Spencer in the Post-Covid-19 and Post-Brexit Landscape

Introduction

It is now known to world-wide that due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Brexit situation, the UK local and national market is suffering a lot of highs and lows where there is uncertainty that whether a business plan by any organisation will come out as a master plan or a total waste of time. The leaders are accounting everything and anything to make and stategise their formulas of bringing the business back into action despite all odds in the past few months. For those navigating all these challenges, seeking business dissertation help could provide the most reliable strategies in place to adapt and thrive in this evolving landscape.

This report will mainly focus on all the efforts that an organisation can take to deal with the new normal situations and re-invent themselves as successful and profitable ventures of UK. The organisation chosen to perform this task is Marks & Spencer which is a well-known and popular UK retail brand. The below report consists of a SWOT and PESTLE analysis of Marks and Spencer followed by a brief discussion based on these analysis. Various types of leaderships will also be counted in this report and an appropriate leadership style for Marks & Spencer in this current situation will be suggested too. The corporate social responsibilities of Marks & Spencer in this current market environment will be evidenced and last but not the least an overall reflection depending upon the report will be furnished to understand the knowledge gained through this whole report process.

1. SWOT and PESTEL analysis of Marks & Spencer

SWOT Analysis of Marks & Spencer

2. Evaluating how the change in PESTEL factors has influenced the Opportunities and Threats of the business of Marks & Spencer. Critically commenting on how the company is using their Strengths to negate Threats and Weaknesses affecting their Opportunities.

In the above analysis, the PESTLE factors includes the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental points of the UK government, society and Marks & Spencer that impacts the business opportunities and threats of Marks & Spencer both positively and negatively.

As highlighted in the SWOT analysis, the strengths are already there to help and improve the business growth of M&S and in addition to that the political factor of free trading policies has been a blessing for M&S (M&S EST.1884, 2020). The UK free trading policies first of all reduced the import of foreign goods and items for M&S which helped them to gain a good profit margin without any cost. However the occasional product pricing conflicts of the products with the retailers can cause obstruction in this profit growth and also introducing new foreign products can be risky if not liked by the customers (Fern Fort University, 2020). Despite all these, the free trading of foreign goods has created good trading relationships of M&S with multitude of other countries.

According to Buchanan and Huczynski (2019), the customer and buyer range of people of UK are very much welcoming and broad natured which gave M&S an easy and quick entry to the market despite having tough competition with other big brands like Tesco, Sainsbury, Walmart and etc. other than this opportunity, M&S also got a massive chance to stand strong in the UK market because of the ready-to-eat meals that people in recent days are more likely to prefer and which M&S offers its customers at all of their stores as well as on their online websites also with good quality items. Marks & Spencer has been reported as one of the UK’s top ten ready meal distributors with huge reputation and goodwill.

The use of latest technology such as the AI technology also facilitated M&S with great chances and opportunities to establish its roots in the UK market. M&S recently changed their payment counter and set up self-checkout points and payment system which is liked by almost every customer as it saved customers’ time and they no longer have to stand up in queues to check out from the retail shops with giving them great shopping experiences (Chiarini et al. 2017).

UK’s legal matters like environment safety laws, health and protection laws and many more has given restrictions sometimes but the Green Policy established by M&S on their own also gave them a separate respect and boosted their corporate social responsibilities towards the protection and well-being of the society and environment (MBA Skool, 2019).

All the above discussed strengths of M&S can be used to remove and negate their threats which developed from their weaknesses and will provide them massive opportunities to have a continuous growth.

• The recently found sales decline of M&S as presented by the 2019 yearly reports can be removed if M&S focus on reshaping and re-planning of their demand and supply chain of products as they did in their clothing sections only (S&P SWOT & PESTLE.com, 2020). This change will give them a rearranged and better developed supply chain to fulfil all the customer demands.
• Along with this, M&S, being the second most popular retail brand and with such a huge name & goodwill can remove and clear all those negative imaging and controversies of M&S regarding their introduction of the uniform Hijab in UK and other matters that rose with the passing time and growing competition (Marketing Tutor, 2020).

