Innovation Strategies: A Case Study of Marks and Spencer's Business

This report provides an in-depth analysis of innovation at Marks and Spencer (M&S), a prominent British multinational retailer. It begins with an introduction to innovation and its importance in business, particularly within the retail sector. The report then traces M&S's innovation history, highlighting key milestones such as the adoption of cold chain distribution, the introduction of new fabrics, and the launch of their online store. The report examines M&S's current innovation practices, focusing on digital innovation, partnerships with technology firms like True, and their efforts in food innovation. It explores how M&S uses innovation to improve customer service, meet changing consumer preferences, and address food safety regulations. The report also discusses the broader retail industry trends in 2016, including the rise of e-commerce and the increasing competition within the market. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of innovation for M&S's competitiveness and sustainable success, summarizing the key findings and the effectiveness of their current innovation strategies. Finally, the report provides a list of references used in the analysis.

Managing innovation in business
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4
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INTRODUCTION
Innovation is a practice of creating something new which is based on the element of
creativity. This is very important for business that they keep innovating new things in order to
fulfil varied needs of customers and market they are serving. This report will discuss about
innovation contextualizing Marks and Spencer. This is British Multinational retailer
headquartered in London, England. M&S specialize in selling clothing, home products and food
products. Marks and Spencer has involved innovation in its core business practices and offers
different type of products which are according to needs and desires to attract customers and stay
competitive in market.
Organization and its innovation history
In UK there are many retail companies which is operating. Each of them provide various types of
products and services to people. Also, they develop strategy and plan for growth and expansion.
For every organization it has become essential to innovate new products and services in order to
attract people. Marks and Spencer is a UK brand having its head office in London. They offer
various types of retail products such as clothing, home and food products. The company was
founded by Michael marks and Thomas spencer in 1866 in Leeds UK. There are various brands
of company and one bank as well as subsidiary. There are total 80,000 employee working in it.
Till 2022 over 100 stores will be closed by them as radical plan. The company has done many
innovation in it which has resulted in creating a large customer base in several markets. The
innovation history is in 1960 company used a cold chain distribution of frozen food items. It
enabled in creating new value in retail sector. Also, in 1934 they brought new fabric by setting
up own lab and Textile technology. This enabled in providing new fabric and design of clothes to
people at cheap cost. So, new and high quality products were introduced in the market. M&S
was the first retailer to launch seam free, ladder resistant stockings. And as technology advance,
they also introduced wool garments that could be machine washed and new finishes for cotton.
Furthermore, many innovation were made by them which led to their growth and development.
The company entered into online store in 2014 as developed official website from where people
can shop online. They provided similar variety of products and services to people. Besides that,
as part of innovation in sustainability a radical plan is formed in which organization will close
100 stores. This is done to promote sustainability. Apart from it, some technical innovation has
been done by Marks and Spencer in food sector. This has enabled in developing new products to
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enhance social life of people. Besides, new business opportunities are identified and with new
packaging products are offered. With it they have continued to drive agenda of well being and
wellness of people. innovative healthy food and ingredients, improving diet through enrichment
of our foods or just making it easier for our customers to follow a healthy diet. In this way,
innovation has been implemented by company which has resulted in their growth and
development of new products to fulfill need of people. The process and procedure of business
operations has changed as well which has led to improve product quality.
The Organisations existing Innovation Performance and Capabilities
Marks and Spencer employs innovation in various forms which involves innovation in
practices and innovation in products of the company. This is important for companies to retain
competitive in the market and for Marks and Spencer which is a retail company competition is
getting more and more instance with each passing day (Caporarello and et.al., 2016). Hence it is
very important that Marks and Spencer adopt innovation. Earlier innovation was limited to store
practices and products of the company but now e-commerce has made it important that Marks
and Spencer employs innovation in its e-commerce practices so that it can attract customers from
different segments.
To drive its digital innovation agenda Marks and Spencer partnered with Europe’s only
specialist retail and consumer investment firm True to access the latest retail specific innovation
and technology. This is really important that firm focuses on its core business and its activities
while adopting and implementing innovation. True will provide Marks and Spencer access to
over 2000 enterprise ready business every year through its live network. This collaboration of
Marks and Spencer and True is part of ongoing transformation of Marks and Spencer which
keeps digital expertise at the central of the business. Increasing utility of digital platforms and
practices has mandated it for firms that they are active and expert in digital technology. This is
one of the important elements of innovation in present business environment and hence Marks
and Spencer has kept it at the centre of its business.
This partnership of Marks and Spencer with True which is only European firm for retail
and consumer investment and innovation firm is to gain access to its pre-emptive access to
consumer expertise and retail, emerging technology, proprietary research and sector specific
international network (Angeles, 2016). This is an important part of present innovation of Marks
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and Spencer through which it will be able to gain various perspectives and advantages for its
business. this also allows Marks and Spencer to generate opportunities for investment and
business will be able to transform its business through innovation in its digital capabilities.
Partnership of True with Marks and Spencer is aimed to access latest innovative technologies
and expertise from within the sector that can support digital ambitions of Marks and Spencer.
Through its innovation Marks and Spencer intends to be digital first retailer their vision to be on
the front foot will be supported by True because of their market ready technologies and deep
knowledge of the sector.
Using its innovation and partnership with True Marks and Spencer wants to be fit for the
future along with being competitive and successful presently. Marks and Spencer focus on its
partnership activities to deliver positive commercial outcomes with clear and tangible ROI and
understand the need to evolve in order to do so and at the time importance of innovation in doing
so. Presently the technology innovation which is being focused by Marks and Spencer is being
developed with intend to provide improved customer service. This is designed so that it can
create more agile, faster and commercial technology that will function with Marks and Spencer
to deliver growth in long term.
