An Exploratory Study Into Failure In Successful Organizations: The Case Of Marks & Spencer

Marks & Spencer (M&S) was one of the world's great retailers, enjoying legendary and iconic status, being often held up as one of the best managed and admired businesses in the world. Its 'fall from grace' has been spectacular and dramatic and the company is currently fighting for its life. Based on extensive in-depth interviews with company managers and utilizing a case-study approach, this paper provides an exploratory study into failure at M&S and presents this in the context of the wider literature on organizational and managerial failure. It concludes that whilst external factors in the various trading environments affected the business, there were internal aspects of the crisis which exacerbated the situation and the problems.   Introduction   'If I had to pick one company in the world that   exemplified consistent long-term growth, profitability and   customer satisfaction, it would be Marks and Spencer   … In terms of performance no British company can   match them.' (Peter Doyle, quoted in Seth and   Randall, 1999, pp. 123' 124)   For over a century Marks & Spencer (M&S) has been a legendary UK retailing organization. M&S's management, both its overall style and its individual leaders, have been acknowledged as exemplars of 'best practice'. Peter Drucker (1974) described M&S as a 'managerial giant in the western world'. Tse (1985,p. 1) noted that M&S 'has been widely recognized as one of the best-managed companies in Europe … as far as management excellence of the firm is concerned, the consensus is almost total in the trade, as well as in government and specialist circles'. Kumar (1997,p. 823) commented that 'in almost every survey in the United Kingdom, Marks and Spencer tends to top the list of most admired companies and their St Michael brand is world renowned'. Until 1997, a host of academic and business commentators could be drawn upon to make similar complimentary points. Since then however, the situation has altered. M&S is experiencing unprecedented...