Strategies for M&S: Social Impact of Store Closure and Relocation

This report presents a case study on Marks and Spencer (M&S), a prominent British multinational retailer, focusing on its corporate strategy and governance within the context of store closures and relocations. The study investigates the social impacts of these actions, particularly within the UK clothing industry, examining the effects on employment and the broader community. The research aims to identify effective corporate strategies for improving corporate social responsibility (CSR) and mitigating the negative consequences of store closures and relocations. The report includes a review of the literature, a detailed methodology encompassing primary and secondary data collection, and a data analysis plan using thematic analysis. The findings are presented, supported by a Gantt chart, and conclude with recommendations for M&S to enhance its CSR and address the social impacts associated with its business decisions. The report also references key academic sources and industry reports to support its analysis.

Corporate Strategy and
Governance

Table of Contents
Title..................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction .....................................................................................................................................1
Background of the research ............................................................................................................1
Significance of the research ............................................................................................................1
Research objectives .........................................................................................................................1
Research question ...........................................................................................................................2
Purpose of the study ........................................................................................................................2
Review of the literature ...................................................................................................................2
Methodology ...................................................................................................................................3
Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................................3
Gantt chart .......................................................................................................................................3
Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................4
References and Bibliography ..........................................................................................................5

Title
"Strategies to reduce the social impacts of store closure and re-locations to improve
Corporate Social Responsibilities of the UK Clothing Industry. A Case Study of Marks and
Spencer."
Introduction
Corporate governance is introduce as an effective way in which an organisation is
governed. It is a best technique by which businesses are managed and directed (Amran et. al.,
2014). It means bring out the business as per the desires and wants of stakeholders. In
organisation, corporate strategy stands at top most level of hierarchy. It explains the corporate
goals and different ways of their accomplishing within strategic management.
Background of the research
Marks and Spencer is a British multinational retailer organisation in the city of
Westminster, London. Company has launched a new online outlet to target Australian online
shoppers (Goel et. al., 2012). Corporate strategies is more essential and important for the Marks
and Spencer in order to reduce impact of re-locations and store closure to enhance corporate
social responsibility. Re-locations is one of the main issue that effect on entire society because in
which some people are loss their job which is also impact on government in a direct manner.
M&S is a retailer of beauty products, clothes, beverages, accessories, flowers and
furniture. Annual revenue of the company is about $15B. There are different competitors of the
company which highly effects on business profit and sales in a direct manner. Some competitors
such as Primark, M&Co, ASDA, Monsoon etc. Profit margin trends of Marks and Spencer is 52
weeks £m, 52 weeks £m, 53 weeks £m, 52 weeks £m, 52 weeks £m in 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015,
2014. Major shareholders of the M&S such as Threadneedle UK Equity Income Fund, Schroder
Income Fund, Jupiter Income Fund etc. and holding share is 40,034,492, 24,184,572, 24,022,306
etc. Company is repetitively growing in different sector which is identify as an enterprise is
more successful in retail sector. Company use different strategies such as promotional,
advertisement, marketing mix and many other that will help an enterprise to introduce their
products and services in marketplace. Main reasons behind relocating and closing their shop is
decline in sales of clothing and food in the fourth quarter.
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Illustration 1: M&S Faces Up to Past Errors as Food and Clothing Sales Fall
(Source: M&S Faces Up to Past Errors as Food and Clothing Sales Fall, 2018)
From the above mentioned graph, it can be Despite that the weakness, Marks and Spencer
forecast for the actual year is not as bleak as few investors expected, and that supported lift the
shares, which were up as 1.8 percent in London.
Significance of the research
Research is most important and essential part for the all organisation to collect accurate
amount of information to the respondents about a topic. Store closure and re-location is highly
impact on the business performance and society. In order to overcome this issue corporate
strategy is one of the best approach that also help in improving corporate social responsibility.
Research objectives
 To identify the social impact of re-locations and store closure on Marks and Spencer.
 To analysis the corporate strategy that are effective in improving corporate social
responsibility within UK clothing industry.
