CORPORATE STRATEGY AND GOVERNANCE: RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUE
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Executive Summary
The report deals with the corporate strategy and corporate governance that can help an organization manage its bus operation and effectively reduce its risk factors. Based on the formative task, this summative section has been analyzed by taking one of the known and famous companies of the UK named Marks & Spencer. The report depicts the background of the company and the problems related to corporate governance have been discussed. It has been discussed how the company has faced problems regarding corporate strategies. Risk management issues have been discussed, and theories and models related to risk management have been discussed. Following the detailed discussion on the available and research literature on the topic of corporate governance, an explanation of the various strategies and approaches to primary and secondary data collection and research approaches have been outlined. This was followed by a critical discussion on the variety of valuable and informational outcomes that were derived from conduct the elaborative research work. This further helps to demonstrate possible recommendations for Marks and Spencer’s to effectively consolidate a stable and sustainable standard of corporate governance.
Table of Contents
Background of the organization and review of the problem faced. 3
Importance of Corporate Strategy and Governance. 4
Possible ways to handle risk management issues. 5
Application of relevant theories and models about the theme. 6
Functions of Corporate strategies. 7
Discussion on the primary and secondary research undertaken. 9
Discussion on primary research undertaken. 9
Discussion on the secondary research undertaken. 10
The critical review is followed by the result of the research. 12
Recommendations and action plan: 14
Introduction
Corporate governance helps the company to build a work culture and leads the company towards success. Corporate governance increases the accountability of the organization along with the team and individual employees. It helps to avoid any kind of mistakes before occurring and the company builds strong goodwill in the market. Corporate governance deals with all kinds of regulations and helps the company to make laws and provide codes and make policies. Corporate governance determines the rights and responsibility of the employees and it boosts the efficiencies of the company. The company always requires safeguards hence risk management is on the axis to make good corporate governance. Risk management in corporate governance acts as a backbone to set dynamic goals and helps to make balanced scorecards and gives guidance. Marks & Spencer is one of the leading giant retailers, and the company is facing problems due to corporate strategies.
Background of the organization and review of the problem faced.
The earth has become a global village with the advancement of technology and the global market has become a battle place. Marks & Spencer is getting tough competition as the internet has made it possible for the buyers to shop and the buyers frequently switch their choices from one brand to another. The shoppers want home delivery, and they do not like highstreets shops and the company is struggling to adapt to the requirements of the consumers and they made a huge investment in an automated home delivery warehouse. It is struggling to fulfill the demands (marksandspencer.com,2020). Marks &Spencer’s has several shops, and they had made radical changes which would cut the floor space in their high street’s shops and the digital era this is not enough. The outlets of Marks& Spencer are in poor conditions and the competitive era, the company needs to improve the ambiance of the stores. The products of Marks & Spencer are high priced, and the competitors are providing products for which the company is famous and at a low price. The company follows bureaucratic culture, and they are being criticized for that. Marks & Spencer launched a customer loyalty scheme, and it was a failure as they brought the idea to the market late, and it had become insignificant. The company fails to understand the mindset of the buyers. Marks and Spencer offer particular products and designs, and these products are not appealing to the new generations, and they have failed to understand the demographic. The constructive and same designed products are not appealing to the buyers.
Marks & Spencer is a powerful brand, and they are iconic, but at the same time, they are not immune. Loyal customers of Marks & Spencer loved the brands for what the brand stands for, but the company has not invested for a long time. Marks and & Spencer has failed to give wonderful experiences to the customers and the modern people not only buy products, but they buy shopping experiences also. Marks & Spencer is not spending or investing to make their experience better.
