BM461: Global Business Environment Report - Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marks and Spencer's global business environment. The introduction outlines the factors influencing M&S's operations. The main body delves into the internal environment, including organizational culture, structure, and resources. A SWOT analysis assesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, identifying distinctive resources and competitive advantages. The report examines the impact of opportunities and threats on M&S's production, operations, and marketing, using a TOWS matrix to formulate strategies. It considers factors like brand value, market share, marketing effectiveness, and infrastructure. The conclusion summarizes key findings and strategic recommendations, emphasizing the need to leverage strengths and opportunities while mitigating weaknesses and threats. References include books and journals supporting the analysis.

Global Business Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
There are multiple factors present in the external and internal environment of Marks and
Spencer that can have an influence on its operations and provide it with opportunities and threats
in the retail markets of UK.
MAIN BODY
The internal environment of a business organisation is its culture, events, members and
factors which have ability to change the decision making of organisation (Gottfried and et.al.,
2018). For Marks and Spencer these include organisational culture, structure, human resource,
operational resources etc.,
SWOT analysis is a model through which Marks and Spencer can assesses the strengths,
weaknesses of its internal environment and opportunity and threats present in external
environment of the organisation.
Competency metric showcases Marks and Spencer’s operational performance, efficiency
and quality, while capability showcases the level at which Marks and Spencer operates.
Distinctive resources comprise of resources that are essential to Marks and Spencer’s operations
that cannot be obtained or imitated by its competitors.
Competitive advantage allows a business to increase its profitability, customer share
and productivity by gaining advantage over its competitors. Analysing the strengths and
weakness of Marks and Spencer through SWOT analysis is necessary for it to gain competitive
advantage.
Marks and Spencer is a retail business that operates in many countries. Their operations
comprise of obtaining raw materials, manufacturing clothing apparels, marketing, distribution,
management etc. (Baudino and et.al., 2017). Marks and Spencer uses latest manufacturing
equipment and has digital stores in addition to traditional physical stores.

Physical resources are tangible resources of Marks and Spencer and include its manufacturing
equipment, ICT devices, transportation vehicles, stores. Financial resources are the money
Marks and Spencer has available for operations such as forex, cash flow etc. (Gürel and Tat,
2017). Human resources of M&S are all employees hired by it and include accountants, labour,
marketers, managers etc. Marketing resources aid the marketing operations of M&S and
include marketing strategy, tools, software etc.
The organisational structure of M&S dictates how the retail business operates with the
intention to accomplishing its end vision and objectives. There are five primary types of
organisational structures Functional, Geographical, Product, Matrix and Virtual organisational
structures.
This report analyses how PESTLE factors of M&S have an impact on its
operations through TOWS matrix
Internal
Factors
External Factors
STRENGTHS S
 Brand value and
reputation
 Developed Infrastructure
 Good distribution
network
 Research and
development
 Global Operations
 Multichannel presence
WEAKNESSES W
 Investments
 Mergers and
acquisition
 Customer satisfaction
 Financial planning
 Low skill workforce
 Marketing
OPPORTUNITIES 0
 EU market of 500
million potential
customers.
 Low interest rates
 Consumer
purchasing power
S-0 PLANS (STRATEGIES)
 Make use of brand value
and reputation to service
huge population.
 Use distribution network
to service ecommerce
customer effectively.
W-OPLANS (STRATEGIES)
 Invest into
current
equipment by
taking loans on
low interest rates.
 Use automation

