Marks and spencers as an international retailer

Marks and spencers as an international retailer Marks and Spencer, known as M S, is one of the biggest retailers in the world. It has around 150 stores in 30 countries, including 130 franchises operating across the globe. Though it is very popular for its clothing chains in the United Kingdom, M S is also known for its multi-million pound food industry. M S also sell home furnishings, footwear and gifts other than clothing and food. In the United Kingdom alone it has 450 stores and under the trademark St. Michael, it has a chain of 294 stores. Almost all the companys overseas branches are locally franchised. M S owns the United States of Americas Brooks Brothers and King Super Markets. To meet the demands of the customers the company gets facilitated by Direct Mail. The companys core objectives of meeting the customer expectation and giving consumers easier and better access to a wide list of products. The financial services for the customers are provided by the groups financial services which comprise of the unit trust manage ment, life insurances etc. M S in recent years suffered a succession of adversities, both at home and abroad. The sales of the company have dropped. The market capitalization and stock prices reduced substantially and the overseas profits have tremendously declined. As a result the company was forced to form a marketing department in January 1999 and become more proactive and market driven. M S followed a very simple marketing philosophy for a very long time. That is to produce high quality products under a recognised brand and advertise through the word-of-mouth. But in the recent past, this advertising strategy has come under criticism as the company started losing its competitive touch. The challenge now is to develop a good marketing strategy and emerge from the slump to reposition M S as a fierce global competitor in the international arena. Internationalization Strategy of M S The internationalization of the M S began in the early 1940s. It is because the company started to feel that the domestic market has been saturated and the expansion has to come from abroad. Unlike most of the firms, M S began to export its products on the brand name St. Michael as a way to test the waters. It has been successful and the company was exporting about $1,146,000 worth of products by 1955. Externally, the members of a local labour party were suggesting nationalizing the leading domestic retailers. Sooner as a tool of diversification, some international franchising relationships were formed. This franchising allowed the company to achieve global presence with minimum political and economic risks. As the relations of the company grew with other global countries, MS choose to invest directly (FDI). MS uses various types of foreign entry around the world. But mostly the company believes in opening its own stores in major economies. It has its own stores in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and Netherlands; and franchises in Cyprus, Israel, Bermuda, etc. when forming international alliances; it often prefers an experienced retailer in that particular country. Its first joint venture was established in Spain as it felt the cultural distance and market power of its co company will help to mitigate the political climate and behaviour of the company. Its international strategies in Spain yielded successful results which helped it to gain popularity in the global markets. Through franchising, its approach was mostly top-down. That is it has a centralised management which could not be better off in various marketing situations. Hence it was forced to change its internationalization strategies through foreign direct investment. Due to this there is a forced change in its technolog y, cultural behaviouring and regional promoting aspects. MS started to open stores in America, Far East and Europe. In different parts it has slightly different operational strategies depending upon the host countries values. In America it used acquisitions with Brook Brothers (clothing company), in Europe it has its direct stores running and in Far East, some stores were run with franchise and others through direct investment. Following a wide range of strategy reviews of its business, board of MS announced in 2001 significant changes to its strategies. The important decisions in its strategy are: Expansion in growth of profitable products. Acceleration of store renewal program Being close to the customer More intensive use of space Release value from half the property portfolio Cost cutting. MS has a wide range of returns on food products and has earned customer trust. So it decided to invest its major investment in food, home and beauty products. Its other plan was to accelerate the renewal of store renewal. Under this, it planned to refurbish more stores faster at the lower cost. It also reallocated to higher growth product areas to maximise returns per sqft. Apart from these strategic changes, it uses direct investment in global sectors which gained them a competitive advantage. Factors affecting MS strategy There are various factors which has a certain impact on the MS internationalization strategy. Of them, technology has been one of the factor in which the company was forced to change its strategy in various countries. But broadly speaking, in this fast developing technological world, technology used by Ms is been available where ever it opened its stores. A small adjustment to the technical functioning of a store is enough for the company to have its strategy working. The most important factor that has its resemblance in the formulation of internationalization strategy is geography and distance. As the marketing strategy of MS is universal, however it does not mean that it uses similar strategies in all parts of the world. There is a large effect of globalisation to the formulation of internationalization strategies. Consumers from various countries are different due to varying culture, economic development, and income level and so on. So in certain cases MS does not use its centralised operating strategies instead it combines with some other company through mergers but has its own standards running. This initial phenomenon of outsourcing and then after some recognition opening its own store had a significant upward success in MS organization. As marks and spencer is generally known for its clothing and food products, the locality of the company is very important. As MS runs its stores in different countries, transportation of the products has to be done in a prà ©cised manner such that there is no shortage. So in order to overcome this transportation and time differences, MS has its own outlets in specific countries. These outlets have immediate access to the supply of products whenever required. There are certain situations where it cannot have its own outlets due to some government policies and other factors. In these cases, marks and spencer uses its internationalization strategy of franchising. So that it has its own functionality running by other company. All these have significant impacts in the brand distribution globally. Apart from these, government trade policies also play a part in the strategy formulation. Given the growing links among nations, it is very difficult to consider domestic policy without considering international repercussions. In the case of formulating its strategy in US, bilateral negotiations are carried out covering wide range of products, services and investments. Such a policy should pursue the government to facilitate competitiveness and encourage collaboration among companies in the areas of goods and process technologies. MS is an UK company where the marketing conditions have to be emphasized by the government and the product is socially accepted. Also great emphasis is placed on efficiency by government policies. Where as in US and Far East countries, they regard individualism and the promotional appeals should be relevant to the individual to incorporate lower power distance within the market. Also the main advantage of Marks and Spencer government policy is that it had an opportunity of taking advantage of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in US. It takes advantage of tax under this agreement and is outsourcing its products to Mexico and Canada. It also has an advantage of making economic sense in terms of logistics. The important policy priorities for the tax Policy Action Group (PAG) in the future include: The Tax Framework for Business The Value Added Tax The National Insurance Contributions M S will be benefitted over the above made policies by the government. The idea is to focus on the oversight and the management of the policy implications in indirect tax, company tax, personnel tax and customs duty. Conclusion The conventional wisdom on development of the developed companies like MS has focused on learning from mistakes. The leading MS Company showed that their high risk strategy of acquisition and direct investment can yield successful results backed up with technology, and cultural values. The insights from the study on MS suggest that overseas expansion is related to the need to improve global competitiveness in order to boost their outsourcing capabilities. No matter the distance and differences between the countries, MS has been the successful organization to open its companies in different countries and make them profitable ones. The only important aspect for it is to make a minimum number of changes to the functioning and marketing aspects depending upon the country in which it is operating in. thus from the above analysis it can be understood that the globalization strategy of MS created a new marketing paradigm in its success and also gained superior advantage and reputation irres pective of the host country policies and other factors. Hence it is clear from the strategies of an MS company that we live in a truly globalised economy where differences across countries are given little importance in development.

