M1: Assess the relationship and communication with stakeholders of two contrasting businesses
using independent research
Marks and Spencer
Relationship and Communication with various stakeholders-
Customers
Marks and Spencer have a positive relationship with its customers as they are always willing to act
on their opinions about the company. They can only transform and improve the business
successfully using their input, cooperation and trust. The transformation programme gives hope to
M&S that they will be able to ensure an improved customer experience with high rates of customer
satisfaction. In addition, for Plan A, customers are still keen on supporting local and national
charities.
M&S communicate with their customers by getting direct feedback from them through a variety of
channels including surveys, interviews and online input. This information is collected and collated
centrally to allow common themes to be spotted easily and quickly. It is then routed to the relevant
teams so action can be taken where necessary. In addition, M&S held 40 focus groups in Ireland and
directly engaged with 900 customers to understand the impact of investing in everyday lower prices.
The insight from this directly influenced change to the content of their marketing campaign
materials suggesting the feedback from consumers was taken into consideration where necessary
change took place.
The advantages of communicating using surveys are that a broad range of data can be collected and
they are cost effective. The disadvantages of surveys are respondents may not feel encouraged to
provide accurate and honest answers and respondents may not be fully aware of their reasons for
any given answer due to lack of memory or even boredom.
The advantages of communicating by focus groups are that the questions can be altered to fit the
needs of the question which can provide more detailed information from the customers. Also, they
provide an extra reach because surveys can be conducted online so M&S can survey people from all
over the world. The disadvantages of focus groups are that there may be a lack of participation by
some people so the level of involvement by a few participants may be minimal and group dynamics
can create personal bias because every person has a certain bias on every subject because of their
upbringing, their current environment and other personalised experiences.
Colleagues
The relationship between M&S and its colleagues is positive as the Board discussed their
transformation programme with their employees of how they feel with the improvements being
made to the way of work. The colleagues gave positive feedback and were enthusiastic about the
transformation programme which was going to drive changes across the business.
Marks and Spencer communicate with their colleagues by updating and informing them regularly of
performance and strategy through using email, Skype and social media updates from Senior
Management and Board Members. The colleagues are expected and encouraged to respond to all of
the updates by sharing their views and ideas. Another way in which M&S engage with their
colleagues is through collecting information such as views and opinions by surveying them from their
, ‘Your Say Survey.’ This is qualitative data in the form of primary research as M&S are collecting data
from their employees about their feelings towards all of the areas of the business so they can look
for areas of improvement. They hand out the surveys annually and it gives them an informed picture
of ho colleagues feel towards the business. In 2019, over 63,000 colleagues chose to participate and
share their feedback. This made the employee engagement score strong at 81%.
The advantages of communicating using email are that the emails are accessible from anywhere as
long as you have internet connection and email allows for mass sending of messages which allows
one particular message to be sent to several recipients at once. The disadvantages of using email are
some messages may contain viruses and they can be quite disruptive as going through each email
does require a bit of time.
Suppliers
There is a positive relationship between Marks and Spencer and their suppliers because the
company only chooses to work with suppliers who show strengths and represent their ideals of
being able to assist them with their transformation programme. Therefore, they carefully consider
the selection and engagement of key suppliers.
Marks and Spencer communicate with their suppliers by training and supporting them as they offer
their suppliers a range of training and development opportunities, including practical workshops and
conferences which they can attend. The topics which these chances cover are local laws and human
rights which enable the suppliers to embed the key points into their businesses in the hope of
making them more successful. Furthermore, M&S engage with their suppliers by measuring supplier
satisfaction which is critical for the business to know how well they are engaging with their suppliers.
They do this by using the independent Advantage Report Mirror to survey a proportion of their
suppliers every year.
The advantages of communicating using training are that the suppliers will gain motivation to do
their job well so they will feel valued and appreciate that the workforce had taken their time to train
them and improve their skills. Also, the level and quality of their work will significantly increase as it
broadens their understanding so they can produce better results. The disadvantages of training are
that it is costly, although the training is worth the expense, the company may not have the budget to
accommodate it. And training suppliers takes a lot of time, which could affect the work and
productivity levels.
Shareholders
M&S and its shareholders have a positive relationship because every owner agreed that the Ocado
partnership could have a transformational impact on the company’s future success, and
consequently increase value for shareholders in the long term.
Marks and Spencer communicate with their shareholders in various ways being the owners who own
some control of the company. The business arranges an Annual General Meeting (AGM) every year
for the thousands of shareholders across the world. As there are shareholders in different countries,
they provide live webcasts of their AGM’s bringing the events to life for all the shareholders in
different locations. In the AGM’s, topics such as proposed resolutions are discussed and voting takes
place to ensure good decisions go on board. Another way in which M&S engage with their
shareholders is through the Private Shareholder Panel. This is typically attended by the CEO who is
Steve Rowe and are arranged regularly every year. These meetings give the opportunity for private
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