 E-commerce
 Automated
operations
 Protection against
competition
mergers
 Automate global
operations for increased
productivity and
profitability.
 Provide ecommerce to
global markets.
to cover for less
skilled
workforce.
 Use ecommerce
to attract
customers in
addition to
marketing
 Use ecommerce
for increased
customer
satisfaction.
THREATS
 High Taxes
 Coronavirus
 Competition in
retail industry
 Food standards
 Licensing laws
 Inflation in
economy
S-T- STRATEGY
 Use developed
infrastructure to combat
high taxes.
 Multichannel presence to
deter the threat of
coronavirus.
 Global operations can
help during inflation in
UK.
 Developed distribution
network can help against
high competition in
industry.
W-T STRATEGIES (PLANS)
 Investments can help
during higher taxes.
 Higher Customer
satisfaction can aid
during high
competition in retail
markets.
 Effective marketing
can rid the negative
effects of inflation.
 Financial planning can
also help during high
taxes levied.
Impact of Opportunities and Threats on Marks and Spencer’s Production and Operations:
1 All operations of M&S such as marketing, supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, storage etc.,
are immensely important for maintaining the productivity, customer base, satisfaction and
profitability of M&S in retail markets.
2 Marks and Spencer enjoys great brand awareness, value and reputation in the retail markets of
UK owing to their continued successful operations for around 136 years (Dargahi, Darrudi and
Zalvand, 2019).
3 Marks and Spencer can make use of its high brand value and reputation to increase its existing
market share by servicing over 500 million population of UK.

4 Marks and Spencer can also make use of its high brand value, awareness and reputation in the
retail markets of UK to decrease the negative threat it faces due to the intense competition within
the retail industries of UK.
5 Major weakness of Marks and Spencer is their marketing which can be addressed by using
both traditional and digital channels of marketing to attract more than 500 million people in UK
(Sarsby, 2016).
6 Developed infrastructure and good distribution network help alleviate the negative effects of
average financial planning at Marks and Spencer.
Impact of Opportunities and Threats on Marks and Spencer’s Marketing:
1 Marketing is the business process through which Marks and Spencer promotes and advertises
their goods and products to the consumers in the retail markets of UK (Kapoor and Kaur, 2017).
Marketing is immensely important for Marks and Spencer as it attracts customers to its retail
operations and increases its brand awareness amongst public.
2 The high brand value of Marks and Spencer is its strength and is of immense value in its
marketing operations.
3 Marks and Spencer can make use of its high brand value to market to over 500 million
customers in UK population to increase their customer base, productivity and profitability in UK.
4 Marks and Spencer can use of its high brand value and reputation to effectively market its
goods and services to the public and reduce the negative impact of the high competition within
the retail markets of UK.
5 One weakness of Marketing and sales at Marks and Spencer is that they are not able to
successfully attract their target customers within the UK (Jibai, Alaaraj and Issa, 2018). This can
be improved using digital channels of marketing that would allow M&S to market to their target
customers and digitally evaluate their performance.
6 High brand value of Marks and Spencer can be used to reduce negative impact of its marketing
weakness.

CONCLUSION
Marks and Spencer needs to take advantage of its strengths and opportunities while
making sure its weaknesses and threats don’t jeopardise its current and future operations.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Baudino, C. and et.al., 2017. Integrated methodologies (SWOT, TOWS, LCA) for improving
production chains and environmental sustainability of kiwifruit and baby kiwi in Italy.
Sustainability. 9(9). p.1621.
Dargahi, H., Darrudi, A. and Zalvand, R., 2019. Family Medicine Program in Iran: SWOT
Analysis and TOWS Matrix Model. Iranian journal of public health. 48(6). p.1140.
Gottfried, O. and et.al., 2018. SWOT-AHP-TOWS analysis of private investment behavior in the
Chinese biogas sector. Journal of Cleaner Production. 184. pp.632-647.
Gürel, E. and Tat, M., 2017. SWOT analysis: a theoretical review. Journal of International
Social Research. 10(51).
Jibai, B., Alaaraj, H. and Issa, A., 2018. Developing SWOT/TOWS Strategic Matrix for E-
Banking in Lebanon. International Business and Accounting Research Journal. 2(1).
pp.13-22.
Kapoor, S. and Kaur, M., 2017. Basel III norms: a SWOT and TOWS approach. Vision. 21(3).
pp.250-258.
Sarsby, A., 2016. SWOT analysis. Lulu. com.