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1. Strategic Management By Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract.......................................................................................................................................................................... 3 (A) Introduction to organization .................................................................................................................................... 4 (B) development of strategic choice ............................................................................................................................ 7 (C) development of appropriate evaluation criteria ...................................................................................................... 9 Rational for reply .................................................................................................................................................... 12 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................... 12 References ................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

3. ABSTRACT strategic management has started to play very important role in the growth and development of any business enterprise. It is only because of effective strategies that business are able to gain high market share and increase their sales. Marks and Spencer is one of the most renowned clothing retail which operates at global level. Now the brand is facing issues related growth and expansion. As per the generic strategies defined by Micheal Porter the brand is available with three strategic choices which are cost leadership, focus and differentiation. After carrying out the SAFe evaluation of all three choice it can be recommended that the strategy of cost leadership will be very effective and suitable for Marks and Spencer. This strategy will help the company to increase its market share by attracting more and more customer by its low prices strategy. SAMPLE ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT HELP KINDLY CONTACT AT: HELP@GLOBALASSIGNMENTHELP.COM Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

4. (A) INTRODUCTION TO ORGANIZATION Strategic management is defined as the process in which a business continuously plans, monitors and analyses all those tasks which are essential to consider in order to meet its aims and objectives. In the present world, level of competition among organizations is increasing day by day. Therefore, businesses are required to manage all their strategies effectively in order to gain competitive advantage (Strategic Management- Meaning and Important Concepts, 2013). Business enterprise needs to identify and evaluate various internal and external forces which can affect their operations and activities. The present report is based on Marks and Spencer Plc. which is a multinational retailer having headquarter in London. Further, established in the year 1884, the brand is expertise in selling luxury food items, clothing and other products (Marks and Spencer, 2016). This organization has a workforce of more than 83000 employees and it operations are carried out at global level. Marks and Spencer’s key strategic purpose is to become a leading global multinational retailer. The brand is affected by various kinds of external environment factors to a great extent (Ashill and Frederikson 2013). While carrying out its operations, company is affected by different political changes which take place in UK. In addition to this, factors such as Europeans Integration's and Free trade agreements have provided ample amount of opportunities to brand related to growth and development. Other than this, constantly changing political climate and government policies has negatively affected the operations of Marks and Spencer. Changes in economic conditions also have great impact on the brand. This includes sensitive and changing interest rates as well as economic recessions. Increasing rate of interest has led to rise in the overall cost of brand. In addition to this, it has also resulted in low sales as people in the country are left with very low amount of money to spend. UK has become the hub of E-commerce for places such as Europe which means that brand sales is not only limited to local customers but it also attracts people from different places of the world (Blumentritt, 2006). Along with this, changes in export rate have also made its negative impact on the brand. Global activities such as the attack of 9/11 and recession can be termed as some of the major economic factors which have affected the sales and profitability of Marks and Spencer. Apart from this, social factors also have impact on the organization in various forms. Every business enterprise operates with a sole objective of satisfying the need and demand of people in the market. This means that it is a common objective of all the businesses that operate in a particular marketplace. In order to survive in the stage of intense competition, companies such as Marks and Spencer is required to response quickly to the ever changing needs of all its customers. The brand has donated a lot of money in social cause and charities (Bryson, 2012). This has developed a sense of satisfaction among people in the market. Along with this, it has also resulted in enhancing the brand image of Marks and Spencer. Till now, the organization has been successful in meeting the changing need and preferences of all its customers. One of the main impacts of social factors is that the brand is required to make changes in its existing products and services so that it can meet the changing needs of all its customers. This increases the overall cost of operations in case of Marks and Spencer. Innovations and technological up-gradations have also effected organization in various positive aspects (Forman and Hunt, 2005). Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

