Integration of Business Functions: A Report on John Lewis Partnership

This report analyzes the integration of business functions within the John Lewis Partnership, a UK-based company operating in diverse sectors. It examines the company's organizational structure, leadership changes over the past decade, and its impact on various functions. The report includes SWOT and PESTEL analyses to assess internal and external factors influencing the company's performance. It highlights key strategies such as product launches, online services, and marketing approaches. The report also discusses the impact of these changes on different functional areas, including marketing, finance, and operations. The analysis considers the company's principles, leadership styles, and its response to market challenges and opportunities. The report concludes with an overview of the company's strategies and future outlook.

Integration of Business
Functions

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................10

Illustration Index
Illustration 1: SWOT analysis for The John Lewis Partnerships.....................................................4
Illustration 2: PESTEL analysis for The John Lewis Partnership...................................................5
Illustration 3: SOSTAC Marketing Diagram...................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Integration of business function is used to synchronize information and culture of
organiszation in order to achieve objective. This is considered as an important process for
managing responsibilities and functions. Along with this it helps in improving customer services,
increase sales, provide effective work environment to their staff in order to maintain growth of
company and make benefits (Chang, 2016). This report is based on business integration function
of John Lewis Partnership company which is a UK based company. They operates used in
different sectors such as department store, supermarket, banking, financial and retail services. In
this organisational and cultural changes of past 10 years are considered by comparing present
situation.
Structure
Organisational structur structure is an essential stage in order to reach the objective of
organiszation. It consists of various elements such as specialised workers, demands of services,
control, centralisation ad decentralisation of company. John Lewis Partnership does not follow
any well-defined structure. They give emphasis on personification of employees to achieve the
best. As it is independent of press and profit sharing schemes, they are free to change their
structure according to their need. In order to increase their profitability due to which they can
implement various experiments in order to achieve success. Their structure is highly influenced
with democratic ranges. They expand their designs by considering the present needs of
organisation. Due to this approach, they are able to explore various mechanism and drives
through which they can engage more number of employees. of their firm. The organisation hasve
annual profit distribution through which they are able to compare their performance of last 20
years. They share huge percentage of profit with press and workers ownership due to which they
are able to have great lead in market (Didia and Nwokah, 2015). The firm follow principles
considering seven factors such as purpose, power, profit, member, customer, business
relationship and community. Principles used by organisations are as.
Principle 1: Purpose,objectivePurpose, objective of partnership is satisfaction of staff.
Principle 2: Power, with this partnership power is shared with government authority.
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Principle 3: Profit, In in order to obtaining sufficient profits by making sustainable development
is considered.
Principle 4: Member, iIn this integrity of employees is maintained in order to achieve objective
of organisation.
Principle 5: Business, Company aim to deal services honestly in order to maintain loyalty with
clients.
Principle 6: Relationship, Conducts Relationship, Conducts relationships with loyalty.
Principle 7: Community, fFollow all the laws to make well being wellbeing contribution in
society.
Leadership and its changes in 10 years.
Leadership styles are used to provide direction, planning and motivations to their
employees in order to achieve objective of firm. Leader considers various factors such as
political, economical economic and business before implementing any structure, it also
containcontains view to achieve success. John Lewis Partnership is having Charlie Mayfield as
a chairman from last 10 years. During this periodperiod, he had implemented various short-term
approaches, in order to increase profit and decreases chances of risk. Such as launching of 76%
new products into market and for customers convenience he also started various shops that are
providing door step services while making online booking. This was considered as a huge hit in
market during that period.
Along with this several challenges are also faced by company such as rapid growth in
retailing sector, due to which competition gets increased which affect investment supply chain.
Due to which excess pressure is created on organisation. Along with this various other
servicesthis various other services are launched are launched in different sectors such as health,
banking and finance. Through this, organisation gets exceptional response from their customers
and achieve maximum profit of last 20 years. Apart from thatfrom that, they have also changed
marketing strategies in year 2015. In which greater margin is providedis provided on grocery
and non-food products due to deflation and tight control on market. As aAs a result, company
reaches new level of profit and became one of the successful business association of UK.
Now according to the current business strategies, they will be providing offersproviding
offers to customers in order to increaseto increase their investment, for this they have also
acquiring some changes into operations of providing effective services to customers. On the
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other hand, in finance sector their sale growth is increased, due to which companies shares
gradually reaching next level (Kwon, Yeong-Bin and Chae-Bogk, 2014). According to the
business vision of organisation, they are emphasising on implementation of technologies into
their business. In order to give competition to other firms, increase productivity and efficiency of
organiszation. Along with this, they are also considering innovative and creative approaches to
attract more number of customers. Also involving different changes according to the demand of
community, because they considered community as an essential factor into their principles. They
are also using various methods to reduce or control effect of risk. For this they are also using 4Ps
principles in order to focus on performance, product, price and place of product. And also
considering their past experience in order to implement changes for better results.
Impact on role of different functions
On the basis of leadership behaviours of John Lewis Partnership company, various roles
of different functions are considered as during the last 10 years of organisation. They have
launchedhave launched 76% of new products into market in order to provide variety to
customers. Through this they get success by hitting highest profit range through this. They also
introducing various products in different sectors and attracted clients, also give competition to
other another brands service provider. They implemented online shopping and credit card
services on their products. Through this way that are able to provide convenience and flexibility
to their clients by 24*7 marketing option. Due to whichto which they are able to make huge hit
in market by attracting huge number of customers. John Lewis Partnership firm also introduces
various products into banking and retailing sector. Through this, huge impact is made on shares
of organisation and helped by increasingby increasing growth. Thereafter, they have also made
implementation of technologies. Through which their quality of services get improved, along
with this they are ix using it for making services more user friendly, so that client do not feel any
difficulty while using their productstheir products (Lindh and Ekman, 2016).
Internal and external analysis
Internal analysis is used to analysis strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for
any organisation by considering various factors. For this various methodsthis various method
such as SWOT, PESTLE, Porter 5 methods are used to identify impact on organisation In order
to find internal and external factors that can affect the public presentation of John Lewis
Presentation
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(Source: Morschett, Schramm-Klein and Zentes, 2015)
SWOT analysis is considered. The John Lewis Presentation has a strong brand image among
customers, due to the high quality of products and services they are providing to their clients. On
the other hand, performance of company degraded over Christmas period of 2010 due to which
their share prices get decreased by 50%. Profit of firm is increasing every year and reaching at
large economic level. Where the pricing/earningearnings ratio of organisation is of 9:4 which is
lower compared to their previous ratio.
Another strength of organisation is that they are having efficient and skilled work force,
along with strong and qualified management staffs. Who are able to manage development and
sale of organisation in effective manner. Along with they are using brand ambassadors for
launching their products, in order to attract more number of customers. But due to cutting price
strategy of firm brand value has started decreasing, due to which customer are not preferring
their services any more. They have been also criticizedalso criticized by the corporate
governmentcorporate government, for pathetic and incompetent services that they are
providingare providing to their users.
John Lewis Partnership is also havehaving various opportunities and scope in order to
expand their business (Pang and et. al., 2015). Such as they can launch their services in clothes
and apparel. Through this way they can directly connect to the young generation, and also
increase potential of organization. Along with this they are also implementing online-marketing-
tools-techniques. Through which most of the business activities are being handled by that tool
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Illustration 1: SWOT analysis for
The John Lewis Partnerships

