Introduction
The aim of this essay is to critically discuss the issues surrounding the change processes implemented by Marks & Spencer following its downturn in performance in the late 1990s (Collier, 2004). Marks & Spencer is a leading retailer in the world. It is based in the UK, and deals primarily with clothing and luxury food products (Hoovers, 2013). To undertake this analysis, this essay resorts to the use of key strategic change management theories and concepts. It uses the forcefield analysis model to understand the levers and blockages to change which the firm faced. It also alludes to concepts such as the cultural web, external and internal change drivers, types of strategic change, resistance to change, and the corporate level strategies employed by Marks & Spencer. General conclusions regarding the change …show more content…
Marks & Spencer’s response to the shifts in its external environment reflect a number of these strategies, including: the product development, market development, and concentric diversification, turnaround, and divestiture strategies (Grant, 2005; Dess, Lumpkin, & Taylor, 2004).
The turnaround strategy involved closing the firm’s six stores in Europe and all its stores in Canada, laying off employees at its Baker Street headquarters in 1999, and shifting supply from the more costly UK suppliers to more affordable Asian suppliers. Other elements of the grand strategy involved top management and leadership change, refurbishment of the firm’s outlets, unveiling of a new corporate brand and identity, the restructuring and adoption of a flatter organisational structure, where the business was split into seven units, with each unit being headed by an executive who reported directly to the CEO. Additionally under Vandelvede, dividend pay-outs were halted in order to save resources that could be ploughed back to the business, and the closure of its pension schemes (Collier,
The aim of this essay is to critically discuss the issues surrounding the change processes implemented by Marks & Spencer following its downturn in performance in the late 1990s (Collier, 2004). Marks & Spencer is a leading retailer in the world. It is based in the UK, and deals primarily with clothing and luxury food products (Hoovers, 2013). To undertake this analysis, this essay resorts to the use of key strategic change management theories and concepts. It uses the forcefield analysis model to understand the levers and blockages to change which the firm faced. It also alludes to concepts such as the cultural web, external and internal change drivers, types of strategic change, resistance to change, and the corporate level strategies employed by Marks & Spencer. General conclusions regarding the change …show more content…
Marks & Spencer’s response to the shifts in its external environment reflect a number of these strategies, including: the product development, market development, and concentric diversification, turnaround, and divestiture strategies (Grant, 2005; Dess, Lumpkin, & Taylor, 2004).
The turnaround strategy involved closing the firm’s six stores in Europe and all its stores in Canada, laying off employees at its Baker Street headquarters in 1999, and shifting supply from the more costly UK suppliers to more affordable Asian suppliers. Other elements of the grand strategy involved top management and leadership change, refurbishment of the firm’s outlets, unveiling of a new corporate brand and identity, the restructuring and adoption of a flatter organisational structure, where the business was split into seven units, with each unit being headed by an executive who reported directly to the CEO. Additionally under Vandelvede, dividend pay-outs were halted in order to save resources that could be ploughed back to the business, and the closure of its pension schemes (Collier,