Fast Fashion Case Study Essay

This report contains the analysis of value and culture of reputable apparel retailer H&M, as well as three analysis method, which is PETEL, Porter’s five forces, and VRIO framework, to analyse the external influence factors, competitors, and competitive advantages of H&M.

Zoecon Corporation was founded forty three years ago by Dr. Carl Djerassi. The company mainly focuses on insect population control. The company has over 18 brands and Products. Zoecon developed an insect growth regulator (IGR) brand called Strike ROACH ENDER. IGRs are efficient in eliminating insect populations; they are also less toxic than other household insecticides. IGR affects the reproductive cycle of insects but do not kill them. For IGR to kill insects, it has to be combined with an adulticide. However, adulticide has a short term effect on roaches. Therefore, when all areas are not treated, roaches move away and dwell on untreated areas. So adulticide can reduce the effect of an IGR. To introduce Strike ROACH ENDER to the market,

The business idea of Zara is to link customer demand to manufacturing, and to link manufacturing to distribution. And based on this general idea, Zara has several essential elements for its business model. First, speed and decision making, which means that in the external level, Zara need to respond very quickly to demands of target customers, and always keep in style. While for the inside, Zara treasure intelligence and judgment of common employees who enjoy a great deal of autonomy. Second, its marketing, merchandising and advertising strategy. Zara does not spend on virtually advertising, while it spends heavily on stores, and no selling online because of

Additionally, as expressed by Rebecca Ratner, Hsieh’s commitment to merging the workplace with social lives could present risk to the company in the form of unprofessional or inappropriate conduct that is not addressed properly.

With which of the international competitors listed in the case is it most interesting to compare Inditex’s financial results? What do comparisons indicate about Inditex’s relative operating economics? Its relative capital efficiency?

H&M promises the best articles, trying to produce fashion clothes in a sustainable way and selling quality clothes

There vertical integration allows small batches of produce to be distributed and tested out allow them to save more money and cut inventory backlogs. Zara maintains a low cost by avoiding outsourcing (where possible) and producing all its merchandise and produce in home soil in Spain. Also Zara own many fabric dying, cutting and processing equipment that provided Zara added control and flexibility to adopt new trends on demand. Effectively Zara is able to design and manufacture products as well as deliver them in less than two weeks in contrast to competitors such as Benetton and H&M which require at least between five weeks and 4 months lead time to fill orders from its retail operations. One major unique characteristic was that Zara own its in house production which gives Zara the flexibility of quantity, variety, and the frequency of the designs they produce.

During this period, the Return on Assets increased from 5.7% in 2012 to 34.6% in 2013. This implies the number of cents earned on each dollar of assets increased from 2012 to 2013. This shows that the business has become more profitable. Equally, the Return on Equity also increased from 12.0% in 2012 to 46.5% in 2013. This similarly implies that the company in 2013 was more efficient in generating income from new investment. This, also can be attributed to the sale of the Digital Business Brand which enabled the company appraise its strategic plan.

by reducing the manufactured quantity of each style, Zara creates artificial scarcity and lowers the risk of having stock it cannot sell.

Profitability ratios are basically figures to measure if the company is doing well in the terms of profit[13]. ROCE ratio has increased in 2011 but in 2012 it deteriorates by 3%. This fall indicates that company was not successfully getting high returns as a percentage of its resources available, compared to 2011.

Let us first consider Zara 's main competitive advantage before analyzing how current and potential future strategies will affect this competitive advantage. Zara currently employs a "design-on-demand" retail model allowing the company to bring the latest fashion trends from

Zara’s product differentiation strategy is based on high quality and low prices. The company wants to be fashionable and desire for everyone. This is the reason of their strategy (low price and high quality).

In comparison to competitors, Zara’s business strategy, in regards to strategic partnerships and cost of production, provide for a strategic competitive advantage. Zara, unlike its competitors such as Gap, Benetton, and H&M, does not use Asian outsourcing. Eighty percent of Zara’s materials are manufactured in Europe, with 50% made in Zara controlled facilities in the Galicia region of Spain near headquarters. Most of Zara’s competitors have 100% outsourcing to cheap Asian countries. Though the cost of production in Spain is 17-20% more expensive than Asia, Zara does have a competitive advantage over its competitors in regards to operations. The local strategic partnerships that Zara maintains with manufacturers in Europe allow for a product throughput time of 3-4 weeks from conception to distribution. To make this happen, the company designs and cuts its fabric in-house and it acquires fabrics in only four colours to keep costs low. The proximity of these suppliers gives Zara great flexibility in adapting their product lines based on up to date market trends and consumer behaviour. It also decreases costs of holding inventory. Zara’s competitors, through outsourcing to Asian countries such as China, sacrifice the benefits of proximity for low labour and production costs.

The Fashion Channel (TFC), founded in 1996, is a successful cable TV network dedicated to all things fashion. Although quite young compared to other TV networks, TFC has experienced steady growth and in 2006 forecasted its revenue at $310.6 million. TFC operates primarily as a niche network, focused solely on fashion and fashion related programming, but still manages to reach almost 80 million US households that subscribe to cable and satellite television. To date TFC has been able to experience growth in spite of having no clear segmentation, branding, or positioning strategy. Dana Wheeler, a recent hire as TFC’s Senior VP of marketing, was tasked to fix this.

The international expansion of Zara started with the opening of a store in Portugal in 1988. Through establishment in Portugal Zara acquired international market experience and knowledge and realized that it would have to adjust its business model to suit the new international markets. International sales accounted for 69 percent of its total turnover in 2005, with Europe being its largest market by far.