Internal and External Company Review

The CSR aims are provide "inspiration, in touch, integrity and innovation" (Marks and Spencer, 2014) to stakeholders and in 2006, "the company made 100 commitments related to issues on supply chains, operations and products to be achieved by 2020. Internally, Plan A helped 75,000 M&S employees and 2000 suppliers see the links between activities for example taking trans fats out of food, reducing energy use and promoting Fairtrade. Externally it allowed us to demonstrate that M&S is committed to playing a leading role on sustainability" (Calver, 2009).
             Within this report, analysis into Marks and Spencer's will be carried out, investigating the external environment and its affects, the internal environment, their business level strategy of differentiation, the company's financial performance over the past 5 years and their corporate strategy of growth and retrench within the different markets. .
             2.0 External Environment .
             Demographics, a key segment of the general environment affecting the businesses industry, can refer to the characteristics of a population and how they age (Keith Halcro, 2014). Marks and Spencer's main generic consumer sees mid/upper class females around the twenty to sixties mark in which most show a professional background or an amount of disposable income. However, as their customers are growing older, the fashion styles produced by the company are not meeting their wanting needs. "The problem with M&S, he says, is that it has the same customers as it had 10-20 years ago, but they are 10-20 years older" (Neate, 2014). In this case, demographics are having a negative external influence over the company as they are making products too young, not following consumer wants or key fashion trends. This is shown in "a second consecutive decline in annual profits as UK sales fell 1% overall" (Brook Intelligence Centre, 2013).
             Economically, the recession showed Marks and Spencer carrying out additional promotions "to give their customers better value without sacrificing their quality or ethical credentials" (Sobhi, 2009).