Marks and Spencer Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

Marks and Spencer - Case Study Example The other products that are sold by the company include; flowers, hampers and drinks such as wine. The company offers financial services to its customers like providing account cards, personal loans, unit trusts managements, life assurance schemes as well as pension policies to its customers. The company is subdivided into three divisions and they are United Kingdom's retail, International retail and the financial services division (Megone, and Robinson, 2002). In the United Kingdom's retail division, the management sells different kinds of merchandise .This division is sub divided into business units' that include; women's wear, men's wear, children's wear, beauty items, home furnishings as well as food items. The International retail business is categorized into three geographical areas such as; Europe, North America and the Far East. The European international retail business is further on divided into Continental Europe, Republic of Ireland and European franchise businesses. In North America, the group operates two types of businesses such as Brooks Brothers and Kings Supermarkets. The Far East consists of 10 stores that store the products of the company that are later on sold to the customers. The financial services offered by the company to its customers include; account cards, personal loans, unit trusts as well as life assurance and pension policies. The suitable organizational structure for this company is that of the matrix organizational structure. This structure involves arranging its activities according to the employees function and products. The structure can combine the best functions and product structures within an organization. Functional organizations are organized according to the technological disciplines. A functional manager is normally appointed so as to allocate the resources within the organization in the appropriate way .The coordination of activities can be undertaken through following the laid down procedures, detailed specifications, and ensuring that meetings are held on a regular basis. Products that require specialized knowledge consists of functional organized structures. On the other hand, a product manager is charged with the responsibility of coordinating the product creation activities through liaising with the functional representatives of the organization. The major tasks of the product manager are to collect information, solve conflicts and enhance the facilitation of objectives of the organization are achieved within a stipulated period of time. The employees are expected to accomplish their tasks as required so as to exploit their potentials as well as be in a position to increase the sales returns of the company. They are also expected to understand the factors that have been hindering them from accomplishing the tasks that have been assigned to them. The importance of this kind of structure is that the management of the company can be in a better position to focus on the market segment thus be in a position to meet the needs of the customers with ease. There is also an element of competition between the divisions as they try to achieve the objectives that have been set for them to meet within a stipulated period of time.The divisions within the organization can be controlled with ease since they act on different profit centers of the organization. Marks and Spencer Company sells different kinds of products to the customers thus the product manag