5. Further, it can be stated that with the help of technology, Marks and Spencer is able to communicate with all its customers and operate in more cost effective manner. In last few years, government and other regulatory bodies have forced businesses that are operating in UK to lower down the impact of their operations and activities on environment. This has also increased the overall cost of majority of firms operating in the country. Marks and Spencer took it very seriously and made changes in its existing plans and processes. Impact of this was that the brand has become a carbon neutral retailer. Marks and Spencer is also affected by the legal changes which happen in UK (Keller, Parameswaran and Jacob, 2011). Organization is required to make sure that it strictly adhere to all the laws and regulations related to business activities. The recent lawsuit with Interflora has affected the entire brand image and profitability of Marks and Spencer. In addition to this, plans developed for shake up of consumer laws have made the entire operations and activities of brand more complex. After carrying out the analysis of Marks and Spencer through Porter five force model, it can be stated that competition between rivalries is very high. Organization operates in two main sectors which are clothing and food. It is facing intense competition from organizations such as Sainsbury and Tesco in food industry. On the other side of this, Gap and Next Plc. have emerged as two of the biggest rivals of Marks and Spencer in the clothing sector. Due to intense level of competition in both the sectors, bargaining power of buyers in case of Marks and Spencer is also very high (Kotler and Armstrong, 2005). One of the major rationales behind this is that there are many players in the market which means that customers are available with wide variety of choices. Producers in this sectors are very few and concentrated. This clearly means that bargaining power of suppliers is very low in the context of Marks and Spencer. Threat of new entry can be considered as moderate as there are no entry barriers but the investment cost is somewhat high (Nandakumar, Ghobadian and O'Regan, 2011). Threat of substitute is also very high for Marks and Spencer as there are many retailers which are offering same products at cheaper prices through importing them from other countries. SAMPLE ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT HELP KINDLY CONTACT AT: HELP@GLOBALASSIGNMENTHELP.COM After carrying out SWOT analysis of Marks and Spencer, it can be stated that availability of high and excellent quality of products is one of its biggest strengths. Further, the brand has highly motivated and skilled employees which help it to gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. Company has been operating successful from more than 100 years which is also its major strength. Marks and Spencer’s major weakness is that it relies very Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

6. heavily on all the British suppliers. Most of its competitors such as Gap and Next Plc. have already started working with other foreign suppliers which has lower down their dependency on all the British supplies (Parvinen, Tikkanen and Aspara, 2007). Another weakness of Marks and Spencer is that brand is very poor in marketing and advertisement of all its products and services. In the modern era, when advertisement and promotion have become important tools for the success of organization, Marks and Spencer do not invest high money and efforts on these tools. Customer service of brand is also very poor which has emerged as it’s another weakness. This has also resulted in encouraging some customers to switch towards products and services offered by other market players. In terms of opportunities, it can be stated that brand has an opportunity to introduce e-business which will help in increasing sales and profitability (Taylor, 2012). Many retail organizations have started using online platform to market and sold their products and services. Marks and Spencer has gained trust of all its customers in terms of innovation and high quality. This means that organization has an opportunity to expand its business operations in home and beauty products. This will directly result in increasing the overall market share and profits of Marks and Spencer. Other than this, brand also as opportunity to focus on particular market segments which can be done on the basis of age and gender. It can come up with innovations in clothes for teenagers and kids. High level of competition which is faced by Marks and Spencer can be considered as one of its major threats (Wheelen and Hunger, 2011). Addressing and satisfying changing needs of customers in the market is also another threat which can affect the brand. On the other side of this, with the emergence of online retail stores, number of customers visiting physical stores has also declined. Marks and Spencer is required to work on all its strengths and opportunities in order to gain high market share and sales. In order to understand the strategic capabilities of Marks and Spencer, model of Threshold and distinctive resource/capabilities is applied. It has been found that brand is using all its external and internal resources in an appropriate manner. Internal resources such as employees are very satisfied and highly motivated (Wright, Paroutis and Blettner, 2013). It also makes changes in its existing plans, policies and strategies in order to compile with changing business environment. Core competencies can be defined as those features or special characteristics which make one company differ from another. High brand value, skilled workforce and 100 years of operating in business are some of the major competencies which make Marks and Spencer differ from other market players. (B) DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGIC CHOICE Every business organization is required to develop various kind of strategies related to growth and expansion. Marks and Spencer operates at global level and needs to define different type of strategies (Allen and et. al., 2007). One of the core advantage of developing a business strategy is that it helps organizations in retaining their customers. Business operating in fashion industry are facing very intense competition as there are many players in market. The customer in this sector are left with wide variety of options available with. Therefore, brands such as Marks and Spencer needs to develop strategies at regular interval in order to meet its customer needs and stay Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

