Marks & Spencer

Bus 401Sec: 06

Prepared For:Barrister Saheen Ahmed

Course Instructor

North South University

Prepared By:

Zarin Tasnim Arshi 102-0049-030

Muntasir Shams Nehal 101-0586-030

Nafeez Mahmud 102-0106-030

Masud Imam 101-0828-030

Md. Thashin Islam 102-0096-030

Nurul Azim Rifat 101-0847-030

Submission Date: 07-04-14

Company Overview:Marks & Spencer is one of the UK’s leading retailers. They offer stylish, high quality, great

value clothing and home products, as well as outstanding quality food, responsibly sourced from

around 2,000 suppliers around the world. It has employees over 81,000 people, in the UK and

abroad, and has around 520 UK stores, as well as an expanding international business.

The ground of marks and Spencer were laid back in 1884 by Michael Marks and Thomas

Spencer who started selling in small town markets of Northern England. Marks & Spencer is the

British largest retailer with four main divisions: The target market of Marks & Spencer is middle

to high class consumers in major cities. From 1914 onwards the company made a lot of

technological advancements and because of its high quality and medium prices Marks & Spencer

soon associated with quality and value able by its customers.

M&S’s CSR Vision:

Mark & Spencer’s one of the significant CSR vision is to be the standard which all others are

measured. In all their products & services they are trying to make aspirational quality accessible

to all. Mark & Spencer is guided by a commitment to quality, value, service, innovation & trust.

Mark & Spencer’s primary focus is on understanding and meeting the customers’ needs

consistently, in an increasingly competitive retail environment. M&S place real importance on

creating a place to work that inspires and rewards the colleagues & other co-workers properly.

M&S want their workforce to reflect the diversity of the people that shop with us. 25% of the

employees are aged over 50, and 28% under 30 and the majority are female (78%). Overall, the

workforce reflects the ethnic make-up of the UK population with 13% coming from ethnic

minorities. The overall motive of the company to say in such retail business:

Vision

The standard against which all others are measured

Mission

Making aspirational quality accessible to all

Values

Quality, Value, service, innovation and trust

Mark & Spencer’s Corporate Social Responsibility Value Proposition:Marks & Spencer has a strong tradition of CSR and see it as integral to how they do business.

The founders of the company believed that building good relationships with employees,

suppliers and wider society was the best guarantee of long-term success. This remains the

backbone of M&S’s CSR activities. Managing CSR will allow the company to identify potential

risks to the Company and respond to areas of performance where the company fall behind. More

importantly it also means the company can identify opportunities to differentiate it selves from

the competitors. CSR can help the company to draw shoppers to Company’s stores, attract and

retain the best staff, make the company a partner of choice with suppliers and create value for the

shareholders. The approach is built around three principles and a framework developed by

Company’s Board-level CSR Committee & these 3 principles are:

1. Taking care and acting responsibly in delivering high quality products and services.

2. Creating a great place & work environment to work.

3. Help in making the communities good places in which to live and work.

1. Taking Care And Acting Responsibly In Delivering High Quality Products And

Services:

The ways in which Marks & Spencer products and services connect with people, the

environment and animal welfare will always be one of the most demanding CSR challenges.

M&S wants to show that the goods are produced in an ethically and environmentally responsible

manner. To do this and respond to the customers’ needs and expectations, M&S must keep sight

of the wide range of raw materials, production processes and countries of operation involved in

producing and selling the goods. Where the products carry the Marks & Spencer label, M&S

have the unique ability to practice good CSR across M&S’s product range. The diagram below

shows how M&S influence the products at different stages of their ‘lives’. M&S have direct

control over the two key parts of the business – distribution and selling. But the company can

also influence most other aspects of the production and use of the products.

(M&S, 2004-2005)

2. Creating A Great Place & Work Environment To Work: By producing, distributing and selling M&S products and services the company creates

employment opportunities in the UK and overseas. But the company wants to do more than just

provide jobs. The challenge is to provide a mix of benefits for everyone who works at Marks &

Spencer while also supporting the operational needs of the business. The company seeks to use

the employment policies to create “a great place to work”, bringing benefits to the Company,

employees and society as a whole. The company wants colleagues to feel part of a business that

“does the right thing”. Colleagues are now assessed and rewarded against Company’s “ways of

working” principles which encourage everyone in the Company to:

• Think customer

• Be passionate about product

• Be one team

• Own their part in delivering results

• Be honest and confident, listen and learn

Pay and benefits are clearly important to Company’s colleagues but so are good working

relationships.

