American Apparel Case Study

Abercrombie & Fitch is one of the leading clothing companies in the world. They manufacture

Vertical integration – when you choose to produce raw materials and/or distribute finished goods themselves rather than rely on independent suppliers, factors and agents for these tasks

However, it is not always the case that all firms should develop vertical integration strategy to enjoy economic of scale. Firm like boutique or niche items that produces on a small scale are not suitable to implement as it will benefit less from vertically integrated mainly because the input demand for grow is small and due to exclusive nature their prices are inelastic as compare to industry like Oil and Gas Industry, Telecom, Media, automobile developed vertical integration strategy .

Use the Internet or the Library to research articles on strategic management of Apple Inc. and Samsung Group.

Before the late 1800s, a company could be formed with an owner and possibly have family to take over after they died. But if there were no family members, usually the business died out or just ran out of money. During the late 19th century, corporations began to form. Corporations are made up of many people cooperating and they function legally as a person. Vertical integration requires acquiring all means of production. This is a pricey investment, but ultimately has a huge payoff, when you cease to have costs after that. To use horizontal integration, a company must buy all the other companies that produce the same product.

Starting of reading this article, I was completely lost and wanted to quit. Vertical integration seemed too big of a concept to wrap my head around and the article had so many stats and figures I was going crazy. After dissecting the article parts by part and figuring out what vertical integration meant, the research started to make sense. To start off what the research talks about lets define vertical integrated. According to Adelman, it states that “a firm is vertically integrated whenever it ‘transmits from one of its departments to another good or service which could, without major adaptation, be sold in the market.’”. Ultimately a company is vertically integrated when “firms integrates activities in the value chain to produce its own inputs and/or takes care of its own

As noted in the case, “the growth in the apps market is closely tied to the growth in the market for mobile devices, both smartphones and tablet computers that are connected to cell phone networks.” Revenues from mobile apps have been on the rise and forecasts indicate a continual increase. Forecasts were made for revenue from mobile

Urban Outfitters is a growing clothing corporation; its popularity has grown from a small store in Philadelphia into a large, multinational company operating in ten countries. Urban Outfitters is an American retail store that was founded in 1970 by Richard Hayne and Scott Belair that were retail novices. In the United States, Europe, and Canada there are over 130 stores and over 400 stores across the world. The company is labeled as a retro, hipster, bohemian, and stylish merchandiser that caters to the 18 - 30 age group. It uses past fashion trends to influence their hipster theme shown through their clothing, shoes, accessories, and housewares. The company manages 5 brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN.

Differentiation: Apple is an ideal example of an organization utilizing a differentiation strategy (Rothaermel, 2013). Apple seems to be able to “create customer needs (even if customers are initially unaware of the need)” (Rothaermel, 2013, p. 155). Apple’s value chain will differ from Walmart, and other cost-leadership strategy firms, in that it will have a greater focus on the development of their products and in its marketing and customer service. It will focus on product development in an effort to ensure their products continue to set the bar in their respective categories (Rothaermel, 2013). Apple will also focus on marketing and customer service to ensure that new and current customers are aware of the products’ areas of superiority (Rothaermel, 2013).

EEOC vs Abercrombie and Fitch, a case where a practicing Muslim Samantha Elauf, sued the clothing store from discrimination. Although she passed her interview with the store, she was not hired due to head wear that she was wearing. Elauf wears as a part of her observation of her religious practice. Abercrombie policy prohibits head wear and the maintain more of a West Coast California image. Elauf’s claim was disparate treatment from Abercrombie. She was granted $20,000 in the District Court but the 10th Circuit Court reversed that decision. The Supreme Court the appealed and ruled in an 8-1 favor of EEOC. The majority stated that Abercrombie violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, whether they had knowledge or not of her religion, they were still held liable. They concluded that an applicant need not to prove the reason for accommodation based on religious reasons. Justice believed that Abercrombie was aware of Elauf’s religion and illustrated discrimination by failure to accommodate her.

A company won’t integrate vertically its production if it against its business interest. There are some vertically

American Apparel, is an American multi-national clothing manufacturer, distributor and retailer since 1988based in Los Angeles, California. Dov Charney, a Canadian business man was a founder and former CEO of the company. He was involved in nearly every part of the business process from design and manufacturing to marketing. The Ernst & Young named Charney Entrepreneur of the Year in 2004. He was also termed "Man of the Year" by various fashion

According to Keyton, organizational culture is "the set of artifacts, values, and assumptions that emerges from the interactions of organizational members" (Keyton, 2014, p. 550). Over the past few years, past and potential employees of the clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) have taken to the media to explain the negative organizational culture that exists within the company. The management values and company policies that create this “image-obsessed culture” have led to multiple human rights lawsuits, which has damaged the reputation of Abercrombie & Fitch globally (Benson, 2013).

1. The textile/clothing sector is vertically de‐integrated: design, textile manufacture, clothing manufacture, distribution are undertaken by specialist firms. Why? In this case, clothing firms like American Apparel have vertically integrated, in order to get time to market, increase resources availability, and cost efficiency. However, many textile/clothing sector is vertically de‐integrated which means that their design, textile manufacture, clothing manufacture, distribution are undertaken by specialist firms. (De-verticalization) is the process of separating functions and services from a once-integrated business model. Companies such as Levi Strauss & Co., who emphasize the

This work is an introduction to the fashion industry of Pakistan which has made quite a lot of progress in just a few years. Ten to fifteen years from now, this industry was still unknown to actually exist to the masses. Later with the formation of fashion councils and education centers under the enthusiastic few who wanted to make a difference and promulgate this very institution of fashion, did the very fashion industry took its concrete contour from the old tailor culture that formerly existed. Today it is one of the most progressing industries in the country.