Impact of Sustainability and Ethics on M&S Consumer Experience Report

This report examines the sustainability and ethical policies of Marks and Spencer (M&S), a UK-based multinational retailer, and their influence on consumer experience management. The report delves into M&S's initiatives, including palm oil sourcing, the Select Farmers campaign, and environmental ...Read More

Understanding
and engaging in
the customer
experience
module

Table of Contents
SECTION (a)..................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY .................................................................................................................................3
Sustainability and ethical policies of Marks and Spencer ..........................................................3
Critical discussion on impact of sustainability and ethical policies of M&S on Consumer
experience management .............................................................................................................5
Justified recommendation for Marks and Spencer .....................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFRENCES .................................................................................................................................7
SECTION (b)...................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................7
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................7
Critical literature review on two quality models/theories which may assists in improving
consumer experience management ............................................................................................7
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

SECTION (a)
INTRODUCTION
It is important for business firms to conduct their business in an ethical and sustainable
manner in the current age as it plays an important role in shaping consumer perception of the
company. The retail firm selected for the present report is The UK based multinational company
Marks and Spencer. The firm was founded in the year 1884 and is headquartered in London.
Marks and Spencer is present in 29 international markets with 198 franchisees and stores under
direct ownership in Ireland, Hong Kong and Gibraltar. This section of the report identifies
sustainable and ethical policies of Marks and Spencer. The impact of these policies on consumer
experience management of Marks and Spencer is critically discussed in this report. In addition to
this justified recommendations for Marks and Spencer are provided in this report.
MAIN BODY
Sustainability and ethical policies of Marks and Spencer
Supermarkets are one of the primary contributors to environmental damage because of
plastic packaging and negative environmental impact caused by production and transportation of
grocery products. Sustainability is an priority factor for Marks and Spencer and the company has
introduced various policies to address environmental harm caused by retail business firms.
Sustainability policies of Marks and Spencer
 Palm Oil Sourcing: Palm oil is considered to be one of the most environmentally
damaging production material used to manufacture 50% goods in supermarkets.
Unsustainable palm oil production leads to deforestation and land grabs. It also
negatively affects local communities and biodiversity. M&S has taken action to ensure
sustainable palm oil sourcing, Round table on sustainable Palm oil (RSPO) certifies Palm
oil production companies on the basis of sustainability and supports business firms in
developing sustainability (Palm Oil, 2021). M&S is committed towards gaining 100%
RSPO certified Palm Oil and collaborates with industry stakeholders such as Retail Palm
oil Group to decrease negative impact of Palm oil Consumption on environment.
 Select Framers Campaign: The select farmers refers to group of farmers which are
trusted by M&S to socially and environmentally source their products. The company has
introduced five year farming nature programme to provide assistance to Select Farmers to

tackle various environmental challenges. This includes support to enhance soil health,
biodiversity and sustainable water usage. As a part of this programme M&S food is
providing 30 million bees to 28 UK select farm sites. Bee population plays a critical role
in protecting environment and preserving natural flora (Retail Gazette Loves: M&S’s new
campaign spotlighting sustainable farmers, 2021). Farmers which are part of the Select
farmers site will benefit from this initiative as the high Bee population leads to better
yields. This campaign of Marks and Spencer will benefit the farmers.
 Environmental Reporting: Business firms who publish environmental targets and
independently verified performance data on sustainability ensure effective environmental
reporting. Marks and Spencer regularly publishes targets related to sustainable practices
on their website and has allowed Oxfam to conduct independent reporting on supply
chain of the company. These initiatives to ensure effective environmental reporting make
Marks and Spencer one of the few companies to have high environmental reporting rating
(Supermarkets, 2020).
Ethical policies of Marks and Spencer
 Action against forced labour: 20% of global cotton production is attributed to Xinjiang
region in China. China is forcing Uighurs and other minorities into manual labour in
cotton fields of Xinjiang which violates universal Human rights. M7S utilizes 40,000
tonnes of cotton annually and has signed onto a call to action on Human rights abuses in
China region. The call to action signed by M&S is created by alliance of civil society
organizations and labour unions who aim to stop labour exploitation against Uighur
community (M&S signs call to action over Uighur forced labour, 2021). In case of cotton
consumption of M&S, the cotton used by the firm is sourced from businesses which are
approved by Better Cotton Imitative (BCI). BCI ended their operations in Xinjiang and
cotton produced in the region is not licensed by BCI.
 Responsible Sourcing: Marks and Spencer is committed towards socially responsible
sourcing and has taken various steps to ensure removal of social inequalities from their
supply chain. The global supply chain of the company includes 200 suppliers who
purchase raw material from 20,000 farms and 100,000 smallholders which crates global
supply chain consisting of 2 million people (Responsible sourcing, 2021). The company
aims to ensure that their suppliers comply with human rights and promote non-