The employee representation forums – known as Business Involvement Groups – play an

important role in improving Company’s operations by giving colleagues a say in how M&S do

things. A program of staff surveys also provides a way for everyone to say how they think M&S

are doing. M&S want to promote diversity and work hard to make Company’s recruitment

inclusive. There is intense competition for talent and the company aim to be an “employer of

choice” to attract and retain the best. Providing a range of flexible options for colleagues to

balance their work and home life helps to encourage diversity. M&S try to embed the same

approach to employment amongst Company’s suppliers, franchisees and other business partners

through Company’s Global Sourcing Principles. Wanting to build a longer-term relationship with

M&S is urged to attain the more testing standards of the UK’s Ethical Trading Initiative Base

Code.

3. Help In Making The Communities Good Places In Which To Live And Work:

The company recognizes the obligations to the communities in which M&S trade. M&S’s

founding members of Business in the Community and remain an active member. The company’s

relationship with communities is interdependent. Successful retailing requires economically

healthy and sustainable communities. At the same time, as a major retailer in the UK and

worldwide, M&S provide employment and products and services and often become an important

part of the fabric of the high street. M&S place much emphasis on the stores, the location,

design, construction and activities. A ‘Store of the Future’ project has helped to improve the

environmental standards M&S use to locate, build and refurbish them. Day-to-day operations are

managed within an overall compliance system that includes emergency planning, energy and

water usage, health and safety, waste disposal, recycling, recovery of shopping trolleys and

donations of unsold food to charities. In addition to a program of store self-assessments, parts of

the system are revised by Company’s internal audit team based on where M&S think Company’s

performance might need improving. M&S are also active in a wider sense. Company’s

philosophy of “Helping others to help themselves” is about trying to help people who M&S

believe in turn will pass the benefits on to others. This approach guides Company’s choice of

community program as well as the support M&S provide to employees who wish to volunteer. A

recent development is Company’s growing cooperation with suppliers and business partners in

community programs. Marks & Start, Company’s work experience programs for example,

involves communities, employees and a growing number of suppliers, all working together

towards a common goal.

Mark & Spencer’s Corporate Social Responsibility Configuration: (How the Company Act):Society is changing fast and M&S know that it is not enough to rely on the CSR heritage. The

company must adapt continuously to changes inside and outside of the business. Corporate

strategies require commitment from the top and systems to ensure they can be managed at every

level of the Company. Thus the entities that are working hard in making such responsibilities to

take in in real manner are described below:

CSR Committee:

The CSR Committee – one of four Board level Corporate Governance groups – provides

leadership on this agenda. It meets at least three times a year and its activities have included the

development of the company CSR framework and Principles, hosting a feedback event for

representatives of stakeholder groups, and identifying internal sponsors of key issues. Looking

ahead, the Committee aims to further integrate CSR systems across the Company and to review

performance on key initiatives. It comprises: group chairman, executive director of finance,

group secretary and head of corporate governance, director of communications, creative director,

head of technology, and food division head of CSR secretary.

Executive Committee:

The company’s Executive Committee, receives regular updates on CSR so that decisions can be

made on any major changes to operational policy. It is the role of this committee to run the day-

to-day operations of the Company and to help formulate strategy and action what has been

agreed with the board.

CSR Forums:

Two networks of senior managers support the CSR Committee and help to drive the company’s

commitment deeper into the business. A new, store based Retail Forum met for the first time in

early 2004 and has been tasked initially with overseeing the Marks & Start work experience

program. In future it will review and improve a wider range of CSR activities in the company’s

stores. The Head Office Forum, formed two years ago, consists of representatives from across

head office based functions that have supported the integration of CSR across the Company.

They also provided a ‘sign-off’ process for agreeing the contents of this Report. The Forum will

continue to conduct further stakeholder research and engagement as well as share best practices

across the Company.

Divisional and Area CSR Activities:

To ensure our CSR efforts tackle the right issues in different business areas, M&S have separate

strategies for Food, Clothing (including Beauty), Home, Money (financial services),

International Franchises and store design. The priority in the Home division, for example, is the

sustainable sourcing of wood. In Clothing, cotton and dyeing are high on the agenda. These

strategies are at different stages of completion with some already supported by action plans and

targets and others yet to be formally agreed. In 2004/05 the company aims to use these strategies

to develop action plans across all areas of the business. This will improve the company’s ability

to assess how they are performing against the expectations of the stakeholders.