 To identify various ways through which social impacts of store closure and re-locations
can be reduced.
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Research question
 What are the social impact of re-locations and store closure on Marks and Spencer?
 Is corporate strategy effective in improving corporate social responsibility within UK
clothing industry?
 What are the various ways through which social impacts of store closure and re-locations
can be reduced?
Purpose of the study
Main purpose of conducting this proposal is to identifying the impact of re-location and
store closure. Another aim of this research is to identify importance of corporate social
responsibility in business operations and activities of M&S.
Review of the literature
A literature review is a part of scholarly paper, which covers the actual knowledge and
information about substantive findings as well as methodological and theoretical contributions to
a specific topic. This aspect of the research proposal is mainly related with the research
questions. In this different number of authors and scholars are give their opinion about the topic.
Marks & Spencer Group Plc established to its mistakes, saying it requires to relocate and
close different stores and catch up to competitor in e-commerce as Chairman Archie Norman
attempt to pull the United Kingdom retailer out of a situation that has hindrance on for more than
a decade. A decrease in sales of clothing as well as food in the fourth quarter underlined the
requirement for a composition of the 134-year-old setting of the United Kingdom shopping
districts, covering plans to closed nearly one-third of its big shops. The merchant said it’s fast a
drive to get a “more commercial, more digital business.”
According to the Klettner, Clarke and Boersma, (2014) Re-location and store closure is
highly impact on the society because it increase unemployment among the people who residing
in United Kingdom. This impact also improve the corporate social responsibility which is
essential and important for the Marks and Spencer in order to maintain long run sustainability at
large scale. It will also help an enterprise to improve their profitability and productivity level by
providing job opportunities to those people who loss their job at previous place. There are some
ways which help an organisation to overcome impact of re-location and store closure in the
society. Beside this, company previously inform their employees when they decide to re-locate
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in new place. Thus, it will overcome chances of unemployment which is important and useful for
the society as well organisation to enhance their performance.
Methodology
Research methodology is refer as a specific techniques or procedures used to select,
determine, process and evaluate data about the topic (Klettner, Clarke and Boersma, 2014). This
part of research includes different methods related to collecting accurate and appropriate amount
of information from the respondents. For collecting the information, there are essentially two
methods which will be followed in the research. Both methods are determined as under:
Primary source of data collection: This type of data is obtained instantly from first hand
sources of information such as survey, experimentation, observation and many other. With the
help of this source, researcher will be made a questionnaire which help in collecting of
appropriate and relevant amount of information from the respondents (Marquis and Lee, 2013).
For this, researcher select a sample size of 30 respondents through simple random sampling
method. It is most essential and valuable method for the investigator to select sample size out of
total population systematically.
Secondary source of data collection: It is another method of data collection which is also
used by the researcher to gather accurate amount of data from the selected respondents about
research topic. In this investigator will need to use different books, journals, textbooks, and many
other articles. All these are assist in accumulation of in depth information about the research
topic.
Data Analysis
The data analysis will be completed with the utilisation and support of thematic analysis.
In this case, different number of themes will be designed which will assist in executing the
research activities effectively and properly (Litov et. al., 2012). The patten will be created on
every question as this will help the learner in circumstantially studying the response.
Gantt chart
It is another important and significant part of the research proposal. Gantt chart define the
opining and ending time duration about completion of each and every activities of research
project in a systematic and effective manner.
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Conclusion
From the above mentioned information, it can be concluded that impact of shop closure
and re-location is highly impacted on society as well as organisation in a direct manner. It will
also improve corporate social responsibility which is more significant for the success and growth
of company at large scale.
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References and Bibliography
Books and Journals
Amran, A., et. al., 2014. The influence of governance structure and strategic corporate social
responsibility toward sustainability reporting quality. Business Strategy and the
Environment. 23(4). pp.217-235.
Goel, S., et. al., 2012. Strategy, ownership, governance, and socio-psychological perspectives
on family businesses from around the world. Journal of Family Business Strategy. 3(2).
pp.54-65.
Klettner, A., Clarke, T. and Boersma, M., 2014. The governance of corporate sustainability:
Empirical insights into the development, leadership and implementation of responsible
business strategy. Journal of Business Ethics. 122(1). pp.145-165.
Litov, L. P., et. al., 2012. Corporate strategy, analyst coverage, and the uniqueness paradox.
Management Science.58(10). pp.1797-1815.
Marquis, C. and Lee, M., 2013. Who is governing whom? Executives, governance, and the
structure of generosity in large US firms. Strategic Management Journal. 34(4). pp.483-
497.
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