Marks and Spencer's (M&S) was founded in 1884 through an evolved partnership between Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. "Marks had set up a stall at Kirkgate market in Leeds in which Spencer joined him in 1894" (The Guardian, 2008). This created the multi channelling, international retailer that we have today, selling "quality fashion, outstanding food" (Marks and Spencers, 2014) home items and many services such as bureau de change, ecommerce involving a click and collect service and café's/deli's. Marks and Spencer's have a geographical market coverage of 798 UK stores and 455 International Stores in 54 territories including Europe, the Middle East and Asia (Marks and Spencers, 2014) making them one of the UK's largest retailers. .
The company do not have a set mission statement however aim to provide values of "quality, value, service, innovation and trust" (Marks and Spencers, 2014) to each and every customer. In regards to their vision, Marks and Spencer's aspire "to be the standard against which others are measured", however recently they have shown a decline in producing consumer-want in their products as they are lacking "innovation" in seasonal trends, obscuring there vision slightly. Despite this, the highest quality of products possible for excellent value is always provided and the company is shown to have one of the best customer service policies alongside a solid loyalty with their target market. This has been partly built through their Corporate Social Responsibility stance, "Plan A".
Plan A 2020 was created in promise to deliver the most sustainable product possible along with becoming the most sustainable business. Having rolled this out in 50 different countries worldwide, the company locally identifies what matters the most to their customers, stakeholders and employees and builds on this further, acting as a "global framework with local application" (Calver, 2009).
