Managing and Leading Strategic Change: Marks and Spencer Analysis

This report examines the strategic change management of Marks and Spencer (M&S), a major UK retailer. It begins by outlining the current trends impacting the retail sector, such as mobile shopping and changing consumer demands, and identifies key drivers of change, including technology, competition, climate, and cultural integration. The report then explores how leaders can address these changes, emphasizing technological advancements like augmented reality and the integration of new sales channels. The core of the report analyzes Lewin's change model (Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze) as a framework for implementing organizational change within M&S. It details each stage of the model, illustrating how M&S can adapt to market shifts by adopting new technologies, training employees, and modifying its strategies to meet evolving customer expectations. The report aims to provide recommendations for successful change implementation within M&S.

Managing and leading
strategic change

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Section 1......................................................................................................................................3
Section 2......................................................................................................................................6
Section 3......................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References......................................................................................................................................10
........................................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Change is refers to shift from one state from another so that obstacles would be removed.
Organisation brings changing in their working operation to gain competitive advantage over
others competitors. While deploying changes in the organisation, company have to change their
strategic plan so that it would be properly implemented and reducing disruption to a certain level.
For this report, Marks and Spencer is taken for discussion which is one of the largest retail chain
in United Kingdom and has their headquarter in London, UK. Different types of trends which is
running in the market and drivers of change would be explained with functional example of it.
Besides this how leaders of organisation can tackle with the changes will be discussed. Apart
from this, theories and model which could be use to successfully implement change will be
elaborated and at last recommendation would be explained.
MAIN BODY
Section 1
For this document, retail sector is taken as it is one of the industry in which needs and
demands of consumers changes on a regular basis and company have to modify their products
and services accordingly as then only it would be possible for company to remain competitive in
the market (Archibald and Archibald, 2016). Retail sector refers to exchange of final goods
which is consumed by consumers in with monetary value. According to research, retail sector
output in 2017 was 92.8 billion which is highest in any of the adjacent industry. Different types
of latest trends which are affecting retail industry is discussed below,
Mobile shopping:
After technology advancement in recent past, consumer perception towards retail
shopping is changed drastically. People prefers to buy on online platform instead of visiting
stores physically due to which retail industry as been affected in a negative way. For instance,
BOPIS trends is running which stands for buy online, pick up in store. It means that customer
can select their product through online platform and then purchase it through online store. This is
affecting M&S business as potential customers are switching their preferences from physical
stores to online platform which makes their investment on stores waste.

Change in demand:
M&S is been the market leader as they are fully satisfying customers demands by
providing their products. But now as the trends changes, customers wants to try new product
every time they visit their stores. But on the other hand, M&S is still stick to its old fashioned
cloths which they have been selling from past 100 years. This affects the M&S business
operation in a negative way.
Drivers for change
 Change in technology: As in the changing world of innovation the industry is using
different technology to process and sell the products. This helps the industry to make
products more durable and appealing to the customers. As technology has changed and
has the process of Augment reality has come in place which helps the users to check how
the products look like in them (Braveman, 2016). Due to this change the industry is able
to cope up with the demands of the customers and is also able to achieve the targetted
sales and production target. Also various companies has implemented digital integration
in there stores through which they build a smart stores.
 Competitors: This is the also considered as the main factor that brings changes to the
retail sector of the industry. As for any industry to grow and to perform better it is
required that it should be full of competitors as due to competition there exist a scope of
innovation in the industry. It is the main driver to change because if any of the competitor
changes its marketing or its selling policy which is approachable to the consumers than it
would hamper the market of other rivals. So this driver of competitors should be checked
on timely basis.
 Climate : This is the factor which is considered as the vital factor in the retail clothing
industry. All the production activity of this industry depends upon the climate and the
geographical situation of different countries. As many companies in this industry only
focuses on a particular climate they have made their brands a benchmark. So the
companies has to choose a climate according to which they will manufacture their
products (van der Steen, 2017). As in today's world global warming is happening and the
climate is constantly rising so due to which companies are more focusing on producing
the clothes which are more prone to hot climate.

