Stuart Rose, the chief executive of Marks and Spencer, is quite an innovative person. It is a widespread notion that instead of increasing the market share by taking conventional measures he has chalked out a new strategy to win the hearts and minds of the customers. Corporate social responsibility has been incorporated into the strategic vision of the company. Two years back, it was announced by the company high ups that it will spearhead the CSR movement expecting to have a mammoth influence on the wallets of the British shoppers. What was originally intended was called Plan A. It is a symbolization of the personality of the highly magnetic retail boss not to speak of the newest benchmark by which every other corporate social responsibility initiative would be evaluated in the years to come. “Based on our strong heritage (M and S) as a responsible retailer, in January 2007, we launched a series of ambitious plans for the future. Plan A, our five years, 100 points tackle some of the biggest challenges facing our business and our world. In Marks & Spencer we are working with our customers and suppliers to combat climate change, reduce waste, conserve natural resources, business ethics and build a healthier nation” (Jastram, Sarah (2007). “The Link Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Strategic Management”).
The plan has several separate initiatives to be cemented in the ultimate objectives later on. It is designed to make M&S more and more eco-compatible. It’s a huge plan which if went well would minimize the energy use; make minimal waste to landfills; feed all the raw materials in from the most rejuvenated sources; implement CSR among the providers; assist employees and consumers opting healthier always of life and make the company a leading and pioneering one in the movement of corporate social responsibility. It is the most comprehensive plan undertaken by a giant business company and is more than just a private philosophy of a businessman. It is a strategic decision that deeply affects the decision-making process of the company and has bearings on the fundamental commercial profile of M&S. CSR among providers assist employees and customers opting for a healthier lifestyle and pretty much make Marks & Spencer a company to be reckoned with. “No one had announced a big initiative up until then, and we wanted to be the first, we were the first out of the pack. I’m not crowing, but it’s important. It does, I’m not going to deny, if you get it right, give you a competitive advantage.” (qt. In Strictly Business: Marks & Spencer’s 100-Point Plan A, 2007). All the key points of the plan should be completed by 2012. In the period of five years, it would cost a whopping £200 million versus merely the operational expenditures. This does not take into account the extensive marketing required to make it a real-time success. This program has come at a time when the British retail industry is in recession mode and the stock value of the company has been constantly dropping owing to the worst holiday season. Amore financial concern for the company is the decision of the chief executive that the prices in the store would not soar. Rose is of the firm conviction that they should not move upwards and he challenges anybody to visit the store and see that they are the same. However, despite all this insistence, the bosses of the company have not entirely kept out the option of price hike in case the consumers are willing to take part in the corporate social responsibility realization. M&S is in the end a commercial organization with business interests and its well being is steeped in the shareholder’s equity. Yet, despite the financial pull, the plan remains an integral part and the prime concern within the company.
It seems that the costs of the plan would make up for all the expectations as is being envisaged by the company. It itself has taken a massive drive to ensure that it succeeds at all costs and no infirmity is kept in its execution. In the current year on the anniversary of the plan, the company issued the report that all was going well and there were massive developments on all fronts. The break up of the plan includes, “climate change, waste, sustainable raw materials, fair partner and health”. These are the five planks on which the building of the plan is based. The tremendous strides, the company has made in climate change speak for itself and is the role model for the other companies in this realm. Several thousand tons of carbon dioxide has been eliminated from the annual emissions which itself is a very big achievement. In UK and Ireland, the company gave the carrier and in the latter place, it charged customers quite a bit to discourage the trend of using bags. The waste associated with them was cut down drastically. The capital gained was invested with a local charity organization that caters to the local environmental initiatives. Another venture on the same lines has been launched in southwest England if gone well would be sprinkled in all of the company’s stores. “An approach for CSR that is becoming more widely accepted is community-based development projects, such as the Shell Foundation’s involvement in the Flower Valley, South Africa. Here they have set up an Early Learning Centre to help educate the community’s children, as well as develop new skills for the adults. Marks and Spencer are also active in this community through the building of a trade network with the community – guaranteeing regular fair-trade purchases” (Maignan, I.; O. Ferrell, G. Tomas (1999). “Corporate Citizenship: Cultural Antecedents and Business Benefits”).
