of board. This is affecting the company
investments.11 Privacy and Data Protection: Privacy and data protection is main key issue of
government. Nowadays in digitalization, the cyber security crimes and frauds are on
peak. So governance must assess risk of handling data and take steps to protect data from
potential misuse ( Tejedo-Romero and Esteves, 2018). This issue can faced by Mark and
Spencer in recent years because the company cannot follow the law of data protection.
M&S cannot able to protect data of employees and customers which is used by other
companies for cybercrimes and frauds. This is affecting reputation of company in retail
industry.

Literature review-
According to Lai, Mellon and Stacchezzini, 2016 corporate Governance is practices of
government by organisation results in higher firm's market value, lower cost of funds and higher
profitability. In today's changing environment companies has focused on increasing their role in
corporate governance. From study of Lu and et.al., 2015 corporate governance is a relationship
between firm as measured and government policies. Such that a) board composition, b)
shareholding policies, c) Shareholder rights policies d) disclosure policies. Thus, resultant
indicates that corporate government the performance of firm where growth and performance
were positively related. Edmans, 2014 study in corporate governance and its performance defines
that the relationship among indicators of governance, including transparency and operating
measures and whether the indicators could be predictors of operating performance. According to
Peters and Romi, 2014 corporate transparency had a significant positive relationship with
operating performance. Thus, it is concluded that companies with good corporate governance
also had important positive relationship with operating performance. In the view of that the
research done by firms has provided many solutions to overcome from corporate issues. CSR
activities contribute to organisations which create positive image in society. If investors and
stakeholder do not get proper return of investment this shows negative impact on business profit
and also affect company's profit. Accountability because of poor management and control on
activities. The action of each level of corporation is accountable to stakeholders and public.
Data Collection Methods
Primary method- Those data which are collected for first time. These are collected particularly
from surveys and descriptive researches. Data obtain either through observation or direct
communication with respondents in one or another or by personal interviews.
Secondary method- They are which have been already passed through by statistical process.
The data are analysed and collected by previous researcher or authors. It is collected from books,
journals and articles. It will help in explanation of data in effective manner.

Giant Chart
Activities 1st
week
17/5/
2018
2nd
week
3rd
week
4th
week
5th
week
6th
week
7th
week
8th
week
9th
week
10th
week
4/7/201
8
Formation
of research
proposal
Making
the
objectives
and aim
Developin
g research
questions
Identifying
and
selecting
method of
data
collection
Literature
review
Designing
Research
Methodolo
gy

Collecting
primary
data
Data
analysis
Finding of
collected
data
Recomme
ndations
and
Conclusio
n

References
Books and journals
Edmans, A., 2014. Blockholders and corporate governance. Annu. Rev. Financ. Econ..6(1).
pp.23-50.
Ferkins, L. and Shilbury, D., 2015. Board strategic balance: An emerging sport governance
theory. Sport management review.18(4). pp.489-500.
Herrera, M.E.B., 2015. Creating competitive advantage by institutionalizing corporate social
innovation. Journal of Business Research. 68(7). pp.1468-1474.
Lai, A., Melloni, G. and Stacchezzini, R., 2016. Corporate sustainable development: is
‘integrated reporting’a legitimation strategy?. Business Strategy and the Environment.
25(3) pp.165-177.
Lu, J.W., and et.al., 2015. Internationalization and performance of Chinese family firms: The
moderating role of corporate governance. Management and Organization Review.11(4).
pp.645-678.
Peters, G.F. and Romi, A.M., 2014. Does the voluntary adoption of corporate governance
mechanisms improve environmental risk disclosures? Evidence from greenhouse gas
emission accounting. Journal of Business Ethics.125(4). pp.637-666.
Tejedo-Romero, F. and Esteves, J.F.F., 2018. Management strategy and intellectual capital
disclosure: influence of corporate governance. Contaduría y Administración. 63(2).pp.347-
365.