 Cultural integration : The customers in this type of industry belongs to different culture
and country. So companies has to decide about different cultures and form a product
which best suites to the tradition and culture of the customers (Clark and et. al., 2017). As
if company does not focus on culture of customer then the product would not be
accepted. This is the driver that makes the companies to change the way of working and
planning strategies.
The managers and the leaders of the company should bring some changes in the company
so that they are able to sell there products in a better manner and it would also help them to gain
a market share. The managers of the company should check and identify the areas so that the
production department could perform efficiently. Various changes should be made in the
strategies of M&S so that they can achieve the pre set objective of the company. These changes
includes the following:
 Technological change: The managers of company should make some changes in the
technological factors. As nowadays in this industry many companies has adopted new
technologies because of which they are able to increase the sales and the market share.
M&S should use the the augmented reality in their retail stores which would make their
stores high tech (Taneja, Sewell and Odom, 2015). Also the customers would be able to
analyse which cloth best suits them and which not. Also company should integrate a
mobile app with the feature of E-commerce through which customers of the company can
order the product online at their door step. This would help company to grow their sales
and to increase the market share and tackle the rivals in the industry.
 Integrating into new channel: Mangers of the company should check that if the
products of the company is able to cope up with the demands of the customers. They
should check that what the customers desires (Hickman and Silva, 2018). The managers
of the company should integrate to the different channels which would help their
customers to fulfil their desires. In the present context the company is providing the
formal products which are basically targeted to the upper class clients. Company has to
make a new channel according to the desire of the customer and should also make the
products which relates to culture of different countries. They should produce products
according to the different culture of country.

Section 2
From the analysis of section 1 it is seen that the company should use different theories
that helps them to implement the changes so that performance of organisation can be increased
and it can boost its market share accordingly. Companies like M&S which are operating all
around the world has to change the way of working so that they are able to cope up with the
drivers of change. The organisation should change the way of working and should implement the
elements as per the requirements of global world (Hodges, 2016). Change is considered as the
global thread that runs across business organisation without referring to the size, industry and
age. As the retail clothing market is changing in a fast pace so company like M&S which is one
of the reputed company in this industry should also change according to pace. The concept of
management change that is being identified by Lewin's change model is considered as one of the
most significant model for driving change in the organisations structure that would help them to
make identify the requirements of change and would also help them to make the policies which
would lead organisational change. This model is widely accepted order that helps the company to
adapt to the changes effectively and to build a programme that is best suited for the change. The
model is known as Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze which is referred to as three stage process of
change (Renz, 2016). For an organisation it is important to overcome the nature of resistance,
employees and the management of the company needs to go off the old habits and structures.
This is considered as difficult assignment because change spells out disruption of stable
situation. Here is negative point that is involved in the change as the people in this like to keep
the old situation as it is because they are comfortable at old situation. The Lewins change model
focuses on behaviour modification of people and the employees of the organisation so that they
are able to achieve the objective of bringing change. He staged these changes into three steps.
These following stages can be defined as below:
 Unfreeze model: this is considered as the first stage of implementing the change in the
organisation. It is the base which brings the change in the company and the people. The
managers and the leaders of the company has to identify the drivers that are changing the
industry and has to brainstorm it among the people so that they adapt to change. Here the
managers checks what is the impact of bringing change in the organisation and that if
bringing change would be beneficial for the company. This is important as most of the
people in an organisation does not want to change. As the managers of the organisation

