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November 2009: Cidermill delivers strategy learning event to Marks and Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc
is one of the UK's leading retailers and its brand is recognised for quality throughout the UK
and beyond. The company claims that 21 million people visit their stores each week. M&S
sells stylish, high quality, great value clothing and home products, as well as outstanding quality
food, responsibly sourced from around 2,000 suppliers globally.
Financial relationships with those suppliers are managed from a centre in Salford, within
sight of the famous Manchester United football stadium. The people working at the centre,
called M&S Finance and Shared Services, deliver a vital service to the M&S Group.
Cidermill was invited to run a learning event for the management team, helping them learn
how to behave strategically: to plan ahead; to deal with the unexpected; to be tenacious. We agreed
the ideal vehicle for this event would be Enterprise™ from
learning company Celemi.
During a two-day event 5 small teams of managers competed to build market share, earn the highest possible net profit
and build value for their companies. The task for each 'management team' was to run their simulated company
successfully for 8 years. Throughout the exercise Cidermill facilitators related key points to the real world
in which M&S managers work and to the wider economy. Enterprise™
is cleverly designed to introduce
gradually more and more complexity so that during the final years the simulation gets very close to the
decisions faced by managers in a real company, yet during the earlier years participants aren't overwhelmed
with unnecessary detail. They learn by discovering in depth as they go.
Enterprise™ proved a most engaging
experience for the managers. Competition was fierce and not every
team found it easy to work out what works and what doesn't work in a complex strategic battle.
Although the real-world roles of the managers do not
normally provide an opportunity for them to directly steer the M&S market strategy, nevertheless the
skills learned from the simulation proved perfectly suited to their real jobs: planning ahead; coping
with the unexpected; creating and sticking to a strategy; and working as a supportive team.
Key to the success of the learning event was visible interest and encouragement from the M&S Group manager
who reinforced repeatedly how the simulation was very relevant to Marks and Spencer. Whilst some of the
participants had completed some financial training previously, few had ever experienced such an absorbing
strategic scenario. Feedback at the end of the event was very positive indeed, with comments such as:
- Excellent course
- Extremely participative and interactive - challenging throughout
- Fantastic course - really enjoyed it! The learnings can be applied to my role
Overall the two days represented time well spent. Participants were highly motivated, management achieved
the required learning objectives and everyone left the event determined to use what they had learned to
make a difference.
If you want to know how Cidermill Consulting could help your people develop
their business skills, contact Cidermill Consulting today.
Either send us an email or
call us on +44 (0)1386 840277
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