3. Comparing and contrasting the different styles of leadership. Commenting if the leadership style is appropriate for Marks & Spencer

Leadership is that technique through which the leaders navigate and manage the team or teams and makes the team members capable and efficient to fulfil the requirements and demands of the business organisation. The leadership style is used by all the leaders to formulate and implement the leadership plan for the goal achievement.

There are various types of leadership style where each one has its specific elements, techniques, advantages and disadvantages in it. Pietsch and Tulowitzki (2017) stated that every leadership style is not fit for every business organisation, the leadership style refers to a leader’s methods and behaviours when directing, motivating, and managing other team members. The leaders choose a definite leadership style according to the organisation type and workforce pattern.

Some of the most prominent leadership styles are like:

4. Recommending a suitable leadership style that will help them grow and overcome the challenges posed by the business environment

The workforce culture and business environment of Marks & Spencer is such a type where each and every employee and worker is given their own place, freedom and authority to share what they thin and also is allowed to contribute in the company decisions, although the final decisions were taken by the management itself but the workforce ideas an plans were considered and sometimes implemented also if found to be fruitful (Veliu et al. 2017). And like in every other business organisation, Marks & Spencer also faces issues, challenges with a continuous growth among their workforce and their operations and responsibilities.

The Transformational leadership style, from all the above discussed style, will be appropriate and work well in the business environment of Marks and Spencer. This leadership style is stated by many researchers as the most effective and highly encouraging when it comes to handling and managing teams and individuals in a business organisation to make them according to the company requirements (Dhamija etv al. 2021). Companies like Marks and Spencer where there is a huge workforce, this leadership style make them growing minded by motivating them constantly by identifying and making them aware of their capabilities to be much more efficient from their current capabilities. Although, there are existed risks of losing the sight of each and every employee of the organisation in the course of continuous learning with growing in the transformational style. As noted by Wikaningrum and Yuniawan (2018), this challenge comes when there is lack of receiving of the right kind of coaching and guiding while employee transformation from their existing capabilities towards growing some new strengths for handling the responsibilities adhered to them. Despite having such risks and challenges, in case of Marks & Spencer, the Transformational leadership style is appropriate and will work best as per their organisational culture and workforce type.

5. Critically commenting on M&S’s Corporate Social Responsibilities in the process using evidences from the research

Corporate Social Responsibilities are those responsibilities which are expected to be taken care of and fulfilled by each and every business organization whether big or small. Horowitz (2020) suggested that these responsibilities are focused towards the environment, society and its well-being and protection. In this regard, Marks & Spencer have always taken their responsibilities towards their customers, employees, partners, suppliers and local communities with full focus and seriously. The corporate social responsibility incorporates values in the quality, service, innovation and trust of that brand along with managing the social, ethical and environmental corporate issues of the business.

From the above furnished research on the brand Marks & Spencer, some very noticeable corporate social responsibilities of M&S found are-

Waste Management

M&S introduced their own plans named Plan A which is a five year “eco” plan under which M&S committed to reduce and slowly stop creating excessive and unnecessary waste and send them to the landfill from their stores, warehouses and other functions and operations for contributing towards protecting the nature from polluting. Buchanan and Huczynski (2019) stated that they have decided not to send their waste materials to landfill and instead reuse and recycle them to produce the green energy through the 'anaerobic digestion' technique or in simple words composting them (US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 2020). Some aims of this Plan A are:

• To reduce the non-glass packaging by 25% and also using those packaging materials that which are easy to recycle or composting.
• To cut the carrier bag usage by 33% and try to make them from the recycled plastic (SpringerOpen, 2019).
• To give trial to the 'closed loop' recycling method (making new packaging from old packaging) in their Cafe Revives; and
• To make sure that the customers can eventually dispose all of their clothing without sending it to the landfill.

Sustainable Raw Material

Along with the waste management initiative, the sustainable raw material usage is also the part of Plan A which commits to ensure that all the primary raw materials used by Marks and Spencer must come from the most useful and sustainable sources that are open and available to them (Adnan et a. 2018). This initiatives aims:

To increase the sales of organic food to its retail stores more than other food types.

To use all the recycled plastic in making all the ranges of polyester clothing and home products.

To reduce their water usage and wastage in the UK by 20% and also help their suppliers to reduce theirs; and

To use only those wood that can be recycled or independently certified that it is coming from a sustainable source (M&S EST.1884, 2020).

