Strategic Analysis of Marks & Spencer: SWOT, PESTEL, and Management

This report delivers a comprehensive analysis of Marks & Spencer, utilizing SWOT and PESTEL methodologies to evaluate the company's strategic position and potential for growth. It assesses the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors impacting Marks & Spencer, alongside its internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report also examines various organizational and management styles, proposing an appropriate managerial strategy for sustained success. Furthermore, it delves into the firm's corporate social responsibilities and suggests incoming channels based on the research findings, providing a holistic view of Marks & Spencer's operational landscape and strategic imperatives.

Business

Contents
Contents...........................................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
A detailed assessment of 2 methods, SWOT and PESTEL, is necessary for the stated business
.....................................................................................................................................................3
Establishing the usefulness of the preceding groupings, as well as their potential immediate
and secondary consequences on the operational business...........................................................6
Analysis and evaluation of various types of organisational environment, and also the creation
of management and organisational styles in the company..........................................................6
Proposing to the company an acceptable managerial strategy that would enable it to grow and
thrive in the big scheme of things................................................................................................8
An in-depth analysis of the firm's responsibilities and how it responds to social commitments 8
Construction of incoming channels depending on the already stated research, inquiry, and
evaluation.....................................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer are the managing director officers of Marks and
Spencer, a company founded in 1884 in the Leeds (Ahrens and Ferry, 2020). This company
performs exceptionally well during the industry, and as a result, it has increased its industry
share in each and every industry. This paper contains a SWOT and PESTEL analysis for Marks
& Spencer, assuring that practically all of the drivers which affect the existing product or service
may be thoroughly examined. Apart from just that, the study analyses the evolution of various
types of management and organisational techniques in general, and also their implementation in
the business context. In addition, the company's business responsibility is logically investigated,
and a reflection assessment is created in conformity with the results in this report.
MAIN BODY
A detailed assessment of 2 methods, SWOT and PESTEL, is necessary for the stated business
PESTEL Evaluation- Francisco Cabrera, a Cambridge scholar, is thought to have devised
the Pestle Model. He also includes a surveillance device called ETPS in his 1967 book
"Searching the Corporate Culture." The name was subsequently modified to the current acronym.
It aids individuals in finding corporate and governmental opportunities, and also offering
advanced warning of major risks. It depicts how the environment wherein a firm operates is
evolving. This one will aid managers in moulding the action so which people may struggle with
development rather than against it. It assists us in rejecting projects that are doomed to collapse
owing to causes beyond our control (Diebold and Rudebusch, 2021). When we start a new
country, region, or business, it can help you get away from your impulsive ideas by enabling one
to gain a neutral standpoint of the unfamiliar setting. The PESTEL framework provides a scheme
or technique used by marketers to research and monitor fundamentals (external marketing
ecosystems) variables that impact a company, firm, or industry. It looks into the social, financial,
artistic, intellectual, physiological, and administrative aspects about the outside world. A
PESTEL research is used to identify threats and hazards, which would then be used in a Swot
grid. It's a type of research that identifies and investigates external factors that affect and affect a
company's business, whether overtly or indirectly. The PESTEL evaluation of Marks and
Spencer is described here-

 Political- They comprise components such as societal cohesiveness, interference, and so
forth, and since data security is rigorous in the country whereby Marks and Spencer
operates, it does have a profound influence on the company's operations.
 Economic- It is related to young unemployment, rising expenses, foreign exchange
pricing, and other factors, therefore it is crucial in the end for any company which works
in the industry, irrespective of the field in which it works. Since the country's overall
average production is so great, Marks and Spencer could compete in a much more
efficient and cost-effective manner (Dube and Asthana, 2017).
 Social- These would be tied to society shifts in fashion, preference, and inclinations.
Because there is a growing trend toward organic and healthy meals, as well as a desire for
online purchasing, Marks & Spencer could be able to utilize this to expand its business
into a variety of those other sectors, which would help the business in the longer run.
 Technological- Technical improvements are linked to practical developments in today's
competitive economy. Even though Marks & Spencer has transformed into sophisticated
devices and now works mostly on the internet, this should continuously improve its
technology in effort to keep the corporation's financial performance in the industry.
 Environmental- These were characteristics of the atmosphere and also factors that affect
it. Marks and Spencer has done a lot to reduce its ecological imprint, therefore it now
system compared an electrical supply that allows the company to enhance productivity
and stay competitive.
 Legal- It deals with the laws, systems and procedures, objectives and plans, and practice
guidelines which a corporation should adhere while making transactions. Because the
State has strict regulations, Marks and Spencer operates efficiently and adheres to all
regulatory obligations so that the corporation's operations are not jeopardised and it can
succeed in the industry.
SWOT Evaluation- It is a breakdown of the company's benefits, drawbacks,
opportunities, and threats. A Swot analysis's main purpose is to help businesses gain a
comprehensive grasp of all the factors that influence their economic decisions. Perform a SWOT
analysis anytime you engage to any context of company action, whether it's looking into new
initiatives, revising secure systems, evaluating pivoted options, or altering a plan midway
through its execution. Utilizing SWOT analysis to evaluate ideas and strategies, with a focus on

