BUS4002 Business Project: Competitive Advantage and Social Impact

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marks and Spencer's competitive position in various markets, comparing it with competitors like Tesco, ASDA, Zara, and H&M. It examines the strategies the company employs to gain a competitive advantage, focusing on aspects like product quality, online presence, and customer service. Furthermore, the report delves into the importance of creating a positive social impact, outlining considerations such as fostering a positive workplace environment and promoting diversity. It also highlights how these social initiatives contribute to brand image and customer loyalty. The report concludes by suggesting theoretical tools that Marks and Spencer can utilize to further enhance its business operations and market standing.

BUSINESS PROJECT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Part 1................................................................................................................................................4
a) Competitive position and gaining competitive advantages.....................................................4
c) Creating positive social impact................................................................................................7
PART-2..........................................................................................................................................10
Tools used for enhancing the business......................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Competition refers to the rivalry between companies that is involved in the selling of
similar product and services with the goal of achieving revenue, profit and market growth. The
competitive position in the market refers to the rank according the sales and revenue of the
business that shoes the market stability of the organisation in the market (Hoffmann, and et.al.,
2018). Maintaining the position in the Market is necessary as higher sales and profit lead to the
higher position. Competitive advantage is the attribute that allows the company to out perform its
competitors (Distanont and Khongmalai, 2020).
Marks and Spencers is a British multinational retail chain company that is involved in the
selling of food items, necessary and clothing and home products. It also provides online services
to the customers at different locations that improved the sales and growth of the business after
the impact of COVID-19 as majority of people shifted to the digital shop[ping or online
purchasing of products. The company has a good position in the market and various approaches
are taken by the organization in order to achieve the goal of the business.
Internationalisation refers to the operating the business or selling the product or services
across the boundaries of the domestic country of the organisation (Hall and Werbner, 2020).
Business need to face various challenges in order to operate the business in outside the domestic
boundaries of the country. Social impact refers to the effect on people and communities that
happens as a result of action, inaction, activity or policy of an organisation. It includes wages,
breaks, adherence to employment laws, safety of the employees, training and other measures that
impact the growth of the business (Nikolskaya and et.al., 2018). Marks and Spencer is trying to
create positive social impact on the society as it plays an important role in the growth and image
of the company.
This report will discuss about the comparative analysis of Marks and Spencer's
competitive position in its various market along with the business activity that result in gaining
competitive advantage. The report will also discuss the considerations that company need to
take in order to create a positive social impact and the reason behind creating this impact will
also be discussed. It will also shed light on the appropriate theoretical tools that will help Marks
and Spencer to enhance its business.

MAIN BODY
Part 1
a) Competitive position and gaining competitive advantages
It refers to the place of the company, its products or services on the widely understood
market. It is a marketing strategy that focus on how a marketing team can differentiate a
company from its competitors (Jing, Feng, and Yan, 2021) Marks and Spencers is holding a good
position in the market that can give a good competition. Following is a comparative analysis of
the company's competitive position in its various market.
The competitors of marks and Spencers in the market of grocery and supermarket are
Tesco and ASDA.
Comparison with Tesco
Financial position of the Marks and Spencers in 2009 has proven to be a difficult year
with a decrease of 28.44% in a business operating profit. The operating profit of the business of
the company grew at an average rate of 15% over the period from 2005 to 2008. On the other
hand, Tesco had fairly steady returns during the period under observation. The company's
operating profit is a steady 5.7 to 5.9% over the five-year period.
Tesco and marks and Spencers have various functions that distinguish the both
companies. As the marks and Spencers has better food quality as compared to the Tesco.
However, the products and services are cheaper at Tesco. Tesco has a higher market position as
compared to Marks and Spencers in the retail supply chain. Another indication of efficiency in
purchasing and selling good in the company that can be also determine by stock turnover ratio.
As a group Marks and Spencer have seen this liquidity ration shrink over the past couple of
years. Similarly Tesco Plc has also experienced the same fate but the ratio calculated still
remains high. Tesco has a great satisfied customer on the digital platform as the online sale o
Marks and Spencers is Greater than the online sale of Tesco because Tesco majorly focus on the
retail outlet customers.
Marks and Spencers can get competitive advantage from the Tesco as the quality of the
food products in the organization is better than compared to the Tesco. This benefit can create
opportunity for Marks and Spencers to promote the quality of the products and people are more
likely to prefer quality food, and they are ready to pay more for that. Marks and Spencers can