exploitative working conditions. Increasing supplier transparency through interactive
global supply chain map and maintaining minimum global supplier standards are some
of the steps taken by the company to improve responsible sourcing. In addition to this,
supplier exchange meeting held by the company acts as a collaborative forum for
suppliers to work together and solve sustainability and ethical issues.
Critical discussion on impact of sustainability and ethical policies of M&S on Consumer
experience management
Consumer experience management refers to the processes monitoring, supervising and
organizing every consumer interaction throughout the consumer life-cycle. The aim of consumer
experience management is to assist the company in becoming consumer -centric and bridge the
gap between intended consume experience and actual consumer experience. Sustainability
is becoming an issue of high importance for business firms of all sizes which can be attributed to
increasing consumer demands towards sustainability instead of responsible action taken by
business firms. 91% of global consumers expect business firms to act in social and
environmentally responsible way instead of simply focusing on profitability. This increases the
need of making sustainability a major aspect of consumer experience management stratify in
order to deliver environment friendly services and goods and enhance consume experience
management. The sustainability policies of Marks and Spencer impacts consumer experience
management in positively.
The advantage of responsible palm oil sourcing is that the firm will be able to retain
consumers for longer time by increasing sustainability of various products which use palm oil.
This is because Plan oil plantations directly contribute to displacement and death of Orangutans
and other local species living in Indonesia (Problems with Palm Oil, 2020). Consumers will stay
with the firm over shopping from industry rivals who use unsustainable palm oil and cause
Orangutan extinction which will increase consumer retention. The disadvantage of this
sustainability policy is that it negatively affects consumer experience as RSPO certification may
lead to delay in distribution and long wait times which is main cause of negative consumer
experience management.
The advantage of the Select Farmers campaign by M&S is that it will increases the yield
of the company and lead to production of better quality groceries which will enhance consumer
experience management as it will provide higher quality organic products from sustainable

sources. The disadvantage of this policy is that Bee Framing is costly and requires financial and
labour investment from the company.
The advantage gained by Marks and Spencer thorough sustainable policies such as
environmental reporting in context of consumer experience management include creation of
positive brand image of the company. In addition to this, Marks and Spencer will be able to use
this positive brand image to increase brand awareness and recognition. This will attract
employees to the company and act as a differentiator in front of other supermarkets who
negatively affects the environment. The disadvantage of sustainable reporting is that the verified
performance data developed by independent firms will highlight business practices which
damage the environment along with positive impact of sustainable policies which might dissuade
the consumer.
Ethical policies also play an important role in improving consumer experience
management because plenty of employees are attracted to socially good side of business firms as
they want to align themselves with value systems and morals of the products they consume.
The advantage of ethical policy of Marks and Spencer of taking call to action against
labour exploitation in Cotton farms in China is that it will help the company stand out from their
competitor who utilize uncertified cotton from the region. The disadvantage of this action is that
it may lead to negative consumer experience for Chinese consumers of the firm and further
weaken presence of the firm in the country.
The advantage of responsible sourcing is that it will attract socially conscious consumers
to the firm who stay with the company for a long time period and develop positive consumer
experience. The disadvantage of this ethical policy is that it will complicate supply chain
management of the firm. This can lead to negative consumer experience as small disruption in
supply chain an delay quick delivery of products to consumer.
Justified recommendation for Marks and Spencer
 The firm needs to track their global supply chain in order to ensure effective working of
the international supply chain. This is justified as it will help the company easily delay
with supply chain disruption and delays while ensuring completion social and
environmental responsibility.

 M&S needs to increase transparency of their supply chain in order to communicate the
cost of ensuring sustainability. This is justified as it will enhance consumer experience by
telling them social good associated with consumption of company products.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that business firms implement sustainability and
ethical initiatives because of the rising consumer demand to purchase socially and ethically
responsible goods. This also helps in enhancing consumer experience management and helps the
company attract and retain skilled consumers for a long time period. In addition to this
sustainability and ethical policies also drive the success of the company by helping the company
stand out from their competition in terms of positive impact caused by the firm. Supermarket
industry is one of the worst offenders of environmental damage and business firms in this
industry are taking action to improve sustainability and ethical production in order to attract
consumers and increase consumer experience management.

