Introduction The Organization Chosen For My Strate

IntroductionThe organization chosen for my strategic planning assignment is Marks & Spencer (M&S) the international multi-channel retailer of food, fashion and home ware, headquartered in the UK. It is one of the UK’s leading retailers in clothes and offers high-quality food with a focus on specialty, freshness and convenience. Their aim is to make M&S “a truly international multi-channel retailer”. The assignment also includes a strategic planning process for M&S.Task 1.1 Explain the importance of external factors affecting an organization.The external factors a firm has to analyse are sociological, technological, and economic. Both environmental and political factors (STEEP), over which the firm has no control, but are dynamic, also affect the company indirectly and impact on the strategic plan of the company to remain competitive (Wheelen et al, 2004).In reality, a company cannot monitor all of the external factors affecting their business, therefore they need to make strategic choices as to which external factors are important for the business and create the most impact; based on those criteria, they need to develop strategies. However, in analysing their external environment, firms must focus on key strategic external trends that have a high to medium probability of occurrence and