An Annual Report of Marks and Spencer - Case Study Example

WRITING FOR BUSINESS PURPOSES Creative Writing Introduction Ideally, any form of business enterprise has to communicate effectively with its stakeholders, employees, clients and suppliers in order to ensure that there is a smooth flow of organizational operations. In this case, businesses have to ascertain the best business communication tools in order to maximize customer experience and also to make internal processes to be effective to the organizational goals. Two of the major communication tools used in businesses includes annual reports and corporate sales brochures in which they help to communicate to the various targeted parties important information. Essentially, a corporate sales brochure is a marketing device that can also serve as a communication strategy in which it helps an organization to sell itself as a brand to its customer base or to their stakeholders within the business. On the other hand, an annual report is a business communication tool that provides a company’s comprehensive report on the activities undertaken in a just concluded financial year. Its target audience includes shareholders and other interested parties where the operations of a company are of concern to them, especially in terms of financial performance and activities undertaken by the company. With this, this essay will analyse the corporate sales brochure of Chelseafc.com and the annual report of Marks and Spencer both as forms of business communication tools. 1. Corporate sales brochure (Chelsea FC) Within the English football league, Chelsea Football Club is a club whose year of founding was 1905 and its operational base is in Fulham in London. Chelsea’s home is Stamford Bridge whose seating capacity is 41, 837 and the club’s owner is Sir Roman Abramovich and managed by Jose Mourinho. As at 2013, the club was number seven in the most valuable team listed in the world with an estimated value of nine hundred and one million dollars, which was an 18% increase from 2012. In analysing its corporate sales brochure mounted on its website, the intention of this is to educate those that seek information from the site with up to date information about the football club through giving product specifications on the online platform. They include promotional information of the ongoing sale of merchandise and also information on the matches the team is to play as the current fixture. Other than this, the online brochure also helps to influence client loyalty in that it provides an online chat avenue in which those accessing the site can give feedback on various issues concerning the club’s performance. Ideally, using such an avenue helps to create trust, especially on the stakeholders and the fans in which they both feel that their contribution brings value to the club and also helps the club top know the areas that they should concert their efforts more in order for the club to continue being at the top. Another way of enforcing loyalty is by giving success stories in which those visiting the site can be able to know about the organizations standing in which Chelsea FC has applied this strategy. Essentially, the company’s sales brochure site has an area in which columnists and bloggers write about the club and posts it on its site in order for the visitors to the site to review its performance. Ideally, allowing outside parties that are neutral to review an organization’s performance is one way of enforcing growth because they tend to non bias information that would help in evaluating internal performance. The most critical aspect of a sales brochure is that it should be a conveyor of an organization’s brand in which the stakeholders and audience can identify with no matter the reason that makes them visit the site. Essentially, the Chelsea FC site suits this requirement in that most of the dominant color is blue, which is a critical part of identifying this football club. This means that a visitor to the site is able to identify with the club without having to look at the club’s logo as much as the logo does play a critical part in the branding aspect of the club (Kasunic 2005, p. 174). Other critical information provided by the site is the membership information in which those interested in becoming part of the Chelsea FC family can do so at their own convenience. As per the site, the current membership status is off sale, but it provides those interested in joining the club with the opportunity to give personal details that allow them to be the first to register once the registration process begins for the next year. Further, a corporate sales brochure should also be a one-stop-shop in which clients and stakeholders can access product information at their own convenience without having to make a physical visit to an organization. Chelsea FC understands this need and provides an online platform in which those interested can be able to make purchases on its online stores that are within their local area without having to experience the hustle of being far from the club’s headquarters in London. Other than the Chelsea logo apparels, the site also allows for the sale of tickets online giving customers the privilege of not having to buy tickets at the gates, which also helps in planning. This is also effective for the club because it helps in planning in ascertaining how many fans they can anticipate in a match and ensure that their customer-experience is one that will last. Clients are able to plan to attend other future matches because the site gives information on the availability of the tickets and if none are available, then they are able to make purchases of the next matches in advance. It is also critical that these brochures also provide information on the price of the products that they have on sale that they may include the tickets and the merchandise that would be able to carry the organization’s brand. Ideally, most of the corporate sales brochures target to make an organization’s client to have convenient access to information that concerns them in order for the audience to make informed decisions. As for Chelsea FC, the site provides information concerning disabled supporters on how they too can be part of the Chelsea experience, which is also a public relations tool because it makes the organization to appear as one that does not discriminate their supporters. Further, there is also the hospitality package that helps in sorting accommodation concerns for clients that may not be from within the club’s locality by providing them with suites at affordable offers. This is an effective way of retaining clients because it helps eliminate any form of inconvenience that they may encounter meaning that such corporate brochures should focus on maximizing the client experience for the services and products offered by an organization. 