7. competitive in market (Room, n.d). Along with this, strategies also assist Marks and Spencer to allocate and manage all its resources in effective manner. Resources such as goodwill in international market, customer base and all its logistics. Some of the effective generic strategies for Marks and Spencer is mentioned below as:  Cost leadership strategy- As per the cost leadership strategy, Marks and Spencer will be required to lower down its overall cost of operations. One of the main objective behind Porter's generic strategy is that it assist organizations to get competitive advantage in market place. According to the cost leadership strategy, Marks and Spencer can achieve competitive advantage by using two methods (McLoughlin, 2009). The first one is by reducing its overall cost of operations in order to enhance its profit margin. Marks and Spencer can charge arrearage prices as per the industry standards. Other than this, the organization can also offer its products and services in low prices to all its customers. As compared to what other market players are offering, Marks and Spencer can adopt low prices strategy. At the time of adopting this strategy, the organization needs to minimize its overall cots of operations (Gilligan, 2012). Marks and Spencer will be required to make sure that it become leader market in terms of cost. This means that the brand will offer products and services at lowest prices in the entire strategy. Further it can be stated that before adapting this strategy, the brand will need to ensure that it has the confidence and capabilities to become market leader (Akan and et. al., 2006). Along with this, Marks and Spencer will require to invest huge amount of human and financial resources in technology so that it can lower down its operational cost. Other than this, the brand will also need to make sure that it posses effective and efficient system of logistics. This means that the process of procurement and supply of raw material and products needs to be appropriate (Sadler, 2003). Cost of operation cannot be lower down if the cost of material, labour and other facilities is high. Therefore the organization will also required to cut down its cost associate with material, labour and other facilities. SAMPLE ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT HELP KINDLY CONTACT AT: HELP@GLOBALASSIGNMENTHELP.COM  Differentiation strategy- According to the strategy of differentiation, businesses are required to offer products and services which are unique and different from what other market players are offering (Allen and Helms, 2006). In the present scenario, the retain clothing and food industry in which Marks and Spencer is operating posses intense rivalry. It can be also stated that almost all the organizations that are Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

8. operating in food and clothing industry offer same kind of products and services. Therefore, Marks and Spencer will be required to provide market with unique and differentiate products (Pretorius, 2008). This is not an easy task as the brand will face various kind of issues and challenges. Good and effective marketing research is required to develop new and unique products. In case if Marks and Spencer adopts this strategy then it will need to carry out extensive market research related to unique and different demand of people. Other than this, it will have to make sure that it posses the ability to deliver high end products and services to all its customers (Pretorius, 2008).  Focus strategy- As per this strategy, businesses are required to focus on need and demand of niche market. Marks and Spencer if adopt this strategy with an objective of getting competitive advantage then it will need to make sure that it is aware of dynamic of that particular niche market. In addition to this, the brand will also require to make sure that it deliver unique products which can meet the needs of people which belong to that particular niche market (Nandakumar, Ghobadian and O'Regan, 2011). It can be stated that at the time of adopting this strategy, Marks and Spencer will need to link it with other generic strategies which are of cost leadership and differentiation. Focus strategies alone cannot help the brand to achieve competitive advantage in this situation of intense competition. (C) DEVELOPMENT OF APPROPRIATE EVALUATION CRITERIA Marks and Spencer is required to be very careful at the time of choosing and implementing any kind of strategy. It is also suggested that before implementation, evaluation of strategies by using an appropriate criteria is more suitable. Marks and Spencer can use the SAFe criteria for evaluating each and every strategy of Porter generic model. According to this criteria, the brand will have three main parameters which includes suitability, acceptability and feasible. One of the main reason why this criteria is suggested is that it contains various aspects of evaluating a particular strategy (Leitner and Güldenberg, 2010). The evaluation of all three strategies of generic model of porter is mentioned below as: Cost leadership strategy- If Marks and Spencer adopts this strategy then it will need to lower down its entire cost of operations so that it can offer products and services at low cost. After carrying out SAFe analysis, it can be stated that this strategy will be safe in every aspects. The brand will be required to only lower down its overall operational cost with the help of improving its techniques and process. On the other side of this, it can be stated that the generic strategy of cost leadership will be accepted by stakeholder easily (Porter, 2008). With the help of cutting down the cost of operation, Marks and Spencer will be able to enhance its profit margin. The brand consist of some internal and external stakeholders which gets affected by strategies and activities of Marks and Spencer. By adapting low cost strategies, stakeholders such as investors will get high return against their investment made. On the other hand, employees will become more productive as they will be able to enhance their skills and knowledge by learning new tools and technology. Customers will be satisfied as they will receive products and services of Marks and Spencer at very low prices as compared to what other brands in market are offering. Other than this, cost leadership strategy Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