Literature Review
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework for Marks and Spencer’s
(Source; Created by the author)
Importance of Corporate Strategy and Governance
Corporate strategy and corporate governance help an organization to manage its business operation ethically and sustainably (Viscelliet al. 2017). Besides this, corporate strategy and governance are all about the implementation of relevant strategies, rules, policies, laws, and procedures that can help to control a corporate firm effectively. On the one hand, the corporate strategy is all about making an accurate plan for an organization that helps to meet the corporate long-term goals and desired business objectives along with creating a vision for the organization. On the other hand, Corporate Governance is a combination of rules and policies that can be implemented in an organization, which can help to control both the external and internal business environment accurately. It also helps in managing the needs and demands of the shareholders, customers, employees, and governments. There are some specific pillars of corporate governance such as accountability, fairness, transparency, assurance, leadership, and stakeholder management. It also includes maintaining the rule of the laws, taking care of moral integrity, participating in business operations, and taking responsibility for the tasks with full efficiency and effectiveness. As per the ideas of Sullivan et al. (2018), an organization can maintain its brand image and can gain a sustainable competitive advantage if relevant rules and regulations can be incorporated in the workplace along with relevant strategy. It is because relevant rules and regulations in an organization help to protect the business operation and keep the firm away from strict lawsuits. However, various kinds of corporate strategies like growth strategies, stability strategies, re-invention strategies, and retrenchment strategies. Hence, these kinds of strategies and corporate regulation can help an organization to make its continuous growth and aids to remain stable so that further the core business objectives and goals can be met up by reducing the risk factors.
Figure 2: Corporate Strategy
(Source: Viscelliet al. 2017)
Possible ways to handle risk management issues.
In the era of globalization and among the competitive market world, most of the organization faces issues and challenges both externally and externally. However, there are various kinds of possible ways that can help an organization solve its issues effectively by providing solutions. According to the ideas of Behzadiet al. (2018), an organization can have various kinds of problems like an absence of a clear direction, failure to develop key competencies, lack of awareness, unified team, and poor communication in the workplace. These problems give rise to financial crises and management issues that further ruin the brand image of an organization. The four-risk mitigation and management strategies include avoidance, reducing, transfer, and acceptance of the risk. Besides this, an organization can mitigate its risks by managing the workforce ethically and sustainably. It can be possible if the higher authority of an organization can take positive initiatives to manage the business operation so that the coming risks can be handled or can be reduced. Besides this, arranging effective meetings and training sessions for the employees can also help to manage risks as the employees will get trained about how to deal with the risks. However, to manage the risk of an organization, it is important to identify the risk factor and then assess it along with controlling and reviewing it effectively. It is the responsibility of the risk management manager to create a risk register, where the risks can be identified by determining the response and impact of the risk on the business operation. For this task, it is important to assign employees and experts who can help to reduce the issues and risk factors of an organization (Baryanniset al. 2019). However, such steps further need regular reviewing of the application of risk mitigation strategies on a business operation that can enhance the transparency and ethicality of a firm.
Figure 3: Ways to manage risks.
(Source: Behzadiet al. 2018)
Application of relevant theories and models about the theme
It is important to apply relevant theories and models about corporate strategy and corporate governance so that the core feature of the theories and models can complement the risk management factor. As stated by Shahin et al. (2017), there are various kinds of tools and techniques that can help to manage the risk factor of an organization. In the cases of Corporate Strategy, the Differentiation Approach can be taken into consideration that can help an organization to provide a unique product to the customers (Roth et al. 2018). It can further higher the chance of gaining a competitive advantage. However, business-related risks can be managed if the focus can be made to the essential features of Porter’s Five Forces Model that help an organization in terms of handling customers, employees, rival companies, suppliers, and new entrants (Pervanet al. 2018). Besides this, the models and approaches about corporate strategy can help to manage the risk factors of an organization. Besides this, theories about Corporate Governance, the Agency Theory, and Stakeholder Theory can be taken into consideration. On the one hand, Agency Theory is a kind of principle that helps to explain and resolve issues that take place between business principles and agents (Panda and Leepsa, 2017). In this case, the shareholders are taken as the principals and company executives as agents, who help to make an effective decision for the organization’s well-being and thus solve issues and manage risk.
On the other hand, Stakeholder Theory helps to manage the organizational operation in an accurate way that maintains business ethics and takes care of the suppliers, communities, creditors, and employees (Biscaiaet al. 2018). It is all about managing both the external and internal stakeholders effectively so that success can be obtained, and possible risks can be reduced or managed. Hence, the practical application of the core feature of the theories, models, and approaches can help various kinds of organizations to mitigate their issues and can further manage risk. However, these their4orews and models also complement the basic facts of corporate strategies and corporate governance.
