Zara Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Zara - Case Study Example Zara’s success has also been attributed to the production of new designs and strong marketing strategies that encourage customers to visit their stores again (Pahl & Mohring, 2009). The use of these strategies has played a huge role in acquiring a larger market; hence, the bigger profit margins. Zara has also acquired some approaches that enhance growth in sales. Unlike most firms in the fashion industry, Zara has been applying the strategy of outsourcing by contracting external manufacturing firms. The outsourcing strategy is an advantage because it avoids the manufacturing costs such as labor. Other firms in the fashion industry include H&M and GAP. The disruptive business The disruptive business model has been used Zara to determine how different the business operates from other businesses in the same industry such as GAP. This determines whether the business achieves its long term efforts to increase their revenue and existence in a competitive market. The disruptive busin ess model mostly involves producing, redesigning and renovating products of services that are provided by the business so as to have unique products and services from firms in the same industry.6). ... Most of the company management teams avoid embracing change because they fear that the new approach may never work, or they may affect the overall performance of the company (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010). This factor causes most of the companies not to implement the disruptive approach of management whereas; disruptive approach of management has become the cause of the success of various companies. Modern companies that need to thrive in the market should focus on renovating their products and investing in newer innovative brands as well as their services. Unlike GAP Zara has been able to produce the latest fashion designs because of their consideration to customer specifications while producing new designs and renovating the existing ones. Failure to invest in new and renovated brands leads the company to risk management efforts. Some of the factors to consider while incorporating the disruptive business models include; when new products were last produced, last changes made in the company operations, the last time to enter a new market and whether the company renovated their products among other factors. For a company to grow in revenue and profit margin, it should invest in change and renovations (Jones, 2006). Over the recent past, the apparel industry has been affected by economic pressures due to low costs of manufacturing. This has caused most companies in western countries to seek for new strategies to develop new products and renovate the existing brands. These companies seek for new plans of operation for survival in the highly competitive market and grow in terms of sales and profit margins. This method however, is challenging because the

Reflective journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Reflective journal - Essay Example â€Å"Sustainability implies that an action can be continued indefinitely with little or manageable impact on the environment. This is important because the health of the environment is closely linked with the health of society in general. Sustainable practices ensure that the earth's resources will be available even for future generations to enjoy... Sustainability aims to balance the needs of human societies with the needs of the environment, preserving both for all creatures on earth to make use of and enjoy. Sustainability promotes biodiversity, the preservation of unique ecosystems, the health of the environment, and a high quality of life† (Wise Geek, 2012). Based on such definition, I believe that as members of the human society, we should pursue this two-pronged sustainability, which is both social and environmental, both for the present and future generations, not only for humans, but for all creatures on earth. It is in this endeavour that the activists can play a cr ucial role. Activists are involved in activism. What is activism? â€Å" Activism is a doctrine or practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action especially in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue† (Merriam-Webster Dictionary w.com 2012). Activists can promote social and environmental sustainability by several approaches. ... Gandhian ahimsa); 6) peace activist/peace movement; 7) political campaigning; 8) propaganda; 9) protest (demonstration, direct action, protest songs, theatre for social change); 9) strike action (work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work ); 10) youth activism (when the youth voice is engaged in community organizing for social change). I agree that activists can contribute significantly to facilitate some changes in different areas including social and environmental sustainability. Activists can focus their vast energy in changing the perspective of the businesses in favour of the environment. Some authors like Shrivastava (1995) and Welford (1997) as quoted in Sandhu (2010, p. 287) blame the current business systems for the environmental predicament. However, there is an increasing awareness among the business organizations regarding the natural environmental issues and they are taking the challenge and responding in an environmentally responsive ways ( Hart, 2007 , as quoted in Sandhu, 2010, p. 288). The response of the Timberland CEO is one example of an environmentally responsive way (Swartz, 2010). In Timberland's case, activism was in the form of 65,000 Greenpeace supporters who sent angry e-mails to the CEO, accusing Timberland of supporting slave labour, destroying Amazon rain forests and exacerbating global warming. The e-mail senders pointed out that the Brazillian cattle farmers were illegally cutting trees in the Amazon rain forests, for the pastures of grazing cattle, from which the leathers of bootmakers were obtained. Their message was one of concern, and they were strongly urging the company to work with Greenpeace to find permanent global solution to