Environment Protection

Marks & Spencer originated their own Green Policy under which they oath to make as much possible less wastage from their warehouses, stores and other places in UK. This initiative is also a part of the Plan A, the five year “eco” plan and also helps customers and suppliers reduce their carbon neutral emissions too (BRAND STORY, 2019). Under this initiative, they aim:

To reduce the energy use by 25% and storing the power with green electricity only offsetting their remaining CO2 emissions.

To develop low carbon products and services, such as energy efficient electrical products.

6. Reflection Report

The research above is mainly focused on the business contexts of Marks and Spencer which is the 2nd largest and popular retail store with a long chain of physical stores in UK and around the globe too. Horowitz (2020) opined that in this current market scenario there are sudden and instant ups and down are coming in the business functioning due to the Brexit impact and the Covid-19 pandemic where both these fluctuated the market which was stable before. So at this current situation, as stated by Buchanan and Huczynski (2019) each and every business idea is crucial and important because no one knows which plan becomes the master piece and which one will be a foolish piece. Many researchers have pointed out that in this fluctuating market scenario, even the best laid plans can go awry and leaders should account anything and everything in their strategy formulation. So this research aims at strategizing the plans and ideas in such a ways that the business operations can be managed even if the conditions are worse than expected.

This research mainly revealed all the factors of UK that can or will impact and affect the business operations of Marks & Spencer. These factors included political aspects, economic aspects, technological aspects, social aspects, legal aspects and the environmental aspects. Politically, M&S is in quite profitable state due to the UK free trading system where they are facilitated to import foreign goods without any cost or taxes and introduces and sell them in the UK market at desirable rates (M&S EST.1884, 2020). It can be fund from this research that M&S have used the latest technologies at its best by introducing self-payment system and self-checkout pints in their stores. This step made them more fascinating for their customers. The strengths of Marks and Spencer helped them in creating new opportunities and use these opportunities to negate its weaknesses and threats. Various types of negative controversies about Marks and Spencer are present in market and are open to read for everyone still M&S is holding a strong place in between its customers and this is made possible due to the positive image and good will that M&S gained in their business journey.

These controversial impacts are also removed by all the corporate social responsibilities that M&S have played and is still playing towards the society, its customers, government and the environment (M&S EST.1884, 2020). The research here enlightened all the primary corporate social responsibilities that M&S is still continued to play making a great reputation and impression on the market and customers setting examples for the other top retail brands. The Green Policy which Marks and Spencer initiated within their organization for environment protection gives a view of how not only government, common people and legislative people but business organisations can also contribute on their level for making a healthy and pollution-free nature for habituating (Fern Fort University, 2020).

This above research reflects and presents an example that like Marks and Spencer, how every big and small business organisations can make themselves affective and operational amidst crises and situations like Covid-19 and Brexit. This research will help other business organisations to give a view of how appropriate leadership style and proper strategised plan can bring out any company from bad to good conditions. If I will get any other chance in future to conduct such research further, I will put more emphasis on other aspect and topic which could help business organisations to make best out from the rest.

Conclusion

The conclusion of this above writing says that Marks and Spencer is the second-most popular retail brand in UK with great sustainability with the motive to give “value for money” products. M&S recently adapting the latest AI technology introduced self-checkout points and payment system which attracted customers by saving their time from standing in queues for a long time which it a great opportunity to develop. There are various types of leadership style where each one has its specific elements, techniques, advantages and disadvantages in it like Democratic, Autocratic, Laissez-Faire, Strategic, Transformational, Transactional, Coach-Style and Bureaucratic, from which the Transformational will be the best and appropriate leadership style for Marks and Spencer according to their business operations and workforce pattern. In regards to the corporate social responsibility, Marks & Spencer have always taken their responsibilities towards their customers, employees, partners, suppliers and local communities with full focus and seriously. Some of its most prominent corporate social responsibilities are like Waste Management initiative, Sustainable Raw Material initiative and Environment Protection initiative. The reflection report in the last section furnishes that what can be learned from this research and how this learning can be applied in present scenario and in future too, if needed, by the business organisations.

References

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