Figure 4: Stakeholder Theory
(Source: Biscaiaet al. 2018)
Functions of Corporate strategies
Corporate strategies identify the barriers which create obstacles in the path of achievement of the organizations. The corporate strategy helps the company to make effective strategies that will help to meet all the objectives of the company. A corporate strategy helps the company to make development and promote corporate goals. As opined by Asghar et al. (2020), corporate strategy influences the value of the company. The corporate strategy helps the company to make a product portfolio. A company stands high for its products, and the company should have clarity about the demography and what they want to sell or who will buy the products. Corporate strategies help to make price strategy and competitive strategies. Grove and Lockhart (2019) mentioned that corporate systems ensure the necessary resources for the process of producing products or delivering the products. Corporate strategies help the company to acquire the resources. It is well known that resources are necessary for the company to achieve corporate goals, and most of the time, the company lacks human resources, and it creates limitations in the company. Juyita (2019) commented that the company lacks human resources, and they have a lack of financial resources, and corporate strategies help the company to get the resources. The corporate strategies help the company to make organizational models. The company should make rules to run the organization. The policy and norms of the company will be effective for the company to handle all kinds of internal organizational problems. The business is getting tough competition and the market has become a battle place and in the present scenario, the consumers have become important. The company that wants to become powerful, must make strategies. Corporate strategies help the company to select strategic growth and provide the specific new product area and make the company able to venture into the new market.
Risk management issues
There are series of risk issues that create obstacles in the path of the success of the company. The company often gets a lack of decision making and they get a lack of accountability. In an organization, business executives are flexible with risk decision makings, but it has been seen that the eligible person has not taken the decision, and it may bring disaster for the company. As opined by Sikander and Mahmood (2018), risk management issues are created as in many big organizations; it has been seen that they lack the open risk culture. Risk issues bring uncertainty in the organization, and unplanned events can occur due to risk issues. The company can make a change in the strategy, and the program can be affected by that. The outcomes are interrelated with the initiatives that have been taken by the organization and risk issues can stop the growth of the company. On the other hand, Krismiaji and Surifah(2020) commented that external forces could change the internal decision process and harm the growth. Risk issues may bother the development of the company, and risks arrive when a company designs a program to run in the organization. The company can suffer from a lack of decision in the leadership, and they may lack findings, or unrealistic timeline can create risks in the organizations. The company runs the program to achieve the corporate goal, and it has been seen that the company gets insufficient resources and risk management estimates the threats and opportunities. The modern era of business has embraced technology and the company is bringing innovation in the business model. The technology is rapidly changing dynamically, and it is changing the existing business model at the same time. It is creating risks and the risk management must look at it. As opined by Koutoupiset al. (2018), risk management is using advanced technology to assess the risk and to get the objectives of risk management. There are possibilities of acceleration of the risk factors and sometimes technology gets vulnerable and it may crush all the data. Traditional approaches focus on risk oversights and it gets vulnerable. As opined by Orihara and Esdhraghi (2019), risk management should estimate the threats and it should have the ability to make an assessment of the impact of threats.
Theories and model
Risk management is a systematic approach. As opined by Panda and Leepsa (2017), the agency theory related to risk management depicts that there are possibilities of conflict between shareholders, management, and debt holders. The organization can suffer from different kinds of risks that are hurdles to the development of any organization. These risks occur due to various factors and reasons which are precisely comprehended via agency theory. Agency theory is the mode to understand and fathom the relationship between the agents and the principles of the organizations. The agents are precisely the main figures in carrying the business forward by carrying out the business transactions and seek the best representation for the interest of the company for eventual progress. With the huge responsible task and seek to represent the principles, the agents should not consider their self-interest. But in some cases, the inefficient work might lead to the lifting of conflict between the organization authorities and the agents, with the accentuation of economic loss, entrepreneur hardships, and principal-agent problem.
As opined by Alawattegama (2018), Moncler’s ERM model provides coverage to all kinds of risks that can occur in the organization. The ERM model categorizes the possible risks of the organization. Strategic refers to the lack of coping abilities of the company with the rapidly changing demands and the environment with the hard competitors. Business risks are those of which deal with the group operation, structural organization, as well as control systems with the reporting process. Compliance risks are those that arise due to improper conduct and violation of the laws and the code of conduct of the company. Financial risks are those that occur in the financial sectors, including transactions, foreign exchange, cash flow, and interest rates, and all those related to financial sectors.
