Evaluating Morrisons' Market Position: A Combined SWOT & PESTEL Study

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Morrisons supermarket using both SWOT and PESTEL frameworks. The PESTEL analysis identifies key political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors impacting Morrisons' business environment, highlighting both positive and negative influences. The SWOT analysis evaluates the company's internal strengths and weaknesses, as well as external opportunities and threats, including its strong distribution network, limited innovation, potential for organic product development, and competitive pressures. The report also discusses the interrelationship between SWOT and PESTEL analyses, emphasizing their combined importance for strategic planning and decision-making. Key findings underscore the value of these tools in identifying areas for improvement and developing strategies to achieve a competitive advantage in the evolving market landscape. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments.

Assessment Part-2

Table of Contents
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
PESTEL analysis.........................................................................................................................3
SWOT analysis............................................................................................................................5
Interrelationship of SWOT and PESTEL analysis .....................................................................6
Key findings................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
Books and Journals.....................................................................................................................8

MAIN BODY
PESTEL analysis
External factors are those factors which exist outside the business environment but their
influence on the business is high(Inieke and Raimi-Lawal, 2020). The main issue with these
factors is that they are uncontrollable if the business does not identifies these issue. PESTEL
analysis is helpful in the identification of the external factors of the business which is helpful for
them to evaluate whether they will be riskier for them or not. Morrisons is a supermarket
business which is the largest supermarket chain in UK but with that they have to make the
evaluation on the external factors which can affect their business in a larger way. Morrisons
PESTEL analysis with its negative and positive factors have been discussed below-
 Political factors- Political factors includes the rules and regulations which is framed by
the government for the stability in the business and so that the business can work
according to the rules of government. Morrisons has to also work with that of the rules
and regulations which is framed by the government. Government always tries to
formulate and fix the prices which must be according to the government rights. The main
negative factor of the government is that they can change the policies and the taxation
policies which can create difficulty for the business. But sometimes government
formulate the policies which are for the benefit of the supermarket business. These
political factors impacts the business in a larger way as they are the most unstable type of
business factor which requires good planning.
 Economic factors- Economic factors are related with the inflation, saving rate but the
economic factors are considered to be the most important part as these are the one which
is related with the finance (Gkliatis, 2018). Morrisons is the biggest supermarket chain
which is earning good revenue. The main positive factor of the business is that they are
providing jobs to the unemployed people and this is helping the unemployed ratio of the
country. The employees which are employed in this business are many in numbers and
they are also providing the training to the people whose skills need refinement. But the
negative point is that these business are affected when there is more government
intervention than expected.

 Social factors- These factors are related with the demographics, structure, skills level in
the population. But the social factors also includes the demands and likes of the people
which needs to be met by the business accordingly. Morrison is a retail business which
keeps all the products with them which are needed by the individual on a daily basis or
the others(Stich and et. al., 2019). The business needs to provide the product according to
the culture which pertains in the country and what are the demands which the company
can fulfil. But the attitude of the people towards the products which are being sold by the
company is on a positive way. The main negative is that the demands of people which
keeps on changing and which the business needs to fulfil.
 Technological factors- The development in technology in the past years have been
increased and this has made it compulsory for the business even to adopt the technology
in their daily activities. Morrisons has adopted different and new technology which
makes the purchase fast and consumers can know more about the products which are
being sold by the company. The mobile payments have come into existence which has
made the payment system fast and continuous. The development in technology has
changed the product offering also as the products which are manufactured are also very
advance. But the negative factor is that the technology required high investment in prices
which not every business can afford.
 Environmental factors- The environmental factors are those which are related with the
weather, laws in relation with the environment and others. Companies have to work
according to the sustainability also which includes the planning in relation with providing
benefit to environment and society(Alava and et. al., 2018). Comparing that with the
environment Morrisons works with every aspects so that their activates does not harm the
environment. They are using the packaging which are recyclable in nature and which can
be reused again. But the main difficulty with such factors is this the company has to
frame the policies which will benefit the environment and if they didn't do then they
have to face the decline in the goodwill of the company.
 Legal factors- Legal factors include the rules and regulations in relation with the laws of
the country framed and regulated by the government. When the companies follow the
legal rules then they are following all the laws which are related with the consumer
rights, employment law and others. Morrisons follow all the regulations which are in

relation with the legal rules. But these rules are at a point makes the company feel
binding and they does not even get the option to not follow any of them as all are
important.
SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is a very helpful tool which is used to make the evaluation on the strategic
planning and to build a competitive position by identifying the strengths and weakness of the
company. SWOT analysis of Morrisons have been explained below-
 Strengths- Strengths if the company means the strong points for which the company is
known and the products which the company is offering to its customers(Pettinger, 2020).
The main strong point of the company is the distribution network and the supply chain of
the products. Morrisons is considered to be the biggest supermarket chain because of the
products which they are selling and the loyalty which they have earned during the past
years. The company is listen in the stock exchange of London it is because Morrison
have expanded the business and at present the company is having 500 stores and has
employees over lakhs. But the business in the present time of Morrisons have been
increased because of the need of necessary items which the consumers demand.
 Weakness- The main weakness of the business is that they are not making any new
innovation whether in the products which they are selling or the other they are lacking
more in innovation. In the present time as the competitors are increasing there are new
companies and the supermarket which are forming their business in similar with that of
Morrisons(Sinha, 2018). The other is the geographical reach of the business which is not
as much as that of the other business in the markets. They are trying to develop and
expand the business in the other markets also but as the expansion is not easy and it will
take good time.
 Opportunities- For the company like Morrisons there are ample of opportunities which
are available but it just depends on the business as how they make the evaluation and
identify the best opportunity. They can develop and produce their own organic products
as the demand of organic products are increasing because of the consumer general
awareness regarding the health(Kurt, 2020). They can also expand the business in
different countries and areas where they know that their business will achieve success