gain competitive advantage in the field of online marketing and sales as it the major advantage
for the company to increase the competitive position in the market (Chang and Singh, 2021).
Comparison with ASDA
Marks and Spencers and ASDA both companies are involved in similar activities.
Competitive position of both companies keeps changing. In the comparison of the companies the
marks and Spencers have better service as compared to ASDA as M&S was praised by the
customer, who responded to the post that stated Marks and Spencers staff were wonderful. Asda
released similar statement that said that everyone has right to eel safe but it was not much
appreciated by the people (Gildbody-Dickerson, 2021). However, Asda has overtaken Marks
and Spencer to become British second biggest clothing retailer by volume. The competition
between the both companies always bring ups and downs in the competitive position. In the field
of grocery Marks and Spencers holds the better position from Asda as the quality food products
are the best at marks and Spencer.
The gaining of competitive advantage from the Asda is that company can increase the
customer engagement by improving the marketing strategy and the customer service can be the
good opportunity for the business to increase the competitive position in the market (Öz, 2019).
Company is improving the market position by various approaches such as company started to
sell products from a host of other labels, with Hobbs, Jack & Jones, and other companies on the
Marks and Spencers Website. The customer base of the business is stronger on digital platform
as compared to retail outlets customers. Quality of Product and Online selling is the major
advantage that can be taken by the competitive industries in order to get higher market position
in the market.
Competitors of Marks and Spencers in the Clothing Market are Zara and H&M, following is the
comparison of competitors along with the gaining competitive advantage in the clothing market.
Comparison with Zara
Zara is a multinational company engaged in selling of clothing items. M&S and Zara has
been in competition from a long time. Both company have different customers, Marks and
Spencers's average customer is mainly women aged between 35 and 54. They are wealthy and
ave an active lifestyle . They are also family oriented and exited to try new things. On the other
hand Zara's average customer is aged between 15 and 30 years of age. The customers of Zara are

fashion focused and have high desire of fashionable products. Zara provide affordable
fashionable products to the customers but Marks and Spencer has a good quality of clothing
products. People with high rate of lifestyle are the major customer of the M&S. The competitive
position of the M&S is little lower from Zara. It may be increase as M&S started to sell different
variety of clothing products that is being loved by the customers.
Marks and Spencers can gain the competitive advantage from the Zara as the customers
can be interacted with the quality of products and the supply chain of Zara is owned by the
company itself. It does not allow the business to expand to far location. By increasing the
geographic location of Marks and Spencers, company can get the higher position in the market.
Another gaining of advantage in competitive position is that Marks and Spencers is that its
traditional brand strength has been supported by the M&S reputation for value for money and
also its has a good reputation in the customer services these advantages can improve the growth
of the business in various aspects. It will help the business in achieving the greater position in
competitive market of clothing.
Comparison with H&M
H&M is a multinational company that is also involved in the selling of Clothing products.
The competition has raised a lot in the today's market. H&M is trying to compete the Marks and
Spencers. The position of the M&S is higher than H&M. Both companies are getting a good
value for clothing products. Marks and Spencers has good Quality of Cloths but people can get
better value for money in H&M. Instead of manufacturing, H&M outsource the production to
independent suppliers in Europe and Asia. Marks ad Spencers has better service from H&M and
it has better position in the market. In 2018, customers across the world boycotted the products
of H&M that lead to the great downward slop in the market position of H&M (Byrne, 2018).
marks and Spencers has a greater serving area than H&M and it is helping the company to
maintaining the position higher than H&M. The wide area of the business lead to the greater sale
in the market.
Various opportunities has been gained from the H&M to improve the market value of
Marks and Spencers. The controversy on the opposite company lead to gain the better position in
competitive market and it also improves the sale and growth of the business. Outsourcing the
products also giver the advantage to the business. The profit margin of the company is greater as
compared the H&M this lead to the greater value in the market. Company gained the opportunity

from the threats to the competitors and develop its competitive position. Marks and Spencers has
been a leading company in the market in the United kingdom. The increasing demand for quality
good is helping the business to grow more by meeting the desire of customers. Digital tools also
plays an important role in the improving the growth of the business.
c) Creating positive social impact
Social impact refers to the effect of the activity of organisation on a commodity and well
being of individuals and families. Any significant or positive changes that address or solve the
social challenges or injustice (Vörösmarty and et.al., 2018). Making difference is the world is
always important, any differences made by the organisation creates the positive effect on the
image of the company and improve the customer loyalty and engagement. Creating positive
social impact becomes necessary for the company to have a sustainable development in the
organisation. Following are the considerations that Marks and Spencers should take in order to
create a positive social impact on the society and environment. Positive Workplace Environment: It refers to the creating the better environment for the
workplace that help the employees to work effectively and it also motivates the workers
in the organisation. Diversity in the workplace lead to the creation of innovative ideas
and creativity. Creating a positive workplace environment have a great positive effect on
the social life and environment of the organization (Sugahara and et.al., 2021). It
increases the engagement of the employees and improves the quality of the product with
optimum utilization of resource that decrease the cost of the product. Creating a positive
workplace environment also include training and development of the employees it
improves the skills and knowledge of the employees and keeps them motivated. This
positive social impact lead to the increase in the employee engagement along with the
customer engagement as it will also create a positive effect on the brand image of Marks
and Spencers. Positive workplace environment will also lead to the better production
process as it reduce the stress of the employees and increase the productivity level of the
worker in the organization. This positive social impact will reduce the barriers in the
organization such as communication barriers, leadership barriers. Decision making
process in the company will also improve with the help of positive workplace
environment.