CSR Team:

M&S have a dedicated CSR team, which helps to run the CSR Committee and Forums and

oversees the development and management of CSR strategies and key projects. In the last few

years, this has included an extensive program of CSR customer research and consultation,

developing the content for this Report, managing a cross company review of wood sourcing and

launching the Marks & Start work experience program. The CSR team also takes the lead in

enabling consultation with many external organizations. In 2004/05, the CSR team plan to

conduct and facilitate further stakeholder research and consultation.

CSR Activities of Marks & Spencer:Marks and Spencer cites in its reports a number of reasons why ‘CSR is integral to our business

and informs everything we do in good times and bad’. In particular, the company emphasizes its

strong tradition of CSR: ‘our founders believed that building good relationships with employees,

suppliers and wider society was the best guarantee of long-term success.’ Addressing CSR is

considered an intrinsic part of good management, allowing the company to identify potential

risks, respond to shortcomings and recognize opportunities to differentiate itself from

competitors. Marks and Spencer considers CSR management to be beneficial not only in creating

value for shareholders, but also in attracting shoppers, attracting and retaining staff and being a

partner of choice.

Marks and Spencer has structured its reports using the three principles of its approach to CSR,

developed by its Board level CSR Committee in 2002:

Principle 1: Products – relates to Quality Management Systems; Global Sourcing

Principles; ethical trading; animal welfare; responsible products; sustainable sourcing.

Principle 2: People – relates to workplace Global Sourcing Principles; ethical trading;

community investment

Principle 3: Places – relates to energy, water and waste; transport

In 2006 they came up with a new a CSR policy named ‘Look behind the Label’. Such ‘Look

behind the label’ marketing campaign ran throughout the year. It was designed to describe our

approach some major issues such as sustainable fishing, animal welfare, healthy eating and

trading fairly. 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.

However they bought a whole new change in 2007 on the CSR activities they used to conduct

previously. Marks & Spencer initiated a whole new concept of a CSR project called ‘Plan A’

which entails ‘doing the right thing’. Plan A is about systematically making every aspect of the

business, supply chain and customer use and disposal of M&S products more sustainable. Marks

& Spencer launched Plan A in January 2007, setting out 100 commitments to achieve in 5 years.

It has now extended Plan A to 180 commitments to achieve by 2015, with the ultimate goal of

becoming the world's most sustainable major retailer. All 180 commitments were made

following consultation with stakeholders and they tried to cover all of the social and

environmental issues facing the retail industry. Plan A initiative have 7 main pillars through

which they desire to conduct their CSR activates in an unique way than others. These are:

So far, they have achieved 139 with 31 on plan, 5 behind plan, 4 not achieved and one cancelled.

These commitments are more elaborated below:

1. Involve Customers in Plan A: M&S recognizes that the customers are at the core of their success to achieve Plan A in all

aspects. Thus they are working hard to explain how many of the M&S products customers buy

contribute directly to Plan A, and making it easier for them to get involved in Plan A activities.

M&S desires to make sure that all of the 2.7 billion individual M&S products they sell each year

have at least one ‘Plan A’ quality by 2020. In addition they are also determined to help 1 million

customers to create their own personal Plan A by 2015 and 3 million by 2020. Furthermore M&S

wants to run a continuous program of Plan A marketing communications, to encourage

customers to take action.

2. Make Plan A How M&S do Business: M&S desires to conduct their CSR activities included ‘the business they do’ by integrating Plan

A into every aspect of their operations including the products they develop and sell, the stores

they build and the way they work with their suppliers and engage their employees. They have

integrated Plan A across many parts of their business. This year they have opened their biggest

greenest Sustainable Learning Store to date at Cheshire Oaks and generated a net benefit of

£135m from Plan A which was available to be reinvested in the business. To support this aim,

we’re going to: engage their employees in Plan A, integrate Plan A into their systems and

processes, build Plan A into every aspect of the construction program, engage their business

partners in Plan A and create a culture of innovation on sustainability.

