MANAGEMENT

Marks and Spencers

Marks and Spencers

Introduction

Marks and Spencer also called as M&S and Marks and Sparks was found in the year 1884 by two people Michael Marks and Tom Spencer. Ever since then marks and Spencer has delivered goods of the best quality and now today it stands as one of the best retail chains in the UK. They primarily deal in Clothing and food. The company is headquartered in London, UK and is the one of the biggest companies in the world. It's ranked #725 in the Forbes 2000 list and is amongst the top 5 retail firms in the country. Currently the chairman of the company is Robert Swanell and the Chief Executive is Marc Bolland (Bevan, 2001, pp. 78).

Challenges

Over the years Marks and Spencer has gone through ups and downs. It is the first British Retail firm to make a Profit before tax of over £1 Billion which was in the year 1998.After that the company had hit rock-bottom which was due to heavy competition and the company's inability to satisfy its customers, it went into heavy losses in its turnover. After amending a few policies and the change of the Chief executive, the company looked more closely at the customer's needs, wants and demands and modelled their strategies around it, thus rising it from the ashes. However again in 2008, the company went into a credit crunch which was mainly because of the recession. Although M&S has faced many challenges in its recent years; it has still managed to keep the company name up and advanced forward. Rising from a terrible phase and coming back into a market which has heavy competition truly shows its commendable performance. The company currently has over 703 stores in the UK and 152 stores internationally and over 200 franchises worldwide. It has a total turnover of over £9.7 Billion for the year 2011. Marks and Spencer has a variety of products and services which it offers to its customers. Although the majorly the turnover generated is from Clothing and Food (Wheelen & Hunger, 2008, pp. 101).

Competitive Environment

The marketing Environment is comprised of 2 parts which are the Microenvironment and the Macroenvironment. The marketing microenvironment of a company is based on principle actors like the company, Suppliers, Marketing intermediaries, customers, competitors and publics.

Company: The Company's corporate objectives are mainly defined by its Mission, Vision and Values. Mission- To make Aspirational quality accessible to all Vision - To be the standard against all others are measured Values - Quality, Values, Service, Innovation and Trust.

Objective - To increase shareholder value and profit margin while maintaining customer satisfaction. (M&S Objectives) The company also focuses on the issue of corporate social responsibility (CSR) by coming up with various policies regarding concerns for the environment and charity which are included in their scheme called Plan A (Annual Report, 2011). This basically shows that the company's aim and goals are clear and therefore it bases its marketing based on ...