Discussion on the primary and secondary research undertaken
Discussion on primary research undertaken
The primary data collection method has helped to collect relevant and accurate information on Mark & Spencer and the issues that the company is facing for a very long time. The primary data collection method is all about collecting first-hand information, where the ethicality of the data gets enhanced. The primary data collection is mainly done followed by the core features of the Qualitative technique about the theme of discussion (Moser and Korstjens, 2017).
In this study, 3 managers from Mark & Spencer have been chosen who can assuredly provide all the needful information that can further fulfill all the criteria of the study. Hence, a qualitative technique has been chosen to collect data from the managers that have been possible for arranging an interview session with them. However, a methodological design has been chosen that has helped to analyze and make an accurate design of the report. Besides this, the convenience non-probability sampling method has been used as the data collected from the managers of the company were conveniently and efficiently available. To analyze the collected data more effectively, a Descriptive research design has been chosen that has helped to analyze the data systematically and accurately.
Interview Questions
3 managers of Mark & Spencer
Question 1
What are the reasons for which Mark & Spencer tends to make bad decisions? Do you think the organizational leader needs to be stronger?
| Manager 1 | Manager 2 | Manager 3 |
| Yes, we are trying to make our organizational leaders stronger by holding weekly meetings and through an effective communication process | We do not make bad decisions. However, the main problem with our company is that we focus on providing flexibility to all | Our organizational leader is much efficient, but we face issues regarding the less innovative culture of the company |
Question 2
From various kinds of news networks, it has been heard that M&S does not communicate with its customers? What light would you shed on this fact?
| Manager 1 | Manager 2 | Manager 3 |
| We try to communicate with the customers, but they always seem not to be responsive | We are tracking down the issues and challenges that Mark & Spencer faces regarding in making communication with customers | Before hearing some irrelevant news, you need to investigate both our internal and external business process because we have a great relationship with our customers |
Question 3
How can employee-based time management be improved in the organization that can make them invest more time in the stores of M&S?
| Manager 1 | Manager 2 | Manager 3 |
| We are making a schedule of task by setting up a deadline that can improve our employee-based time management | Our company is avoiding multitasking and encouraging our employees to start work as early as possible | We will hold meetings with the employees and make them understand the importance of time management so that they could prioritize their work |
Question 4
How is the company trying to improve its supply chain management? Is the management concerned enough to increase store numbers and focus on future innovative steps?
| Manager 1 | Manager 2 | Manager 3 |
| We have selected a supply chain technology company named Zetas that is helping us to enhance our supply chain visibility and collaboration | For Zetec Olympus, we can increase our store numbers at a worldwide level and moved for further innovation | I am sure that this platform will help our company to supply fresh food across the globe and will further give rise to a collaborative approach |
Discussion on the secondary research undertaken.
The secondary research for this report was primarily conducted to extrapolate valuable qualitative and quantitative information from various literary and statistical materials related to the themes that had been pre-selected for the literature review. As opined by Iencaet al. (2018), the secondary data revealed a variety of evidence on the concept of corporate governance and risk management issues related to the topic, which have been already published, peer-reviewed, or otherwise provide some authentic data. These act as valuable reference material that led the direction of the literature review and the areas that the primary research must focus on. The majority of the secondary research was conducted through the internet. A list of news articles dated back to 10 years and until the present date were collected, presenting a discussion on the topic of corporate governance and the governance issues that were faced by Marks and Spencer in the past. The published articles and reports from the company of Marks and Spencer were also collected to review the organizational structure, financial reports, and administrative organization of the company. These reports were reviewed in alignment with the range of acquired literary information on the factors and characteristics of corporate governance and risk management complications related to corporate governance. These secondary data were various journal articles, books, governmental statements, and mission statements of the values of Marks and Spencer. The knowledge and understanding gathered from these qualitative sources of data were reviewed and compared with the company reports and statistical data that was collected to derive the corporate governance complications for Marks and Spencer and the possible risk management approaches that the company can focus on to improve.