3. Climate Change: M&S recognizes the increase threat of climate change and its hazardous impact in the

environment. Thus M&S aims to make their operations carbon neutral. This will impact every

area of their business from their stores and offices through to our warehouses, delivery fleets and

all business travel in the region.

M&S plan to reduce energy consumption and maximize the use of renewable supplies first, only

buying carbon offsets as a last resort. Becoming carbon neutral will be the equivalent of taking

100,000 cars off the road. They will work to source as much food as possible, reduce air shipping

and develop energy efficient, low-carbon products. M&S also aims to help suppliers and

customers to reduce their CO2 emissions by working with the National Federation of Women’s

Institutes, The Climate Group and WWF.

4. Waste: M&S also recognizes their responsibility to the society by having a desire to reduce the waste

they produce. They aim to send no waste to landfill from their stores, offices and warehouses

from all around the world. This only includes all the construction waste from building activities.

They want to reduce our use of packaging and carrier bags, and find new ways to recycle and re-

use the materials they have. They also have committed to working to cut the weight of non-glass

packaging by a quarter, carrier bags by a third and to setting up schemes to generate energy from

unsold food. In addition they have a longer-term ambition that all of the packaging and products

they sell particularly used clothing will be recyclable in most parts of the UK.

5. Natural Resource: M&S is also focused on having more sustainable natural resources means they aim to make

better use of the materials already available to us. Their intention is to make sure that the key raw

materials are sourced in a way that allows them to be naturally replenished by the environment.

In case of the concern for animals they also have to uphold and improve standards of welfare.

They aim to triple their sales of organic food and launch ranges of organic cotton, linen and wool

clothing. They also look to make ranges of polyester clothes from recycled plastic bottles rather

than oil. They also intent to convert all their fresh turkey, geese, duck and pork to free range, and

ensure that all their fish meet independent environmental standards. Similarly, they want to make

sure that all the wood they use in our products and around the business meets rigorous

independent standards. They also desire to help the farmers and livestock producers meet

independent environmental standards. In the end they target to cut water usage by 20% and will

help suppliers make cuts too.

6. Fair Trade: M&S recognizes the important of suppliers and labors in their CSR activities. They are

committed to support their suppliers in managing labor standards in our supply chain. A new

Supplier Exchange will help to develop and share best practice and our suppliers of clothing and

home products will be given a gold, silver or bronze rating. M&S also aims to increase the

number of people they have based in countries of production and introduce unannounced audits.

They plan to expand our range of ‘Fair trade’ food and clothing and convert 20 million garments

to ‘Fair trade’ certified cotton. Their Milk Pledge, offering farmers a guaranteed price will be

extended into other types of farming where possible. Their ‘Marks & Start’ work experience

program will continue helping disadvantaged people get into jobs through work placement in the

UK and overseas. M&S also aims to introduce new initiatives on environmental education and

helping international communities. In the end they wish to continue to support Breakthrough

Breast Cancer, the Prostate Cancer Charity and Shelter.

7. Health and Wellbeing: Being a versatile retailer M&S aims to increase their ‘Eat Well’ concept to represent half of their

food varieties, up from the current 30%. They will continue to work to cut salt ahead of FSA

targets and use only naturally occurring colors and flavorings in kids’ sweets and cakes. M&S

wants to replace displays of children’s confectionery at food tills with other products. They aim

to build on the training given to our 1,400 Healthy Eating Advisers so that everyone who works

in their food halls has a good level of knowledge to guide customers. They will look to extend

traffic light nutritional labels to all relevant food. They also have a ambition to launch an M&S

Health and Lifestyle Information program, offering employees advice and guidance on how to

live healthier lives. Furthermore they will also maintain free breast screening for female

employees over 40.

Overall Plan A Objectives

Involve our customers in Plan A

1. Aim for all our M&S products to have at least one Plan A quality by 2020 (50% by 2015)

and help our customers identify and buy these products

2. Help our customers make a difference to the social and environmental causes that matter to

Them

3. Help our customers live a more sustainable life

Make Plan A how we do business

4. Engage our employees in Plan A

5. Integrate Plan A into our systems and processes

6. Build Plan A into every aspect of our construction program

7. Engage our business partners in Plan A

8. Create a culture of innovation on sustainability

Extend our social and environmental commitments across the 5 Pillars of Plan A Climate