9. can be also termed feasible as Marks and Spencer wont be face too much issues and challenges (Parnell, 2006). In terms of practical implementation of cost leadership strategy, the brand will need to make changes in its existing technology in order to lower down its cost. Along with this, there will be some modification required in context of labour and other facilities to cut down cost. SAMPLE ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT HELP KINDLY CONTACT AT: HELP@GLOBALASSIGNMENTHELP.COM Differentiation- If Marks and Spencer adopts the strategy of differentiation then, it will need to offer products and services which are other unique and creative. After carrying out SAFe evaluation of differentiation strategy it can be stated that as per this strategy intensive market research will be required to carry out. To a certain extent, differentiation will have some sort of advantage and disadvantages. It can be explained that if the company meet the unique and different needs of people in market then it can enhance its sales and profitability easily (Wheelen and Hunger, 2011). On the other side of this, it can be also stated that the needs and demand of people in market changes at regular intervals. If Marks and Spencer manufacture some new and unique products and at the same time if needs of people changes then it will become very problematic for the company to sell those products. In the criteria of adaptability some of the stakeholders such as investors may not agree to use this strategy (Keller, Parameswaran and Jacob, 2011). The reason behind this is that at the time of investing in in development of new products, the investors may find it little bit risky. According to the criteria of feasibility, implementation of this strategy is not practically possible for company like Marks and Spencer (Gilligan, 2012). The brand operates in two major industry which id clothing and food. To a certain extents the need and demand of all the customers of these two industries is same. Therefore, even if Marks and Spencer carry out extensive market research and find out the unique needs of customers, it is not possible for such a big brand to satisfy those needs. The rational behind this is that customers with common needs are in high volume and people with unique needs will be very few. Focus- If Marks and Spencer adopts this strategy of focus then it will need to satisfy the need and demand of people in more niche market. It is a global brand which operates in many countries (Allen and Helms, 2006). After carrying out SAFe evaluation, it can be stated that this strategy will not be appropriate for organization such as Marks and Spencer (Blumentritt, 2006). One of the main reason behind this is that as per this strategy, the organization will be required to lower down its offerings. This means rather than satisfying needs of common people in market, it will be required to satisfy the specific needs of few customers (Pretorius, 2008). Thus, it can be stated that this strategy is not suitable for global brands such as Marks and Spencer. On the other hand, stakeholders of the brand wont accept this strategy as lowering down market share will result in low profits. This strategy is also not feasible because Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