On sorting through various news articles and publications related to the corporate governance of the company Marks and Spencer. The articles stated that the company has been engrossed in struggles of corporate governance after the board of directors neglected the very basic codes of corporate governance and opted for combining the highly important roles of chief executive and executive chairman, offering the appointment to the then chief executive officer for the company, Sir Stuart Rose (Ft.com, 2021). The implications of violating these corporate governance standards led to far-reaching impact primarily upsetting the small level shareholders of the company owing to the emergence of a significant interest problem. The negative implications of combining these higher-level positions were further suggested in ‘The ‘Theory of Justice’ by John Rawls who critically analyzed the case of Marks and Spencer and the impact of the company in applying ‘Original Position’ (Gališanka, 2019). This study illustrated the negative implications on stakeholders that were created by combining the positions of chief executive and executive chairman and thereby refutes the effective application of the original position as stated in the study and verifies the threat of corporate governance complication for Marks and Spencer. On reviewing the wider implications of corporate governance under overall UK companies, which present that companies are ignorant from being effectively transparent whereby the auditing committees, regulators, banks, and governments remain unaware of the totality of corporate governance management and awareness of all companies. This leads to implications of corrupt practices that ultimately lead to massive bank write-downs, heavy destabilization of the capital markets and complications of efficiency and inaccuracy for the auditing committees, and most significantly disregards fairness for all stakeholders.
The critical review is followed by the result of the research.
Ineffective leadership in M&S
It has been identified that the leadership of M&S has been insignificant as they have been inefficient in terms of taking constructive decisions for overall organizational development. It has been an important factor for the organization in developing organizational sustainability to a proper extent. As stated by the views of Alsbury et al. (2018) leadership in an organization needs to be prominent and disciplined enough in improving organizational sustainability for a long-term period. Based on this factor, it can be identified that the leadership in M&S has been weak and it needs to improve for more constructive development. On the contrary, Kapucu and Ustun (2018) mentioned that efficient management in an organization is the most vital factor as employee performance depends upon the managers. Manager 1 has mentioned that they are taking steps in terms of organizing weekly meetings, whereas the second manager exclaimed that they face leadership issues as they provide flexibility to the employee base. Manager 3 has mentioned that there is less innovation in M&S, and it is trying to improve organisational innovation to a significant extent, which can bring success to their organisation as a whole.
Communication with customers
Productive customer communication maintains an efficient customer relationship based on which the retention of the overall customer base occurs. The CRM of M&S has been inefficient in communicating with the customers based on which their sustainability can be improved. According to de Vries et al. (2020), development in customer communication helps in increasing organizational customer relationships for a longer period based on which long term stability in the market can be achieved. This is necessary for the CRM as increasing customer communication and solving their issues helps in developing long term relationships with them. The first manager has mentioned that it is the customer’s fault as they are not responsive. On the contrary, the second manager mentioned that they are tracking about the issues and challenges which the customers are facing for providing them proper solutions related to their issues. Lastly, the third manager mentioned that they have productive relationships with customers and retention rate is decent in M&S. It can be expected that the development in M&S can occur as the second manager has been efficient in identifying the issues of the customers other than ignoring the issue like manager 3.
Improvement in time management
Time management has been an important factor based on which organisational sustainability depends. It has been identified that the employees do not work in the organisation based on organisational timings and lack of employee engagement is found. As mentioned by Thompson et al. (2020), implementing discipline in an organisation increases the efficiency of the employees based on which the overall organisational collectiveness depends. The managers of M&S have provided information about this aspect, highlighting the main reason based on which the actual information about the organisation has been understood. The first manager has mentioned that they will be trying to improve this situation by providing deadlines for their work allocations. On the contrary, the second manager has ensured that the organisation is trying to manage delay in task completion by guiding the employees to work from the first hour based on which their overall improvement will occur. Lastly, manager 3 mentioned that they will be organising meetings and discussing the reason based on which they are facing issues related to delay in work accomplishment.