change

9. Help our customers cut their carbon footprint

10 Reduce our operational carbon emissions by 35% and make our operations carbon neutral

11. Help our suppliers cut their carbon footprint

Waste

12. Create partnerships to help our customers reuse or recycle all our products and packaging

13. Send no operational and construction waste to landfill and reduce our operational waste by

25% and construction waste by 50%

14. Help our suppliers to reduce waste and send no waste to landfill

Natural resources

15. Ensure efficient use of natural resources in our operations

16 Reduce the impact on the natural resources used to make our products

Fair partnership

17. Ensure workforces and communities benefit in our supply chain

Health and wellbeing

18. Drive health and nutrition benefits across our product offer

19. Help to facilitate behavior change through clear nutrition labeling and information

20. Encourage our customers and employees to become more active

CSR effects on the Stakeholders:Year after year, Marks & Spencer sets a high standard for environmental sustainability in the UK

retail world. Its large scale and high level of social consciousness give it the unique position to

promote change throughout the industry. As a part of its Plan A initiative, launched in January

2007, M&S makes a varied range of responsibility efforts, from beach-cleaning and cancer

fundraising to recycling programs and organic produce.

Let’s take a look at the year's most important changes and surprises, as revealed in the company's

recently released 2013 Plan A Report:

1. The Plan A Initiative has seven main pillars — the first is customer involvement. The

initiative continues to excel in this area, with customers donating 3.8 million articles of

clothing through M&S' “shwopping” campaign, £1.5 million raised for Breakthrough Breast

Cancer, and £690,000 raised for Macmillan Cancer Support in the last year. But in the

interest of also helping customer’s live more sustainable lives, M&S is developing an online

plan that will help one million customers develop personal sustainability goals by 2015.

Ambitious and tailored projects such as this not only set M&S apart from its competitors but

also have the potential to change how people make decisions, and the ecological effects of

those decisions.

2. The second pillar focuses on integrating the ideas behind Plan A into the rest of the business

— the driving tenet behind corporate social responsibility and will soon become a necessary

component of every company’s business model. With statistics including a 78% employee

engagement rate and £135 million worth of net benefit to be reinvested back into the

business, Plan A is certainly earning its ROI in certain areas. One area needing improvement

is in liaising with other business partners: Plan A is falling behind on requiring all food

suppliers to reach adequate levels in their own sustainability framework. Only 40% of

suppliers are even achieving the bronze status or higher, with a mere seven suppliers

reaching silver level — though there is progress being made towards energy efficiency with

their clothing suppliers.

3. Marks & Spencer is also making developments in the third pillar of Plan A, which focuses on

climate change. With an absolute drop in carbon dioxide emissions by 23% since 2007 and a

37% decrease in carbon intensity, the effort is clear. Plan A credits more efficient electricity

use, reduced gas leaks, and better waste recycling levels in achieving this goal. To make

amends for what it cannot change, M&S purchases high-quality carbon offsets. However, the

company has been most successful in helping its suppliers decrease emissions. As mentioned

in the previous section, the only place where M&S still struggles to achieve sustainability is

with its food suppliers. If this is the only failure, it should be noted that all of the nine other

goals have already been achieved.

4. The statistic from in the fourth pillar representing waste. Currently, Marks & Spencer sends

zero waste to landfill. While it isn’t entirely clear where all of this waste is diverted, it is

evident that 89% of food waste is being composted or anaerobically digested for conversion

to biogas, any clothing waste is being donated or recycled, and all construction waste is being

recycled. On top of this, the company reported a construction waste reduction of 50%.

5. Where Plan A is most critical of itself is in the fifth pillar concerning natural resources. The

highlights include an 88% usage of sustainable wood and 100% sourcing from sustainable

fisheries. Furthermore, the vast majority of beef is sourced from the UK, all of its coffee and

tea is certified Fair Trade, and its sustainable cotton sourcing goals remain on target.

However, per its own admission, M&S is still “working out how to overcome a number of

challenges on soy, cocoa, and leather.” Based on its accomplishments in this area in 2012 (or

rather the lack thereof), it can be agree.

6. The sixth pillar of Plan A covers Marks & Spencer’s fairness in partnerships. Much of the

focus is put on the important but dry topic of supply chain training and efficiency, for which

M&S is on track to achieve all of its projections. One aspect that catches eye is the plan to

ensure that all employees in developing countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

earn a livable wage. While hard data are not yet supplied, the larger emphasis on Fair Trade

and sustainable sourcing should go hand-in-hand with achieving these objectives by 2015.

