Marks & Spencer must follow the Disability Discrimination Law. The things that M&S do to follow this law are they have lifts in all of their stores if the stores have stairs, they have lowered cash tills which is easier for the disabled person to reach, they also have electric wheel chairs which are good for the disabled people if they can not walk. If M&S did not follow this law they would get sued and loose profit from the business.
National Minimum Wage Act 1998 – the minimum wage in the UK is £5.73 for all adult workers. M&S are paying most of their staffs the minimum wage £5.73 per hour
The mandate trade union proclaim on Tuesday, 24 February 2009 that they have made and agreement with M&S for a new pay deal which is above the terms of the national wage agreement. Normally Marks & Spencer’s staffs receives 5.73 per hour but it depends on how old they, if they are 22 years then they will receive that amount if below the age then they will receive less. Although a complex retail environment and call from employers groups for an extended pay pause, M&S agreed to increase staffs wages above the current rates of pay to 6.7%.
Mandate Assistant General Secretary, Gerry Light said, “This deal is significant both in terms of Marks and Spencer’s’ recognition of the contribution from its staff members and also in terms of the local partnership process which can work successfully, even in difficult economic times, between employers and trade unions.
The deal will see the implementation of the first phase (3.5%) of Towards 2016 paid to all staff from 1 January 2009 which means Marks and Spencer staff will not see a three month pay freeze as was negotiated in the National Wage Agreement and will instead see their pay increased ahead of schedule.
The National Minimum Wage Act 1998 creates a minimum wage across the United Kingdom, currently £5.73 per hour for adults. It was a flagship policy of the in the UK during its and is still pronounced today in Party circulars as an outstanding gain for ‘at least 1.5 million people’. The national minimum wage (NMW) took effect on .
No national existed prior to this date, although there were a variety of systems of wage controls focussed on specific industries. Part of the reason for Labour's minimum wage policy was the decline of membership over recent decades (weakening employees' bargaining power), as well as a recognition that the employees most vulnerable to low pay (especially in ) were rarely unionised in the first place. The minimum wage was opposed by the opposition Conservative Party, including the Conservatives' current leader, David Cameron.
all employers must pay a minimum hourly wage to workers over the age of 18 regardless of where they work the size of the firm or the workers occupation. From the 1st October 2004 the national minimum wage was extended to workers aged 16 and 17 but this does not include apprentices aged 16-18. Apprentices aged 19 and above qualify for the minimum wage after the first twelve months of their apprenticeship.
Marks & Spencer pay all of the workers at least the minimum wage and even more for other workers. It is good for Marks and Spencer that the minimum wage isn’t so big because they don’t have to over pay their workers. However if the minimum wage keeps increasing then M&S might have to cut jobs which means their sales and profits will be lower.
Economic Factors M&S:
Economic factors affect M&S in a lot of different ways. Some of those ways are explained below:
Costs of credit (borrowing):
Cost of borrowing influence M&S in a good and bad way because they have to borrow money to expand however the bad way is that they have to pay back interest rates in return Marks & Spencer has to be careful with the amount of money that they borrow from the bank. The reason for this is because when you borrow money from the bank you have to pay them interests because the bank is sacrificing their ability to use that money. Marks & Spencer has to be careful not to borrow more than they actually need because interest repayments may rise causing M&S more expenses which at the end of the day for them is profit that could be made.
Competitive pressures:
Competition affects M&S in a bad way because they have to fight in order to sell their products. Competition is one of the biggest influence to M&S. Marks & Spencer competes against businesses such as Tesco and Asda for market share by making their products high quality and healthy as well as having good prices on them. Marks & Spencer has many different ways that they could beat the competition. However they are already beating the competition because their main competitor is Waitrose and M&S is more popular and has better prices than Waitrose products. This is a good for M&S because they are one of the healthiest retailers in the UK and have competitive prices.
Energy prices:
Energy prices are an important cost of M&S and are a bad impact because M&S has more costs to pay. This is because M&S stores use electricity for light, cash machines, heating and air conditioning. When energy prices increase M&S then have to figure out ways how to use less electricity whether that would be installing solar panels in their store or something else. This has a big impact on M&S because their business costs increase which means that they have to raise costs of their products in order to retain their profits.
Social factors M&S:
Social factors affect M&S in a lot of different ways. Some of those ways are explained below:
Ageing population:
The number of older people in the UK is increasing all the time. This has a good impact on M&S because their target market will increase in age meaning more sales. This means that M&S must produce things such as clothes for older people. However this is a good affect on M&S because this will increase their profits more due to the amount of people that are going to buy their products is increasing. The old people will also eat healthy foods and M&S food is really healthy if not the healthiest out of all the different food organisations in the UK such as Tesco and Asda.