leveraging benefits and opportunities to battle dangers and greatest strengths. It's a research
project which concentrates on the cognitive surroundings in order to evaluate a firm's
productivity, flaws, possibilities, and dangers (Asp and Andersson, 2021). The following is a
review of Marks and Spencer:
Strengths Weaknesses
 Marks and Spencer is a company that
concentrates on offering exceptional
goods and services to its customers,
that is one of the company's strongest
attributes in effort to grow and thrive in
a worldwide market.
 It also provides faster and effective
range of application, as well as a low-
cost network, enabling it to exactly
respond to the goals, aims, and wants of
each business (Balteș and Minculete,
2016).
 Marks and Spencer faces several
challenges from Foreign businesses
operating in a certain industry, and it
would be reluctant to cope with
customers fairly this creates a
weakness.
 Apart from just that, the operating cash
flow is too poor, rendering it much
more difficult to stay in business,
particularly because Marks and Spencer
has a long history of products that
already have failed in the economy and
hence are called malfunction goods.
Opportunities Threats
 There seem to be a few distinct paths in
the sector, the much more important
among which employed its own
transaction strategy to produce mass
amounts in the trade and exploit all of
its competitors.
 It might use a different medium to its
advantage since there are opportunities
in other areas that the company can
take advantage of if the funds were
employed wisely and accurately.
 Because Marks & Spencer operates
internationally, it faces a variety of
obstacles against local products that
acts as a barrier to the organization's
ultimate efficiency and growth.
 Because the majority of operations
have become worldwide, the threat of a
computer assault looms for the
business, because if classified info is
taken, it really can lead to internal and
external arguments, and that can be
extremely destructive to the company.

Establishing the usefulness of the preceding groupings, as well as their potential immediate and
secondary consequences on the operational business
Marks and Spencer is operating well in the industry, as evidenced by the previous
description, but it does have serious limitations. If the PESTEL aspects change, it should have a
significant impact on the company's financial transactions, since if the management is shaky and
instability hits the industry, this should certainly result to a slew of hazards for the company over
time, causing suffering (Ehrlich and Guilbault, 2017). If, on the other hand, the consistency and
employment proportion improve, more income will be generated, which will lead to increased
expenditure, resulting in a plethora of opportunities for the organisation to profit from. One
amongst Marks and Spencer's single most powerful positions is that it has amassed a larger
corporate percentage by providing high-performance additives and amenities to its customers,
which enable the firm to create although it has by now made quite an implication on
targeted customers' collective creativeness and thus can create income within this community
because it has a loyal crowd. It uses it as a very important and potent indicator in reducing and
neutralising the threats that other rivals represent to Marks and Spencer in an ever-changing
industry. Apart from that, Marks and Spencer does have a lot of weaknesses, the most important
would be that the company has a very small proportion of its stock surviving, making it
impossible of trying to capitalize on technological innovations even if a huge money is invested,
and as a result, it attaches the institution in a sealed space that also acts as a barrier and prevents
the company from gaining knowledge and expanding.
Analysis and evaluation of various types of organisational environment, and also the creation of
management and organisational styles in the company
Numerous individuals and businesses use a variety of organizational styles in order to
achieve the goals and objectives set forth at the commencement of the business. There are three
main types of managerial techniques that are all described in length in the tables below-
Democratic Style Autocratic Style Laissez-Faire Style
 It's a management
approach in which
everyone (or almost
everyone) is involved
in the operational
 It is a transformative
management style in
which a lone person
takes all actions on
behalf of anyone
 In this revolutionary
approach, many teams
are established to make
decisions, and every
unit has its own

