Entrepreneurial Project: Marks & Spencer Growth Strategy Analysis

This entrepreneurial project provides a detailed analysis of Marks and Spencer (M&S), a major British multinational retailer. The project begins with an introduction, including an organization review, data collection and analysis, and a clear articulation of aims and objectives. A comprehensive literature review examines models for analyzing M&S's internal and external environments, including SWOT and PESTLE analyses, and discusses key opportunities and risks. The project employs a research methodology to support its findings. The data analysis and discussion section applies VRIO and Porter's Five Forces models to assess M&S's competitive advantages and market position. The project concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for future growth strategies, supported by a robust reference list. The project aims to evaluate various models used by M&S to examine internal/external factors, opportunities, and risks in the market, and to develop strategies for sustainable growth.

Entrepreneurial
Project

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................2
Organisation review....................................................................................................................2
Data collection and analysis........................................................................................................3
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................3
To evaluate about the various models that can be used by Marks and Spencer to have better
analysis of its internal and external environment........................................................................3
SWOT Analysis..........................................................................................................................4
PESTLE Analysis.......................................................................................................................5
To analysis about the key opportunities and risk which are currently present in the market
environment of Marks and Spencer............................................................................................6
Scenario Planning.....................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................14
CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION..............................................................15
VRIO analysis...........................................................................................................................15
Porter's five forces model..........................................................................................................17
CHEATER 5: CONCLUSION......................................................................................................18
Conclusion................................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Entrepreneurial projects refers to a tool that is used to implement the programmes for
attaining the objectives that are stimulate work of multifunctional groups, integrate the experts
with the organisation and developing the networks, encouraging the short terms returns related to
the investment that made by the organisation for gaining the higher profits (Di Muro, Lecoeuvre
and Turner, 2020). Management defines as a process of managing, planning, organising, staffing,
directing the task within the organisation or industry so that work can be done smoothly and
efficiently. This report is based on the identification of organisation, data collection and analysis
with the use of secondary sources, reviewing the literature and at last reflects the growth strategy
proposal that helps in sustaining and gaining the more profitable results. This report is based on
the Marks and Spencer that is an emerging organisation in UK that is a largest retailing British
multinational company. The organisation can deals in selling clothing, food, home wares,
financial services etc.
Aims :
The major aim of this study is to evaluate the several models which is adopted by the
Marks and Spencer to examine the internal and external factors along with opportunities and risk
that is currently present within the market and developing the strategies that helps in higher
growth and success for longer survival of the company.
Objectives :
 To evaluate about the various models that can be used by Marks and Spencer to have
better analysis of its internal and external environment.
 To analysis about the key opportunities and risk which are currently present in the market
environment of Marks and Spencer.
Organisation review
Marks and Spencer is a largest British multinational retailing company that is
headquartered in the London, England United Kingdom. The organisation mainly deals in the
several products and services that are home wares, clothing, good products, financial services
with their own label. This business enterprise can deals in all over the globe and have 959 stores
in the UK. Marks and Spencer can adopted the several promoting tools to promote their goods
and services that are television, social media etc. In recent time company will focus on attracting
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the several opportunities and for this they can highly emphasised the internal and external factors
by using the various aspects. In this management of the company play a essential role to gain the
higher profits and revenues. Within the organisation there are approx 80000 employees are
working under the several brands. In recent term firm will focus on grow their market to
analysing the opportunities and risk present within the market so that success can be enjoyed by
the organisation in their long term survival (Günzel-Jensen and Robinson, 2017).
Data collection and analysis
Data collection refers to the process of gathering, collecting, storing, measuring the
information in a systematic manner that is helpful to giving the answer for the research
questions. For researching the project on Marks and Spencer, this project study used the
secondary sources such as internet etc. to complete the objectives. It helps in providing the
reliable and validity solutions in an systematic way. For research strategy the researcher can
focus on proper guidance, planning and evaluation so that targets related to the research can be
complete (Mariño-Garrido, García-Pérez-de-Lema and Duréndez, 2020).
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
To evaluate about the various models that can be used by Marks and Spencer to have better
analysis of its internal and external environment.
As per the viewpoint of Simeon Belov, there are several resources which is used by the
Marks and Spencer that are financial resources, Physical resources, Organisational resources. All
these resources are very helpful to examine the internal factors. These resources are very
effective for the company to gaining the high profitable results and capturing the more
opportunities. In this entrepreneurial orientation is also to be included that can show the
processes, decision making style of the company. This will helps in growing the market and
profits within the business industry. In this the founder of the Marks and Spencer, Micheal
Marks is influenced by the trends within the customers, competitors presents within the
marketplace etc. all these helps in identifying the internal factors so that firm will concentrate
effective in their growth.