Significance of innovation in organisation
Lack of innovation has been prominent in M&S, based on which the overall organisational performance is decreasing to a proper extent. Lack of supply chain issue has been identified in the organisation based on which efficient technology needs to be implemented for optimised supply chain management systems. As stated by Andrusivet al. (2020), development in innovation is the primary aspect which every organisation needs to concentrate for overall organisational improvement. The first manager has mentioned that M&S will be partnering with Zetesbased on which their improvement in suppliers can occur. On the other hand, the second manager also mentioned that Zetec Olympus has been partnering with M&S based on which their supply in the worldwide market will increase to a productive extent. Lastly, manager 3 also focused that they will be improving their service as the partnership is turning out to be productive, leading to overall development in organisational performance.
Most of these reports and the referenced literary sources were mainly acquired via the internet. To appropriately sort data relevant to the research, certain keywords were used to make the search more specific. These keywords were corporate governance, annual reports, Marks and Spencer, risk management, issues, corporate strategy, companies, theories, models. To initially gain a comprehension of the current issues and extent of research on the topic of corporate governance and related risk management issues, a list of online interviews, talk shows, online business classes, and business reviews were studied. To only review authentic data with most current implications, the search paradigm was filtered to only selected materials from these data sources that were relevant to a timeline of maximum 7 years, were peer-reviewed articles, new articles, verified company statements and represented valid business sector or education relevant personalities. Access to books and journals was also acquired through physical libraries and sections of business archives, which provided the research with a significant amount of valuable data, and a considerable portion of time for the research was concentrated on studying, documenting, and reviewing information from these data sources. Budiharso and Tarman (2020) states that to conduct a quality check and continuously verify the secondary data results being addressed in the research work, the secondary data processing document was peer-reviewed by a professor in business education from a verified university in the locality and subsequently previewed by clients from Marks and Spencer. In relation to primary data collection, the suggested method applied for the research was through conducting an interview. This interview was concentrated on 3 representatives working at Marks and Spencer and appointed in high or medium-level managerial positions. The interview results were recorded and documented, and thereby, after qualitative analysis of these results, a range of new implications to corporate governance specific to the company, the underlying impact on the staff and operations internally, and possible approaches to effectively mitigate these issues of risks to corporate governance.
The secondary research assimilated from various annual reports and statistics accessed from business archives and the issued statements of Marks and Spencer reveal that the company embarks on a target assembly of 30% of female representatives for the company, however, it is witnessed that the company is yet to achieve this feat and add another acclaim to its attributes of holding value for its diverse range of stakeholders (Corporate.marksandspencer.com, 2020). To compensate for this lack, it was found that the company regulated focus in promoting and supporting the progress of its female candidates in top levels and positions of the organization and management. Undertaking more risk management approaches to corporate governance, it is suggested that companies can promote and develop its strategy of objective criteria used in making appointments for job roles to employees, and thereby include policies and standards to allow inclusion of a wider diversity of talents, demographic backgrounds, and professional experiences. In relation to the instance of corporate governance compliance issue at Marks and Spencer related to double succession and combining if high level administrative positions, researchers interviewed through news articles and various journals suggest that global business sectors are currently facing a large-scale impact of ‘talent vacuum’ among the available recruits and trainees (Theguardian.com, 2021). Facing this issue, Marks and Spencer has not been able to sufficiently facilitate its departments with competent and qualified human resources. This has been a major cause that led to the current necessity of introducing a double succession despite the criticism of violations to corporate governance codes, to effectively sustain the company. This can be identified as the determined risk management approach undertaken by the company to comply with the then requirements of support for M&S that essentially necessitated a competent leader with experience, value for accountability and effective, successful decision making. It will help to develop and make improvement in the business operation of M&S.
Towards engaging in corporate governance initiatives, Marks and Spencer’s also embarks on approaches relevant to the environmental context and thereby its level 3 of the sustainability strategy that was launched in 2014, presented the objectives to developing its energy efficiency by 50% by the year of 2020 (Corporate.marksandspencer.com, 2021). The company has also failed to achieve this mark, which is confirmed from the annual and sustainability reports of the company for the year of 2020. In this case, Marks and Spencer is suggested to revitalize its target to increase the rate of use of small-scale renewables to 50%, which has been a major factor in realizing its goals to reduce its carbon footprint for the massive number of locations and operations carried out by the company.
