Case Study Summary of Zara and Oxford Industries

The next week he had made the decision to drop the selling price of his product, having the jackets being sold out instantly. It was the start of something big. Things took off quickly as of 1992, when Nigel Austin's cousins, Ashley and Michael Hardwick, joined the clothing venture to help him with his new business.

Question 1: In what ways are elements of the classical and behavioral management approaches evident in how things are done at Zara International? How can systems concepts and contingency thinking explain the success of some of Zara’s distinctive practices?

Zara has its own railway track on which the goods move to the distribution centre. Its distribution facility functions with minimal human intervention and optical reading devices sort out and distribute thousands of clothing an hour. (Ray, 2010) Zara business model differentiates it from the competitors. It is positioned on high quality and low

Inditex’s efficiency is the result of a more profitable investment strategy. By owning all the stores and manufacturing sites it is able to achieve control over all production processes and costs. The high number of stores may be also traced back to the increasing value of the property because Zara only buys stores in strategic areas (shopping malls, shopping arcades, pedestrian districts etc.) where competition boosts rents. Therefore total assets of Zara increase as well.

Zara International is considered a high end clothing store that is affordable. Due to its quality in fashion, low prices and immediate availability, popular stores such as Gap and H&M fail to keep up with Zara’s success. Zara’s well known tactic of fast fashion has separated them from their competition. The ‘fast fashion’ objective is to distribute top trends of fashion within the runway to customers by selling them in local stores. Zara has been able to achieve the fast fashion perspective by hiring approximately 200 people that will assist in getting these trends out in stores within a matter of weeks.

ZARA is an understood Spanish garments brand well known for its high-speed answer, which is considered as a win variable for the organization and obtaining competitive edge over its rivals around the world. Style is about new and in vogue garments, ZARA's stock administration and distribution strategy are the key components behind its high-speed answer procedure. ZARA has outlets in 86 nations, including Europe, United States, Middle East and Asia. In 2012, Inditex the guardian organization of ZARA has asserted US$20.7

Zara is established in 1975, as the flagship brand of Inditex group, which founded by Amancio Ortega. In a short period, Inditex group has become one of the world’s top fashion retailers with more than 4000 stores across 82 countries around the world and more than 50% is accounted as Zara’s. Another Inditex brands which operate worldwide are Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Stradivarius, Zara Home, Pull and Bear, and Uterque. By seeing the Inditex’s brands list, it can be concluded that Inditex almost covers all aspect in fashion industry (Zara 2008).

Following is an analysis of Zara 's current expansion strategy into the US retail market and recommendations on future tactics to ensure a successful expansion. Zara 's expansion strategy thus far has been quite successful; however, with every new store opened, its ability to maintain an efficient centralized production system and a strong, unique culture will be diminished.

Jones Blair company is a privately held company that produces and markets architectural paint under the Jones Blair brand name. In addition to producing a full line of architectural coatings, the company also sells paint sundries although they are not manufactured by Jones Blair. Sales for the company in 2004 were $12 million with a net profit before taxes of $1.14 million. Sales have been increasing roughly 4 percent per annum over the past decade while paint gallonage has actually remained rather steady. In 2005, Alexander Barret, the president of Jones Blair decided after a meeting that the company needs to deploy new corporate marketing efforts. This case

L Brand, Inc. is a company that is based on American fashion retailer. This retail company was made into a couple store brands which are Victoria’s Secret, PINK, Bath & Body Works, La Senza, and Henri Bendel. This Delaware Corporation sells from women’s lingerie, personal care products like perfumes and lotions, and women’s and men’s apparel under other trade names that are sold in retail stores, catalogues, and e-commerce. A woman named Bella Cabakoff who came from Russia to Columbus Ohio for a better life she became one of the youngest buyers for the Lazarus department store chain. She and her husband Harry Wexner opened a clothing store after a while that she had spent at the Lazarus department store. Later then her son Leslie Wexner opened his own store with some help of his family and the bank. He named his retail store “The Limited” which focused on clothing for young women. Bella and Harry joined him, but later died and now to this day Leslie Wexner owns 17% of limited brand. He made the company public on the New York Stock Exchange. According to an investor overview in lb.com,” its brands are sold in more than 700 additional franchised locations worldwide” (Investor 1). L Brand Inc. is known well for their quality in fragrances and intimate and other apparel making their customers feel sexy and confident. According to their website their total recorded sales in 2015 was $12.7 billion.

Oxford has made remarkable strives in acquiring other retailers such as: Tommy Bahamas, Ben Sherman and Lanier Clothing and more to help with their growth. The acquirement of these unique brands has launched Oxford Industries to a reputable brand level focused on “modern luxury” lifestyle clothing that targets the affluent 35 years and older men and women who embrace a relaxed and casual approach to luxe daily living. Oxford obviously believes that growth through acquisition is faster, less expensive, and a much less risky scheme than the traditional methods of growth through increased market share and sales. Although these acquisitions have proven to be one of the

Zara is a clothing company that was founded in 1975 and came from Spain. Its under Inditex group which owns other brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull & Bear, Oysho, Uterques and many more companies. Zara grew very fast and currently in 2012 has 1,617 stores worldwide. With a large name in the fashion industry, besides that, Zara faces tough competition internationally including H&M, Benetton, and GAP. In order to keep up with the speed chic, Zara need to keep up also with the information system to run their business.

With the Kendalls acquisition, Conran brought in a new chief executive, George Davies, and gave Davies instructions to reinvent the Kendalls chain. While remaining in the womenswear segment, Davies turned the company toward sales of company-designed and branded merchandise. This merchandise would be sold under a new name and retail store concept, Next, at the former Kendalls locations.

The company’s fashion philosophy -creativity and quality design together with a rapid response to market demands- has resulted in fast international expansion and excellent response to sales concepts. With over 3,100 stores, in over 70 countries around the world, and Zara are around 1,000 of those stores. Zara has a high response when it comes to their supply chain. Latest fashion designs are easily supply to all the stores/branches of Zara worldwide, in just a matter of two weeks. Zara was described by Louis Vuttion fashion director as "possibly the most innovative and devastating retailer in the world". Zara has also been described as a "Spanish success story" by CNN ( CNN, 2001)

Zara is one of the biggest international fashion companies and Inditex is her parent firm which is largest clothing retailer in the world. Nowadays, Zara already has more than 2000 stores in 88 countries and is increasing at the speed of 60 stores each year (Inditex, 2014) which create chic clothing every week in order to make customers come back again and again to pick out the freshest styles.