BUS3005: Evaluating Strategy, Innovation at Marks and Spencer

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marks & Spencer, a global retail company. It examines the company's approach to innovation and strategic innovation, comparing it with competitors like Zara. The report evaluates the internal and external environments using SWOT and PESTLE analyses, highlighting strengths in e-commerce and weaknesses in market concentration. It also discusses CSR, governance, and business ethics, emphasizing Marks & Spencer's commitment to fair treatment of customers and employees. The report concludes that Marks & Spencer is a well-established brand focused on innovation and ethical business practices, contributing positively to society.

BUS3005 SM

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Overview of the company............................................................................................................1
Innovation and strategic innovation.............................................................................................1
Internal and external environment of the company.....................................................................2
CSR, governance and business ethics..........................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCE...................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
This report will discuss about marks and Spenser which is the global company and sells wide
range of products. This report will shed light on innovation and strategic innovation. Further will
evaluate external and internal environment of the company. It will also compare marks and
Spenser with their competitors in terms of CSR, ethics, governance etc.
MAIN BODY
Overview of the company
Marks and Spenser is the global company which is established in Europe. This company falls
in retail sector and having its headquarters at London. The company has also listed on new york
stock exchange (Varadarajan, 2018). They have large product portfolio and manufacture
clothing, footwear, bags, fragrance, accessories etc. they also deals with grocery food items and
sale all range of products which can afford by every income group of people. It is the retail
brand and contribute in the economic development of the country.
They concentrate on innovating timely and that helps them in attaining competitive advantages.
They are the market leaders when it comes to clothing because they never compromise on the
quality of the product. They also have wide customer vase because they provide better customer
service. They have well trained staff which provide good experience to the customers. They also
have team of experts professionals which carry market research and have expertise to study
market trends so that products can be made accordingly.
Innovation and strategic innovation
innovation refers to producing something new which have unique features. Innovation in
today's world is must if company wanted to survive in the market for longer time period.
Strategic innovation in the procedure of redesigning or remaking the company's corporate
strategy so that business can achieve growth. Under this business brings value to their customers
and also build competitive advantage. Such innovation is must needed if the company wanted to
adopt changes in technology easily. Innovation strategy helps company in making innovative
related goals and also helps company so that goals can be attained (Calof, Meissner and
Vishnevskiy, 2020). If compared with the competitor which is Zara then it can said that Zara
only focus on innovating its clothing sector while marks and Spenser focuses on brining
innovation to other product category as well.
Diffusion theory of innovation
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this theory focuses on innovation which is generated by people as they carry different activities.
Diffusion is possible only if the person will adopt new ideas or thoughts in order to generate new
products. It further have five adopter category which are as follows:
innovators: those people fall in this category which are eager enough to try innovation as early
as possible (Roth and et.al., 2020). They have full interest in generating new ideas. They develop
new ideas at the very first time and are always ready to take the risk.
Example marks and Spenser also fall in this category because they are the first to adopt
innovation and bring change. Although they take huge risk but without taking risk no company
can achieve success. As higher risk signifies high growth.
Early adopters: they are the people which always takes change as an opportunities. They enjoy
the role of leadership. They know the importance of change and are ready to adopt new ideas.
They make strategies to bring changes and also implement those strategies.
Early majority: they are not the leaders but they are interested in adopting new ideas when
compared with average people (Dogan, 2017). They adopt innovation only if the other party has
received any benefit by adopting that innovation. After seeing the success story of innovation
they adopt it.
Late majority: they are those people which will adopt change but only after the majority of
people have already adopted it and the innovation is tried and tested properly. In order to review
the success of adoption they see effectiveness of adopting innovation.
Laggards: they are the conservative people. They are very much skeptical and are normally
hard to convince to adopt changes. They have fear to accept change and bring innovation.
Internal and external environment of the company
it will be analysed by using models which is swot and pestle analysis.