As per the author viewpoint Thomas Bush, it is reflected that Marks and Spencer can
adopts the use of environmental analysis for gaining the higher opportunities and threats so that
profitable results can be enjoyed. In this researcher can used the socio cultural influences for
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examine the preferences of customers, identifying the global, regional and emerging markets and
also the competitive advantage that helps in examine the rivals that are present within the
marketplace. In environmental analysis helps in identifying the several aspects related to the
environment that will affect the company growth and sustainability. It is very vital to understand
the several opportunities and risks that are present in market (Schön, Voigt and Jagrikova, 2018).
SWOT Analysis
In context to M&S, the SWOT analysis is discussed below-
Strength
 The company Marks & Spencer have a
high recognition of brand. It is called
the giant of UK market as it is known
in the market for its high quality which
it is providing from the last many years.
Customers go to this brand and finish
their shopping in one go (Ratten, 2020).
 The organisation Marks & Spencer has
a wide variety of products in their
every store which helps the customers
to chose from the best. It has around
400 varieties and 1200 suppliers which
add to its strength. The company has large number of
stores as of around 900 stores
worldwide and 600 stores across the
country UK. This shows that it has
wide business and sales due to its
reasonable cost and the high quality
products.
Weakness
 The company Marks & Spencer uses
old techniques where the manual
working enhances the cost. It does not
follow the new techniques due to many
aspects like increased time, money, etc.
As large companies keep focus on new
technologies but the main drawback of
this company is that it does not utilise
technology which decreased work
efficiency.
 The bad publicity of the organisation
Marks & Spencer has become a major
drawback where the company is out of
fashion and also non trendy. These
wrong assumptions are making the
company non trendy which affect the
business.
 The company has poor financial
planning as its liquid asset ratio and
current asset ratio depicts that it can
utilise its fund in a more efficient
manner.
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Opportunities
 The decreased cost of transportation
may open an opportunity for the
company as it can lower its shipping
price and boost its profitability and
sales and capture larger market share. The company can utilise new
technological advancement where it
can practise differentiated pricing
strategy in the new market.
Threat
 The changing trends in clothing sector
may be threat to the company as it vary
time to time and company manufacture
its own clothes under its brand name.
 The competition in the market is
another threat where the company has
threat to lose the scope in the business
(Behrens and Hummel, 2016).
PESTLE Analysis
According to Murphy, F (2019), PESTEL analysis can be referred to as the tool which
can be devised to conduct the external analysis of the business environment where the company
exist. It is an important step where the organisation devise the particular strategy in an effective
manner so that it can enhance the sustainability and profitability of the company. In context to
Marks & Spencer, the PESTEL analysis is done below- Political- It involves the political environment of the area where the business is operated.
The free trade which have been established between multiple countries have benefited the
company M&S. The organisation now operates in many locations and gets great benefit
from it. This allows the company to import foreign products at cheap prices which helps
in maintaining the good profit margin (Lai and Wan, 2019). Economic- It involves the economic factors like inflation, foreign exchange, economic
stability and many other. The monetary and fiscal policies of the UK are strong enough as
the government have strong finance and has maintained low rate of inflation. This helps
the company to increase its profitability. Social- It is concerned with the needs and preference of the customers. The company
keeps up to date with the coming trends by expanding its brand. Earlier in the past, the
cheap clothing trends affected the business of the company but the organisation M&S
keep up with the trends and provided less expensive version of its clothes to its
customers.
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 Technological- It involves the adaptation of technology into the business. The company
M&S initiated the technology transformation program where it become the first digital
business and worked towards growth and success. It understands the role of technology
and adopt it in order to enhance the productivity. Legal- It is concerned with the legal compliance and consequences of non compliance.
The company m&S conducts regular training session for its employees so that they can
get familiar with the changing laws of different countries.
 Environmental- It involves environmental concerns which is affected by the operations
of the business. The company works towards saving the environment and has recently
come up with the green policy so that a positive impact can be made on the community,
well being and the planet (Rodrigues, Ferreira and Silva, 2020).
To analysis about the key opportunities and risk which are currently present in the market
environment of Marks and Spencer.
Analysing opportunity for market development:
According to Schmidt. S, (2018), opportunity analysis is the process which narrow down
separate opinions which are provided from different sources and make sure that the focus is
made on that so that it results in highest potential for the success. It refers to the establishment of
the demand and the competitive analysis together with the market environment and condition
study so that strategy and plans can be made accordingly by having clear vision for it.