Hosting a major sporting and cultural events:
Marks & Spencer
Celebrity culture:
Celebrity culture is a good impact on M&S because a lot people want to become celebrities. If they can not become celebrities they try to dress and live like celebrities. This is why Marks & Spencer has to pay celebrities such as Twiggy to advertise their products to customers in positive ways. When M&S use celebrities to advertise their products customers will buy them more because they will think that they will look like the celebrity that is advertising those products. It costs M&S a lot of money to employ celebrities in order to advertise their products however it is like an investment for M&S because their sales will increase on the products that they will advertise.
Technological factors:
Technological factors affect M&S in a lot of different ways. Some of those ways are.
Internet:
Internet is a good impact for M&S because they are able to sell their products online. M&S have a website which is in their website you can everything online and get it delivered straight to your home. This means that M&S is able to expand their business to those who can not leave their home but want to use M&S products. Internet has made a good opportunity for M&S to expand their business globally.
The following print screen shows M&S website where they sell their products:
TV:
TV is a good impact on M&S because they are able to advertise their products. If not for TV M&S would probably not be as popular as it is now because when they advertise themselves on TV they target a greater audience and without TV they would be able to do so. This gives M&S a really big increase in their profit.
Radio:
The radio has impacted M&S in a good way because they are also able to advertise themselves. When using the radio M&S would usually advertise their sales and promotions. This allows them to attract more customers who are driving and listening to the radio.
Task 5 Oxfam:
Political factors:
Political factors affect Oxfam in different ways some of those ways are:
The Sex Discrimination Act 1975:
Oxfam must also follow the Sex Discrimination Law because they are a charity and they have to except everyone who wants to volunteer for them and also they have to donate money to everyone who needs it whether the person is male or female.
The Disability Discrimination Act 1995:
Oxfam follows the Disability Discrimination Law because they have disabled people that are working voluntarily for them. Oxfam doesn’t really care who works for them because it is a charity.
National Minimum Wage Act 1998:
Due to Oxfam being a charity most of its workers are volunteers. This means that they don’t get paid for the work that they do. This is good for Oxfam because it needs to save as much money as possible in order for it to be able to help people who need help. This affects Oxfam in a good way because Oxfam does not have to pay its volunteer workers for the jobs that they do which means Oxfam can raise more money for bad causes around the world.
Economical factors:
Economical factors affect Oxfam in different ways. Some of those ways are:
Pay levels:
Pay levels affect Oxfam in some good and bad ways. This is because most of the Oxfam staff are volunteers however the main staff such as the managers and so on get paid for doing their job properly. Oxfam have to try and keep such costs as low as possible in order to be able to raise more money for poverty and suffering which is their main aim.
Energy prices:
Energy prices affect Oxfam in a bad way. This is because Oxfam have to pay for the energy and electricity that they use which means they can donate less money to poverty and suffering. This is like on of Oxfam’s main expense.
Labour, supply and demand:
Labour, supply and demand affect Oxfam in a good way because they don’t have to pay for the labour, supply and demand of their products that they receive from shops such as M&S. This is because they are a charity and it is up to retailers if they want to help raise clothing and food or not.
Social factors:
Social factors do not affect Oxfam at all. This is because they are a charity and do not need things such as hosting major sporting event and celebrities. This is because they do not need to advertise themselves in such big ways. It is enough for Oxfam to advertise on TV by showing little adverts on how it is to live life in poverty and so on. They don’t need celebrities to do that. The only thing that I think affect Oxfam is the ageing population. The ageing population affect Oxfam in a good way because older people seem to be a lot kinder when it comes to donating money to charities such as Oxfam.
Technological:
Technological factors affect Oxfam in a lot different ways. Some of those ways are:
Internet:
The internet is a big influence to Oxfam. Oxfam use the internet in their charity. The way that they use the internet is that they let people donate money to the charity by going to the . They also sell some products online where people can buy them and the money raised from selling those products also goes to the Oxfam charity.
The following print screen shows Oxfam’s website where you can buy and donate money to:
TV:
TV is a good impact on Oxfam because they are able to advertise their charity. If not for TV Oxfam would not get as many donations due to the simple fact that people won’t know the charity really well.
Radio:
The radio has impacted Oxfam in a good way because they are also able to advertise themselves. When using the radio Oxfam would usually advertise them selves in order to get more donations.