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies :: Fifth business robertson davies Essays

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Robertson Davies' novel Fifth Business, the author uses the events that occurred in Deptford as a Canadian Allusion to reveal character identity. Three characters in the novel from Deptford: Boy Staunton, Dunstan Ramsey and Paul Dempster, leave Deptford to embark on a new identity to rid of their horrid past. The three main characters of the novel, all of whom to some extent try to escape their small town background, change their identity to become people of consequence. All in some way take on a new identity. Imbedded in this transformation is the assumption that one's original self, especially one's small town origins, must be discarded before one can become significant in the world. Firstly, Paul Dempster grows up as an outcast in Deptford, his mother's 'simpleness' leading the tight social world of the town to cast out his whole family and force's Paul to leave the town and create a new image for himself. Paul runs away to the circus in his early teens because of the mental abuse he took from the town because of his mothers incident with the tramp. Dunstable comment's, "Paul was not a village favorite, and the dislike so many people felt for his mother - dislike for the queer and persistently unfortunate - they attached to the unoffending son," (Davies' 40) illustrates how the town treated Paul because of his mother's actions. Paul leaves his past because of the actions displaced by his mother and the guilt he feels because his "birth was what robbed her of her sanity," (Davies' 260) explains why Paul left Deptford. However, while Boy merely tries to ignore his Deptford past, Paul tries to create a completely new one and Paul asks Dunstan to write an autobiography that "in general terms that he was to be a child of the Baltic vastness, reared perhaps by gnomelike Lapps after the death of his explorer parents, who were probably Russians of high birth." (Davies' 231). The scenery of this autobiography seems significantly Canadian, but Paul does not want his book to represent his past life in Deptford. Therefore, Paul Dempster is a troubled child because of his mother's actions in Deptford which in turn force Paul to leave Deptford and to create a new identity for himself. Secondly, Dunstable Ramsey is haunted by the guilt of Mary Dempster over his entire life and he must create a new identity for himself. After a rock has hit Mary in the head (in a snowball thrown by Boy Staunton meant for Ramsay), and her preacher husband is crying over her, young Ramsay's only thought is that