SWOT
strength-
the biggest strength of the company is that they adopt change easily and quickly that is why they
have made strong e-commerce infrastructure. As they have idea that the modern era is
surrounded by e commerce only because people have started doing online shopping and e-
commerce have become part of their daily life. So that is why they have established their brand
on various e commerce platforms. They adopt latest industry trends so that they cannot
disappoint their customers (Chen, Yin and Mei, 2018). They always concentrate on improving
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their customer experience. They very well know that customer is everything so that is why they
brings those changes which is demanded by their customers.
Weaknesses:
company is very much reliable on the markets of UK, more local reliability can lead to lower
profits. As company have wide approach in terms of location so they should have equally focus
on every location. As there are many countries whose market is on boom so focusing on those
markets can increase the profit margin of the company.
Opportunities:
technology is the biggest opportunity for the company. They uses advanced technology to make
their operations more rapid. By using advanced technology company is able to innovative more
often and easily (Bigley, 2018). More Online presence is another opportunity because through
this business can able to generate online sales as well. Fashion trends rapidly evolve, so by
providing trending clothes to the customers they can provide good customer experience. They
can also simplify their operational model which will help them in saving operational costs.
Threats:
competition is the big threat for the company. Companies like Zara, h&m, Tesco etc also come
up with innovative products and services. They have good customer vase in the market. They
also focus on making innovative market strategy and sometimes marks and Spenser customer's
shift to their rival company because of new products range available with them. Clothing trends
changes very quickly, so company faces difficulty in adopting rapid changes and also adopting
rapid changes requires high investment and efforts and time. Brexit is another threat. As due to
Brexit company will no longer get low cost workers easily because Brexit has put restriction on
the free movement of labours.
PESTLE
political factors:
this factor consists of fiscal policy, trade tariffs etc. current government of the country have the
influence over this factor (Marks and Spenser SWOT and PESTLE analysis., 2020). As after the
introduction of the fair trade policy, marks and Spenser can enjoy reduction in various costs.
Company's sourcing costs has declined to great extent. After the implementation of Brexit
company also faces increment in various costs, especially labour costs has increased. Taxation
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and government policy is never fixed as t gets changed. Less strict policy is good for company
and more strict policy can also reduce profit margin.
Economic factors:
it contain foreign exchange rate, inflation rate etc. there are many country in which marks and
Spenser is operating have good economy. When the economy is stable then it provide
opportunity to the company to make more money. Changes in the economy can lead to higher
losses as well.
Social factors:
this factor consists of belief, values, lifestyle etc. marks and Spenser enjoy low cost over
production in many under developed and developing countries because there company easily
gets low price workers (Purba, Hery and Lestari, 2019). If the production cost is less then
company can enjoy more profit margin. It is essential to make society satisfied if company
wanted to survive for longer period.
Technological factors:
it includes advanced technology as technology evolves very fast so that is why it is necessary to
adopt advanced technology if company wanted to attain competitive advantage. Marks and
Spenser is more focused towards innovation so that is why technology will help them in
bringing innovation.
Legal factors:
it comprises of the rules and regulations or laws. It is important to follow legal rules because it is
mandatory for every company to follow it. Marks and Spenser also make sure that they carry
their business by following all the rules and regulations which is laid by the government.
Environmental factors:
it comprises of climate, weather, surroundings etc. they launch environment friendly products
and use sustainable material while manufacturing the products. Company also run many
campaigns in which they spread awareness about environment (Sahut, Peris-Ortiz and Teulon,
2019). They make sure that they do not pollute environment in any manner. Marks and Spenser
have also rewarded with many awards and certificates because they put various efforts of saving
environment. They have also started using renewable products so that carbon emission can be
reduced. Fossil fuels are limited so that why it is important to use renewable sources of energy.
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CSR, governance and business ethics
corporate social responsibility refers to the process when organisation contribute in the society.
As company takes lot from the society so they are liable to pay back to the society as well. CSR
activities are donations, charity, protecting environment, building public infrastructure etc. CSR
helps in increasing brand reputation of the company (Tulcanaza-Prieto and et.al., 2020). Marks
and Spenser also knows the importance of corporate social responsibility. Company is
associated with various charitable organisation and they provide charity so that standard of
living of people can be updated. Corporate governance is also part of CSR activity. Corporates
has to carry their business but following certain rules so that society will not get harmed by their
business activities.
