Marks Spencers Internationalization Ventures and Failures

mark Spencers transnationalization Ventures and FailuresIntroductionFor years, undefeated occupancyes have sought to increase their share of the market places by overstateing their operations and by making their products and services available to a big percentage of customers. Expansion is norm all in ally attained on 2 polar levels, namely, local amplification and internationalistisation. Globalization, and the benefits that can be sought from it, has encouraged businesses to management to a greater extent on internationalization strategies as a means of expansion enchantment ensuring that their local footing is firm and non marred by competition or other local issues. Marks Spencer, for one, has been trying quantify and a shit to expand its business internationally non exclusively through and through franchising but withal by opening sell stores (retail internationalization) in the roughly assure of all international markets. A look into the history of Marks Spencers internationalization ventures shows nothing but failure in almost all of its foreign markets leading the play along to either exit these markets or part change off its stores (Kollewe 2010). The report throws light on the issues set ab come forth by Marks Spencer in the past and also concentrate ones on its current status in order to analyze the newly developed strategies for internationalization, whether or not it is worth the risk. It then follows with possible recommendations for the senior management of Marks Spencer while ending with a conclusion that, safekeeping in mind the position scenario, recommends whether or not the new strategies for internationalization are worth prosecute and investing capital in to help the attach to re increment its market value and achieve growth.Marks Spencers Internationalization ventures and failuresOver the years, Marks and Spencer has set about rocky business ventures in most of the foreign lands where it decided to exp and its business. Marks Spencer has opened retail stores and franchises in many countries of Europe and also expanded its business to Canada and America. These ventures, however, did not prove to be as successful as was hoped by the companys management because they were follow upn as more than of a beguilement than benefit. The management at MS believed that these low-profit global ventures were making the management drop its focus on UK, the primary market of MS. The company has, therefore, been forced to reparation to exit from the some of the markets and partial pullouts from others by closing or selling off 38 of its stores all approximately Europe under its swear to revamp its stores in Britain in an attempt to alternate focus to the retail business of UK and its British customers. These pullouts have resulted in serious damage to the stigmatize image of Marks Spencer as the company performed brutal overnight layoffs and thus causing widespread anger among employees and customers.These unannounced and abrupt pullouts caused displeasure among MSs leal customers as they felt betrayed by the company for not being communicate about its withdrawal from their markets. This deed of Marks and Spencer is going to cost it employee and customer loyalty in the future, if ever it wishes to step into these markets again. Employees would manage twice in the beginning accepting a job at MS while customers excessively would find it hard to rely completely on the fault.One of the major(ip) problems with Marks Spencers earlier ventures, as spotted by Bolland, was that it tried acquiring into as well many markets at the same time without actually finish its entry into one market. It simply shifted its attention from one domain to another(prenominal) in an attempt to capture more market share than stipendiary attention towards maintaining a firm grip on the markets share captured already (Holmes 2009). This therefore resulted in less positivity and lower revenues causing the company to withdraw eventually.Current internationalization strategyMarks Spencers new question Executive, Marc Bolland, has set new strategies for the internationalization of MS. A new wave of international ventures has thus been planned in an attempt to domicileore the companys position in Europe and to reach out to the markets of Asia. Marc Bollands strategy of selective internationalization includes stepping cautiously into international markets in order to avoid recurrence of failures that the company faced in the past. He has therefore, proposed India and China as the markets in Asia where he would throw in MS (Roy 2008). For this, he has hash out a selected approach wherein only markets that previse a higher profitability would be tapped and there will be more franchises than company- protested stores.Marks Spencer has planned on entering India by partnering with the countrys trust Group while for China, Bolland has clearly stated that it would p roceed to, and focus on Shanghai quite an than the whole of China as China is, fit in to him, a group of multicultural countries that neither shares a same actors line nor a similar view on style (The richest 2011).The management has been advised by Bolland to make use of Chinese knowledge when establishing the companys presence in China. Bolland has also advised a combination of bricks and clicks in their new internationalization strategy due to which the company would open one flagship store in the capital, a few stores in major shopping malls while the rest of the operations would be taken online as these markets have high earnings density and online shopping is not an alien concept for the people of these markets. The company has also planned on moving into Egypt by opening its very first store in the country. A combination of bricks and clicks has not been accentuate upon as internet has not yet gained much popularity in the country thus rendering too much dependence on o nline business useless.Egypt will not be, however, discussed in this report as the main focus of this report is internationalization with respect to India and China. The new internationalization strategies adopted by Marks Spencer seem very promising and indicate higher profitability and customer shares than the previous strategies adopted by the company. India and China are, indeed, densely populate countries where the rich have high purchasing powers and are more assured of and interested in international brands than most countries of Asia. These countries are also entertain to a high number of foreign travelers that would help the company gain more in terms of sales and revenues.ConclusionThe new plans of international expansion undertaken by Marks Spencer are a series of carefully calculated steps that the company decides to take in order to prohibit itself from stepping into the quicksand of failure. The company should, again, try to expand its business internationally so as to increase its business operations. Globalization is an important factor that successful companies should consider as it helps them gain recognition by people all around the world. It is about time that Marks Spencer starts focusing on internationalization as a means of expansion to avoid being forced out of the market by competitors. By moving into the markets of India and Shanghai, MS has not only targeted two of the most densely populated countries of Asia but also two of the largest economies in emerging markets. Investment decisions in these two countries hold a promising future for MS that would not only be promising but also stable.The consumer market of India is also a highly pliable market. People of these markets are easily influenced and are more prone to shift towards international brands regardless of how expensive their products are. The market of India has adopted the concept of westernization more rapidly and it has gives higher preference to international bran ds than local brands. China too holds better future prospects as it has now become the second largest parsimony of the world (BBC, 2011). India ranks as the fifth largest economy in terms of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty GDP (CIA World Factbook, 2011). Hence the company should proceed with internationalization.RecommendationsEven though the market of Asia is greatly influenced by western culture, it is also inclined towards its own kingdomal culture and traditions. In order to gain greater popularity among customers, MS should introduce a line of traditional wear in whichever region it is targeting to operate in.Choosing regional brand ambassadors instead of international celebrities would help them gain popularity faster and even increase their brand equity and credibility. This would highlight the regional emphasis in the brand more.Clothes should be stitched keeping in mind the size definitions of the region being operated in and not simply introducing apparel with UK based sizes.M S should opt for test selling by opening only a flagship store first to see how well the markets respond to the idea of MS in their country rather than investing heavily all at once.Adopting cultures of the regions or sectors MS is operate in will enhance brand loyalty. The company should also melt into accessories and home apparels market for the sector. Giving options under a single brand increases the likelihood of equity and attraction of customers which will directly effect on the brand and sales.Since China and India are emerging markets, MS should focus more on the middle-class segments of these markets.