Marks and Spencer Group PLC is in a way a great British institution, having started life in 1884 as a stand at Kirkgate Market in Leeds. Quick advance until 2025 and the company, under the direction of President Archie Norman and the CEO, Stuart Machin, appreciates something of a renaissance. The share price is currently at 343p and increased by 345% in the past five years on group income of 13 billion pounds sterling ($ 16 billion), compared to 10.1 billion pounds Sterling (12.6 billion dollars) in 2020.
However, this was not always the case; For years, M&S has struggled, protruding from one crisis to another, taxing the very experienced operators like the former President Stuart Rose.
In 2016, Steve Rowe became CEO and quickly realized that the company had become too bureaucratic, had a complex business structure and had unclear accounts. In 2018, he reported that M&S was “behind the digital curve”, that clothes needed more work on “style and value”, an “underperformance in food”, that it had “ineffective supply chains” and that the store’s domain “was not adapted to the future”.
Indeed, current then president, Archie Norman, was moved to say in 2018, “this company is on a burning platform”.
Something had to change and when Rowe undoubtedly laid the foundations, it was only when Machin took over as CEO in 2022 that the turnaround really gained momentum. But what was the strategy behind this? How do you transform a business as large and as complex as M&S?
The conduct of a high performance culture is a part of how M&S is reshaped for growth, which also includes the acceleration of the store rotation program, the modernization of the supply chain and the use of data, digital and technology to make better decisions and offer better service while maintaining a solid assessment and investing for future growth. Thing says Fortune“A high performance culture is an essential element of our transformation – we need a culture closer to customers and closer to colleagues. And we must constantly raise the talent bar. We are progressing, but there is much more to do to build the culture we need to reshape M&S.”
He continued: “I often talk about how we have to protect the magic of M&S and modernize the rest. And in fact, this is what is at the heart of our strategy today – protect the heritage of what makes us M&S, but being really clear that we must also modernize the company and accelerate the pace of change. ”
An overview of what the conduct of a high performance culture can be found in the fact that the director of people, Sarah Findlater, spent three months to direct an M&S store to “better understand the challenges that their colleagues from their store are confronted”.
She said Fortune“What it meant was to be rolled up sleeves, practice, see things from different angles and listen to the comments so that we can make M&S a place even better to work and shop.”
“Culture is the key that unlocks the next phase of our transformation,” she continued.
The M&S program is integrated into the M&S program closer to the program which requires that all colleagues in the store support center (officially the head office) spend at least seven days each year in store. In 2025, this was extended so that all the new carpenters at the store support center are now starting their career at M&S working in a store, ranging from a few days to a month.
Machin added: “When I joined M&S six years ago, there was a very defensive culture and the constructive comments were not well received. The company is very different today and now, when there is a problem, it is not a question of knowing who is to be blamed but of understanding what was wrong and learning what we can do better.
And the strategy seems to work.
The latest forecasts for the share price for the next 12 months, show a summit of 475.00 and a median of 447.50 and, according to detail analyst Nick Bubb, “M&S was one of the winners of 2024, but it is well placed to rely on its recent successes in 2025, thanks to its significant investment in the creation of impressive food and development range of “Stoff.
In summary, Findlater said: “I took everything I learned from my time in store at the support center. This is why we focus so much on the conduct of a culture closer to customers and closer to colleagues, because it is only then that we can really understand the challenges and opportunities. ”
This story was initially presented on Fortune.com