According to situation analysis which has been conducted, it is identified that there are
mainly two strategies which can be exploited by M&S (Xue and Mason, 2019). The external
market condition and the current scenarios suggest that coronavirus and Brexit are two
influential factors which has affected the working of the company. The company can opt for
market development where it can enter new market with its existing product. It can be an
international market where it has not expanded its operations like India so that it can explore new
market and another strategy can be product development where it can improve its product
portfolio and add more products to it so that it can attract more customers.
In view of Aven, (2012), the process involved in strategic dissect begins with researching
and conducting investigation about the different approaches and strategies for the respective
business entity (Gabay-Mariani, 2020). The process is important and necessary to follow for
enabling in developing strategic planning and decision making. Marks and Spencer can make use
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of three parameters to make their assessment those are Risk analysis, Scenario Planning and
Assessment of Ethical and Corporate Social Responsibilities within the company.
According to Miryam, (2020), risk analysis is a wide process which is used for
identifying and analysing number of potential issues and future events which can cause negative
impacts over the brand and how much each risk will be impacting the business. The key
objective behind holding and conducting this assessment is to make effective review of future
situations through which company will go through in case of managing and facing the risk and
related situations (Lai, Zhao and Wan, 2019).
For Marks and Spencer, the risk analysis is performed in order to determine risks and
mitigate their impacts to a certain level. As well as to recognize some of the opportunities while
doing so. The risk analysis of Marks and Spencer is presented underneath:
RISK RISK
SOURCE
DESCRIPTION LIKELIHOOD
OF THE RISK
IMPACT
OF THE
RISK
MITIGAT
ION
STEPS
Authorisati
on
restrictions
Market
developm
ent
This risk will be
faced by Marks
and Spencer,
while planning to
move and grow
by expanding in
other regions
and countries.
Every nation has
its barriers and
challenges which
can cause huge
risk for company
while moving
and conducting
their business.
5 1 The risk
arising due
to market
expansion
can be
easily
mitigated
and by
using the
best tool
that is
research
and
developme
nt R&D.
Through it
the
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company
cam easily
recognise
the
potential
areas which
needs to be
focused in
case of
making
appropriate
measures
and
balances
(Ferrandiz,
Fidel and
Conchado,
2018).
Competitio
n
Market
developm
ent
Another potential
risk which can be
in path of marks
and Spencer
while developing
new market in
other Nation is of
increasing
competition
which can lead
the opportunity
into a threat by
turning the
4 5 The best
way to
reduce the
implication
of
increasing
competitive
ness of
existing
competitors
in the new
market the
best useful
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positive aspect of
growth and
expansion into a
negative one
indulging huge
cost, resources
and time (Kun,
2017).
resource is
again the
research
and
developme
nt
department
of marks
and
Spencer
which can
help in
mitigating
the risk to a
certain
level.
Rapid up
gradation
of
technology
Product
developm
ent
Another risk
which will be
encountered by
marks and
Spencer while
adopting the
opportunity of
diversification
and development
of new product.
This is because
according to
present scenario
of market trans
are constantly
5 5 In order to
reduce the
risk of
failure of a
new
product a
major
approach
which can
be adopted
by marks
and
Spencer is
to develop
a product
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changing with a
very high pace
and this rapid
change in need
and requirement
of people can
lead the company
towards a risk of
unfavourable
Ness been
created in the
market for the
new product
which is
developed.
according
to the
current
market
trends and
also to
make it
strong
enough that
no other
substitute
can replace
its value in
the market
(Verzat and
Liu, 2019).
Exceeding
costs
Product
developm
ent
Moving along
with risk analysis
another type of
risk which can be
faced by marks
and Spencer in
future while
developing new
product is in
regarding to its
cost and
inclusion of huge
amount of money
as well as other
resources.
3 3 The only
option
which is
available in
front of
marks and
Spencer to
reduce this
type of risk
is ensuring
that the to
monetary
resources
from which
the
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company is
funding its
product
developme
nt are valid
and some
provisions
are also
developed
by the firm.
Less
employmen
t
Firm
alliances
There are
different types of
entry roots which
can be adopted
by company
(Zhongru, 2017).
While doing so
making alliance
with the
competitor is a
very strong and
potential option
available but this
is a risk as well
for the company
as company can
use its workforce
and potential
employees.
2 4 This is a
kind of a
risk which
is needed to
be taken by
marks and
Spencer but
can be
managed.
The
company
needs to
make sure
that every
employee is
getting
employmen
t when they
are merging
with
another
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