International Business Report: Marks and Spencer's Market Expansion

This report delves into the international business strategies of Marks and Spencer (M&S), focusing on its potential expansion into China and India. The report begins by examining how business support systems (BSS) enable international trade, emphasizing their role in customer insight, data management, and revenue generation. A SWOT analysis is then conducted for both China and India, evaluating their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, considering external influencing factors. The report concludes with recommendations, suggesting that M&S prioritize expansion into the Indian market due to its favorable consumer trends and fewer legal implications. Furthermore, the report analyzes the cultural factors impacting M&S's business, such as language and ethnic make-up, highlighting their significance in understanding consumer behavior and tailoring strategies for international market success. The report provides a comprehensive overview of M&S's international business challenges and opportunities, offering valuable insights for strategic decision-making.

INTERNATIONAL
BUSINESS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
In what manner international business support systems enables international trade..................1
Situational Analysis....................................................................................................................2
Conclusion and Recommendation...............................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Cultural factors impacting the business of Marks and Spencer..................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Today, it has been seen as one of the most important aspect across the organisations to
have such business in place which is able to achieve set growth and development. The below
report explores the international business and the factors which impacts countries while they
want to grow internationally. The report investigates the external factors which influence the
international businesses along with investigating the cultural differences. The chosen business
for the report is Marks and Spencer (Toms and Zhang, 2016). Marks and Spencer is Group plc is
a major British multinational retailer headquartered in Westminster, London. The chose
countries in which it wants to expand its products and service into are China and India.
TASK 1
In what manner international business support systems enables international trade
Business support systems or (BSS) refers to a group of business elements which are used
in networking to help Marks and Spencer in gaining customer insight, introducing new revenue
generating services and compiling real time subscriptions. It is critical because business service
providers helps the organisation to extend and support operations in order to enhance the services
of the businesses.
BSS provides Marks and Spencer with a synchronized, convergent and integrated
business environment. A good business support system provides control over the system and
tailors scheduling to Marks and Spencer and facilitates the implementation of required changes
without impacting the satisfaction of the customers. It activities typically includes billing and
rating, customer order management, customer data management, and Business to Business (B2B)
and Business to Consumer (B2C) services (Scott and Walker, 2017). The primary areas of
Business Support System are fulfillment management, product management, revenue
management, and customer management.
These business support systems are used by Marks and Spencer in order to enable
international trade within the organisation. These systems are known to provide better
controlling over the systems used by the Marks and Spencer. Having an effective control over
the system helps Marks and Spencer to understand how its own systems can be managed while
developing its products and services in the international market and promote itself on large scale.

The other important aspect which the business support systems covers includes gaining customer
insight. Understanding the customers wants and needs is one of the core requirement of business.
The business support systems help Marks and Spencer to understand the requirements of the
international customers and later it builds its products and services as per the these consumer
requirements and provides the with required satisfaction (Morgan, 2015). The system helps the
businesses to easily identify the important needs of the international customers which is difficult
because different customers have different needs, and identifying the needs of a particular area or
a community is difficult for Marks and Spencer at once.
The other aspect which is covered by the BSS that helps Marks and Spencer to enable
international trade is customer data management. Today, it has become difficult for the
organizations to manage the customer data on a large scale and ensure that set growth is being
achieved. It is one of the most important requirements of a business as well, because of customer
data allows the organisation to make use of the old data at required times. It becomes difficult
while large data needs to be stored in a single system (Maxwell, 2017). The business support
systems provides Marks and Spencer with opportunities where it can store large amount of data
in a single system. In order to grow itself internationally, it is important for Marks and Spence
that the data of the customers is being managed safely and this is only achieved with the help of
Business support systems in the organisation.
Situational Analysis
Below explored is the situation analysis (SWOT) of China and India, explaining the
external influencing factors and their impact on Marks and Spencer:
Strengths: The market of China is one of the rapidly growing market in the Asian
countries. The demand for new products and services is high, and the customers are seeking new
options to fulfill their desires. As being a retail organisation, Marks and Spencer can achieve
required growth in the market of China as the social factors are supportive towards the
organisation in order to grow in new markets. India is another beneficiary for Marks and Spencer
because the Indian population is in constant need of new options and the government has also
opened doorways for retail companies to be a part of the country. It can be seen that both
political and social situations are supportive for Marks and Spencer in order to grow its business

