d Spencer would be more like the Conglomerate or H-Form design. In this design the organisation is set up basically as a holding company comprised of unrelated products. The new Marks and Spencer would have seven different business units: women’s swear, men’s wear, lingerie, children’s wear, food, beauty, and home. This would allow the company to create a more flexible structure which could respond to the fast changing environment. This flexible structure would give autonomy to individual business units helping them tailor to their customers better. Marks and Spencer would no longer operate under the “head office knows best” principle and would give the customers what they really wanted. Another change was also made in the management of the company. At first, Peter Salsbury took over Marks and Spencer after Sir Richard Greensbury resigned and currently Luc Vandevelde heads the company. The company’s head management is running under a short term strategy in order to find someone who can lift Marks and Spencer out the hole. Luc Vandevelde came to the company in May 2000 and will stay on for a year unless he can turn the profits around. To help him out, Roger Holmes, an expert in profit turnaround and customer-focused organisational change, will also join Marks and Spencer in January of 2001 as executive director. The only problem facing the two is that neither have much experience in retailing food or clothing so if they can’t turn profits around, the company board will look to acquire a top level manager from Wal-Mart, the worlds largest retailer....
