STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

Strategic Management and Business Policy

Executive Summary

In the post-crisis world, Marks and Spencer (M&S) still holds the popularity graph; however, its market positioning and brand loyalty seems to diminish. Since its existence, M&S has travelled through rough and trough facets, but the paper brings in focus the time frame of 2004-2009. According to the issues and outlook profile, M&S reported lower sales revenue and market performance due to strategic decisions that misfit the situation. Vague sense of direction and unharmonized business decisions led the company to witness serious operational and structural challenges. Application of relevant matrices and tools provided a scanned picture of internal, industrial and external business environment in order to conduct strategic evaluation of the company. Evaluation findings recognized corporate identity and quality control as the competitive advantage, which was weakening due to current strategic adversity. In the given time frame, M&S needs to redefine its purpose of existence in order to align the corporate strategy with corporate objectives. Besides this, senior management at M&S is recommended to choose among Ansoff's growth matrix, blue ocean strategy and potential acquisitions in order to bring the company back to its feet. However, senior management would be required to take preventive measures against identified potential threats and challenges in the implementation phase.

Key Words: Marks and Spencer (M&S), issues and outlook profile, operational and structural challenges, relevant matrices, strategic evaluation, corporate identity, quality control, competitive advantage, strategic adversity, purpose of existence, Ansoff's growth matrix, blue ocean strategy, acquisitions, preventive measures

Strategic Management and Business Policy

Introduction

The paper aims at developing a strategic analysis paper for Marks and Spencer (M&S). Firstly, the paper provides brief overview of the company and its business operations. Secondly, the paper designs a profile of issues and future outlook for the company. For the purpose of simplicity, the paper analysis strategic and operational performance of M&S during a selected time frame from 2004 to 2009. For an in depth study of strategic management and business policy, the paper conducts external and internal environmental analysis of M&S via application of various relevant matrices. Then, the paper develops a rigorous strategic plan of action to suggest possible ways of overcoming the identified business problems in an effective manner. The paper details out implication of each recommended policy or action plan for the overall strategic and operational performance of M&S. finally, the paper provides concluding remarks on the strategic management and business policy being implemented by M&S.



Overview of Marks and Spencer Group Plc (M&S)

With a widespread network of approximately 731 stores, M&S leads the UK clothing retail industry (FT, 2013, p. n.d.). Since its inception, the company has developed itself as a household brand for a huge market of about 21m visitors each week. With annual revenue of £10.03b and 57,520 employees, M&S operates across the region of Asia, the Middle East and Europe (FT, 2013, p. n.d.). Business operations remain focused on providing quality products and services in womenswear and clothing, home-ware, menswear and lingerie, and ...