M&s in China
M&s in China
Contents
Executive summary. 3
1. Introduction. 3
Macro environment: analysis and recommendations. 4
1.2 Micro environment: analysis and recommendations. 5
2. Internal environment: analysis and recommendations. 6
2.1 Capabilities and Culture: What was done wrong in the past and improved in the present to face the future 6
3. Marks and Spencer and Social Responsibility (Mission, Vision, Values) 7
3.1 Mission. 7
3.2 Vision. 8
3.3 Values. 8
4. M&S in China. 9
4.1 Why China? (Shanghai) 9
4.2 How?. 10
List of references. 12
Bibliography. 13
Appendices. 15
Appendix 1: PESTLE UK.. 15
Appendix 2: SWOT. 16
Appendix 3: Porter`s Five forces UK.. 17
Appendix 4: Porter`s Value Chain. 18
Appendix 5: Pestle Analysis China. 19
Appendix 6: Porter`s Diamond. 20
Appendix 7: Cage matrix. 21
Appendix 8: Porter`s Five Forces China. 22
Executive summary
The report has as a subject the M&S Company in UK, analyzed internally, externally, in terms of social responsibility with a reference to
mission, vision and values, using the appropriate frameworks. Also in the report, the analysis is made critically both concerning the M&S
case and the matrixes, in order to find out if the brand is competent enough and has enough resources and knowledge to extend abroad, in
China, Shanghai. In the last part, one growing strategy is explained and justified for the M&S extension in China. The frameworks used in
the report for investigating the brand in UK are: SWOT, Pestle, Porter`s Five Forces, Porter`s Diamond, Tows, Porter`s Generic Strategies,
Porter`s Value Chain, Caroll`s four-part model and for the entry of M&S in China: Pestle (China), Porter`s Five Forces (China), Cage matrix
and last but not least the Ansoff matrix, most of them being found in the appendices. The conclusion reached is that M&S has improved its
targeting, focusing more on the customers and improving its services and also the way it recruits and promotes staff.
1. Introduction
Marks & Spencer is a brand with a rich heritage and a story behind that along time had many ups and downs according to Collier (2004). At
first, at its beginnings it encountered a remarkable success, but in time, because of the changes in the market and the inability of using a
strategy that match that changed expectation and the lack of competent people to do it, it suffered a decrease. Its current position is
improved, the focus on the customers increased along with the chances of succeeding abroad (2012 Annual Report and Financial
Statements). Also the way they focused on the CSR by creating the Plan A, not only as a growth strategy but as a help for people,
resources and planet is admirable.
it more fashion updated in order to increase cloth sales that were according to the brand 2012 Annual Report the lowest ones comparing to
the other (Annual Report and financial statements:2012).
Another factor from Pestle (Appendix 1) is the environmental one and M&S took it in its advantage by their emphasis on the social
responsibility. A good example is the Plan A (NTU Case Study) that demonstrates the care of the brand for the customers, planet and the
awareness and support in the increasing environmental issues. But Pestle is not the accurate matrix for analyzing the threats, so SWOT
and Porter`s Five Forces are used in this case, more exactly, it identifies the threat represented by the fact that the M&S competitors such
as John Lewis, Tesco, Asda started using in their campaigns social responsibility as well.
Concerning the Pestle analysis, an important and strongly influential economic aspect is the recession. In M&S case, the economic crisis is
taken by the brand as a threat as seen in the SWOT matrix. More detailed, the threaten concerning the recession is that customers may
choose cheaper products, considering price over brand image, brand loyalty and premium products.
But on the other hand, recession can be seen as a positive factor in the SWOT analysis as well, as an opportunity, because it determines a
number of customers to eat out less and more often at home, representing an advantage for M&S. But alternatively, according to the NTU
case study, other supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsburys and Waitrose offer now already prepared foods as well. So a threaten can be
also perceived as an opportunity. A recommendation in terms of food can be either to differentiate their already prepared foods by
advertising, adding a unique view, such as special ingredient, emotional association or by keep using seasonal offers, for example three for
two, or when buying one product and the second one is free.
Relating again to Pestle analysis, the technological factors such as internet, e-commerce and mobile applications have registered an
increased use, so M&S conformed and has created a website and mobile application for online shopping. The recommendation is to keep
focusing on their weakness and transform them in opportunities.
of capabilities and culture is to keep focusing on social responsibility and try having strategies with a more emergent aspect and the most
important point is to try having even more focus on the consumers and understand and follow the trends they set, especially in the clothing
area, this way learning and avoiding what happened in the past.
3.2 Vision
The vision: To be standard against which all others are measured found on their Official Website can be said that it represents a
benchmark against the competitors. It is related to the mission that says they want to offer quality products accessible to all, so standardize
them, make them different and also make them the first choice for the customers.