Along with technology and digital innovation Marks and Spencer is also focusing and
undertaking innovation in food business. This is because food business has become challenging
because of changing customer preferences and increased regulations on food safety and
protection. Marks and Spencer provides food with high quality but because of increasing
complexity and competition of food retailer they continue to science led innovation (Coad and
Pritchard, 2017). This is not only limited to attract and delight customers but this will also help
Marks and Spencer to deal with issues and increasing complexity and competition in the food
retailing industry.
Some of the factors behind innovation in food are commitment and targets. Through this
Marks and Spencer wants to be international multi-channel leading sustainability in food
industry. The goal of Marks and Spencer is to delight and excite customers with high quality and
products with high value. This is one of the aim and to achieve this Marks and Spencer undertake
innovation and continuous improvement right across the business and supply chain.
One of the factor affecting innovation in Marks and Spencer is their values which involve
inspiration, innovation, integrity and In touch. These are to make Marks and Spencer different
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and hence innovation is undertaken by the company so that they can create basis for
differentiation. Presently technical innovation themes of Marks and Spencer to meet its future
requirements of food are through new varieties and inspirational packaging (Staman, 2019).
Leading the industry towards product safety and integrity and to be at forefront to deal with
emerging issues which might affect the food brand is another theme. Continuous drive towards
health and safety is another theme in the innovation of Marks and Spencer.
The industry in 2016
It has been analysed that the retail industry is rapidly growing to a great extent in UK and all
over globe. They provide various types of products and services to people. Also, it has been
stated that there is high rise in competition among industry as well. This is because new entrants
are emerging in this field and offering similar type of product. They are trying to attract more
customers and generate high revenue and sales. However, it is evaluated there has occurred many
changes and trends on retail sector. It is because of change in taste and preference of people as
well as market. The changes has occurred in 2016 and beyond years. In 2016 the retail industry
was using technology to a great extent. E commerce was become a common platform for all
companies to provide their products to people. It transformed bricks and mortar model of doing
business. The industry contributed around 5% of UK GDP in 2016. Furthermore, the industry is
dominated by retail companies that are Tesco, Sainsburry, Morrison and Walmart. Nut Marks
and Spencer emerged as new firm offering high quality and design clothes and grocery to people.
In addition, people were highly preferring online shopping instead of offline. This enabled
companies to do effective and attractive advertising. The industry started offering discounts and
offer to people in order to retain them. Along with it, competition also increased in sector.
Companies were offering variety of products to people to fulfill their needs. With this there was
change in trends within retail market. Thus, business were using high and advance technology.
Moreover, pricing strategy followed by them was changed. Industry shifted to competitive
pricing strategy in order to compete with other and retain customer. The focus was on
differentiating products and services from one another. In 2016 technology played a vital role in
retail industry as it provided a platform to them to grow and expand in other markets. It allowed
company in ease of doing business and directly interacting with customers. In addition, change in
economic factor also led to growth of retail sector. UK companies entered in new and emerging
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countries by identifying needs of people. With this there was high rise in sales and profits within
sector. It led to growth of retail sector in UK. There was development of new products as well
done by organisation. Till now there are many new trends adopted by industry. Now companies
are moving in other product area such as house goods, finance, furniture etc it is done to generate
more profit and sales. But after Brexit deal there is a negative impact on retail industry. The sales
and profits are declined. Business is finding it difficult to retain customer and competition has
become stiff.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of above discussion it can be concluded that innovation is important because
of various reasons. Important reason which requires business to innovate are staying competitive,
attracting customers and ensuring sustainable success of the company. These are some of the
reasons because of which Marks and Spencer innovated in its history and is also significant
reason behind success of Marks and Spencer. Existing innovation practices of Marks and
Spencer are also very effective and innovation in Marks and Spencer presently focus on
digitalization and technology. This is because these have become standard of capacity and
attractiveness of a firm.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Caporarello, L and et.al., 2016. Digitally Supported Innovation. Springer.
Angeles, R., 2016. Marks & Spencer’s RFID Initiative: Laying the Foundation for Omnichannel
Retailing. In Digitally Supported Innovation (pp. 193-206). Springer, Cham.
Coad, N. and Pritchard, P., 2017. Leading sustainable innovation. Routledge.
Staman, J., 2019. Interview with Rob van Leen, Chief Innovation Officer, Head of DSM
Innovation Center and member of the Executive Committee of DSM. In International
Handbook on Responsible Innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Tiwari, R. and Buse, S., 2020. Key Issues in Managing Innovation in a Global and Digital
World: An Introduction to the Festschrift in Honor of Cornelius Herstatt. In Managing
Innovation in a Global and Digital World (pp. 1-13). Springer Gabler, Wiesbaden.
Ratten, V. and Usmanij, P., 2020. Entrepreneurship and Organizational Change: Managing
Innovation and Creative Capabilities. In Entrepreneurship and Organizational
Change (pp. 1-6). Springer, Cham.
Mariev, O.S., Nagieva, K.M. and Simonova, V.L., 2020. Managing innovation activity factors in
Russian regions through econometric modeling. Upravlenets, 11(1), pp.57-69.
Nabiullina, K.R., Nesmeianova, I.A. and Kirakosyan, S.A., 2020. Managing Innovation in
Complicatedly Organized Facilities. Journal of Environmental Treatment
Techniques, 8(1), pp.225-230.
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