Hellenistic Art Essay

During the campaign of Alexander the Great as the greatest conqueror of his time, his father, Philip of Macedon tried to unite the Greek city-states. During this time, Hellenistic period was born creating a major advancement on their art. It was also in this period, that a global battle in commerce and cultural influences which are apparently dominated by the Greeks. The Greek Hellenistic period span from 323 B. C. up to the Battle of Actio in 31 B. C. The Hellenistic period paved the way to many transformations of Greek art. Though the Classical concepts in art were not thoroughly abandoned, the birth of the Hellenistic period made the artists create different and unique art concepts. The artists during this time explored and manipulated their imagination on their subject. It was also during this period that higher degree of Naturalism took place as a logical conclusion to great sculptors like Praxitelis and Lysipos whose works demanded for the art representation of the human figure. In a Greek art (Boy Jockey), the bold expression of energy and power during great pressure was represented. The change of focus of the Hellenistic art from religious and naturalistic ideas and concepts to human expressions, psychological concern and theatrical background, paved the way to the sculptures that includes the natural physical surroundings with creative landscaping and theatrical groupings. The Nike of Samothrace is a sculpture that embraced the true meaning and understood the world through the application of certain techniques and aesthetic conventions. The winged goddess with her outstretched wings gracefully prevents the stone from falling due to gravity. The sculpture also represented the physical human presence and the external force within it. The representation evidently speaks for the Greeks acceptance of the physical power of human being and all other external forces acting on it. The Hellenistic art in sculpture also represents human condition, state of mind and inconsequential moments of life. It is represented through sculpture like a sleepy satyr, an old woman, a twist of torso and the swing of Aphrodite’s sandal. The statue of the beautiful Venus was contrasted by the monstrous appearance of Pan who happens to seduce her as she attempts to repel him with her smile. During this period, the statues of Aphrodite, Eros, Dionysius, Pan and Hermaphrodites were manipulated in styles and configurations to give way to the theme of eroticism. In order to represent the unique physical beauty of women and the Greek world, statues of female nudes gain popularity. The statues of Venus in various orientations and poses were created and displayed in halls of many museums i around the world. Among the greatest work that personifies beauty is the sculpture of Venus de Milo. Many Hellenistic sculptors were not contented in depicting the true physical appearance of their subject. They included some variation through express the inner world. These variations were characterized through the depiction of physical characteristics that deceived inner feelings and thoughts. The most important work considered during that time is the statue of Hygea which combined the concepts of Classical Greek art in its refinement and Hellenistic aesthetic ideals on its facial expression of concern to the previous condition that existed before her. Works Cited â€Å"Art of Ancient Greece. † Museum Quality. 29 April 2009 http://www. huntfor. com/arthistory/ancient/anc_greek. htm Green, Peter. Alexander The Great and the Hellenistic Age. Orion Publishing Group Limited, 2008.

Thomas Hardy Quotes From Tess of the dUrberville

Tess of the dUrberville is a tragedy. The novel details the loss of innocence and the ultimate destruction of a young girl. The novel was one of the last novels by Thomas Hardy, who is also famous for Jude the Obscure. Here are a few quotes from Tess of the dUrberville. I dont know; but I think so. They sometimes seem to be like the apples on our stubbard-tree. Most of them splendid and sound - a few blighted.- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 4 I wont sell his old body. When we dUrbervilles was knights in the land, we didnt sell our chargers for cats meat. Let em keep their shillings! Heve served me well in his lifetime, and I wont part from him now.- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 4 Thus, the thing began. Had she perceived this meetings import she might have asked why she was doomed to be seen and coveted that day by the wrong man, and not by some other man, the right and desired one in all respects...- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 5 Out of the frying pan into the fire!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 10 But some might say, where was Tesss guardian Angel? Where was the providence of her simple faith? Perhaps... he was talking, or he was pursuing, or he was in a journey, or he was sleeping and not to be awaked... As Tesss own people down in those retreats are never tired of saying among each other in their fatalistic way: It was to be.- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 11 My life looks as if it had been wasted for want of chances! When I see what you know, what you have read, and seen, and thought, I feel what a nothing I am!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 19 I cant bear to let anybody have him but me! Yet it is wrong Tess him, and may kill him when he knows!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 28 Yes; at that dance on the green; but you would not dance with me. O, I hope that is no ill-omen for us now!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 30 you always courting me, and always thinking as much of me as you have done through the past summertime!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 32 You are very good. But it strikes me that there is a want of harmony between your present mood of self-sacrifice and your past mood of self-preservation.- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 35 I agree to the conditions, Angel; because you know best what my punishment ought to be; only - only - dont make it more than I can bear!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 37 She would have laid down her life for ee. I could do no more.- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 40 You, and those like you, take your fill of pleasure on earth by making the life of such as me bitter and black with sorrow; and then it is a fine thing when you have had enough of that, to think of securing your pleasure in heaven by becoming converted!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 45 How can I pray for you, when I am forbidden to believe that the great Power who moves the world would alter his plans on my account?- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 46 You have been the cause of my backsliding, he continued, stretching his arm towards her waist; you should be willing to share it, and leave that mule you call husband forever.- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 47 Remember, my lady, I was your master once! I will be your master again. If you are any mans wife you are mine!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 47 O why have you treated me so monstrously, Angel! I do not deserve it. I have thought it all over carefully, and I can never, never forgive you! You know that I did not intend to wrong you - why have you so wronged me? You are cruel, cruel indeed! I will try to forget you. It is all injustice I have received at your hands!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 51 his original Tess had spiritually ceased to recognize the body before him as hers - allowing it to drift, like a corpse upon the current, in a direction disassociated from its living will.- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 55 O, you have torn my life all to pieces... made me be what I prayed you in pity not to make me be again!- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 56 And the dUrberville knights and dames slept on in their tombs unknowing.- Thomas Hardy, Tess of the dUrberville, Chapter 59