Business Report: Marks and Spencer - Business Environment Analysis

This business report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marks and Spencer, a prominent retail company. It begins by outlining the company's type, size, and scope, emphasizing its private ownership and global operations in clothing, food, and home products. The report then delves into the interrelationships among organizational functions, highlighting the crucial roles of sales, HR, marketing, and finance departments in driving business success. A significant portion is dedicated to internal and external environmental analyses, utilizing SWOT and PESTLE frameworks to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and the impact of political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors. Finally, the report examines the influence of globalization on Marks and Spencer's organizational strategy and decision-making processes, addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by an interconnected global market.

Business Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. Type, size as well as scope of the business organisation........................................................1
2. Interrelationship among organisational functions...................................................................2
3. Intrinsic as well as Extrinsic influencers with the help of execution of SWOT and PESTLE
analysis........................................................................................................................................3
4. Influence of globalisation on the organisational strategy along with the process of decision
making.........................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Business entity is highly influenced by external and internal environment within which it
mainly operates it’s functions. Both these environment have their influence on the overall
business operations of an entity. Therefore, it is said that both these factors need to be examined
by the business organisation so that they can reduce the negative impact of such elements. In the
present report, Marks and Spencer is chosen as the base organization which is a well known
retail business corporation. The company have its headquarters at the marketplace of UK where
they provide clothing, food and home products. The report includes different sections which are
the type, size as well as scope of the company and the interrelationship among various
departmental functions. Along with this, it consist of external & internal factors influence on the
functions of a business organisation. At last, the report includes impact of globalisation on the
overall organisational decisions & strategy.
1. Type, size as well as scope of the business organisation
Business environment consist of various sort of business functions performed by managers
on the basis of organisational size, type and scope. In the present context of Marks and Spencer
type, size as well as scope of the company are going to be discussed as follows:
Type of Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer is a Private company comes under private business organisation. The
company operates it’s business functions at global level. Along with this, Mark’s and Spencer
deals in high quality clothing and food products as well as home products within premium
pricing. They provide products to their customers in order to satisfy their needs and
requirements. The main aim of Marks and Spencer is to provide high quality product so that they
can maximise their profit margin.
Size of Marks and Spencer
If talking about the size of Marks and Spencer it is said that the size is quite vast and broad
as they deals at global market too. It has also been said that the product portfolio of the company
consist of premium quality products which are related to food, clothing along with home
products. Each and every operational functions of the business entity are fully managed as well
as handled by almost 78,597 staff members who are skilled and qualified. In addition to this,it
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has also been examined that the company adopts functional organisational structure which as a
result make it easier in order to execut their work in a rightful as well as ethical manner.
Scope of Marks and Spencer
The scope of the company is quite vast as the business entity is giving high significance
to the staff members. For this, management team of the company provide training to them on a
regular basis. With the help of these training sessions each and every staff member perform the
functions in a fruitful manner. In addition to the same, it is also very necessary for the managers
to take steps in order to expand their functionality at international level so that their overall sales
will be enhanced. Also it will help in raising the profit margin of the business entity at the
competitive market.
2. Interrelationship among organisational functions
In the overall environment of a business organization it is said that each & every
department gives their contribution accordingly. They perform all the functions and fulfil all the
job for attaining success at the competitive marketplace. In reference to this, it has been
examined that the positive interrelationships among such department is the foundation for
smooth running of a business organization. This as a result provide assistance to the business in
order to complete all the objective in a timely manner. In relation to the present organisation,
Marks and Spencer is one of the well known business organisation where interrelationships
between organizational departments help in improving the overall market share of the company
at the competitive marketplace. Some of these interrelationship between different departments of
the company are going to be discussed as follows:
Sales and HR Department: For maintaining ethical and positive code of conduct
between the staff members of a business entity, each and every department requires strong team
so they can perform all the work. Also, a team refers to be strong only when they have maximum
number of talented people are required so that all the work can be done in a smooth manner and
goals can be attained in a timely manner. In reference to Marks and Spencer it has been said that
the main objective of the company is to attract potential customers towards them so that overall
sales can be enhanced. Therefore, Human Resources department of the company select talented
individuals towards them who are interested in order to do the job within sales department of
Marks and Spencer. In addition to this, the sales department is fully equipped with highly skilled
as well as experienced candidates. This help the overall business organisation in order to enhance
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the overall revenue within stipulated time frame. Therefore, it has been identified that for
successful business functioning of a business entity it becomes essential that both sales and
human resource department work in a systematic manner with each other.
Marketing and Finance Department: The main and basic factor for running every
organisation in a smooth manner is finance. In order to conduct a promotional event or
organising a launch event for new product development, the most important factor is budget. For
this, it becomes essential for the marketing team to effectively coordinate with finance team in
order to manage their budget. This is essential as finance department provides all the funds to
the marketing department for developing all the commercials, logos, fliers, promotional
techniques, packaging designs, which assist Marks and Spencer in order to inflate their profit
margin. Therefore, coordination between both the department are essential for attaining
organisational goals and objectives in an effective manner.
3. Intrinsic as well as Extrinsic influencers with the help of execution of SWOT and PESTLE
analysis
For every business organisation it is quite essential to scan the internal as well as external
environment on a regular basis. This will help in identifying the influence of both the factors on
the overall business operations. For this, mainly two methods are used by business organisation
in case of internal analysis SWOT where in case of external environment examination PESTLE
analyses. In the present context of Marks and Spencer, higher authorities decided to do both
PESTLE as well as SWOT analyses which are going to be discussed as follows in a detail way.
