Global Business Environment: Marks and Spencer SWOT Analysis Report

This report provides a comprehensive SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of Marks and Spencer, evaluating its position within the global business environment. The analysis delves into the company's strengths, such as its strong brand reputation, extensive e-commerce infrastructure, and job creation. It also examines the weaknesses, including poor financial performance, product recalls, and market vulnerabilities. The report identifies opportunities for Marks and Spencer, such as investment in the Indian market, reshaping the clothing segment, and simplifying its operating model. Furthermore, it addresses threats from competitors, changing consumer demands, and technological advancements. The report also explores the operational impact of key factors, including marketing strategies, research and development, and strategic collaborations, offering insights into how these elements influence the company's performance and market position. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, emphasizing the importance of the SWOT analysis in understanding the company's internal and external market dynamics.

Global Business Environment

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................2
SWOT analysis................................................................................................................................3
Operational Impact of key factors....................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
The study talks about SWOT analysis of Marks and Spencer and its key factors affecting the
company's operational system.
SWOT analysis
It is a business analysis process that defines that the objectives of a business are working
according to the goals set by the company to run effectively and efficiently (Phadermrod,
Crowder and Wills, 2019). SWOT analysis process involves four areas which are -
Strength – There are attributes which contribute to the growth of the company resulting in the
strength that the company acquires. Since the brand name is so famous, the company's products
have large selling and buying ways which results in the good reputation of the company among
online and offline platforms. Since Marks and Spencer is a big chain company it also provides
the job opportunities which counts in its strength of maintaining the business and the forming the
company for different work operations which takes place within the organization. Along with
this the company offers massive e-commerce infrastructure which function by selling its
products through online website.
Weaknesses – Marks and Spencer face poor financial performance when any of the product type
of the brand is not accepted by the consumer or is defeated in the market (Sarsby, 2016). This
also creates the purpose that the company relies more on the other market conditions which
makes the product identification more vulnerable at different locations in the country as one store
if affected by the market downfall. There has been frequent product recall process which has
been undergone for the brand Marks and Spencer as the product which losses its utility once is
again reframed with other profitable qualities to make sure that it is been able to capture the
market. This results in loss of customer satisfaction as they lose interest in the product of the
brand endorsed.
Opportunities – Opportunities to Marks and Spencer is that it can plan to invest in the Indian
market as the population is more. The online presence of the company and the brand will help in
boosting up the sales for the product as there are many online websites generating revenue in the
and creating brand image to analysing online customer engagement. The company has the
opportunity to reshape the clothing segment as new trends always change the clothing pattern.

Customers are now more flexible towards the clothes that they prefer to wear and expect a
certain brand to come up with the ideas which fulfils their expectation. The company has the
opportunity to simplify their operating model.
Threats – Threat to the company is due to the other competitors which are in the same industry
type. Main line in the product of the company which is affected is the clothing sector which
creates threat for itself as there are many other brands which compete alongside. Changes in the
clothing line can create threat for the company as the customers demand and needs are also
changed according to different styles and trends which takes place every changing year or maybe
in months. Technological aspect is also a threat for the company which may degrade the quality
of the product and may point to working patterns of the machinery involved.
Operational Impact of key factors
The Key factors which are affecting the company's operations if we talk of marketing, Marks and
Spencer have remained in touch with current industry standards of what products are being
manufactured. The company has taken feedback of customers and taken their reviews in
consideration to improve the product. The company has also developed a strategical approach in
e-commerce by using digital marketing methods to make the online traffic decline by introducing
search options to take customer directly to the product they wish for.
The company has taken corporate social responsibility and took sponsorship for
environmental concerns in UK. This can be taken in account as ethical marketing and build of
brand as environmentally sustainable. The take of entering in new markets has been a successful
one in UK as the company has done its demographic and geographic analysis well of customer’s
tastes and habits (Namugenyi, Nimmagadda and Reiners, 2019).
The side effects which have cropped in is that too much marketing in the country has
made it vulnerable to face the changing market trends in the country with competition arising
and it has now to have continuously stay in touch with changing market conditions. The
positioning by unique selling features need to be clearly defined and the packaging needs to be
more attractive to make its products stand out amongst competition.

The second department which can be talked about is Research and Development. It was seen that
there were product recalls occurring which has made the customer confidence low. The product
testing needs to be well and proper before it is launched in the market. The product innovation
team has to be careful in making product design according to the tastes prevalent in consumers.
Customer expectations from Marks and Spencer has been of a high quality brand and regular
defaults may not go down well with this image. Market study and feedback of the customer base
have to be taken. Poll can be done online of the products where people visit frequently for online
purchase.
Company has to create unique selling feature in their products as this can lead to a loss of
market share from their customer segment. The R&D team has to use creativity here and can
make the packaging a bit different from traditional one. This will also appeal more to the youth.
The company has to put new technology to make the brand look impressive. The company's
strategic collaborations with local companies have gone down well as customers who use local
brands get a combo of Marks and Spencer brand as well at affordable price. This tactic will help
in creating a new customer base who were earlier using only the local brands (Paramalingam
and et.al., 2020).
Research and Development have another task at hand as the company enters new markets
which requires study of customer demography and geographical locations which will affect the
popularity and sales of the product. A modified version of products according to a new market or
country will certainly help in the long run.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that the SWOT and PESTEL analysis of the company
helps in understanding the factors and variances which are been explained as the most significant
purpose which serves the company and measures the external and internal market analysis
criteria on which the company stands.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Phadermrod, B., Crowder, R.M. and Wills, G.B., 2019. Importance-performance analysis based
SWOT analysis. International Journal of Information Management.44.pp.194-203.
Sarsby, A., 2016. SWOT analysis. Lulu. Com.
Namugenyi, C., Nimmagadda, S.L. and Reiners, T., 2019. Design of a SWOT Analysis Model
and its Evaluation in Diverse Digital Business Ecosystem Contexts. Procedia Computer
Science, 159, pp.1145-1154.
Paramalingam and et.al., 2020. Expanding the reach of global health radiology via the world’s
first medical hybrid airship: A SWOT analysis. Journal of Global Health, 10(1).