Marks & Spencer SWOT Analysis: A Business Development Essay

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English Academic Skills 1
Assessment 2: Essay
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
SWOT analysis................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7
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Introduction
The SWOT is a kind of analytical tool which is strategically planned to understand and analysis
about the strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats of any of the organization. Mark &
Spencer is one of the well-known clothing brands in the UK. In this essay, SWOT analysis on
the Marks & Spencer will be discussed which will help to make an analysis about the strength,
weakness, opportunities, and threats of the company. It helps to improve decision – making the
power of the organization overall and make better strategies to stay in the market with more
profitability.
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SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis helps to identify the internal and external factors of the company which makes
huge impact positive and negative both on the organization (Bonnici & Galea, 2015). Internal
analysis helps to identify the strength and weakness of the organization and external factors
makes a better understanding of the opportunities and threats from the outside environment to the
company. Mark & Spencer operate their work from London but it has their business worldwide,
almost every big city in the world. It has a total of 910 retail outlets in the UK including
franchises.
Strength - Mark & Spencer have a very reputed brand image for their high-end luxurious
products. Brand helps them to attract more and more customers. Mark & Spencer need no
introduction today; the brand itself set its quality parameters. Mark & Spencer has a very
multichannel presence in the UK, they have brick, mortar and online options to buy from. It is
one of the smartest decisions of the company to be available in every mode of shopping. Around
80,000 employees work with the company, in stores, and in their offices. They provide a safe and
no discrimination atmosphere to the employees (Ahmad, 2016).
Weakness – Marks & Spencer mostly designs are according to western culture and that leads to
less success for the company in Asia and the Middle East. It is a big issue while the company
tries to expand its business on an international level. Company's customer satisfaction level is not
very high, especially in the stores in the UK. It increases poor customer loyalty with the
organization. Poor customer satisfaction rate increases the chances of brand switching. Supply
chain scalability is one of the most prime issues of the company. Supply chains have poor
scalability which makes a negative impact on the image of the company.
Opportunities – Those surrounding factors which can be capitalized to increases organization
returns will be considered as opportunities. Marks & Spencer launched their online website a few
years back which helps to involve more customers with the products of the organization. Online
availability is one of the most demanding shopping options especially for the young generation
worldwide. There is a huge demand for traditional and ethnic clothing in Asia & Middle East
zone and the company is currently retailing only western clothing. Company's target markets are
India and China if the company starts their traditional/ethnic clothing according to the
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prospective market of India and China; it would be great opportunities for the company. New
markets segments will be helpful to the company as they help to increase the profitability of
Marks & Spencer.
Threats – Those external factors which decrease the rate of the company's growth are considered
as threats for the organization. There are many other clothing brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Zara,
United Colors of Benetton and Uniqlo which considered a big competition for Marks & Spencer.
They provide discount deals to their customers timely which can cause the switching of the
customer to other brands. Every country works according to its own government policies. While
expanding their business into different countries company have to face a cultural difference
situation. Without conducting good research about the cultural and government policies of the
country, it would be very complicated to stay there for the long run. Political scandals play a
significantly big role for companies working internationally. Elections, government change,
political scandals are negative time to get enter into any other markets (Bull, et. al., 2016).
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Conclusion
In this report, SWOT analysis has been conducted on the Marks & Spencer which is one of the
popular brands of the UK. It helps to analyze the internal and external factors which make an
impact on the company's growth and profitability in the long run. Available opportunities and
threats in other countries have been discussed.
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References
 Ahmed, U., 2016. Marks & Spencer: A Global Expansion to Acquire Lost Momentum.
Market entry in china cast studies on Strategy, Marketing and branding, pp. 61-72.
 Bonnici, S. T., & Galea, D., 2015. SWOT Analysis. ResearchGate,
 Bull, J.W., Jobstvogt, N., Böhnke-Henrichs, A., Mascarenhas, A., Sitas, N., Baulcomb,
C., Lambini, C.K., Rawlins, M., Baral, H., Zähringer, J. and Carter-Silk, E., 2016.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats: A SWOT analysis of the ecosystem
services framework. Ecosystem services, Vol. 17, pp.99-111.
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