Marks and Spencer Business Analysis: A Comprehensive Report

Desklib offers solved assignments and past papers to help students succeed.

MANAGING INFORMATION AND
TECHNOLOGY LSBM
1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
5.1 TASK......................................................................................................................................... 4
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................4
BUSINESS STRATEGY.................................................................................................................. 5
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OF M&S...........................................................................................6
PESTLE ANALYSIS OF M&S......................................................................................................... 7
PORTER'S VALUE CHAIN...........................................................................................................10
REFLECT ON HOW THE BUSINESS COULD DEPLOY IT (INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY) AND USE
INNOVATIVE IDEAS TO IMPROVE ITS BUSINESS PROCESSES....................................................13
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................... 15
REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................16
2

INTRODUCTION
The following assignment is about the chosen organization Mark and Spencer, where the details
of the organization will be discussed in this assignment to understand the operation and
working of the company. The assignment will discuss various products and services offered by
the company, factors affecting a company, followed with the description of Porter's Value chain
in M&S (M&S, 2019) and how the technological advancement and implementation can boost
the business of M&S followed with a personal reflection.
3

5.1 TASK
INTRODUCTION
Marks and Spencer is a public limited company which was established in 1884 by Michael
Marks and Thomas Spencer. The company is headquartered in London, is into retail industry
serving worldwide with its product. The company is major British multinational retailer and
specializes into clothing, home products and food products, there are about 80,787 employees
working in Marks and Spencer all over the spread stores 468 stores in Eurasia and the Middle
East. The company offers various brand under its flagship like Per Una, Autograph, Limited
Edition, Blue Harbour, M&S Collection, Classic, M&S Energy and M&S Bank owned by HSBC. The
company’s operating income is £601.0 million and net income £37.3 million. The company deals
into apparels, accessories, food product, lingerie, beauty and cosmetic products, home décor,
furniture, kids wear, flowers, wines etc. the whole product range of M&S is not available in all
of its stores in few countries like India, UAE etc (M&S, 2019).
4

BUSINESS STRATEGY
The company is into most demanding 9ndustry of retail where it is offering clothing, accessories
for both men and women and it is a top-notch brand in the UK. It is important for M&S to
maintain its goodwill and profitability in the competitive market for which the company is
applying small business strategies and steps taken by the company. The company focuses on
giving high-quality products to the customers which are the main aim of the company. M&S is
affordable but nit by all the strata of the society because of its high prices the clothing and
accessories are not affordable by all as it offers luxury products (Bocken, 2017).
The current business strategy of M&S is to reduce its cost by at least 350m pounds as the
company has noticed its increased efficiency by cutting out the waste and shutting down the
stores as it costs overhead expenses to the company. M&S ‘s strategy is that instated to give
overhead and managerial cost for the engaged stores it will be more beneficial to invest that
amount of money in the website development and to boost the online clothing and home sales.
The company has decided to eliminate about 25% of its stores that is almost 100 stores and
targeting about 33%of the sale of the company through online shopping and by opening a retail
store in Welham Green. M&S is focusing on the clothing and food products segment very
keenly and making it available both online and offline and operating only those stores that are
working in the city areas like Oxford Street, Hounslow Street etc. To attract more customers
M&S has decided to provide various offers and discounts on the online shopping services which
will, attract the customers and will also increase the sales of the company (Bocken, 2017).
5

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES OF M&S
M&S is providing with a range of variety of products to the customers which are of high quality.
The following are the products offered by the company (M&S, 2019):
Women: The company is offering shoes, clothes, accessories, beauty and cosmetic items,
lingerie and personal styling range.
Men: For men, the company is offering clothing, night wares, undergarments, socks, footwear,
accessories like belts, wallets, cufflinks button etc.
Kids: School uniform, infant wear, stroller for babies, and clothes for the kids up to 16 yrs. for
both girl and boys.
Furniture: The company is offering furniture for the garden, living area, bedroom, dining space
etc.
Food and Wines: The company is also offering food for hosting a party like a dessert, poultry,
meat and beef, desserts, vegetable and sides, fish and seafood, cakes etc. along with this wines
are also available for gift and parties (M&S, 2019).
6