Relating to what Porter and Kramer (2006) said in their article, CSR is increasingly asked in the society, the Government regulations in this
area are more demanding, so this means that many companies have started focusing on it. So taking into consideration the fact that the
brands` primary competitors such as Tesco, Asda, and John Lewis turned their attention to CSR in the same way as M&S, each brand
having a Corporate Responsibility Annual Report , could not anymore be a source of competitive advantage.
3.3 Values
As it is shown in the Annual Report (2012) of the brand and in their Key Lessons from the Plan A business case (2012) their strategy and
the way they conduct the business is made around their values: quality, value, innovation, trust, service. Different authors have different
opinions and views on values, for example, Simon (1945) sees the survival of a company by adapting its objectives to the values of the
society, and even if in that time, 1945, the society was different than nowadays, it can be said that his theory still applies today. One
example to stand for this is M&S that said in their How we do business report (2012) they made some researches which proved that
customers appreciate and see important the CSR so that was the point when the brand started focusing in depth on this aspect.
According to Jobber (2010) in terms of the nature of CSR after Carroll`s four-part model, is stated that a company does not fully achieve
CSR if it is not meeting all the four layers of the pyramid. An example to support that M&S has economic responsibilities, is the one
according to Drucker`s (1954) view on values, in the journal of Joyner and Payne (2002), who states that First responsibility to a society is
to make profit . In the M&S case, they used the fact that the CSR is an increasing demand and the fact that their values were supporting
their ethical behavior, to make from CSR, one of their strengths as seen in SWOT, a growing strategy for five years period. Considering the
brand`s Annual Reports from 2012 ,M&S meets in general the four responsibilities, but still, on the other hand, there is a gap in the
company social responsibility, more exactly, against their ethical views and environmental concerned persona stays the fact that they
moved their plants in developing countries. A recommendation for the company is to move back their plants in UK so they would complete
their social responsible profile and in general to keep continue in the same way with the Plan A because is a benefit for society and for the
brand itself.
4. M&S in China
4.1 Why China? (Shanghai)
There are couples or reasons that justify the opening of M&S in China, the most important one being the fact that, according to the Pestle
analysis made for China, the country has the fastest moving economy, representing an opportunity for investment. But this reason was not
enough to support the decision, if was not followed by other reasons like the fact that, according to Pestle (China) (see Appendix 5) and to
an article by Kollewe (2012) in Guardian, China has encountered a growth in a new layer of social class, more exactly, the urban, who have
a taste for western products. According to the same article, another important motivation for choosing China is because the Chinese
population started to shift to more expensive foods because of the economic growth.
Also relating to Pestle analysis and to Li (1999), from 1985 the Chinese started to be more selective when it comes to purchasing, so
nowadays, according to Jing (2012) for Chinadaily newspaper, the population from Shanghai is willing to pay more for quality products and
also prefer foreign brands.
Concerning the Porter`s Diamond (see Appendix 6) , according to Hodgetts (1992), is exploring and analyzing the international markets
more in depth than Pestle, with focus on different factors: demand, barriers, substitutes, etc , Pestle offering only the general external
factors influencing a country. So taking into consideration the Porter`s diamond, a reason to enter the Chinese market is also the cost of the
labor, that is lower than in UK and because even though the technology level in China is not very advanced as seen in Pestle, in Porter`s
Diamond can be seen that in Shanghai the technology is in a fast process of growing.
4.2 How?
The products with which M&S will enter China are only the foods category, excluding the other departments like clothing, because even in
UK, according to their Annual Report and Financial Statement from 2012 the clothing department has the lowest share are revenue and
also because Chinese prefer to wear clothes from big, popular, foreign brands, specialized in clothing according to a report by Guild and Hu
(2011) for McKinsey&Co. Also a reason why entering the market only with the food department is because the Chinese eating habits started
to imitate the Western ones as can be seen in Pestle analysis (China).In terms of prices, will be lower than in UK because according to the
Cage matrix (see Appendix 7), comparing to UK, China is a country in developing process with lower incomes.
The way of entering the market will be by exporting, because of couple of reasons. The first one is because exporting is the quickest and
simplest way of entering a new market according to Bradley (2005).Also, an advantage of exporting, according to Onkvisit and Shaw (2004)
is the lower unit costs due to the increased volumes, with a minimum implication of risk and commitment, according to Young et al. (1989). A
reason why the acquisition or merger way of entry were not chosen, even though they have a benefit from innate information about the
Chinese environment from the other firm is because of the risk of the two management teams not being able to integrate due to the culture
differences (see Cage) and also because of the risk of misperceptions according to Jeannet and Hennessey (2004).