7. The final pillar is the umbrella for health and wellbeing. To remain socially responsible in an

era where based on current trends 60% of the UK population could be obese by 2050,

nutrition needs to be a main focus of any company involved in the grocery or food sales

industry. With many of Plan A’s wellness goals already achieved (such as salt reduction in

food, elimination of food coloring, online dieting websites and customer engagement, etc),

the retailer is making great headway. However, M&S focuses primarily on nutritional

labeling. Calorie labeling on packages was only introduced in October 2012. Fortunately, this

is rapidly expanding. With plans to improve labeling, increase nutritional information on

non-packaged products, and initiatives to integrate sustainability labeling, Plan A seems to

know what needs to be fixed and how to fix it.

In the end the comments by Jonathan Porritt about M&S, founder director of Forum for the

Future, indicates how British businesses have responded to sustainability and social

responsibility scandals this year. For him, Marks & Spencer has performed remarkably well. For

example, even after proving to be horsemeat-free, M&S has responded to the crisis by doing

what he calls “strategic de-risking.” Porritt manages to find a few small criticisms where M&S

falls short of its competitors, but his final take-away is perhaps the most important of all: Marks

& Spencer has truly branded itself as the go-to retailer for large-scale sustainability, and this eco-

consciousness is now inseparable from the name Marks & Spencer.

Quality

Value

Service

Innovation

Trust

(Plan A report, 2013)

Stakeholders Perception

Impact of CSR in M&S’ sustainability and profitability:The most known CSR activity by M&S was Plan A, (described earlier in the project part) which

was mainly promoted for the sustainable future which leads the company’s sustainability. Also

the campaign “behind the label” assist company to become more connected with its customers,

engage the customers unlike the Plan A, make them trustworthy which lead to a zero turnover

customer rate even zero employee turnover. Hence, the company gained the advantage of high

profitability with lowering down its cost and at end leads to better sustainability.

CSR and Sustainability

A company’s most valuable asset is its ability to convert brand power into customer buying

decisions. Only the company that shares reliable information can be a trustworthy “partner in

sustainability” for customers who are ready to buy. M&S differentiate itself through

transparency and customer engagement. When the company launched the Plan A, the company

reported a drop in the share price and net income. But after the 5 years of than Plan A, when the

company achieved most of its commitment, these indicate the company’s sustainability.

Being Differentiator by transparency and customer engagement

Against this backdrop, and in response to public concern over sustainability and traceability,

M&S was anxious to get in front of the issue and better understand what was driving customer

concerns and behaviors. Their analysis revealed four consumer groups:

• 25 percent weren’t interested in green or social issues at all; most of these customers had low

incomes and more pressing concerns;

• 38 percent were somewhat interested in green or social issues but didn’t know if they could

make a difference themselves. These customers wanted to be sure if, for example, their

individual recycling would make a difference;

• 25 percent were fully engaged in the issues but did not want to compromise on price and

quality;

• 12 percent were crusaders – very passionate and looking to Marks & Spencer to be an advocate

as well.

Based on these insights, M&S launched the “Behind the Label” campaign, which educated its 16

million customers about all the things the company was doing around environmental and social

issues. The program was deemed a success, but competitors were also doing some good things to

gain consumer trust.

CSR and Profitability:

The CSR activities actually need a lot amount of capital out flows. These in the first scene

seemed that company is losing its profits for some charity activities. Like Marks & Spencer’s

overall annual contribution to community programs was £9.8m including £250,000 to the victims

of the tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka. We also agreed to send one of our managers to work with

Care International (UK) to help affected communities in Galle, Kulatara and Matara. In addition,

with the generous support of our customers and staff we helped to raise £2.0m for victims of the

tsunami and £1.5m for Breakthrough Breast Cancer Awareness. Bute CSR is a process of

continuous improvement for the company which in the later part turn back profits by being used

as a promotional tool. According to the report of 2010, the officials of M&S said “Marks &

Spencer is now reaping the rewards of Plan A”, claiming that the programme made it an extra

£50m.

Companies are finding that many CSR initiatives, including those that reduce energy

consumption or benefit the environment, help reduce overall cost structures or increase

productivity. The Plan A’s become a carbon natural concept, helps reduce the cost structure and

turned into profit. When looking at M&S’s achievements, we saw that it’s not just about

reducing food waste (40 percent), improving energy efficiency per sq. feet (28 percent).