business, and
everyone's opinions are
taken into account.
 It is extremely
beneficial to the
company because it
helps to develop a
sense of belonging to
the company, and as a
consequence,
employees perform
with far more
enthusiasm and
dedication to achieve
the company's goals
and objectives in a
brief period of span.
without contacting
several other workers
in the firm (Esmaeili
and Golpayegani,
2021).
 The procedure of
making a decision is
shockingly quick
because only one
person is obligated to
produce decisions,
needing relatively
minimal work and
investigation. This
could be beneficial to
both the individual and
the firm, as scheduling
is a constraint in its
operations.
rhythm to comprehend
the organisation. It
enables an individual
to borrow ideas from
the other members of
the organization.
 Such a framework is
important since it helps
in the formation of a
good series of sessions
within the company,
continuing to grow and
flourish by generating
a sufficient amount of
income in the nations
in which it works.
Marks and Spencer has an empiricist company structure in which the necessities which
could indeed just be managed to meet are established slightly higher than those of its
competitors, with the expectation that individuals will be encountered by all other individuals
who cooperate in a particular sector, and sometimes even that individuals will be ended up
meeting in a brief period of time by quickly and successfully leveraging all of the association's
prosperity. In exceptionally difficult economic conditions, such a leadership style has proven to
be highly vital and crucial for Marks & Spencer, as it has drastically enhanced sales and, as a
consequence, earnings. Marks and Spencer has an interactive management strategy, which
implies that practically all of the company's workers work together. All of the employees of the
company are operating collectively as a team to achieve and finish all of the company's goals,
but in a reasonable timeframe that contributes to the company's long-term value (Kaindl, Hoch
and Popp, 2017).

Proposing to the company an acceptable managerial strategy that would enable it to grow and
thrive in the big scheme of things
Competent administration is critical in today's economy because it may help a company
gain a competitive advantage and increase growth and prosperity, but it also has the potential to
damage and destroy the company's identity, image, and value if it is not used appropriately and
exactly. The laissez-faire style, wherein teams are established especially for the task at view, is
the optimum type of administrative style for Marks and Spencer, according to its management
framework. Even though Marks and Spencer keeps working on a worldwide scale, it is the
perfectly relevant quality of democratic accountability that the company might implement since
it will enable it to allocate acceleration linearly with respect to each reserve team person's role
and responsibilities that might very well ultimately lead to writing assignments within the
specified timeframe that will be beneficial in improving the company's accomplishment and also
the environment. Marks and Spencer is now performing exceptionally well in the industry, and
by implementing this type of managerial strategy, it would be capable of raising its entire
industry value (Lagos, Mos and Vion-Dury, 2017).
An in-depth analysis of the firm's responsibilities and how it responds to social commitments
Corporate social responsibility is a concept in management where companies integrate a
social and environmental issue that revolves around their business. CSR is an important concept
in business as it is mandated by the legal authorities of different jurisdiction to work according to
the CSR needs. With adopting this concept, the company focuses on enhancing the overall
society and environment and not degrading the same. This concept helps the business to boost
their brand name and value while caring for the business. The first step for a business to be
socially responsible is to be accountable to itself and its shareholders. This concept does not
mean to reduce the profits of the business but to go hand in hand with boosting the profits of the
business. CSR is important to the business for many reasons and some of them are, it shows a
sign to the investors that the business is accountable and this attracts the investors to engage
more with the business. CSR also helps a business to attract and retain the employees as this
shows the customers how compassionate the business is in its working while improving the
world (Von Peinen, Böhmer and Lindemann, 2018).
CSR & Marks and Spencer- Marks and Spencer is working in food and fashion industry.
Many small and big firms are working in this industry and hence this creates a tough competition