internationally (Smit, 2017). The situations will help the company to reach the desired
international markets successfully and achieve set growth.
Weaknesses: The Chinese market often looks for products which are cheap and not much
expensive. The strong legal implications implied by the government of China makes can make it
difficult for Marks and Spencer to sell its products in fewer costs because the share of the
government from the earned profits is large. This can become hindrance for Marks and Spencer
to achieve better growth in the market of China. The Indian retail market is full of international
retail organizations and this can make it difficult for Marks and Spencer to promote its products
and services in the retail market successfully. The organisation can foresee more competition and
would find it hard to sell its products and sell in its initial stages.
Opportunities: The Chinese market is having fewer organizations which are able to
provide products and services that Marks and Spencer can offer (Islam, 2016). This opportunity
can be use by the Marks and Spencer to attract the consumers towards the sold products and
services of the organisation and achieve better growth in international markets. The market of
India is seeking new products and services because the consumers in Indian subcontinent are
seeking products which are as per the western trends. Marks and Spencer can make use of this
opportunity in order to grow its products and services on large scale in the Indian subcontinent
and can achieve set growth.
Threats: The threats which Marks and Spencer face while developing itself
internationally includes the recent trade war which happened between China and the USA. The
trade war has resulted in a variety of new laws where the Chinese government has implied strict
regulations on the foreign companies. As being a new entrant, Marks and Spencer can face issues
because of the strict legalities and government implications (Angeles, 2016). The new
government in India has undertaken certain measures where it is making its people to buy
products and services which are “Made in India” instead of buying products of foreign
organizations. This threat can make the organisation face issues such as fewer profits, not able to
achieve required growth etc. while entering into the market of India.
Conclusion and Recommendation
From the above evaluations, it can be seen as Marks and Spencer is having good
opportunities to grow in the international markets. It has been concluded that It is important for

the organisation to develop its products and services in new countries to expand its business and
achieve new growth and development. It is recommended that the country should focus on
expanding itself in the markets of India instead of China. Indian market is filled with consumers
which desires to make use of products and services provided by western countries. Along with it,
Indian customers are open towards experimenting with new brands and their sold products.
This opportunity can be used by Marks and Spencer in order to promote their products
and services on large scale and gain a new market which is supportive in its growth (Zhou, Li
and Li, 2017). This can help the organisation in reaching new growth and ensure success in new
markets. As per the current scenario, it can be seen that Marks and Spencer needs to have new
growth in place in order to increase it profitability. Lack of profitability is the major issue which
Marks and Spencer is facing because its competitors such as Tesco and Morrisons are growing
rapidly and the company is not able to compete them because of fewer funds.
In order to gain a competitive advantage over these organizations, it is important for
Marks and Spencer to expand itself into the Indian markets instead of the Chinese ones. Chinese
markets are having retail organizations which are fulfilling the needs and requirements of their
people. Also, the Chinese community is not much dependent on the western organizations sold
products and services, whereas the Indian market is mostly dependent and is seeking the
organizations which are able to serve them with western products and services. Marks and
Spencer can achieve better growth and development overall required profitability by entering
into the markets of India (Ahmed, 2016). Along with it, the Indian market is having less legal
implications where the organisation can easily make sure that it desirable growth is being
achieved. It can provide the advantage to the organisation in developing itself in new areas and
ensure better product's development and growth. Also, Marks and Spencer can transform itself in
one of the major retailer across the world by entering into the market of India.
TASK 2
Cultural factors impacting the business of Marks and Spencer
Cultural factors are one of the major reasons which impact the organisation and its
growth aspects. It is important for Marks and Spencer to evaluate in what manner the cultural
factors are impacting the organization's growth and development and how these factors needs to
handled well to ensure required growth and achieve better results.