Gaining the trust of the customers are also leads to the profits. As the traditional management

explains 20% of its profit comes by retention of the customers. Through the Plan A, the company

engaged its customers in the CSR process trough campaigns like Shwopping. And by this they

were successful to retain their customers for longer period and make some positive impression to

the potential ones.

M&S works very closely with its stakeholders – last year it included a supplier conference,

dialogues with trade associations and meeting with regulators, involving employees in wide

range of Plan A activities, we think though that M&S’s main strength is its ability to actually

listen to stakeholders, understand what they want and apply it accordingly. This way M&S

knows for example that “integrating social and environmental policies and performance into

financial reporting is an important issue amongst many investor groups,” and hence works with

stakeholders on integrated reporting. These help the company to had a uninterrupted flow of

investments.

Positive news flashes are having impact on the investors and help companies to hold a strong

position of their share price. The CSR activity like behind the label campaign, make a very

positive impression over the investors along with the society and thus the share price was high on

the year 2006 from the year 2005. The price appreciated to 36.4 pound from 29.1 pound which

shows a huge impact of the campaign launched in year 2006. Moreover, M&S have made in 4

years a net profit of $286 million from Plan A.

Year ended Turnover (£ M) Profit before tax (£ M) Net profit (£

M)

Basic eps (p)

31 March 2007 8,588.1 936.7 659.9 39.1

1 April 2006 7,797.7 745.7 520.6 36.4

2 April 2005 7,490.5 505.1 355.0 29.1

Source: London Stock Exchange

In the year 2011, the headline news is that the overall financial benefit of Plan A has increased to

£70 million per year; up from the £50m profit effect which many students will have seen ex CEO

Sir Stuart Rose mention. The profit improvement arisen from more efficient use of energy in

shops and distribution centers saved the most money in 2010-11, netting M&S an £13.5 million

cost saving, followed by packaging reductions, which saved £11 million.

How they obey their CSR commitments:Since the foundation of the CSR activities in the name of ‘Plan A’ till now M&S has represented

a tremendous success in fulfilling most of their success. Achieving most of the commitments in

such a limited time frame appropriately requires lots of aspects to act in favor in the same time as

well. M&S has been able to integrate all the aspects of the CSR activities in and appropriate

manner and bring wellbeing to both the society and business altogether. How they were fully

obedient towards their commitments is given below:

Integrate Sustainability In The Company’s Values:

Although the business emphasizes mostly about the bottom line and benefits, it all starts with the

company’s success to fully integrate sustainability into its values and mission. “We sell high

quality, great-value clothing and home products and outstanding quality food. We source

products responsibly from over 2,000 suppliers around the world. Over 81,000 people work for

M&S in the UK and worldwide. Our core values are Quality, Value, Service, Innovation and

Trust,” it says in the company’s progress report. As we can see, sustainability is not explicitly

mentioned here, but it’s reflected in every word in this statement, showing how it became

integral to M&S’s strategy and culture.

Strategic Approach And Magnitude Make A Difference:

From the beginning of Plan A, it was clear that M&S is going all the way. “Our intention when

we designed Plan A was to integrate it into every aspect of how we do business,” Said Sir Rose

back in 2007 and so it did, starting with 100 commitments with a 2012 deadline that grew in

2010 to 180 commitments with a 2015 deadline. Unlike many companies that are cautious and

try to experience sustainability one bit at a time, M&S understood from very beginning that it’s

almost impossible to integrate sustainability partially and do it well. Through Plan A, M&S was

able to fully embrace sustainability, reaching every part of the business.

In addition M&S adopted a strategic approach that helps it implement the plan successfully.

Behind every achievement, from reducing non-glass packaging per item in 26 percent to

launching carbon neutral chocolate and lingerie stands a collaborative work of different parts of

the organization. One can’t meet so many goals without having finance, logistics, operations,

procurement and other functions at the organization working together and being on the same

stage.

Fully Embrace Stakeholder Engagement:

Looking at M&S’s achievements, it can be said that it’s not just about reducing food waste (40

percent), improving energy efficiency per sq. feet (28 percent), or even becoming carbon neutral,

but also about engaging stakeholders. The company understood that to become the most

sustainable major retailer is not just a question of performance assessment or integration of

sustainability measurements, but also a matter of stakeholder perception.

