Business strategy is the means by which the company plans to achieve its goals and objectives. This can also be termed as long-term organizational planning. The strategy covers periods of between 3 and 5 years and sometimes more. Companies use two main types of strategies, general or generic strategies and competitive strategies. Global strategy involves growth, globalization and retrenchment strategies. Competitive advantage includes low prices, product and customer differentiation. We will examine the business strategy used by Marks and Spenser (Cole, 1997). The company is a British multinational company located in Westminster, London, specializing in luxury clothing and food products. Alternative strategies related to substantial growth, limited growth or withdrawal for Marks and Spenser. Substantial Growth The Marks and Spenser alternative for substantial growth can adopt the following strategies, horizontal integration, related diversification, vertical integration and unrelated diversification. Horizontal and Vertical IntegrationIn horizontal integration, the company's product line expands addressed to a large clientele. That is, they sell products either clothing or luxury foods from different manufacturers. These give them an advantage because the products they offer are varied for customers to choose from, and therefore they can shop from less than one roof (Cole, 1997). In the vertical integration strategy, the company will deal with a large part of the products from a single supplier and M&S will obtain the exclusive rights to deal with the product and its supply in the market. This is necessary when the objective of the business is to serve an identified target market that is exclusive and likely to significantly support and grow the business. These employ a tar...... middle of paper ...... a cost reduction strategy is planned in one or two years by 2016. The goal of online shopping that the company estimated increase of 8 million people must be achieved by 2020.Product DevelopmentThe product development phase is characterized by innovation. M&S employs four strategies: New products that are radically new or extend into the next product life cycle. Innovation in the process that leads to cost reduction and is achieved through learning and experience. Differentiation through marketing strategies, it is a form of innovation driven by the need to create a superior brand (Sadler, 2003). Organizational changes that reduce costs. M&S has reduced its management levels to reduce costs. RetrenchmentRetrenchment is a corrective measure taken in phases of high competition, inefficiency and economic recession..