and chances of manual mistake is also reduced .reduced. People are also preferring online
services, due to this firm is able to easily get connected by customers and can increase their
profitability. Insurance and credit card companies of John Lewis Partnership are also growing
faster .faster. Apart from that firmthat firm is having lots of threats, such as at present they are
having maximum customers of age more than 45 years. Due to which they can face customer
risk in future. The corporate governance of organisation may fail to increase revenue, due to
which firm cannot meet positive financial responsibility.
(Source: Park, Cho and Kim, 2014)
In order to find external environment impact on John Lewis Partnership PESTEL analysis
is considered. As UK government has reduced taxes up to 20%- 30% due to which Johnwhich
John Lewis Partnership can easily enter into the European market without facing any limitation.
Due to which they can also increase profitability of firm effectively. As restrictions are limited,
more other organisation can also prefer to enter in UK market. Due to which they can also face
huge competition. On the basis of economical factor, UK economy has faced recession, due to
which it has become sensitive towards changing their interest. Due to which John Lewis
Partnership can face rigidity in retailing sector, and also required to provide large amount of
incentive to their customers in order to attract them. Along with this company can also face fall
in prices of their product.
By considering social factor for John Lewis Partnership, they hashave also implemented
lots of changes into their services. So that they can match the life style of customers of UK.
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Illustration 2: PESTEL analysis for The
John Lewis Partnership.

Along with this lots of new opportunities are also available in order to expand their company. On
the basis of technological factor, John Lewis Partnership has introduced online marketing
services. Due to which customer are able to do shopping by using their websites and apps.
Which is attracting more number of customers because of convenience and flexibility of time
and place. Such as they can order their products from any location at any time online, by using
website and apps of firm. Along with this they are also offering various payment options such as
credit and debit card, net-banking so that customer do not need to carry cash while shopping.
Through this method they transaction process become more simplesimpler, and changes of
manual mistake get reduced as whole process is automated.
Under environmental organisations usually, considered services that do not cause any
harmful effect of environment and also promoted concept of re-usability. Therefore,
responsibilities of big companies get increased in order to reduce the carbon footprints. John
Lewis Partnership is also equally responsible for promoting this concept, by implementing it into
their firm (Rahimi, Møller and Hvam, 2016). Under legal factor, John Lewis Partnership has to
follow all health and safety regulation that are provided by the UK government for organisation
such as consumer, employees andemployees and antitrust laws. Along with this according to the
policies of UK government for firms they also have to promote concept of re-usability in order to
reduce wastage issues.
Different functions
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(Source:)
There are various methodologies that are considered in order to complete
procuctionproduction of organisation. Along with this marketing of product is also considered
important. In the process of marketing approaches, operation management, human resource
management and account/financing department of any organisation. John Lewis Partnership also
include these segments, in order to identify the functions of company. They implement SOSTAC
based development approach where S stands for situations analysis, O stands for objective, S for
strategies, T stands for tactics, A stands for action and C stands for controlling. Under this
marketing process situation is considered for by identifying proper time and location in order to
launch any product. After this objective is selected for choosing that particular location. In the
third stage marketing strategies are considered through which they can connect to their
respective clients. Under the fourth stage of SOSTAC, details of considered strategy is analysed
is all the members are convened then only promotional method will be considered other
wiseotherwise it will be rejected. In the next step, action plan is designed in order to execute the
strategy by considering all input an expected output. In the last stage of this process, different
steps are monitoringare monitoring and on the basis of reviews modifications takes place on the
scheme.
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Illustration 3: SOSTAC Marketing Diagram