Being an eco-friendly and responsible business company in the international arena, M&S is acclaimed for practising appropriate ethical practices. Many bodies who are concerned with corporate social responsibility have hailed the measures undertaken by this big business company. It has taken some other measures which are by no means a simple one. “In 2006 the Look behind the label marketing campaign was introduced, the aim of this campaign was to highlight to customers, the various ethical and environmentally friendly aspects, of the production and sourcing methods engaged in by M&S including fairtrade products, sustainable fishing and environmentally friendly textile dyes” (Paddingtonwaterside, 2006, Marks And Spencer Launches New Label). Eco stores are being built on a trial basis to gauge the sustainability of the program. The company is persistently endeavouring to make a “Sustainable Construction Manual” on the basis of the data gained from this experience. The plan also covers buying fair trade cotton and a big share of UK fruit crops. The plan has additional features of being dynamic and adaptable. When it is realized that something is not working well it adjusts itself against the changing situations but the pace to meet the targets remains unaffected. The company earlier thought of exploiting bio-fuels but quickly learnt that would yield loss of habitats along with other problems. Consequently, the company has given up this option until sustainable sources are found. These accomplishments are impressive and the list given here is by no means a very exhaustive one. For the purpose of achieving the targets the company has borne sacrifices and has tightened the needs for getting a company car. These initiatives have reduced the number of the auto fleet. When fitted against the other attainable targets, this one should have been detached out of the spotlight. What seems to be a milestone is that every realm of the M&S business is heading to be more in line with the green vision. However, for a company as big as this one the small two partners enrolled on the website tend to hesitate to go along with it. The company is sending lavishly to make the plan successful while others keep the meaningful silence. What is the fate when one changes the business profile so drastically, it would be seen in the perspective of the bottom line of the giant company? “We consider corporate social responsibility and corporate governance as mutually reinforcing concepts and such draw attention to the potential impact of a change in investors’ attitude towards CSR and the need for innovation in the area of financial modelling to incorporate CSR” (André Habisch,2005, Corporate social responsibility across Europe).
The plan is not without certain shortcomings or hindrances which are instrumental in choking the successful path of the plan. The two most ambitious targets of the plan which the chief executive would like to see meeting targets are to save the earth and recuperate the potential of the company to generate more and more capital. Both need British shoppers to be commensurate with the whole thing. Save the planet part of the plan tagged all products to communicate with the customers to tell whether the article was consigned by air. The consumer then determines to purchase it or not. The chief executive expects that they do not but it is not ready to reduce all non-refrigerated articles from the store. At this juncture, it is going to be an injury in ones’ own feet and that is unbearable too. On the other front of making more money, customers have to determine with integrity that they cater to the environment by avoiding buying things in other stores for discounted clothes. Marks and Spencer are comparatively expensive than Tesco and H&M. though the company stresses that there would be no price hike, the customers are being pressurized to pay more for the eco-friendly measures undertaken by the company and it has a shared advantage with the consumers. It is the Achilles heel of the plan—a potential scare for its ensured success.
One thing that should be properly weighed is British loyalty to the established UK franchise names. The company maintains that it has successfully persuaded its customers to conserve energy by washing laundry at 30 degrees Celsius instead of 40 or more. It is more than intended by the original plan. The company has also been going well in the case of carbon calculator which is a website designed to invite customers to look at the survey for evaluation of their personal carbon footprint. Things are not optimistic on the financial front. The first five months of the plan have witnessed growth; however, since then there has been a rapid fall. “I think if you were to look at just about any British retailer, you would see its stock going down. It’s a tough regional environment, along the lines of what you’re seeing in the U.S. That’s fairly heavily indebted consumers who are kind of tapped out, and the economy is slowing down so retailers are taking a hit” (Marx weber, 2008, CSR). The company itself has realized that the consumer outlook in 2008 may be absurd. It has also been floated that though the plan has been a very heavy drain yet the financial woes of the company do not spring from it. The stock prices that have gone down have no link whatsoever with the plan. It is very impressive that the company does not care for any downfall and is totally committed to the absolute execution of the program at all costs. Amidst the gloomy financial scenario, it is a great sacrifice on behalf of the company. It is a living beacon for others to emulate. “As a simple device to enable busy people to visualize quickly what practical issues are covered by the responsible business agenda, the approach of the food technology division of Marks and Spencer is hard to beat” (David Grayson, Adrian Hodges 2004,63).