To establish this perception M&S works very closely with its stakeholders – last year it included

a supplier conference, dialogues with trade associations and meeting with regulators, involving

employees in wide range of Plan A activities, offering customers to get involved in Plan A

activities and campaigns like ‘Shwopping’, and so on. So, M&S’s main strength is its ability to

actually listen to stakeholders, understand what they want and apply it accordingly. This way

M&S knows for example that “integrating social and environmental policies and performance

into financial reporting is an important issue amongst many investor groups,” and hence works

with stakeholders on integrated reporting.

Show Shareholders Substantial Material Benefits:

Even as other groups of stakeholders play a pivotal role in M&S’s success, shareholders still

have a powerful impact on shaping the company’s strategy and priorities and hence it’s very

important to get them on board. And the name of the game is materiality. As Jonathon Porritt,

Founder Director of Forum for the Future explains, investors argued for years that they

understand sustainability is important, but there are many more material things to take care of

first. Now, he says, M&S has created the case where sustainability has a material impact on the

bottom line, on top line growth and risk management. The result is that it’s much more difficult

for investors to use the non-materiality excuse and it’s easier to get their support for the plan.

It’s Not Just About Savings:

M&S have made in 4 years a net profit of $286 million from Plan A. Yet, as Alan Stewart, M&S

CFO explains, the company sees more benefits beyond the savings – from tangible benefits like

the creation of business opportunities to intangible benefits such as making the company more

attractive as an employer for employees and people who seek to join it. It is important for a

company to acknowledge and embrace all types of benefits, because a successful journey to

become a sustainable company is not just about a better bottom line, but a better triple bottom

line eventually.

Controversies Faced By M&S: Comprehensive Spending Review:

In October 2010, chairman Sir Stuart Rose was a signatory to a controversial letter to The

Daily Telegraph which claimed that "The private sector should be more than capable of

generating additional jobs to replace those lost in the public sector, and the redeployment of

people to more productive activities will improve economic performance, so generating

more employment opportunities", despite recent job cuts of 1,000 staff. This prompted calls

for a boycott of Marks & Spencer and the companies represented by the other signatories to

the letter.

Contactless Payment Issues: Some Marks & Spencer customers claim that the chain's contactless payment terminals have

taken money from cards other than the ones intended for payment. Contactless cards are

supposed to be within about 4 cm of the front of the terminal to work. M&S investigated the

incident and confirmed the new system had been extensively tested and was robust. It had

recently rolled out the contactless payments system, provided by Visa Europe, to 644 UK

stores.

Muslim Checkout-Staff Policy: In December 2013, Marks & Spencer announced that Muslim checkout staff in the UK could

refuse to sell pork products or alcohol to customers at their till. The policy was announced

after at least one news outlet reported that customers waiting with goods that included pork

or alcohol were refused service, and were told by a Muslim checkout worker to wait until

another till became available. The policy applied across all 703 UK M&S stores and

prompted a strong backlash by customers.

A company spokesman subsequently apologized and stated that they will attempt to reassign

staff whose beliefs may impact their work to different departments, such as clothing.

Conclusion:Marks and Spencer has managed conduct their CSR activities with high ambition and

determination. It has managed to create a benchmark for other retail companies to follow their

lead in conducting CSR activities and becoming one of the sustainable companies in the business

sector. M&S’ competitors can learn a lot about stakeholder engagement, transparency and

materiality from the company. Under the headings of ‘Plan A’ each issue is broken down into

targets set for the reporting year, performance in the current year and future goals. This approach

is highly effective in terms of presenting a clear and thorough picture of the broad scope of

Marks and Spencer’s CSR related activities. M&S has not only committed to these developments

towards societies but also has successfully implemented them. Under such CSR activities it is

also visible than they are not only heading towards a sustainable business but also towards a

business which is also financially stable. Assurance is provided by an independent third party, in

line with best practice. Surprisingly, in spite of achieving most of their targets in the

commitments towards the Plan A objectives some aims of M& S is still facing some big and

challenging targets. Some of these are to meet sustainable sourcing standards for eight key raw

materials; to ensure all M&S products have a Plan A quality; to improve our suppliers’

sustainability performance; and to engage customers and employees in Plan A. Thus it is

desirable that M&S will quickly able to recover these shortcomings.

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