Managing Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Marks and Spencer

Introduction

Innovation and entrepreneurship are the two business concepts, which are closely related to each other. Entrepreneurship can be understood as the approach of launching a new business, product, or service in the market (Dodgson et al., 2013). Similarly, innovation can be explained as the process of creating new products and services. It is found in many studies that innovation is the central idea in entrepreneurship because it provides opportunities for business owners to acquire growth and sustainability in the business markets.

Marks and Spencer is a multinational organization in the retail industry of the UK. The organization is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is the manufacture of retail products such as fashion clothes, foods and many others (Wilson and Beard, 2014). Marks and Spencer are known for their highly innovative approaches and supreme entrepreneurship in the world.

This report is based on the approaches that are considered in Marks and Spencer to manage its entrepreneurship and innovation activities. Along with this, the report also contains information about the development of a new innovative product or service. Further, it is also explained in the report how the innovative product or service can help the organization to meet its goals. Further, the report also presents an implementation plan for the innovative product or service developed for Marks and Spencer.

Management of entrepreneurial and innovation activities in Marks and Spencer

Management in Marks and Spencer consider several approaches to managing its innovation activities. The study reveals that the organization keenly focuses on the nature and extent of innovation for driving operational excellence. Some of the prominent practices corresponding to innovation activities in Marks and Spencer are described in the following manner.

Ideas: Creativity and idea generation is the primary activity related to innovation management in Marks and Spencer. It is found in a study that the organization focuses on incremental innovation in which the existing products and services are improvised to target more efficiency in the business markets (Zhou, 2015). Further, communication is one of the most noticeable approaches considered in Marks and Spencer to drive creativity. Different employees and managers are supposed to interact with each other and analyse the need for innovation.

Project justification: In this activity, justifications over the proposed innovation are given, which help in understanding the nature and type of innovation. For this purpose, approaches to communication are considered in Marks and Spencer in which managers tend to describe before the employees why the innovation is necessary. It can be said that project justification in the organization can be commanding as well as instructing.

Development: in this phase, the prototype for the proposed innovation product or model of the service is designed. Managers in Marks and Spencer consider the practices of integration and collaboration to manage the production activity (Goodman, 2013) effectively. Along with this, mapping and scaling activities are also seen in which it is ensured that the production of service and products is as per the set plan. Not only this, but, practices of monitoring are also considered by the organization to comply with the proposed plan for innovation.

Launch: In this activity, the organization commercially launches its innovated products and services in the business markets. Therefore, approaches to marketing communication, monitoring and review can be seen. Marketing communication allows Marks and Spencer to target customers while monitoring helps in evaluating the success of the innovated product in the market (Dawson and Andriopoulos, 2014). Along with this, the innovation process and products can be improvised as per the feedback and reviews.

This way, it can be said that there are many approaches considered in Marks and Spencer to manage innovation activities.

Entrepreneurial management: Many approaches are corresponding to entrepreneurial management in Marks and Spencer, which are explained below.

Ventures: While launching a new business, which can allow Marks and Spencer to enter into the new business market, different business ventures are considered by the managers. In this approach, the size of the business is determined. The organization makes decisions about how the new product or service should be launched (Drucker, 2014). Some prominent considerations for this purpose are a small business venture, large company, social entrepreneurship, and many others.

Creativity: It is the core activity that can be seen in entrepreneurship management in Marks and Spencer. There are many examples in which the organization gave preference to disruptive innovation and creativity. In recent times, the organization has considered digital innovation agenda in which it has developed an online portal, which could be used to connect with the consumers (Dodgson et al., 2013). These creative approaches have allowed Marks and Spencer to enhance its digital capabilities and bring efficiency to the business with more sales of products.

Strategy: It is also a prominent approach to manage the entrepreneurial activities in Marks and Spencer. The study reveals that the managers in the company focus on formulating several strategies, which may help in achieving the entrepreneurial objectives (Zhou, 2015).

Therefore, many approaches and practices are considered in Marks and Spencer to manage entrepreneurial and innovation management activities.

Innovative Product/Service or Process

To enhance the efficiency of the business, the managers in Marks and Spencer need to undergo the innovation process for developing new products, service or processes (Drucker, 2014). In current times, the organization is known to offer the products of different categories and genres to the consumers. For this reason, Marks and Spencer can consider service innovation for targeting excellent in the business markets in the following way.

Service innovation in Marks and Spencer: Managers in Marks and Spencer are supposed to develop new ways of attracting the customers through its innovated pricing policies. For this purpose, the organization can develop cashback policies in product marketing. In this policy, the organization may provide the cashback to the customers for the purchase of the products, which are ordered online. The organization can set certain parameters to refund a certain amount of the payment made by the customers for the purchase. This service can be launched for the products, which are sold by Marks and Spencer on internet websites such as Amazon and many others (Dawson and Andriopoulos, 2014). It can be said that under the cashback service, the organization may promise the customers to return a certain amount after a fixed period.

Along with this, it is also necessary for Marks and Spencer to consider this service selectively for the products. Fashion apparel, home products and many more, which are subjected to clearance in the organisation can be considered for cash back services. There should also be focus of the managers in the organisation that newly launched products are not under subjected to cash back services (Autio et al., 2014). This way, the organisation can innovate the pricing strategy and services, which can benefit Marks and Spencer as well as the customers of the company.