Another element is considered as operation strategy. Every organisation prefer prefers
different strategies (Sandlin and et. al., 2015). John Lewis Partnership belongs to various so they
consider various strategies for different sectors, Suchsuch as in retailing, the implementation
process consists of 7 stages such as objective identification, analysis of market competition,
identification of opportunities, evaluation of strategies, establishing objective, developing retail
mix and in the last step evaluation of overall performance takes place. On the basis of above
steps, operations of all strategies are implemented into the organisation. Along with this John
Lewis Partnership also identify competitors and on the basis of that consider various prevention
measure. In order to ensure growth of market, they always identify opportunities so that they can
implement them in order to expand their business. They also consider various observations
stages and every level they consider different issue such as at the first step they observe
productivity such as John Lewis PartnershipLewis Partnership mainly focus on the productivity
and quality. On the basis of outcomes rating of product takes place. In the second level,
technicalstechnical analysis takes place. In which problems are considered related to the
technologies, that are being implemented into the development process (Toro-Jarrín, Ponce-
Jaramillo and Güemes-Castorena, 2016). In the third stage analysis takes place on the behaviours
of employees. Under this John Lewis Publication involve various strategies in order to avoid
situations, where performance of staff get affected and productivity of company get decreased.
As retail industries are considered as a large sector consisting of huge chain of small are
mediumare medium dealer. Under this budgeting and profit planning of products takes place.
John Lewis Partnership implement cash flow strategies in order to avoid cash storage. This
happens due to increased gap in inflow and outflow. As the gaps increases chances of store
competition outcompetition out also get increased. In order to make effective cash management
all the functionality of organisation areis considered by professional. In case if they are not able
to maintain the inflow and outflowand outflow balance. They should prepare pre financialpre-
financial statement on the basis of that weakness should be rectified. Along with this John Lewis
Partnership also provide instalment scheme, in which client can pay their bill in parts as but with
this some extra charges will be added to the present amount. Due to this organisation will get
huge increase in profit and also provide competitive advantage (van der Weshuizen and West,
2016). Due to which financial stability of organisation get increased. Due to the effective cash
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flow management process of John Lewis Partnership, they are able to handle allhandle all the
minor and major bill types of customers and also provide flexibility in bill payment.
Retailing companies have more demands for employees having skills, qualifications and
experience in order to increase profitability of organisation. In order to maintain the performance
and enhance capability of workers, they have a separate department that take care of all training
and learning of staff of organisation. John Lewis Publication is also having HR department in
their organisation. As it is considered as a sector with directly interact with clients, in that case
workers of an organisation should be able to understand and fulfil the requirement of customers.
Therefore, HR department provides services to their staff in the formthe form of training and
learning. For this they have requirement policies such as permanent and temporary staff. On the
basis of thatof that qualifications and experiences of candidates are considered such as in case of
permanent staff organisation give preference to the experienced candidates. Along with this they
are provided with several facilities compare to temporary such as holidays and working hours of
employees. The another Another factor considered by HR department is flexibility of time, hired
candidate is provided with a fixed working hour, so HR department monitor performance of
worker during that fixed period of time (Wütz, Hofstetter and Goerzen, 2014). Along with this
performance of employees are also considered. Along with this various skill enhancement of
programs are also organised. Along with this HR department is also involved into research and
analysis process. On the basis of that branding of product takes place along with this HR
department of any organisation also get involved into deliveringinto delivering services on the
basis of experiences and talent in order to optimise investment of peopleof people and convert
organisation for producing better result. Along with this HR department of theof the John Lewis
Partnership also play important role in order to motivate employees in order to produce effective
results. Along with this payment and rewards of employees are also managed by this department
and various other issues are also considered ,byconsidered, by this department such as health and
safety (Zsidisin and et. al., 2015). Another element by HR department is change management of
organisation, under this changesthis change areis implemented in to an organisation. Under
which changes are considered on the basisthe basis of competency, leadership and technologies.
Therefore, in order to implement transformation into organisation this step is considered by the
HR department. The John Lewis Partnership's HR department also implement these changes in
order to increase the efficiency of organisation.
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