Marketing Management British Multinational Company

Question: Discuss about theMarketing Managementfor British Multinational Company. Answer: Introduction The report illustrates the description of a company in details along with its SWOT analysis and competitor analysis. The company chosen for the study is Marks Spencer. It is a British multinational company that is present in Singapore. The study will describe different aspects of Marks and Spencer in the Singapore market. The background of the organization is described in details along with the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of the company in the Singapore market. Apart from that, a detailed description of the competitor analysis of Marks and Spencers is explained so that the company can formulate strategies in order to earn reputation and revenue from the market of Singapore. Background of the Organization Marks and Spencer plc is a British multinational company which is headquartered in London. It is a public limited company, that deals with many retail businesses such as apparels, home furnishings, food, groceries, hospitality items, lingerie, etc. The company serves worldwide along with Singapore. It has a 852 stores in United Kingdom along with 217 stores in international locations. The aim of the company is to provide high quality products along with excellent customer service. In Singapore, Marks and Spencer has 9 stores. It is said that Marks and Spencer is considered as largest retail company in United States in terms of brand reputation and revenue (Reilly and Hynan 2014). As of 2015, 83,069 employees worked in Marks and Spencer. The operating income of the company as of 2015 is 762.5 million. The revenue of the Marks and Spencer Plc as of 2015 is 10.300 billion. The company targets the higher income group people and middle-income group people. The company is known for its higher quality products and its excellent customer service both in the online stores and physical stores of the company not only in Singapore but also across different locations of the world. The core values of the company are affordability, quality and service to the targeted customers (Eccles et al. 2015). Competitor Analysis Marks and Spencer in Singapore is operating on a market which is competitive in nature. There are companies present in Singapore that are considered as direct and indirect competitors of the company. Direct competitors of Marks and Spencer include Zara, Burberry, Louis Philippe, Next plc, Debenhams, etc. Indirect competitors of Marks and Spencer are Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsburys, Centra, Asda, IKEA, etc. Many brands of apparel retail present in Singapore has high brand reputation and provide quality products to the customers of Singapore (Lehner and Halliday 2014). Apart from that, the indirect competitors provide tough competition to the company in terms of price to the stores of foods, groceries, home furnishings, etc. IKEA is a company that is famous for selling furniture both in online and in offline stores. It is found that IKEA has more brand reputation in selling home furnishing items not only in Singapore market but also across the world. Competition is also there in terms of c ustomer acquisition and marketing approaches of the above mentioned companies (Scott and Walker 2017). SWOT Analysis Strengths High quality products Powerful retail brand Good employee strength Wide variety of products Long term relationship with suppliers Weaknesses Strong competition from rival brands Waste spaces in stores Stock control Poor technology in inventory Manual working in the costs Opportunities Focus on market segment Internet technology Marketing extending Healthy products in food stores New product development in apparel Threats Strong competitors Change of business environment Environmental aspect Threats from domestic markets Government policies in Singapore Strengths High quality products- Marks and Spencer is known for selling high quality products in all genres of retail markets. Powerful retail brand- It has high brand recognition not only in UK market but also in other parts of the world. Good employee strength- Almost more than 88,000 employees are working with the company. Wide variety of products- The company is famous not only in apparel section but also in other business verticals of food, groceries, home furnishings, etc (Shen et al. 2014). Long-term relationship with suppliers- Marks and Spencer maintains a good relation with the suppliers that is the reason of quality products. Weaknesses Strong competition from rival brands- Many rival brands like Zara, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Gap, etc. have higher brand reputation. Waste spaces in stores- The spaces in the stores are not utilized properly. Stock control- Customers complain about some products that are out of stock. Poor technology in inventory- Poor usage of technology in the inventory is the reason of out of stock of products in the stores. Manual working in the costs- The costs of the inventory and manufacturing of products in some areas are high that leads to lower percentage in profitability (Faulkner et al. 2014). Opportunities Focus on market segment- The target segment can be extended to lower middle income group people. Internet technology- Improved usage of technology helps in customer attraction. Marketing extending- The market for retail is growing in the developing countries. Healthy products in food stores- Healthy food products are in demand that are sold by Marks and Spencer (P. Wilson and Beard 2014). New product development in apparel- The company can develop new designs of apparels to improve the market share. Threats Strong competitors- In terms of apparel retailing, Zara, Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Ralph Lauren, Gucci, Prada, Armani, etc. are the direct competitors that have a higher brand reputation and higher quality of products to the customers. Change of business environment- Changing trends in fast fashion brands lowers the Environmental aspect- Presence of environmental rules affects business operations. Threats from domestic markets- Domestic companies of Singapore provides tough competition to the company. Government policies in Singapore- The governmental policies are affecting the current business procedures of the company (Islam 2016). Conclusion It can be said that the luxury retail brand Marks and Spencer has various types of businesses apart from clothes. They are groceries, home furnishings, hospitality outlets, food items, etc. In the Singapore market, Marks and Spencers have a dominant position among its competitors. Apart from that, the company in Singapore has gained a reputation among the customers due its higher quality of products and designers apparels. The target group of the company is middle-income group people and higher income group people. Besides many strengths, there are many weaknesses of the company that includes weak advertisements that must be improved. References Eccles, R.G., Krzus, M.P. and Ribot, S., 2015. Models of best practice in integrated reporting 2015.Journal of Applied Corporate Finance,27(2), pp.103-115. Faulkner, G.P., Livingstone, M.B.E., McCaffrey, T.A. and Kerr, M.A., 2014. Supermarket own brand foods: lower in energy cost but similar in nutritional quality to their market brand alternatives.Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics,27(6), pp.617-625. Islam, K., 2016. Can Ethical Business Strategy Influence Consumers Buying Behavior and Loyalty: Marks and Spencer PLC?.Case Studies in Business and Management,3(1), p.38. Lehner, M. and Halliday, S.V., 2014. Branding sustainability: Opportunity and risk behind a brand-based approach to sustainable markets.Ephemera,14(1), p.13. Wilson, J. and Beard, C., 2014. Constructing a sustainable learning organization: Marks and Spencer's first Plan A learning store.The Learning Organization,21(2), pp.98-112. Reilly, A.H. and Hynan, K.A., 2014. Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green.Business horizons,57(6), pp.747-758. Scott, P. and Walker, J.T., 2017. Barriers to industrialisationfor interwar British retailing? The case of Marks Spencer Ltd.Business History,59(2), pp.179-201. Shen, B., Zheng, J.H., Chow, P.S. and Chow, K.Y., 2014. Perception of fashion sustainability in online community.The Journal of the textile institute,105(9), pp.971-979.