Functional areas are a differentiation of activities/ functions that the employees perform based on the work areas they are specialised in. For e.g. HR, production, sales, IT etc. This grouping allows one group of people to concentrate on one task which reduces confusion and increases productivity.
One M&S functional area is the HR which works at ensuring that staff is regarded as the best asset in the company. They are also responsible for advertising for required job and recruiting staff for the company. This functional area also makes sure that the company invests in staff training, which M&S already consider Important. This involves on the job (on the job training is training given by a senior member of staff) training an off the job (off the job training is training that’s provided by professionals who get paid by the business) training both which ensures that the employees have got exposure from outside the company as well which develops them to their full potential. It’s responsible for making sure that the employees are aware of its presence and are satisfied with its functions. One of its important functions is to ensure the safety of employees and customers by checking whether the business abides by the health and safety act and takes necessary measures.
Another important functional area is IT which is responsible for functions like keeping M&S’s website up-to-date and making sure that it meets the standards of the head office. They also look after the aspects of hardware (for e.g. physical equipment like computers) and software for (for e.g. antivirus) within the company. They are also responsible for keeping backups for all the data and for recovering any lost data especially if it’s an extremely important financial document that they are required to have by the law. Their IT team takes care of making the website accessible to all the people including disabled, the visually impaired and those with motor deficiencies and cognitive disabilities. Following is the print screened page that has all the information regarding the same. This way they’ll be able to reach out to more potential customers and hence make more profit by enabling all groups of people to purchase form their website. Thus showing the IT department working in conjunction with the sales department by helping them sell goods through the use of technology.
http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/orphan-pages/accessibility
This functional area also needs to make sure that all the computers are well maintained and have access to all the appropriate programs. This ensures the use of technology to its full potential in order for M&S to meet their aims and objectives. The IT department helps with the sales in another way by enabling their website to accept credit card payments and keeping the card details of their customers’ safe by preventing anyone from hacking into their systems.
The sales department of M&S is responsible for communicating with existing customers which includes informing them about the products they’ve got, contacting potential customers, exhibiting their products and services to their potential customers and telling their potential customers about any ongoing sales or discounts to persuade them to buy their products. This department is responsible to communicate with the manufacturing department to inform them about the stock that’s required.
They will also need to communicate with the finance department on the goods that have been sold so that the finance can communicate with administration to make sure that the goods have been paid for.
Another important functional area of M&S is marketing as it communicates the needs of customers to the suppliers and advertises the products that they make. M&S try to persuade people to buy their products by coming up with offers and working with the IT department to advertise these offers on their website as shown in the following screenshot:
http://www.marksandspencer.com/c/offers/sale
M&S spend a lot of money in advertising their products made by the production department and hence make it easier for the sales department to sell these products. They invest a lot of money in hiring famous models and other famous personalities to make their products stand out.
Other ways they do marketing is by dividing their products into three lines of business which are general merchandise that include books, cosmetics, children toys, clothing, handbags etc., foods that include prepared foods, ethnic foods, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages etc., financial services that include personal loans, store credit cards, personal equity plans, life insurance and unit trusts. M&S also follow a value price strategy from the beginning (Michael marks). This works well with them targeting middle class customers. They’ve managed to follow a good pricing strategy even with their suppliers all being from the U.K instead of developing countries (which would cut down on the labour costs). They’ve done this by developing strong economic bonds with their suppliers. These bonds are important to help maintain relationships with their suppliers that ensure that M&S can trust and rely on their suppliers in the long run.
http://homes.ieu.edu.tr/mdemirbag/523/marksandspencer.pdf
Due to their economies of scale (economies of scale causes the production costs to fall due to increased output), they’ve been able to require manufacturers to adhere to strict quality standards and to bargain lower prices for their customers. Another key marketing strategy of M&S is their choice of place as they mostly locate their stores on the main streets of cities. Overall for marketing, they follow 4 p’s which are product, pricing, promotion, and placement.
http://www.examstutor.com/business/resources/companyprofiles/marksandspencer/ethicaltrading.php
The finance department of M&S has to keep a record of all of their financial events that take place and when they happen and financial summaries of what has happened in their business. They do this through accounts, balance sheets etc. to keep track of the flow of revenue and to keep records of all debit and credit card transactions. All the payments of salaries, bonus pays and pensions are also carried out from this department. This functional area is also used to reward the shareholders that invest in M&S. This functional area also provides the funds for the company when it wants to build new stores and expand.
They are responsible for ensuring that business strategies are understood and followed, growth of the business and profit and loss within the business.
Marks and spencer do not produce products therefore functional area of production doesn’t apply to them. However they do have suppliers that produce goods for them. They make sure that people working for their employers don’t get exploited. They do this by sending technologists to suppliers to
The production department are responsible for making sure that the raw materials are processed into the finished goods effectively. Design and production are important functional areas because they need to ensure that their chosen design will satisfy their customers in order to meet their sales objectives. From time to time they need to ensure that their design and production team is good enough for e.g. in 2001, Roger Holmes (the managing director) changed M&S’s design team in order to design clothing that appeals to both younger and older customers.
The design team uses various methods that help them design effectively. One of those method is an interactive computer aid method through which they can generate an dstore the designs using geometric and computer graphics. The designers have the responiblility to ensure that the products’