In current times, business of Marks and Spencer is affected by the activities and approaches, which are considered by the competitors and rivals in the retail industry of the UK. It is found in the study that there are many competitors of the organisation, which include Morrison, John Lewis, Walmart and many more. These companies consider offer appealing services as well as products to the customer, which are accountable for reducing the customer size for Marks and Spencer (Burns and Dewhurst, 2016). It can be understood that customers prefer the most attractive products that too at feasible prices. For this reason, they can easily switch to other companies. The proposed innovated service for Marks and Spencer can be much effective in meeting the organisational goals and objectives because prices of the primary factor, which may affect the decision making of the customers towards the purchase of products offered by an organisation.

Ultimate goals and objectives of Marks and Spencer is to enhance its operational efficiency and sales of the products, which may result in higher profitability and revenues. Cash back services can be greatly helpful in meeting these purposes. There are vital possibilities that the customers will purchase the products offered under this service as they will receive some cash back from the company (Zhou, 2015). This way, the cost of the products will be comparatively less than normal. However, this reduction in cost to the company can be compensated with high sale figures. As a result, more customers are likely to place the more orders, which will enhance the profitability and revenues for the company.

This way, it can be said that proposed innovative service can be much effective in meeting organisational objectives and goals in Marks and Spencer.

Implementation plan for innovated service in Marks and Spencer

It is also necessary for the entrepreneurs and managers in Marks and Spencer to develop an effective implementation plan, which may allow the company to meet its objectives. For this purpose, following implementation plan can be considered for the innovated service in Marks and Spencer.

Analysis of risks and barriers: The very first step in the implementation of the innovated service is analysis of risks and barriers. Marks and Spencer are required to consider several types of risks such as technological risks, attitudes of the customers and many others through market research (Dawson and Andriopoulos, 2014). There can be many risks associated with the innovated service such as risk of online hacks and breaches and many others.

Creating teams: Further, it is also essential for Marks and Spencer to develop a team, which will be executing the innovated service as their project. This team should comprise the employees having different areas of expertise. These may include marketing professionals, production employees and managers, cyber experts and many more (Drucker, 2014). The team is required to accomplish different activities corresponding to cash back service.

Considering target population: Another major approach for implementing the innovated service is selection of the targeted population. It can be said that targeted population or customers are the ultimate entities, which are likely to make the payments for purchasing the products through cash back services in Marks and Spencer (Burns and Dewhurst, 2016). Therefore, marketing teams are supposed to carry out market research and segment the targeted population based on the behaviour, demographics, psychographic and other parameters.

Promotion of service: It is also important to the managers in Marks and Spencer to promote the innovated service in the markets for successful implementation. For this purpose, marketing experts and professionals in the organisation may consider different promotional tools such as social media marketing, Google advertisement, newspaper advertisement and many others. Along with this, television and radio are also one of the astounding mediums to promote the services of the Marks and Spencer. These advertisements can be developed in which use of online websites can be shown to acquire the cash back on the placed orders.

Launch: Marks and Spencer are also required to consider a specific launch date for the innovated service (Autio et al., 2014). For this purpose, the organisation needs to consider the dates in which more responses are likely to be gained from customers’ end. It can be said this innovated service may act as offer for the company due to which ending season, new year weeks, Christmas, Easter and other occasions can be considered when the official website of the company may display the cash back for the products.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the above report that entrepreneurship and innovation are the two major aspects of the business of Marks and Spencer, which are accountable for remarkable success of the company in the retail business markets. There are many approaches, which are considered by the organisation to manage innovation and entrepreneurship such as communication, integration, collaboration and many more. Further, it can be said that the organisation can consider innovating its service by developing cash back services for the products, which are ordered online. This innovated service can be greatly effective in enhancing the customer size of Marks and Spencer and reducing the effects of competitive rivalry. Implementation plan for the innovated service may comprise several activities such as analysis of barriers, creation of teams, analysis of targeted population, launch and many more.

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References

Autio, E., Kenney, M., Mustar, P., Siegel, D. and Wright, M., (2014). Entrepreneurial innovation: The importance of context. Research Policy, 43(7), pp.1097-1108.

Burns, P. and Dewhurst, J. eds., (2016). Small business and entrepreneurship. UK: Macmillan International Higher Education.

Dawson, P. and Andriopoulos, C., (2014). Managing change, creativity and innovation. USA: Sage.

Dodgson, M., Gann, D.M. and Phillips, N. eds., (2013). The Oxford handbook of innovation management. UK: OUP Oxford.

Drucker, P., (2014). Innovation and entrepreneurship. UK: Routledge.

Goodman, M., (2013). Creativity and strategic innovation management: Directions for future value in changing times. UK: Routledge.

Wilson, J. and Beard, C., (2014). Constructing a sustainable learning organization: Marks and Spencer's first Plan A learning store. The Learning Organization, 21(2), pp.98-112.

Zhou, J., (2015). The Oxford handbook of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. UK: Oxford University Press.