The language plays a major role in cultural factors. When an organisation sets to enter
into new markets it requires understanding of the consumer markets and the particular
consumers' thinking and behavior as well. In order to deal with this, the organisation makes use
of a variety of strategies and options to understand the people languages. A language is one of
the major part of the culture, it allows the organisation to understand in what the people of a
particular community speak and communicate with each other. The aspect of communication
tends to make the organisation understand and evaluate the thinking of the people. For example,
Marks and Spencer is set to grow its products and services in the market of India. If the
organisation does not understand the language of Indian subcontinent while launching itself into
India (Beyazay, 2015). It might fail to promote its products and services in the country in the
same language and people will find it difficult to understand what is being provided to them. It
can make the organisation face the issues of profitability and growth and development.
The ethnic make up of population is another important factor which impact the
organizations while entering into international markets. The ethnic make up of culture refers to a
set of people which share the same ancestry, language, society, nation and culture etc. It is
important that the organisation identifies the ethnic background of the community very well. It
explains the choices which the people make and what are their particular interests. For example,
the ethnicity of the India explains that people residing in different states of India are having a
variety of languages and follow different aspects while making their choices in buying of
products and services (Toms and Zhang, 2016). They belong from the same ancestry and same
cultural values. It is important for Marks and Spencer to understand the cultural values under
which these people live in, in order to promote its products and services properly. If these values
are not understood well, it can hamper the growth of the organisation and would make it difficult
to ensure that its products and services are being promoted and sold successfully. In order to
ensure this, the organisation can set up a team which can understand the ethnicity and
background of the people and can provide the organizations with directions to produce and sell
its products and services accordingly. This can help the organisation to reach new level of
growth and ensure that its is making the required impact while entering into the market of India.
The social structures are another important aspect where the organizations often tends to
fail in selling its commodities. In order to ensure better command over this, it is important for the

organisation to understand the social structure of a particular community before selling its
products and services (Morgan, 2015). The social structure refers to a particular area in which
the community of set of people resides in with a set of values, designations, respect and lifestyle.
People make their choices as per the social structure or the class which they are identifies as. It
helps them to ensure that their choices are safe and as per the structure of the society. In order to
ensure this, it is important for Marks and Spencer to understand the social structure of the
societies before making any choices related to selling and buying of the products and services of
the organisation. It can help the organisation to reach new level of growth and ensure better
development by selling appropriate products and services to the chosen community. Selling of
the services are per the lifestyle choices, their desired will help the organisation to make required
profitability along with achieving success (Maxwell, 2017). If people are provided with the
products and services which are against their social structure they tend to feel insecure and might
reject the provided commodities. It can impact the overall growth of the organisation and can
make it face issues related the growth and success.
Factors such as religion is most important one as well while entering into international
markets. The religion of a particular community tends to create situations where an organisation
finds it difficult to promote its products and services (Islam, 2016). For example, Marks and
Spencer cannot sell its women's products such as jeans and tops in a community which is
Muslim dominated. In Islamic culture women's are respected more and they often do not wear
western clothing's such as jeans and tops. Promotion of these products in communities which are
Islamic tends to bring negative image of the brand and its overall sold products and services. In
order to ensure that this thing does not take place, it is important for the organisation to
understand the religion aspect of the culture before selling its products and services.
The values of the people which reside in a particular culture or a community tends to
make it difficult for the organisation to sell its products and services as well. For example, while
launching itself into the markets of India, it is important for the organisation to understand the
values of the people which they are about to serve (Angeles, 2016). This will help the
organisation to develop its products and services as per the needs and values of these people.
Also, this will ensure a better profitability to the organisation as well.