are targetting to bring new technology in their production as well as marketing process.
They are thinking of bringing the augmented reality in the stores of the company so that
customers can see try different types of products. For this managers has to recruit new
employees and has to train old employees so that they are fully capable of managing
customers in stores. Managers has to develop an induction and training programme so
that employees of the organisation adapts to the change (Hughes, 2018). The employees
should be motivated for bringing change before change occurs as this would help
achieving the pre set goals. This step also includes providing employees of organisation
motivation factor such as increased incentives and making their mind that change would
bring in profits for them. The managers of the company would force the organisation to
re examine the change in its core competencies. Also the managers of the company has
decided to launch a mobile app that would help customers in ordering the product at their
convenience and they would be able to order these products at their door step. This would
help the company to increase there sales figure and they would then increase profitability
of company.
 Change: After the certainty to change in created in unfreeze stage. This is the stage
where the real transition of bringing the change takes place. As the process may take time
to get implemented, but it would help in achieving the objective of bringing change.
People in the organisation starts to believe and act in a way that supports the new
direction for the organisation. Managers of the company has to implement the steps and
the procedures so as to bring change in the organisation. The managers has to make a
team that would implement the changes and would also help the employees to get trained
so that they are able to adapt to the change. Managers in an organisation has decided to
bring a new way of technology that would make customers more prone to technology.
The managers has decided to bring this technology to maximum number of stores so that
customers are able to easily choose from number of products that are available (Jing,
2017). Manager of the company has also decide to make their maximum stores smart.
The managers of the company has to plan the change in effective matter so that they are
to achieve the success. Also they have to look into the cost that would be required at this
stage. As in the current market most of the companies are thinking of bringing the
products that are based on the culture of country in which they are operating, so the

managers of the company has decided to make their research department in different
countries of the world through which they would get to know the preference and the
cultural requirements of different countries. On the basis of which they would produce
the product and sell it in the market, which would again help them in increasing the sales
and profit margin of company.
 Freeze: Here employees of organisation has to refreeze according to change that has been
adopted in the previous stage. As the management are comfortable to the changes that are
taking shape and the people of organisation has embraced the new change, it is said that
organisation is ready for being refreeze (Martinsuo and Hoverfält, 2018). For making the
change strengthen and reinforced it is required for managers of organisation to reward,
recognise and provide positive reinforcements to employees so that they are motivated to
adapt to the changes. It is the duty of mangers and leaders of the organisation to
implement the changes and to make new innovation and motivation among the
employees to become consistent with changes. As their would be stability in the
organisation employees would feel confident and comfortable with the new way of
working and this would make company adaptable and competitive to the industrial trends
of change.
Section 3
As it is seen that organisation should change according to the industrial requirements.
Managers of the organisation should frame policies and the strategies to implement these trends.
It is evaluated from the above discussion that the retail clothing industry is changing at a fast rate
and the customers are more desirable to the demands and needs the products according to the
culture. It has become difficult for the company to make changes according to desires. Managers
of companies has to look at the core functioning of the organisation once again so that they are
able to understand the requirements of bringing change ( Meyer and Xin, 2018). This has been
seen that retail industry is now moving to technological advancement and customers are
demanding for bringing change in the way the product are sold to them. Now a days customers
doesn't want to go to the shops or showrooms to purchase the items rather wants that to purchase
the products sitting at their home. Also the company has developed a mobile app that helps them
to purchase and choose the products that are available to them in the international market
according to the choice and preference of the customer. The managers of the company has

chosen the Lewin' s change in management model that helps them to analyse the requirements of
the company to adopt to the change. Also they have analysed that employees needs to be up to
date for implementing these policies so that they are able to achieve the objectives of
implementing change. Also the research and development team should be made for the purpose
of knowing the consumer tastes and preference (Palmer, Dunford and Akin, 2016). A research
team has been made for the purpose so that they can analyse the drivers of change and can seek
first mover advantage in the industry. Here managers of the company uses different stages that
are set by Lewin's change management model so as to bring change in the core business
technique of the company. Managers of company has used unfreeze-change and refreeze model
to implement change in organisation.
Here the managers has to use the skills of leading change in the organisation. They have
to motivate employees of the company to make their mind to adapt to change as this would help
them as well as the organisation to achieve the target of profit maximisation (Peppers and
Rogers, 2016). As company has used the Lewin's change management plan so they have to
refreeze the changes that they have made. Also they have reward and give some incentive to the
employees of the company so that they help in implementing the change and make it successful
for the company.
Conclusion
From the above report it is analysed that managers of the company has to change the way
of tackling the challenges. As in the current global world it is the industrial requirement to make
some changes in the structure of the organisation so that they are able to make most out of
changing trends. As M&S is dealing in the clothing industry so they have to analyse the current
trends in the market to become competitive. Lewin's plan has been analysed in this report which
helps managers to change the structure and help company to be adaptable to change.

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Online
Seven reasons why Marks & Spencer is in trouble, 2018. Available through <
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in-trouble>.