for marks and Spencer. One of the ways for marks and Spencer to actually stand out in the
industry is via efficient usage of CSR. CSR activities are all about a mix with the business and
not something which may be achieved independently. CSR reports provides a very clean
message to its stakeholders which they intend to study in the long-time sustainability of the
business. As an example, M&S inform clients about how they went profitable in only two years
and their plan to invest in CSR about £2 hundred m over 5 years starting from 2007. All the CSR
activities carried out via M&S are categorized via M&S below Plan A. The reports encompass
the effect, goals, and achievements on weather trade; waste produced and managed sustainability
of uncooked substances, Fair partnerships which includes truthful-trade, and health. M&S has
correctly struck a right stability between these through sourcing merchandise like cotton, sugar
and espresso from developing countries underneath fair-change and sourcing maximum diary
and meat merchandise from the local producers. The document also identifies the key control
that's concerned inside the control of CSR sports consist of how the commitments are ranked in
Plan A and the report, feedback from the key stakeholders and destiny vision.
Construction of incoming channels depending on the already stated research, inquiry, and
evaluation
As indicated in this research, a concise overview of a company, Marks & Spencer, including
its related elements that affect its long-term activities is available. While researching and
evaluating such a topic, I found a number of actions regarding myself that would be valuable in
improving my abilities (Luu, 2018). Because there are innumerable oversight and top managers
styles noted throughout this report, I realised the importance of trying to enforce those very
techniques in the corporation in sequence to improve the firm's performance and facilitate it to
start executing well in a highly competitive and dynamic sector after a comprehensive review of
these components. Aside from just that, I obtained a wealth of material that will serve me in
future analysis and studies, as this research helped me in compiling an assessment of several
topics that I had previously ignored. Marks and Spencer is one of the biggest companies in the
industry, and after having a comprehensive knowledge of the organization, I gained an affluence
of knowledge and skills that will undeniably profit me in my future projects and as a person,
because both leadership and clear objectives are deemed essential in ordinary living, and the only
distinction becoming the magnitude of execution. Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer's
business strategy has provided me with a wealth of data and understanding that acts as

inspiration for me to perform and achieve big things in the industry and in my personal life
(Shishkov and Janssen, 2017).
CONCLUSION
Based on the above, it is reasonable to conclude that Marks and Spencer is one of the largest
worldwide firms headquartered in the Leeds, with a trillion-dollar market capitalization. Michael
Marks and Thomas Spencer, the company's CEOs, started the company in 1884 with that kind of
a small investment, but it has since grown to become one of the sector's most important players,
with operations in nearly each section of the globe. Apart from that, it can be concluded that
different organisations employ numerous oversight and long term organising skills in order to
accomplish efficiency in the competitive surroundings and leave a lasting impression on the
finance industry, and Marks and Spencer employs a Secularist visual style, which has greatly
aided it in attaining success in the finance industry by lowering competition and improved
productivity. Moreover, regardless of the reality that there are some legitimate aspects of
assertion from the outsider's point of view, it can be presumed that Marks and Spencer would be
capable of overcoming all hurdles in an efficient and suitable manner in a sequence to grow and
prosper in the big scheme of things, as the establishment is definitely heading.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
Ahrens, T. and Ferry, L., 2020. Financial resilience of English local government in the aftermath
of COVID-19. Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management.
Asp, L. and Andersson, J., 2021. Marketing Communication in the Context of Selling a
Business: Business Brokers and how They Communicate Value of a Business.
Balteș, N. and Minculete, G.D., 2016. Study on the financial performance of companies
operating in the pharmaceutical industry in Romania. Studia Universitatis Vasile Goldiș
Arad, Seria Științe Economice, 26(1), pp.58-68.
Diebold, F.X. and Rudebusch, G.D., 2021. Business cycles. Princeton University Press.
Dube, V.S. and Asthana, P.K., 2017. A comparative study on Financial Literacy of Uttar Pradesh
with Central Zone states in India. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-
JBM), 19(10), pp.22-27.
Ehrlich, M. and Guilbault, M., 2017. What colleges can do to enhance financial literacy of
students. Journal of Financial Education, 43(2), pp.262-272.
Esmaeili, L. and Golpayegani, A.H., 2021. A novel method for discovering process based on the
network analysis approach in the context of social commerce systems. Journal of
theoretical and applied electronic commerce research, 16(2), pp.34-62.
Kaindl, H., Hoch, R. and Popp, R., 2017, May. Semantic task specification in business process
context. In 2017 11th International Conference on Research Challenges in Information
Science (RCIS) (pp. 286-291). IEEE.
Lagos, N., Mos, A. and Vion-Dury, J.Y., 2017. Multi-context systems for consistency validation
and querying of business process models. Procedia computer science, 112, pp.225-234.
Luu, T.T., 2018. Engaging employees with disabilities in Vietnamese business context: The roles
of disability inclusive HR practices and mediation and moderation mechanisms.
Employee Relations.
Shishkov, B. and Janssen, M., 2017, May. Enforcing context-awareness and privacy-by-design in
the specification of information systems. In International Symposium on Business
Modeling and Software Design (pp. 87-111). Springer, Cham.
Von Peinen, A., Böhmer, A.I. and Lindemann, U., 2018, June. System Dynamics as a Tool for
Data Driven Business Model Design in the Context of Autonomous Ride Hailing. In
2018 IEEE International Conference on Engineering, Technology and Innovation
(ICE/ITMC) (pp. 1-6). IEEE.