10. Marks and Spencer has millions of customer worldwide and it is not possible to loose such kind of customer base for the one which has limited customers. SAMPLE ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT HELP KINDLY CONTACT AT: HELP@GLOBALASSIGNMENTHELP.COM (D)Selection of appropriate strategy for Marks and Spencer One of the best strategy for growth and expansion for brand like Marks and Spencer will be of cost leadership. After carrying out the SAFe evaluation of the three generic strategies determined by Michael Porter, it has been analysed that cost leadership is more appropriate strategy. In both the industry which is food and clothing, Marks and Spencer is facing very intense competition. The rivalry among business in this industry is so intense that changes in prices and strategies of one particular firm has an direct impact on all its competitors. The pricing strategy of all the firms in this industry is same (Leitner and Güldenberg, 2010). Further another issue is that companies are not able to retain their customers as the there are wide variety of options available with them. If Marks and Spencer adopts the strategy of cost leadership then it will have to lower down its entire cost of production. This is not a tough task for the brand and can be done easily by implementing new and latest technology. There will be several benefits to Marks and Spencer if it adopts the cost leadership strategy (Blumentritt, 2006). One of the major among those will be increase in customer base. By offering same kind of products and services which other players in market are offering, the brand can easily attract new customers and retain its old one (Kotler and Armstrong, 2005). In addition to this, it will be also able to steal the customers of its competitors. Another advantage of cost leadership strategy to Marks and Spencer is that it will help in lowering down employee turnover. In order to reduce cost of operations, the brand will required to implement new technology (Taylor, 2012). This means the existing employees will need more training and development sessions to become aware of use of that technology. This will enhance skills and knowledge of Marks and Spencer all employees. This will directly result in creating sense of satisfaction among all employees and will motivate them. Therefore it can be stated that it is one of the most effective and suitable strategy for organization such as Marks and Spencer. S Rational for reply The rationale behind development of cost leadership strategy for Marks and Spencer is that in every aspects, this strategy is more appropriate and suitable. Further at the time of implementing cost leadership strategy, the organization will nor face that much issues and challenges. Other than this, there are several benefits associated with the adaptation of this strategy (Allen and et. al., 2007). One of the major problem which has been faced by Marks and Spencer is that it is not able to attract new customers and expand itself in market because of intense Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

11. competition. This problem can be solved easily by offering products and services at prices lower than what other market players are offering. Quality products at low cost will attract more and more customers. therefore, low cost strategy will result in increasing market share, sales and profitability of Marks and Spencer. CONCLUSION From the above report it can be conclude that in order to survive in this stage of intense competition, management of strategies has become very important for organization. Marks and Spencer is a global brand that operates in many countries of the world. Therefore, it is required to develop effective strategies at regular intervals. Food and clothing are the two main industry in which the brand operates. It can be concluded that in order to stay competitive and expand its market share, cost leadership strategy will be more suitable for Marks and Spencer. This strategy will, help the organization to become leader in terms of cost and gain competitive advantage over other market players. SAMPLE ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT HELP KINDLY CONTACT AT: HELP@GLOBALASSIGNMENTHELP.COM Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.

12. REFERENCES Books and journals Akan, O. and et. al., 2006. Critical tactics for implementing Porter's generic strategies. Journal of Business Strategy. 27(1). pp.43-53. Allen, R.S. and Helms, M.M., 2006. Linking strategic practices and organizational performance to Porter's generic strategies. Business Process Management Journal. 12(4). pp.433-454. Allen, R.S., and et. al., 2007. Porter's generic strategies: An exploratory study of their use in Japan.Journal of Business Strategies. 24(1). pp.69. Ashill, J.N. and Frederikson M., 2013. Strategic marketing planning: a grounded investigation. European Journal of Marketing. 37(3/4). pp.430 – 460. Blumentritt, T., 2006. Integrating strategic management and budgeting. Journal of Business Strategy. 27(6). pp.73– 79. Bryson, M. J., 2012. A strategic planning process for organizations. Long range Planning. 21(1). pp.73-81. SAMPLE ON STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT HELP KINDLY CONTACT AT: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Toll Free No. +44 203 3555 345 Mail Us: help@globalassignmenthelp.com Global Assignment Help provides best assignment writing services to college and university students at an affordable price.