Paper Topic:

MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

Introduction

Marks Spencer is a well-known retailer in UK . Although it had its long-history , high-quality product , customer loyalty and successful performance before , it is experiencing a hard time nowadays . Therefore there is a need to analysis the nature , scope and business environment of M S , evaluate the strategies pursued and analyse whether its strategies could be sustainable (Johnson , G , 1988 Nature

Marks Spencer is one of the UK 's premier retailers of clothing , food home ware and financial services with a worldwide reputation of high quality . It is also a

global business with operations in North America Europe , the Middle and Far East . In the USA the company owned the up-market preppy clothing retailer Brooks Brothers and the King 's Supermarket Chain (Johnson , G , 1988 ) All M S ' goods are manufactured to the company 's specifications and are sold under the exclusive St Michael brand name . The company differentiates itself `by serving the mass market with innovative , high quality goods and competitive prices

Scope

The core product area for M S is clothing and it has dressed a substantial proportion of men , women and children in the UK for five generations from their underwear outwards . It has around 25 of the UK ?15bn clothing market . In the 1960s , M S sourced 99 of its products from the UK , and even by the 1990s still sources 70 of its products domestically , spending around ?5 .7bn a year

M S is also well-known for its high quality grocery selection . It takes 3 -4 of the ?60bn UK food market

M S also sells a range of household products and furnishings , as well as becoming a major financial services supplier with 5 .5million M S charge cards holders Business Environment

Big organisations like M S need to monitor the ever-changing business environment . `No company is an island , but exists in a sea of other organisations (Hartley , Palmer , 1999 . M S has seemed to lose its traditional business way in terms of intense marketing competition and rapid marketing changes (Johnson , G , 1988

The external environment comprises all of the forces and events that impinge on organisations . `A company that does not recognise a different international influence is unlikely to succeed (Naylor , 1999 . As the macro environment is `undergoing tremendous and far-reaching change (Daft , Marcic , 2001 , it is important to monitor the business macro environment through PEST analysis

The organisation has always monitored its performance by first making clear objectives for

the business . Without clear objectives it is difficult to evaluate what a marketing plan is

trying to achieve or whether the plan has been successful . It is usual to translate marketing

objectives into quantifiable result areas , such as market share market penetration or

growth of sales . Some of these may be further broken down into specific sales volumes

value goals or geographical targets ( Lynch , R , 2000 ) Marketing objectives allow Marks and Spencer to have

a basis for evaluation which can then be analysed after a certain period of time . Each

department most make sure...

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