 Go Green: It refers to the keeping the environment clean. Company can take various
steps to keep the society clean and it will also contribute to the positive social impact on
the people. Steps can be taken such as ban on plastic bags and company can also motivate
the society to plant trees and keep the environment clean. It has become necessary to take
step towards the better environment as it will keep the people safe from the hazardous
disaster (Rainock and et.al., 2018). Taking such steps will improve the brand image and
increase the sale of the products that are being served by Marks and Spencers. This is
because people are more likely to purchase products from a company that is investing for
the better of the nation or environment. Such steps plays an important role in the growth
of the business. Company can also start partnership with an environmental NGO that can
create a positive social impact on the customer and it will also increase the customer
interaction that will directly increase the sale of products that are being produced at
Marks and Spencers. Company can also support the go green by manufacturing the
clothing products that support the environment health and it will also help in creating the
trend of supporting the environment by purchasing the clothing from the Marks and
Spencers stores or website. Improve Health: It refers to creating a positive social impact by focusing on the health
and safety of the customers and employees. Marks and Spencers can improve the health
of the customer by providing them organic food products. Chemical free products should
be provided and awareness should be created in the society to consume healthy food
products (Norris and et.al., 2020). Organisation can also focus on the health and safety of
the employees by offering them insurance facility. People are more concern about their
health after the impact of COVID-19. Health awareness by the company will increase the
customer loyalty and offering organic products will also lead to the higher sale of the
food products. People are ready to pay more for the quality products as health has been a
great priority to the people. Improving health by the company will create a huge positive
impact on the customers and society. The benefits of healthy workforce are as it increase
the productivity in the operations of the business. Healthy workers in an organisation
improve work culture, increase work satisfactions and reduce workplace stress in iothe
organisation.

 Reduce Inequality: It refers to ensuring that every individual has an equal opportunity to
make the most of their lives and talents (Di Cesare, and et.al., 2018). It is also the belief
that no one should have poorer life chances because of the way they born or where they
come from. Equality in the organization plays an important role in the effective
workplace environment. Treating all the employees equally will increase the motivation
of the employees that will lead to the effective work in the organization. Reducing
inequality among the employees is necessary for the organisation as it is the
responsibility of the organisation to treat all the employees equal. This treatment creates
a great social impact on the employees and customer as the motivated employees provide
better service to the customers and lead to the increase improvement in the customer
satisfaction. Treating the staff equally in the organisation. Gender budgeting is another
valuable fiscal in the fight to reduce inequality. Gender equality and women's
empowerment will increase the participation of women in the workplace and help the
company to increase the growth and stability. Affordable and Clean Energy: It refers to the use of pollution free energy for the
production in the organization. The use of clean energy will keep the environment
healthy and the energy must be affordable so that it does not affect the cost of the product
(Wang and Skjervold, 2021). Renewable energy are becoming cheaper and reliable
source. It will help Marks and Spencers to manufacture the products with clean energy
and lead to the contribution in the sustainable development of the organization. It will
help the organization in spreading the awareness for decreasing the pollution and people
will also contribute to the clean energy by purchasing the product from Marks and
Spencers. This contribution will increase the sale of the business along with the rank in
the competitive market. The use of different clean energy generation technologies can
reduce the consumption of resources and the emission of polluting gases into the
environment. It will also create economic development and jobs in manufacturing and
installation of clean and affordable energy.
 Developing Relationships: It plays an important role in creating positive social impact.
Improving the relationships with the customers and employees lead to the better
understanding of the society and these relationships are essential for the growth of the
company. Building relationship nature of the business help the organization to have a