REFRENCES
Books and Journals
Online
Palm Oil, 2021. [Online] Available through
<https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/sustainability/food-and-household/product-
standards/raw-materials-commodities-and-ingredients/palm-
oil#07827f64ba7d4829a3fa2bc5617116c2>
Retail Gazette Loves: M&S’s new campaign spotlighting sustainable farmers, 2021. [Online]
Available through <https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2021/04/retail-gazette-loves-
mss-new-campaign-spotlighting-sustainable-farmers/>
Supermarkets, 2020. [Online] Available through
<https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/retailers/shopping-guide/supermarkets>
M&S signs call to action over Uighur forced labour, 2021. [Online] Available through
<https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/sustainability/business-wide/responsible-
sourcing>
Responsible sourcing, 2021. [Online] Available through
<https://corporate.marksandspencer.com/sustainability/business-wide/responsible-
sourcing#e21cd625deb54147b3f9a04d5e60615d>
Problems with Palm Oil, 2020. [Online] Available through <https://orangutan.org/palmoil/>

SECTION (b)
INTRODUCTION
It is important for business firms to enhance consumer experience management in order
to attract and retain consumers. In addition to this positive consumer experience also plays an
important role in long term survival of the company and easy international expansion in foreign
markets. The business firm selected for this report is UK based international retailer Marks and
Spencer. Critical literature review on two quality models is provided in this report which may
help Marks and Spencer in enhancing consumer experience management is provided in this
report.
MAIN BODY
Critical literature review on two quality models/theories which may assists in improving
consumer experience management
Concept of quality
As per the view of Ab Wahid, (2019) Quality is defined as the product or service that is
able to fulfil the needs of the consumer and give them consumer satisfaction. In addition to this
quality also refers to all the operations conducted by a company to ensure that the offerings of
the firm are able to meet the needs of the consumer base.
On the other hand according to Al-Hyari and et. al., (2019) quality refers to a strategic
imperative which can be quantified and put back to work to enhance the bottom line (Al-Hyari
and et. al., 2019). The systems which results in creation of quality is prevention not inspection of

cure and the investment in improving quality pays itself back through increase in profitability of
the company.
Link of quality to improving consumer experience management
According to Angelica and et. al., (2021) positive consumer experience management is
dependent on quality. Quality management plays an important role in optimizing consumer
relationship and ensuring creation of long and profitable relationship with the consumer
(Angelica and et. al., 2021). Consumer relationship management focuses on managing
interaction and relationship with consumers ion order to increase consume loyalty and retention.
This is because quality includes fulfilling every need of the consumer which leads to enhanced
relationship between the consumer and the firm. Quality management directly contributes to
enhanced consumer relationship management because it helps in delivering services and goods
throughout the consumer experience journey which fulfil the needs of the consumer and exceed
their expectations. In addition to this another link between consumer relationship management
and quality is that consumer relationship management aims to develop strong relations with the
consumer which is facilitated by offering high quality goods and services.
Total quality management model
According to Attri and et. al., (2017) total quality management is a management model
which helps business firms gain long-term success by increasing consumer satisfaction. Under
the utilization of total quality management very member of the company aims to enhance
business process, products, services and organizational culture in an effort to ensure long term
survival of the company (Attri and et. al., 2017). This model helps consumer focused business
firms involve employees in continuous improvement in order to attain success. Strategy data and
effective business communication are used in this model in order to ensure integration of quality
disciple in workplace culture and daily business operations of the company.
The elements of total quality management are provided below:
 Consumer focused: Consumer is the main decider of quality and efforts of business
firms in enhancing quality are determined worthwhile by consumer response. It is
important for business firms. This element ensures improvement in consumer experience
management as business firms focus on developing quality by keeping consumer at the
centre of efforts. This leads to improvement in consumer relations as improvements are

accepted by the consumer. M&S needs to enhance consumer focused culture in their
company (Coomar and et. al., 2019).
 Total employee involvement: It is essential to ensure complete participation of
employees towards attainment of common goals. Employee involvement helps in
effective consumer relationship management as it leads to improved interaction between
company and employees. M&S needs to increase employee involvement in order to
enhance consumer relationship management.
 Process centred: Business process is defined as a sequence of steps which converts
inputs from suppliers to outputs which are delivered to the consumers. It s important for
business firms to become process centred in order to enhance quality. This includes
constructing clearly defined steps and continuously monitoring performance measures to
determine defect. As the business process will improve consumer relationship will be
strengthened as it will improve overall consumer experience from the beginning of the
consumer experience journey. M&S needs to develop focus on business process and
monitoring in order to ensure improvement in quality and consumer relations.
 Integrated system: It is important for business firms to integrate organizational systems
divided by functional specialities. This can be completed with the help of horizontal
business processes which are at the centre of total quality management. ISO 900
standards or Baldrige award criteria can be used to model integrated business systems.
Integration of business systems connects business improvement elements so that the
company is able to continuously exceed expectations of consumers and stakeholders.
M&S needs to develop integrated business systems as it assist in building strong
consumer relations.
 Strategic and systematic approach: Adoption of strategic and systematic approach
plays an important role in building quality. M&S needs to integrate quality as a core
element of the strategic planning of the firm because it will ensure delivery of high
quality products to the consumer at every step of their journey. This will build consumer
relations and contribute to increased consumer retention.
 Continual improvement: The aim of continuous improvement is to build
competitiveness and effectiveness in meeting stakeholder expectations. Implementation
of continuous improvement process builds consumer relation as each consumer gains