PESTLE ANALYSIS OF M&S
There are variously internal and external factors that directly or indirectly affect the sales and
revenue and harmonious work in M&S, the following are the factors:
Political factor: The political factors like changes in the exchange rates of different countries,
political policies of parent and host countries, changes in the trade practices, taxes, financial
policies , changes in the taste and fashion preferences of the customers directly affects the
working of M&S and it results in fluctuation of the sales and revenue generation f the company.
Economic environment: The economic factors like GNP trend, general demand of the products,
income and buying capacity of the customers, inflation-unemployment, business cycle, the
money which government is spending, money supply etc. affects the operation and trading of
M&S on a global level. The economic growth of the different countries affects the operation
and working of M&S (Malek, 2018).
Social factor: The social factor is concerned about the changes in the social value, attitudes,
belief system affects the preferences and fashion statement of the people. The change in
demographics also affects the designs and styles of the clothes that the customer selects.
Another than this demographics, cultural and ethnic conditions, the festive season also affects
the sales of M&S as it deals into clothing and luxury food items which are directly or indirectly
related to the company and affects the sales of the company.
Technological factor: The rapid change in technology has influenced the market to a great
extent as it has changed the existing market trend and the shopping trends also. The
digitalization has caused so many upgradations in the technology has made the shopping trend
and preferences more complex and varied. With the emergence of technology, the online
shopping trend has been increased and the retail stores have become low ion demand. The
customers prefer online shopping because they avail more discounts and offers by applying
various coupon codes etc. technology has given new horizon to the world of business and has
set new standards for the same (Shrestha, 2017).
7

Legal factor: The legal factor consist of the laws, the safety of the workers and employees,
various laws related to the employment, business, trade etc. have to be abided by the company
for its smooth functioning. The company has to follow the legal system keenly by having
copyrights, patents, seal and sign etc. this legality is very important for a company like M&S as
it serving globally and it has to keep in mind that no fraudulent activity is taking place in the
company by any means. The legal system helps in protecting the interest of the company
employees working in the company.
Environmental factors: This factor comprises of both the internal environment and the external
environment. The internal environment consists of the man, material, manage3ment activities,
resources and the employees who are working in the company. If all these are not is an
alignment to the companies goals and objectives then it will hinder the growth of the company.
The external environment like political parties and their effects various policies of the host
country and the parent companies, changes in the trading process, exchange rates etc. directly
affects the trade and profit of the company as M&S is working globally (Boting, 2015).
SWOT ANALYSIS
Another way of analyzing the factors which affect M&S is doing the SWOT analysis of the
company which helps to know the various external and internal factor affecting M&S and its
working, with the help of this analysis it helps the company to formalize the different strategies
that are beneficial for the company:
STRENGHT
 There is a good brand value of the
company all over the world.
 There are so many experienced
retailers who are operating the M&S
stores
 It has a huge share market in the UK
 The overseas business and trading
show a strong financial position of
M&S (M&S, 2019).
WEAKNESS
 The products of M&S are very
expensive
 All the strata of society cannot afford
M&S’s products
 The marketing strategy of M&S is not
so effective and strong.
 The offers and discounts available to
customers is not there every time.
 The customer service of M&S is not so
8

 M&S is one of the major retailers of
UK.
good.
 The internal management of the
company is not effective and
productive
OPPORTUNITY
 The company can go for arranging the
online store for the customer
 M&S should apply flexible business
strategies
 The company can enter into a new
business market segment.
 M&S should take advantage of its
strong market position and strive to
gain a competitive edge (Robinson,
Hsieh, 2016).
THREATS
 There is tough competition in the
market
 There are frequent changes in the
customer’s preferences and taste.
 Low discount and offers given as
compared to other brands
 The recession and business cycle is also
a threat to M&S
 Wrong target market is chosen by M&S
for the production and sale of the
products.
With the help of the PESTLE and SWOT analysis, M&S can make various business strategies,
marketing strategies, trading strategies etc. which can be applied to all of the stores present all
over the world with slight differences according to the parent and host company. The
explanation of these factors will give an idea to the company to adopt various market trends
and accordingly design the clothes and accessories which will help in generating p-profit and
retain the customers.
9