PESTLE Analysis
PESTLE analysis refers to one of the most effective tool which allow business
organisation in order to explore the micro environment elements who have their influence on the
overall business performance. The tool is used to enhance the understanding of an organisation
which highly influence the decision making process. In this context, manager of Marks and
Spencer conducted PESTLE analysis for improvise the whole performance of business
organisation at the global marketplace.
Political factor: With the assistance of political stability among United Kingdom Marks
and Spencer raise their overall scale of operations and effectively reach to the wider base of
customers.
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Economical factor: As one of the economically developed country, United Kingdom
enables the growth of high scale business organisation like Marks and Spencer which as a result
capitalise on the innovation for gaining competitive edge at the market place.
Social factor: In the present context of Marks and Spencer, it has been said that the
management team consider latest market trends as well as demands so that they can effectively
attract the citizens of UK and gain positive response from them.
Technological factor: Due to continuously Advancement in technology within United
Kingdom it help the higher management team of Mark’s and Spencer in order to implement
latest disruptive systems. Therefore, as a result, business organisation is able to attract and retain
larger number of audience for a longer period of time.
Environmental factor: This is highly concerned with all the initiatives which is taken by
the business organisation for protecting the environment. In the present context of Marks and
Spencer, it is said that it is an eco friendly business entity which implement sustainable practices
for ensuring least harm to the environment. With the help of such initiatives, business entity will
be able to accomplish their objectives in a positive manner at market place.
Legal factor: This is the last factor of macro environment analysis which includes laws
like health and safety, employment, workplace regulation, equal opportunity, minimum wages
and so on. The HR manager of the company enforces such law in their organisational culture so
they will be able to develop positive environment of the company and remain at the competition
for longer duration.
SWOT Analysis
Swot analysis of Marks and Spencer, help in understanding the internal strength and weakness
along with opportunities and threats which affect the overall business functions. SWOT analysis
for the organisation are as follows:
Strengths Weaknesses
 Biggest strength is that company
provide various range of products
which add value to the brand.
 Another strength of Mark’s and
Spencer is that company having
 Apart from the wide range of offerings
of products and services Marks and
Spencer have outdated image at the
competitive marketplace.
 There are various products of Mark’s
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number of retail outlets which makes
them available to the customers every
time.
and Spencer which are handmade that
raises the overall cost of the company.
Opportunities Threats
 Marks and Spencer are highly
possesses all the resources in order to
explore new marketplace in order to
enhance its market presence.
 Selling of products and services of the
company is one of the biggest
opportunity for the organisation at the
competitive marketplace.
.
 BREXIT develop negative influence on
the whole European market which
affected the sales as well as overall
profits of the companies.
 Marks and Spencer face tough
competition as there are various local
competitors available at the market.
 Changing in trends on a regular basis
create threat for the organisation like
Marks and Spencer.
4. Influence of globalisation on the organisational strategy along with the process of decision
making
Globalisation refers to the concept where a country can share their products, services and
other things from one country to another in more positive and fruitful manner. The concept of
globalisation gain massive amount of awareness from last few years. It has also been said that it
also provides assistance in order to grow rapidly into new marketplace within specific time
frame. In addition to this, it has also been identified that in today's competitive environment
there is drastic improvement in the international market because of which external environment
made a significant influence on the capabilities of the company. This as a result help in
improving the overall growth of the business organisation at the competitive marketplace. It
consist of different aspects like government laws, currency exchange rate, legal policies,
employment legislation and many more. Therefore, it can be said that globalisation is having
massive influence on the organisational strategy as well as decision making as there are various
negative aspects are linked with the occurrence of the factor globalisation.
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In addition to this, it has also been examined that the main strategic issue which is
encountered by the business entity are slow growth of the GDP along with rising the overall cost
of operations. In context to the slow growth of GDP, it is examined that it has developed ample
number of uncertain issues like slow growth of the whole economy, which have direct influence
over the whole productivity as well as profitability of the business enterprise. Along with this,
companies in this context face problems in form of risk as well as geographical changes. On the
other hand in context to the second challenge related to the cost, it has been said that this is one
of the most important element for the entity as it gives help in order to execute business practices
in a fruitful and appropriate way. Furthermore, it is necessary for the management team to have
sufficient amount of funds while moving business operations at the global level. Also, where
ever the business organisation expand their functionality all over the world it is required by them
to manage and develop all the strategies effectively and use all the funds in an appropriate
manner so they gain positive outcome in an effective way.
Therefore, in order to deal with all the negative aspects of globalization as well as to gain
the full advantage of taking a company to international level, it becomes necessary for
organisation such as Marks and Spencer to take effective decisions as well as make strong and
beneficial strategies. In the present context, it is ascertained that here are some elements which
place a positive impact on the decision making process at international level. Business entities
like as Marks and Spencer it becomes essential to emphasize on social responsibility, values and
culture. If there is a decision which is taken by the business entity in order to expand their
business functions at global level, then there must be effective plans and policies so that they can
grab the attention of customers at the competitive marketplace. This as a result will assist in
enhancing the overall sales as well as profit margin of the organisation. Also Mark’s and Spencer
is linked with the activities like Corporate Social Responsibility.
CONCLUSION
As per the above mentioned information, it is concluded that business environment having
wide concept which needs to be understood by the higher authorities so they can enhance their
overall business operations at the competitive marketplace. Various sort of business have their
own decision making process which is influenced by the overall surroundings of the company.
Each decision of a business manager taken for the growth and development of the company are
mainly based on the size of business organisation. Along with this, with the help of SWOT as
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well as PESTLE analysis an organisation can grab the opportunity in an effective manner so they
can enhance their overall performance.
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