and they will be able to provide the products according to the demand of consumers.
Trends in the demand of products which are needed by the people can also open new
markets for Morrison which will be helpful for them in providing the products to people.
 Threats- The threats in the market are high as compared with that of the opportunities
which creates the min issue to the company. Morrisons is trying to develop and inculcate
in themselves the technology which will be new in the market and which on the other
side is providing comfort to people(Asadpourian, Rahimian and Gholamrezai, 2020). The
company have to work according to the environment regulations also as people are now
getting more awareness towards saving the environment. Sometimes doing planning
keeping in consideration the environment factors becomes very difficult but Morrisons
always tries to accomplish this thing.
Interrelationship of SWOT and PESTEL analysis
SWOT and PESTEL analysis are the two factors which are helpful in the identification of the
external and internal factors of the business. The internal factors are those factors which includes
the internal things of the business like the employees, culture, technology an many other.
Morrisons evaluates both the factors as these internal and external factors are important for the
business success(Nicolau and et. al., 2018). If the business planning and strategies are not
developed in accordance with the identification of these two factors then there are chances that
the business will not be able to achieve competitive advantage. SWOT analysis is helpful in the
identification of the internal factors which are the most important one as this helps the business
to make and develop the plans which will be used in achieving the objectives of the business. On
the other side, PESTEL analysis is that tool which is used in the evaluation of external factors
which can hinder or can create the difficulties to the business if these are not identified in the
early stage. This is because internal factors are those one which can be controlled if necessary
steps are not taken. It is because to control the outside or the external factors are not in the hands
of anyone. It only requires proper planning which the management of the company needs to take
in a proper way. Morrisons make the effective utilisation of SWOT and PESTEL both because
for the evaluation of the internal the company have SWOT analysis and for the external there is
PESTEL analysis. But Opportunities and Threats also comes in the external factors which is
helpful for the business. The strengths are useful in the identification of the factors which are the

strong point of the business by which they can use it in a very positive way. On the other hand,
weakness will make them identify of the things which needs further improvement so that the
chances of gaining competitive advantage does not goes in vain.
Key findings
Both the tools whether it is SWOT analysis or PESTEL analysis are helpful in making the
decisions which will be aimed in achieving the objectives of the company. It is because if the
external and internal factors of the business are evaluated then it will help in preparing he plans
as to what changes does the company needs to make. SWOT analysis determines the strength
and weakness of the business which provides the clear information as in which direction
company has to move further(Xu and Dong, 2019). It is because if the business is facing some
challenges and difficulties then at that point they have to make that decisions which will help in
developing the business image and build its goodwill. On the other hand, PESTEL analysis is
used to make and prepare the strategic planning as this tool helps in making the evaluation as to
which factor will influence the business in a larger way and which will in competitively lesser
ratio. Morrisons always develops and makes the decisions in accordance with the factors which
are evaluated and which can affect the business in a larger way. Both he tools PESTEL and
SWOT are helpful and also influences the decisions because the factors keeps on changing and
the business needs to make and develop the plans according to the demands of both the factors.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alava, R.P. and et. al., 2018. PEST Analysis Basedased onon Neutrosophic Cognitiveognitive
Maps: A CaseCase StudyStudy forfor Food Industry. Neutrosophic Sets and Systems:
An International Book Series in Information Science and Engineering, vol. 21. 2018,
p.201884.
Asadpourian, Z., Rahimian, M. and Gholamrezai, S., 2020. SWOT-AHP-TOWS analysis for
sustainable ecotourism development in the best area in Lorestan Province, Iran. Social
Indicators Research. 152(1). pp.289-315.
Gkliatis, I.P., 2018. Strategy Simulation Games in Management Education Is More than Having
Fun. Available at SSRN 3136367.
Inieke, O. and Raimi-Lawal, B.M., 2020. Adopting social media as an information system–a
case study of an internet service company in Abuja, Nigeria. Journal of Information,
Communication and Ethics in Society.
Kurt, R., 2020. Determining the priorities in utilization of forest residues as biomass: an A'wot
analysis. Biofuels, Bioproducts and Biorefining. 14(2). pp.315-325.
Nicolau, C. and et. al., 2018. OLD ROMANIAN TOURISM DESTINATION REVIVAL-A
COMPARATIVE SWOT ANALYSIS ON NEAMȚ AND SUCEAVA COUNTIES AS
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS. In 5th International Multidisciplinary Scientific
Conference on social sciences and arts SGEM 2018 (pp. 595-602).
Pettinger, R., 2020. The Economic Environment. In The Socio-Economic Foundations of
Sustainable Business (pp. 45-55). Palgrave Pivot, Cham.
Sinha, A., 2018. Indian Trade Union: a with Global perspectives SWOT Analysis. NOLEGEIN-
Journal of Information Technology & Management, pp.8-11.
Stich, V. and et. al., 2019, September. Scenarios for the Development and Use of Data Products
Within the Value Chain of the Industrial Food Production. In IFIP International
Conference on Advances in Production Management Systems (pp. 294-302). Springer,
Cham.
Xu, D. and Dong, L., 2019. Strategic diagnosis of China’s modern coal-to-chemical industry
using an integrated SWOT-MCDM framework. Clean Technologies and Environmental
Policy. 21(3). pp.517-532.