2. An annual report of Marks and Spencer Arguably, a company’s annual report is one of the best ways in which the organization can be able to communicate with potential investors because it presents the business in the best light without breaching any of the regulations stipulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mostly, the preparation of annual reports requires a clear conveyance of information without applying any deception, but investors fail to read between the lines in order for them to capture all the relevant information. Focusing on the 2013 annual report for Marks and Spencer, the online report first conveys the company’s net revenue and the profit information before tax, which is a vital information for those seeking to invest in the company. Ideally, an annual report contains the financial information for the preceding financial year as the largest part of the report because it is one of the key components of the report (Stittle 2003, p. 118). Investors use these reports as a way of evaluating a company without having to make a physical visit to the organization to make enquiries over the same. Further, the company’s report provides an overview of the company in which a potential investor can read of the company operates and how it engages with the shareholders in order for its operations to remain relevant to its practice. In this case, the overview helps to influence the trust of the investors by providing them with relevant information about the organization making the company appear legit in terms of practice and where the company is coming from. In addition, the Marks and Spencer annual report also affirms the principles that govern its operations, which helps an investor in understanding the type of organization that this company is before making the decision to invest in it. Ideally, a convincing annual report helps investors in making the decision to injecting capital into a business because it gives the possibility of attracting returning because of the profits that it is likely to attract. An annual report should also be a personal communication tool in which one of the people responsible for overseeing the operations of the company communicates with the stakeholders, which is likely to create an element of trust rather than information given from the company in general. In this case, Marks and Spencer’s chairman gives the overview of the company, which makes him appear as a man that is responsible for the operations of the company rather than one whose is dictatorial about operations. Other than this, an annual report should also be able to convey an organization’s plan for the future and the plans that it intends to take in order for the company to achieve its vision. Essentially, no investor can inject their capital to a business that does not have an achievable plan for the future because this would mean that their investment would attract any returns. With this, Marks and Spencer’s 2013 report outlines its execution plan for the future in which their intention was to make their progress visible to their shareholders and customers. The success of an organization depends on the inclusion of various stakeholders in this process, meaning that the process has to be transparent to all those involved. This can be through ensuring that there is a smooth running of information in among all stakeholders, which ensures that all are at par with the organizational goals and objectives. Subsequently, the Marks & Spencer report provides key information relating to its commitment to sustainable supply chain practices and on their support for the environment. This way they are able to attract or retain their already existing market because they illustrate their adherence to environmental responsibility through this report. Further, an annual report also acts as a PR tool in which an organization can communicate its strategies for helping the communities that they operate in. In addition, an annual report also provides information on the activities that an organization undertook within that financial year that made the company to stand out from its peers (Bryson 2011, p. 384). In this case, Marks & Spencer demonstrated its concern and care for the environment by highlighting the various clean up exercises that they participated in, which is a tool of allowing customers and employees to interact for the good of the company. They also show their concern for improving the health of the community that they operate in by illustrating the various campaigns such as the breast cancer campaign, which is an attractive way of influencing investor interest. Moreover, an annual report published online can also act as an interactive tool in which shareholders can be able to sign up for online communications in which they can be received up to date information concerning an organization’s operations at their convenience. Essentially, online platforms are an ideal way of ensuring that clients are informed of upcoming meetings in advance rather than waiting for the conventional way of receiving letters for delivering information on important notices (Stittle 2003, p. 119). Therefore, interactions through online-published annual reports can be an essential way of minimizing on resource wastage through the use of paper to capture shareholder details during the registration process. Subsequently, an annual report should be able to provide all the relevant information concerning the organization's operations in order for it to be able to attract investors and retain its trust among shareholders and other stakeholders. Bibliography Bryson, J 2011, Managing information services: a sustainable approach, Farnham, Surrey, Ashgate Publishing. Chelsea Football Club Website, Available from: www.Chelseafc.com [6 April 2014] Kasunic, FT 2009, Supersize your small business profits: how to survive the current recession and manage your small business profitably during turbulent economic times, [Bloomington, IN], Trafford Pub. Marks & Spencer Website, Available from http://annualreport.marksandspencer.com/ [6 April 2014] Stittle, J 2003, Annual reports: delivering your corporate message to stakeholders, Burlington, VT, Gower. Read More