better client understanding and relationship (Zhou, Ye and Wang, 2019). It also improves
the ability to cross sell. Building relationship with employees in the organisation lead the
improvement in the team collaboration. Developing relationships decrease the
communication barriers and it also encourages the customers to ask for the query or
customer can suggest for development that lead to the major improvement in the
organization. Building relationship also improve customer servicing efficiency. Increase
of revenue and profitability in Marks and Spencer can be achieved by developing
relationship wit customer as well as employees in the organization. This positive impact
on the social or society will lead to increase in the competitive position in the market.
PART-2
Tools used for enhancing the business
With the advancement in technology it can be said technology and business are no longer
separate. For facilitating the operation of the business it is very important the company uses
technologies that help them in efficiently running its business operation (Prasad and Saigal,
2019). It is very essential for inculcating tools and techniques that will help the business in
enhancing its operations and activities that will help in achieving the goals and objectives of the
company. Thus, will help the organization in achieving higher profits and increasing its sales.
The various tools that can be used by business in enhancing its business activities for higher
profits are as follows:
 Mobile marketing tools- With the advancement in technology it has allowed business to
expand its operation and not limiting it to just physical stores. That is with digitalisation it
has allowed the companies in reaching potential customers through the use of mobile
marketing (Kayumovich and et.al., 2020). According to study, it has been analysed that
an average person spends almost 5 hours on their phone in a day, thus, it can be analyse
that one of the best way of enhancing the operation of business is through mobile
marketing that is push notification and SMS. It helps to increase the reach of the brands
and help in increasing the brand visibility among the target market. Marks and Spencer
can use the mobile marketing tools which will help the company in increasing its
awareness about is products and services.
 Content Management tools- With the declining system of brick and mortar because of
the rise in the e-commerce business. It is very important for retail organisation to have a

web presence over internet (Yap and Mukundan, 2019). Because nowadays, consumer
even before going to local retail shops, first go online and research about those stores.
Thus, Marks and Spencer must recognizes these factors. All its physical stores are
connected with the websites so that it can offer its customer with higher level of
satisfaction.
 Social media marketing tools- nowadays it has become vital for every business to have
a online presence which not means to have a web presence but to be constantly be active
on social media platforms. For running a successful business, social media marketing is
considered one of the most powerful tool in enhancing the business of an organization
with higher connectivity with its customer (Poddar and Agarwal, 2019). Social media
platforms includes Facebook, Instagram, twitter etc. It not only help the business to
connect with its existing customers but allows the business in reaching out and targetting
new customer base so that there can be generation of revenue from new segments. To
enhance the business operations it is very vital for Marks and Spencer in using tools of
social media marketing that will help the company in reaching out to new markets and
new target audience and will them in streamlining higher profits from increasing the
sales. Also, it will help the company in strengthening its market positioning and provide a
competitive advantage over its competitors. By better understanding the preferences and
needs of the consumers and fulfilling these needs.
Thus, to improve the business operations of the organization so that it can achieve
success. Marks and Spencer needs to implement various tools and techniques that will help in
enhancing its business operation and will allow the company to expand. Thus. It will lead the
company towards growth and will help the brand in increasing its awareness and in turn increase
its brand loyalty.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that internationalisation has led to severe
competition in the retail markets. That is if an organization needs to be successful it is very
important that the company maintains its market positioning so that they can have higher revenue
through increment in sales. On the other hand, it is very important that organisation has a
positive social impact on the society and the markets so that the organisation can enhance its

reputation and goodwill in the view of its target audiences. It can also, be concluded from the
report that with the comparison of Marks and Spencer with other brand it can be evaluated that
M&S has a strong market reach that is it offers reasonable product without compromising its
quality which helps the company in retaining its market position. Also, with its effective pricing
strategy it helps the company if gaining a competitive advantage. The competitive analysis also
helps in analysing the brand loyalty and market positioning of the company among other
competitors.
Furthermore, it can be concluded that creating a positive social impact for sustainable
development is vital for the success of organisation in the dynamic business environment. it is
very important to considered various factors while development sustainable environment. Marks
and Spencer needs to inculcate a positive working environment that is open to multiculturalism
and diversity so that it motivates and inspires the employees. Which in turn will help the
company in enhancing its performance and efficiency. Also, with inculcation of positive
workplace it will help in improving coordination and cooperation among the employees of the
organisation that will help in faster and effective decision making. Thus, it can be concluded
from the report that Marks and Spencer needs to create an environment that promotes equality,
fairness and justice and leads towards sustainable development of the community.
At last, it can be summarised from the report that to enhance the business there are
various tools and techniques that can be used by organisation to achieve success. That is with the
use of these tools it will help the organisation to expand there visibility and brand awareness
among the target audience and the markets. Thus. Will allow the organisation to enhance its
business operation and will help them in expansion of their business by streamlining higher
profits and revenues. With effective utilisation of tools it will help the organization in achieving
growth and will lead the company towards growth with increased profit maximisation