PORTER'S VALUE CHAIN
The porter’s value chain is the management tool that the managers and leader of M&S can use
to give a direction to the activities of the comp ant to attain a competitive edge by offering high
prices or lower coats. The value chain of the business consist of the various business strategies
that are related to inbound logistics, operations and outbound logistics. The primary activity of
this strategy is to deliver the products and services for filling the organizational goal (Porter and
Kramer, 2019):
INBOUND LOGISTICS: The inbound logistics of M&S include the receiving, storing and
disseminating the inputs of the products. This can be done with the help of warehouses for the
storage and handling of the products. The inbound logistics also include the well-defined
structure for keeping digital data of the customers, distributors, franchisers etc. M&S has
outsourced a major part of its inbound logistics to the other I.T. companies who take scare and
manages the inbound logistics of the company. The inbound logistics helps in giving the input
data as the base for the further manufacturing and production of the products that is being
preferred by the final buyers.
OPERATIONS: These are the activities that change the raw material to the finished goods. In
M&S it this activity is carried not only for the production of clothes but the waste which is
generated out of the spoiled veggies, beef and meat etc. can be used for the purpose of
composting and the plastic waste which is generated in the whole process of making the
finished goods can be used for the recycling purpose. This includes the data of the customers.
machinery, the input of the raw material and resources for the production of the finished
goods.
OUTBOUND LOGISTICS: The outbound logistics is the process of the disbursement of the
finished goods to the distributor, retailers and final buyers. This is done with the help of the
wholesalers which deals into wholesale selling of these products then they forward the goods
to the retailers and the order is being fulfilled with the help of the processing, distributing and
scheduling the whole order (Porter and Kramer, 2019).
10

SUPPORTIVE ACTIVITIES: These are the supportive or the primary activities that are r=the
primary activities of the firm. Porter has divided these supportive activities in the broad
category which are as follows:
Stable infrastructure: The form infrastructure of the M&S include the proper flow of work in
the company, finances, legal services, quality management, disbursement of the products,
availability of the products, accounting and planning of the products and services that are to be
manufactured. This also includes a physical existence of the store with the help of which all the
activities can be accrued out being in the premises. Example the finances and the legal decision
are made at the corporate level and taken in the headquarter which is equally applicable to all
the stores worldwide like pricing policy, return policies etc.
HUMAN RESOURCES: The companies which are serving worldwide strive to fulfil all its
organizational goal for which it is important to have human resource management which
intervenes the working and e=requirement of the organization and bridges the gap between
the employees and the organizational goal. HR department of M&S is into recruitment,
manpower planning, selection, hiri9ng, training and development of the employees,
compensation, reward system, skill assessment etc. is being done at the corporate level and the
decision related to various HR policies and strategies are being done in headquarters (Klarin et
al., 2017).
TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT:In this competitive world it is important for M&S to become
technological and digitally sound in every aspect. The technological up gradation has brought a
huge transition in the shopping trend. With the emergence of technology, the customer has
become a smart shopper and frequently goes for online shopping, where they can avail so
many offers and discounts and apply coupons. M&S is also offering the online shopping facility
to the customer but it is not full-fledged which is to be done with the help of the development
of the website and making an application which can be used by all the customers with some
discounts and offers. The technology does not include only online shopping but the activities
such design, feature, print, colour, process engineering, identification of the defects etc. is done
with the help of the technology used in M&S.
11

PROCUREMENT ACTIVITIES: The activities at M&S are does not include the input purchase
which is involved in the value chain like, purchase, supply laboratory, machinery, building etc.
The inbound logistics and the I.T are also being outsourced by M&S. The waste out of the
packaging and transferring is also procured by M&S by the process of bidding or tendering this
is generally done for making a buying decision.
The Porte’s value chain plays an important role in the supply of the luxurious products of M&S
to various places and stores present all over the globe and helps in generating revenue and
profit out of it and the supportive activities also helps M&S to effectively and productively
manage the operation the company (Klarin et al., 2017).
.
12