Business ethics which is another important thing. It is very important to carry business ethically.
When compared to their competitors then marks and Spenser treat all their customers and
employees fairly and equally. They never discriminate between any of them on the basis of
religion, age, caste, gender, religion, race etc. they provide fair wage to their every employee
and also gives them promotion on the basis of their performance and not on favouritism (Li,
2018). If business will not follow ethical guidelines then they can even lost their customers
because consumers prefer buying from such company which thinks about society as well. It is
very important to make people of the society happy because at the end of the day people will
only purchase products from the company and help them to increase sales.
Management of company has maintained transparency because for them equality is important.
Working environment of the company is also safe and secure. As company have knowledge that
they will be able to retain more employees only if they provide them safe working environment
to their workforces (Trivellas and et.al., 2019). CSR is not limited to society only but company
also have responsibility towards their employees. Marks and Spenser provide health insurance to
their employees so that they can be protected from unwanted financial risks. As insurance will
help employee in covering their medical bills.
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CONCLUSION
Through this report it can be concluded marks and Spenser is the well established brand of UK.
They have large number of customer base and company never disappoint their customers.
Company concentrate on providing innovative products and have hired talented employees
which can help them in coming up with new products in the market. Company is highly
innovative when compared with their competitors as they regularly bring innovative products for
their customers. Innovation has explained properly in this report by using diffusion theory of
innovation. External and internal environment of the company has also discussed in this report
with the help of framework which is swot and pestle analysis. Business ethics is vital and every
business should follow ethical guidelines. Corporate social responsibility is also necessary
because company should pay back to the society as society helps company in growing by
purchasing their products. CSR improves brand image in the market and help company for long
term survival.
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REFERENCE
Books and Journals
Bigley, J., 2018. Assembling frameworks for strategic innovation enactment: Enhancing
transformational agility through situational scanning. Administrative Sciences. 8(3),
p.37.
Calof, J., Meissner, D. and Vishnevskiy, K., 2020. Corporate foresight for strategic innovation
management: the case of a Russian service company. Foresight.
Chen, J., Yin, X. and Mei, L., 2018. Holistic innovation: an emerging innovation
paradigm. International Journal of Innovation Studies. 2(1), pp.1-13.
Dogan, E., 2017. A strategic approach to innovation. Journal of Management Marketing and
Logistics. 4(3), pp.290-300.
Li, Z.F., 2018. A survey of corporate social responsibility and corporate governance.
In Research Handbook of Finance and Sustainability. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Purba, J.T., Hery, H. and Lestari, V.N.S., 2019. Financial TechnologyReadiness: Strategic
Innovation Management in the Service Industry 4.0. In ACHITS 2019: Proceedings of
the 1st Asian Conference on Humanities, Industry, and Technology for Society,
ACHITS 2019, 30-31 July 2019, Surabaya, Indonesia (p. 108). European Alliance for
Innovation.
Roth, S. and et.al., 2020. CSR beyond economy and society: a post-capitalist approach. Journal
of Business Ethics.165(3), pp.411-423.
Sahut, J.M., Peris-Ortiz, M. and Teulon, F., 2019. Corporate social responsibility and
governance. Journal of Management and Governance.23(4), pp.901-912.
Trivellas, P. and et.al., 2019. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its internal consequences
on job performance: The influence of corporate ethical values. International Journal of
Quality and Service Sciences.
Tulcanaza-Prieto, A.B. and et.al., 2020. Relationship among CSR initiatives and financial and
non-financial corporate performance in the ecuadorian banking
environment. Sustainability.12(4), p.1621.
Varadarajan, R., 2018. Innovation, innovation strategy, and strategic innovation. In Innovation
and Strategy. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Online
Marks and Spenser SWOT and PESTLE analysis., 2020. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.swotandpestle.com/marks-and-spencer/>
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