I – Interviewer, B H – Barry Hyman

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 403.

I – What are the strengths and weaknesses … well let's take the strengths, the

strengths of the company, the sort of SWOT analysis, you know, strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, threats, but particularly the strengths, would you say of

Marks and Spencer's …?

B H – I think the strengths are its ability to buy its merchandise very accurately and

very quickly, and that is what this is all about. If we stop selling goods we

might as well all of us go home!

We have a dedicated and committed supplier base, build up over decades, some

of the suppliers with us since the founding of the company. If you add on to

that, and when I said ‘that' I mean their willingness to give us the right

merchandise, because it ‘s in their interests as well as ours obviously, the

technical developments which have taken place in the last few years. Our

capacity with electronic point of sale and astute suppliers, to change color,

change fabric, change style much more quickly than ten years ago is an integral

part of the success of the business at the moment.

That's the major strength. I think another strength is the innate flexibility of the

people who work in the business. Erm, you have to turn it to a strength,

sometimes it can be a weakness – that we change people around too often, but

essentially the strength is that you can have somebody who has learned the

management skills of the business buying fish this year and buying jumpers

next year, and applying the same sort of management skills of buying to

whichever industry he in.

If there is a weakness it is, or was perhaps an inclination to change people

around too often. I think it's a weakness we've overcome and we are now

recognizing that, er, strength of knowledge counts for something, so while you

want to develop people, a) give them an opportunity of a number of career

chances and b) make sure that you've got flexible people, the first prerequisite

is to make sure that people spend a sensible amount of time in an area to their

benefit and to that of the business.

I – Opportunities?

B H – Opportunities are boundless. When I joined the business in 1959 the best I could

hope for as a Londoner was to go to south to Falmouth and north to Aberdeen

… but if I work for the company now I can go to America, I can go to France, I

can go to the Far East. The world is now literally at my feet, and young people

coming in now have the most fantastic opportunities to travel and develop their

skills, and are encouraged to do so.

I – So the internationalization is the big opportunity?

B H – Yes. Great development, yes.

I – What are the major threats, would you say, to the business? Are they any?

B H – It sounds arrogant, doesn't it, to say that we have no competition, and I don't

mean it in that way. Of course there is competition. Every other retailer is a

competitor, I don't see any of them at the moment as major threats, and the

reason I say it is this. In the 80s when the high street was developing rapidly

and a variety of other bright traders were coming along, and a variety of

retailers who I won't name at the moment, we were told that Marks and

Spencer's day was over. We were looking tired and jaded, and they were going

to modernize their stores and put in systems and merchandise which would see

us off! With hindsight, many of them are not there any more. If their

companies are, they are trading at a loss. We are still trading at a profit. It's a

race in which we are very happy to be the tortoise rather than the hare. So no

immediate threats, but we are not complacent. We are aware of other retailers

and other techniques and we keep an eye on them all the time.