Recommendations and action plan:
In case of facilitating effective measures of satisfaction and security for the lower-level shareholders, which had been stipulated to be disregarded by Marks and Spencer’s owing to its double succession process to integrate the roles of chief executive and executive chairman, it is suggested to retrieve stringent policies and administrative regulations to effectively relay a standard of corporate governance. The company can include new temporary provisions to the position through corporate governance principles and standards that can effectively limit and control the authority and decision-making powers of the newly appointed chairman. This has been proposed as the necessary strategy to implicate a stable sense of corporate governance and retain the trust and dedication of the stakeholders, while also compensating for the lack of talented individuals to fill up leadership and managerial roles.
Towards engaging initiatives in increasing the diversity quotient of its workforce, Marks and Spencer and introduce programs to train and offer job roles to diversified classes of individuals available from educational institutions. The firm can also embark on introducing programs to avail roles for homeless and disabled people, which can effectively develop its standards of corporate governance and showcase significant value among its customer base, which has considerably decreased due to increasing competition.
The company needs to take possible initiatives to make technology-based innovation by hiring more employees in every branch of the company at a worldwide level that can further help to gain a competitive advantage. As Marks & Spencer face issues in relation to making digital innovation, it needs to focus on the implementation of corporate strategy that is adopting digitalisation by going with a sustainable partnership with True, which is a retail and consumer investment firm. It will help the company to make retail-based specific technological innovation. Followed by the answers of the managers in Mark & Spencer, the company needs to be very specific regarding its leadership roles. In this case, the higher authority of the organisation needs to go through the qualifications and abilities of the employees, who are capable enough to be efficient leaders. The employees, who will be selected for leadership roles, need to be kept in a probationary period and must provide training. It will make them motivated and they will gain confidence, which will lower down the flow of taking bad-decision. The company needs to hold on to its reputation among the retail industry by making innovation and fulfilling the needs and demands of the customers and employees. It can be possible for Mark & Spencer by providing high-quality products at an affordable price and changing the targeting potential customers range, which always remains 33-55 (Marksandspencer.com, 2021). Besides this, the company needs to handle its multi-channel from fashion to food by taking care of its AI system that can be possible if more number of employees can be hired. The leaders and the higher authority of the company need to hold campaigns and programs that will enhance the communication process. Based on this strategy, which further compliments the core features of the PR (Public Relation) process, the customers and the employees will get the scope to make interactions with each other (Meng and Berger, 2019). It will help to lower down the level of business news that gets published against the company as it can affect the brand image of Mark & Spencer. For the issue of time management in the company, the higher authority needs to encourage the employees and staff members to install Todoist, which is a cloud-based service as it has apps for every major platform. It will help to manage their given work within the given time. This app will help to increase the productivity rate of the company and will give them a scope to organise the work in an effective and professional way. Hence, the employees will be more effective towards their given work and like this, the customers will also remain satisfied. The company needs to increase its store numbers from 76 from 150 and from 32 cities to 50 cities so that customers are able to grab the products and services of Mark and Spencer (Marksandspencer.com, 2021). It will further help the company to manage its SCM process by connecting with Zetes as it will enhance the visibility and flexibility of the business operation of M&S.
Action Plan and time required
| Actions to be taken | Time required |
| Hiring 20 more skilful and knowledgeable employees | 3 months |
| Keeping the eligible candidates in a probationary period so that they could become efficient leaders of the firm. | 7 months |
| Mark and Spencer need to be more efficient in dealing with AI digital-based technology by going into partnerships with Elite, which is one of the known and famous dealers and distributors | 8 months |
| Holding meetings with the employees and leaders of the company on a weekly basis by mailing them in an individual manner about the information of the meetings | Every Friday after lunch |
| Arranging programs and campaigns to engage customers and employees with each other along | In every 6 months |
| Making all the employees and staff members use the Todoist, cloud-based service by the help of the held meeting in the company | 2 days per week for one month |
| Maintaining a good bond with Zetes so that the supply chain management process of the company can get improved. It can be possible through making continuous communications with the company through mail or phone. | Ongoing-process |
| Expanding the stores in number and at a worldwide level | 2 years |
Table 1: Action Plan for Marks & Spencer
(Source: Created by the author)
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