The end goals of the company in future are quite huge. For example, some stores and companies carbon label their products. It shows that the amount of co2 emitted in preparation for the product. M&S is in no mood to do that. The company is thinking of ways and means to search for the appropriateness of the development of a national plan for the carbon labelling of the products. It gives an insight into the ultimate end of the company, it does not just want to improve the prospects of the company but it also wants to see the entire country changed. “M&S has the philosophy of ‘helping others to help themselves” (Article13, 2005, CSR Case Studies). The company knows that it would take extraordinary efforts to meet the targets of such an initiative yet it maintains its determination to undertake things of this magnitude.
The chief executives long to defy nature. He also wants to invest money in the programs planned for increasing the tenure of the growing season in the country’s agriculture and in turn tightening the emissions of transporting from overseas. “We’ve completed work with the Carbon Trust to develop a unique carbon footprint of our entire food business, covering all the food we sell. This reveals that Marks & Spencer’s 4.3% share of the UK food market generates around 3.3mt of C02e during the production of raw materials, manufacturing, transport, sale, use and final disposal of the food we sell. We’re currently developing tactics and targets to reduce this ‘food footprint” (Marks &Spnecer, 2007, See How Much Progress. We Have Made On Plan A). This would greatly help in putting pressure on the emission of co2 abroad. This would also serve to witness declining revenues in the foreign coffers which have raised alarm bells in their circles. However, for the chief executive of the company, it is very significant to cut drastically the carbon emissions and the world must undertake concerted efforts in this regard. On his part, he has given the lesson on how to begin and the modality offered by him is a sure way to meet the targets. Will Mr Rose come up with flying colours and be able to beat past his competitors in the retail industry. Unfortunately, it is very early to gauge the true indicator of the situation. What endows plan with the unparalleled features is that M&S is not the market leader as far as market volume is concerned. She is already being knocked out by its heavy rivals. Despite this hard adamant fact, the company attaches high priority to its corporate social reasonability by spending considerable money which otherwise could have been spent on the business side. Even more noticeable is the fact that the expenditures are not meant for advertisements only. Marks & Spencer is going this way because its boss has dictated it so and it is a means to an end—a wider end, that is to gain some edge in the market. The plan envisions entire Britain to be eco friendly and by taking such measures as would involve all the consumers to be on board, the company needs to be met with applause. It would serve Britain and also manoeuvre it as one of the pioneering companies of the country to be taken pride in. We owe to the model put forward by it and pray for its success as it seems to be a great effort for the mutual benefit of consumers and producers and caters not only Great Britain but also to the world at large.
References
Marks &Spnecer, 2007, See How Much Progress.We Have Made On Plan A. 2008. Web.
Stephan Linsen, 2007, Strictly Business: Marks & Spencer’s 100-Point Plan A, Ethi Sphere. 2008. Web.
Article13, 2005, ‘CSR Case Studies’. Corporate Social Responsibility. 2008. Web.
David Grayson, Adrian Hodges 2004, Corporate Social Opportunity!: 7 Steps to Make green leaf publishers.
André Habisch, 2005, Corporate Social Responsibility across Europe. SPRINGER.
Paddingtonwaterside, 2006, Marks And Specer Lauches New Label. 2008. Web.
Jastram, Sarah (2007). “The Link Between Corporate Social Responsibility and Strategic Management”. CIS Papers No.17. Centre of International Studies, Hamburg.
Maignan, I.; O. Ferrell, G. Tomas (1999). “Corporate Citizenship: Cultural Antecedents and Business Benefits”. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Vol.27, No.4, pp.455-469.
Matten, D.; A. Crane, W. Chapple (2003). “Behind the mask: Revealing the true face of corporate citizenship”. Journal Business Ethics, Vol.45, No.1, p.109.