improved products and services from the company at every interaction. M&S will be
able to build consumer interaction by adopting continuous improvement process.
 Fact based decision making: Business firms need to continuously collect and analyse
data in order to build accurate performance measures, decision making effectiveness, and
reach consensus on past history. This will helps the company make decisions on the basis
of data which ensure effectiveness of consumer relationship efforts. M&S needs to
collect data to build fact based decision making which improves quality as well as
consumer relationship management.
 Communications: Effective business communication plays an important role in
improving quality as well as effectiveness of consumer relationship management. This is
because effective communication between different departments leads to optimally usage
of resources to meet the needs of the consumers. M&S needs to adopt digital technology
such as cloud computing to ensure effective business communication.
Jurna quality trilogy model
As per the view of Gao (2017) model has been universally accepted as one of the quality
management bets practices around the globe. The concept of this quality management model is
that quality consists of three universal processes which are quality planning quality control and
quality improvement (Gao, 2017).
Quality planning
According to Pattanayak and et. al., (2017) this process provides business firms
opportunity of improvement by designing products together with process to produce final
outputs. It includes systematized method used to create innovative design features which meet
consumer requirements and process features to manufacture these products (Pattanayak and et.
al., 2017). M&S will be able to produce innovative products with the help of quality planning
and respond to changing consumer requirements quickly with innovative solutions. This will
build consumer relations.
Quality improvement
As per the view of Sreedharan and Sunder (2018) involves making daily improvements in
business process to assist in long-term success of the company. Business firms need to seek
improvement because after improvement margins will be higher and increased costs will be
recouped by the company (Sreedharan and Sunder, 2018). M&S needs to seek continuous

change in business process in order to offer quality products to the consumer and enhance
consumer relationship management. There are four strategies which can be used by business
firms in this stage of the trilogy. This includes repair, refinement, renovation and reinvention.
Repairing incudes fixing ineffective aspects. Refinement includes continuously improving a
process. Renovation includes improvement with technological advancement and reinvention
includes staring with a clean slate.
Quality control
This stage includes taking feedback on actual performance and acting to bridge the gap
between actual an intended performance. This will help M&S improve quality and will positively
reflect on consumer relationship as they will feel that their feedback and opinions are valued by
the company.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that it is essential for business firms to maintain
quality which refers to the product that is able to fulfil consumer needs. There are various
theories and models of quality which helps bushiness firms improve quality. This includes the
total quality management model and The Juran quality trilogy model. The elements of the total
quality management model help business firms develop effectiveness of consumer relationship
management. Apart from this stages provide in the Juran quality trilogy model also play an
essential role in building strong relations with the consumer.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Ab Wahid, R., 2019. Sustaining ISO 9001-based QMS in higher education: a reality?. The TQM
Journal.
Al-Hyari, K.A., Zaid, M.K.A., Arabeyyat, O.S., Al-Qwasmeh, L. and Haffar, M., 2019. The
applications of Kaizen methods in project settings: applied study in Jordan. The TQM
Journal.
Angelica, G.W., Kisato, J. and Pete, J., 2021. Influence of Total Quality Management on
Performance of Catholic Private Secondary Schools on Nyahururu Diocese, Kenya.
American Journal Of Strategic Studies, 3(1), pp.1-20.
Attri, R., Singh, B. and Mehra, S., 2017. Analysis of interaction among the barriers to 5S
implementation using interpretive structural modeling approach. Benchmarking: An
International Journal.
Coomar, P., Mukherjee, A., Bhattacharya, P., Bundschuh, J., Verma, S., Fryar, A.E., Ramos,
O.E.R., Muñoz, M.O., Gupta, S., Mahanta, C. and Quino, I., 2019. Contrasting controls
on hydrogeochemistry of arsenic-enriched groundwater in the homologous tectonic
settings of Andean and Himalayan basin aquifers, Latin America and South Asia.
Science of the Total Environment, 689, pp.1370-1387.
Gao, J., 2017, August. An investigation on the engineering process oriented approach to
aerospace quality assurance compliance in manufacturing SMEs. In Advances in
Manufacturing Technology XXXI: Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on
Manufacturing Research, Incorporating the 32nd National Conference on Manufacturing
Research, September 5–7, 2017, University of Greenwich, UK (Vol. 6, p. 452). IOS
Press.
Pattanayak, D., Koilakuntla, M. and Punyatoya, P., 2017. Investigating the influence of TQM,
service quality and market orientation on customer satisfaction and loyalty in the Indian
banking sector. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management.
Sreedharan V, R. and Sunder M, V., 2018. Critical success factors of TQM, Six Sigma, Lean and
Lean Six Sigma: A literature review and key findings. Benchmarking: An International
Journal, 25(9), pp.3479-3504.