The attitudes towards business in the culture is another important factors that needs to be
considered by the organization's. The peoples attitudes towards business explain that how they
think and feel while buying the products and services of a particular organisation. In order to
ensure that the attitudes of the people are positive towards the business in a particular culture. It
is important for the organizations to ensure that they are having a positive value within the
particular which they are trying to serve. This can ensure that both the organizations are safe and
secure to serve each other.
The openness to change is another important aspect which a business needs to consider
while understanding the culture and its impact to the organisation growth and development. It is
important to evaluate how a culture is open and is acceptable towards the occurring change. It is
important for an organisation such and Marks and Spencer to understand how often people and
their needs change as per the present trends (Beyazay, 2015). It is important for the organisation
to develop its products and services as per the openness of the culture. For example, mostly sub-
Saharan cultures are not much open to the change. They tend to live the same trend for a long
period unlike American and British cultures where trends keep changing. Slow trends are better
for the organisation like Marks and Spencer because they do not have invested huge sums of
money in research and development of the trends and can ensure better growth by this. Changing
trends often create situations for the organisation where they feel lack of growth is being
achieved because of the provided investments in their research and developments.
As per the above evaluations, it can be seen that, it is important for Marks and Spencer
while entering into new markets to achieve set growth and development. Cultural differences can
play a major role for the organisation and hamper its growth. In order to deal with the issue of
cultural situations, it is important for the organizations to observe the cultures deeply. They can
evaluate and understand the languages, peoples understandings, their set of values, religious
sects and beliefs etc. in order to achieve set growth and development. Understanding the cultural
difference can help the organisation in achieving required profitability along with serving the
people are per their particular needs and requirements. Marks and Spencer before entering into
new markets in order to expand itself internationally can evaluate the culture and their particular
needs and requirements (Zhou, Li and Li, 2017). It will help the organisation to reach new
development and can make it gain a better competitive advantage as well.

CONCLUSION
The above report explores the importance of entering international markets for a business
to achieve set growth and development. It explains what benefits a business can receive after
entering into international markets. From the above evaluations, it has been concluded that
Marks and Spencer needs to promote itself into the Indian subcontinent in order to achieve set
growth and development. It can allow the organisation to reach set growth and ensure better
development. Also, the report highlights in what manner cultural difference of an organisation
impacts its growth and development. Along with it, in what manner Marks and Spencer can cope
with these challenges has also been concluded in the report.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ahmed, U., 2016. Marks & Spencer: A Global Expansion to Acquire Lost Momentum?.
In Market Entry in China (pp. 61-72). Springer, Cham.
Angeles, R., 2016. Marks & Spencer’s RFID Initiative: Laying the Foundation for Omnichannel
Retailing. In Digitally Supported Innovation (pp. 193-206). Springer, Cham.
Beyazay, B., 2015. The Nature of the Firm in the Oil Industry: International Oil Companies in
Global Business. Routledge.
Islam, K., 2016. Can Ethical Business Strategy Influence Consumers¡¯ Buying Behavior and
Loyalty: Marks and Spencer PLC?. Case Studies in Business and Management. 3(1).
pp.38-63.
Maxwell, D., 2017. Valuing Natural Capital: Future Proofing Business and Finance. Routledge.
Morgan, E., 2015. ‘Plan A’: Analysing business model innovation for sustainable consumption
in mass-market clothes retailing. Journal of Corporate Citizenship. (57). pp.73-98.
Scott, P. and Walker, J. T., 2017. Barriers to ‘industrialisation’for interwar British retailing? The
case of Marks & Spencer Ltd. Business History. 59(2). pp.179-201.
Smit, D. S., 2017. International Income Allocation under EU Tax Law: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier,
Sailor. EC Tax Review. 26(2). pp.67-74.
Toms, S. and Zhang, Q., 2016. Marks & Spencer and the decline of the British textile industry,
1950–2000. Business history review. 90(1). pp.3-30.
Zhou, F. Y., Li, R. and Li, B., 2017, September. Lessons and Enlightenment on the Business
Failure of British M Department in Mainland China Market. In 3rd Annual International
Conference on Social Science and Contemporary Humanity Development (SSCHD 2017).
Atlantis Press.