Another advantage of exporting in China is the bilateral trading agreement between them and UK as seen in Pestle (China). According to
Porter`s five Forces (China) (see Appendix 8) in terms of the industry rivalry, other supermarkets such as Carrefour, Wall-mart and Auchan
as well as local supermarkets represent a strong competition for the brand in Shanghai and also the buyer power is high because of the
variety of options and increased expectations in quality goods.
Because of the strong competition represented by other international supermarkets, a gap in the market should be found in order to support
the strategy and increase the chances of being successful. So the gap in the market is the fact that compering to the other supermarkets
that are offering general Western food, M&S is offering specific English food with many own branded products , as the brand itself calls it on
their official website : Best of British. In terms of the national competitive advantage of the brand opening in China is represented by the
fact that the labor costs there are lower than in UK. Furthmore, China has a comparative advantage being also the fact that their labor cost
is lower and the fact that is a country in development, in an urbanization process.
In terms of CSR, was found that between 2004 and 2008 the number of CSR reports made by Chinese company increased from 4 to 130
(Syntao:2007,2008). But still, this is far from the level of importance that CSR has in developed countries, according to an article by Sarkis
et al (2011) for Ivey Business Journal, so it can be said that a Plan A in China might not work, but still the brand should promote and make
the Chinese population aware of it but not focus in the same way as in UK. Taking into consideration the existing products that M&S will
export to a new market as a growth strategy, according to Ansoff matrix, the strategy used is the Market development one.
In conclusion, M&S has enough resources to expand abroad and in its current position is capable to do that because the strategy is
feasible, having enough resources and also including training to the Chinese employees. Also the brand improved along time its
weaknesses and analyzing the market in this growth strategy is a key point, as well as choosing a country that offers the expected ROCE,
having the fastest growing economy. If the strategy is also controlled in a timely, constructive actionable and communicated way, using the
KPR it has prospects of being successful.
List of references
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McKinsey and Company: Consumer and Shopper Insight Report, (2011)
Syntao. (2007). A Journey to Discover Values
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Appendices
Appendix 1: PESTLE UK
Political
Technological
EU laws(potential changes)
Taxes
Economic
Environmental
recession
currency fluctuation
inflation
recycling
unemployment
pollution
Social
Legal
employment laws
changes in demographics
cultural trends
eating habits
increasing/decreasing
responsibility
interest
of
customers
in
social
laws
(supplier-buyer
relationship,
Appendix 2: SWOT
Strengths
Weaknesses
Heritage
Customer service
Expending marketing
Online growth
Economies of scales
Opportunities
Threatens
Might lose the young audience while focusing too much on the
older one
Firm Infrastructure:
investments in IT, logistics and supply chains as part as the Plan A objectives;
Improved management efficiency with the changings in CEO`S and due to the acceptance of people outside the family and the company
without being long time employees.
In terms of culture the brand have always had the same values : quality and value
Technology Development:
first retailer to create an app for the Samsung internet- connected TV`s
Procurement:
Inlogistics
boundOperations
OutboundMarketing
logistics
Sales
andServices
-high quality services
-Plan
A
responsibility)
home delivery is
subject to availability
-free delivery
furniture and
appliances
for
big
(social
-offers (3for 2)
-customers
orientated
comparing to before
when they were product
orientated
-strong focus on online
and mobile phone sales
-investment process in IT
and logistic as objectives
of
and
-extended
next
day
delivery deadlines for
ordering online
-use
celebrities(Twiggy
Gary Barlow)
-friendly staff
-better
tagging
and
scanning to the till points
-better management of
stock->
increased
availability of products
Primary Activities
Political
Technological
Communist country
Innovation capability
investment (up to 50% cut taxes from the profit took outside China by
foreign companies)
Economic
Environmental
Air Pollution( the carbon dioxide emission are among the highest
in the world)
Water pollution
Overpopulated country
Acid rains
Cheaper labor
Rising unemployment
Social
Legal
Different culture
Trend of urbanization
Cultural Distance
Bilateral:
UK
China
and
-different languages
-different
majoritarian
(Christianity and Buddhism )
religions
Administrative
Distance
Geographic
Distance
-different
currency
-transportation -labor
costs
costs
( higher in UK
-time zone
than in China)
-different
laws
government
-different policies
-corruption ( the level of
corruption is higher in
China than in UK)
-physical distance
(around 5000 miles)
Economic
Distance
-lack of membership
-human resources
-supply chains
Buyer Power
Because there are couple other
international supermarkets in Shanghai
such as Carrefour, Wall-mart, Auchan
and also local supermarkets, the buyer
power is high.
Supplier Power
There is a low supplier power
-competition between suppliers
-low cost of changing suppliers
Threat
of
Substitution (
more
and
more Chinese make prefer
making their shopping in
supermarkets, meaning more
money spent there)
Local brands that offer
traditional food and clothing.
-e-shopping