DESIGN AND ANALAYSIS OF MULTI STOREY BUILDING USING STAAD PRO
Swot analaysis
Transcript of Swot analaysis
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1.0 Introduction
New Directions (plc) is one of the high street fashion chain which was initiated in late 1950s.
Early twenty years of the company recorded a relatively slow growth compared to the rapid
development of fashion industry in the post second world war era. This almost flat growing
rate was suddenly interrupted by the appointment of the new managing director Thomas
Oakley in 1978. Company recorded an extraordinary growth within the next decade ending
up with 400 stores and becoming a major player in the young adolescent market.
With the leadership of new managing director, the company has refreshed itself to replace its
much older workforce with young and dynamic group whom have given considerably higher
freedom and salaries to balance out the above industry level performance demanded by the
company.
Due to the future wealth potential of this rapid growing company, it was acquired by a large
and cash rich conglomerate in 1987. This new ownerships approach to management was
significantly different from the practice the firm used to have. New ownership and the
groups main board was highly finance oriented while been risk aversive strategy towards
new opportunities.
Soon after the acquisition the senior management group in New Directions has identified that
with this new arrangement there was a hand above them that controls them in many ways.
They realized that the flexibility and freedom that they once had was no longer there and the
ability they had to pursuit short term opportunities with instinct reactions were almost
completely freeze due to rigid hierarchical structure and routine reporting structure. As a
result of failure of continuous struggle to change the situation, Thomas Oakley resigned after
two years of acquisition in 1989.
Thomas Oakley suggested many things like diversify the business demographically andgeographically which were ignored. Being a finance expert, Thomas Oakleys replacement
focused on cost driven approach which helped by the recession in early 1990s caused the
company to lose its revenue as well as its position significantly. The company was no longer
a considerable player in fashion industry merely after two years from the resign of their once
great leader Thomas Oakley.
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2.0 Underlining Theories
2.1 SWOT Analysis
According to Gerry Johnson, Kevan Scholes and Richard Whittington in their book
Exploring Corporate Strategy (Page 09), Strategy is the direction and scope of an
organization over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing
environment through its configuration of resources and competencies with the
aim of fulfilling stakeholders expectations.
Hence strategy is the process of matching organizational strengths (capabilities) to
opportunities in the environment while considering the influence of potential
weaknesses and threats from the environment to weaken the outcomes. Hence SWOT
analysis was introduced by Albert Humphrey to identify Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats related to a specific organization.
2.1.1 Strengths
Any resource or a competency which can either be unique or rare can be
considered as strength of an organization. Any resource or competency
which is inimitable, non-substitutable and valuable can be considered as
unique or rare. Another way of identifying strengths is to check the quality
and adoptability of resources or competencies to achieve goals compared
to the competitors.
2.1.2 Weaknesses
Any resource or competency which is either common or hindering the
achievement of organizational goals can be considered as a weakness. On
the other hand any resource or competency which is lacking in our
organization and essential to the success is also a weakness if our
competitors have mastered it.
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2.1.3 Opportunities
Any external environmental change or development which can be used to
achieve the organizational objectives will be an opportunity.
2.1.4 Treats
Any external environmental change or development which can be a
hindering factor or a barricade to achieve organizational objectives can be
considered as a treat.
2.2Critical success factors in becoming a giant in fashion industry
There are numerous articles written on fashion industry and its criteria for success.
Various cases brought various aspects in to light as criteria for success. Few of such
factors are have few middle men, buying in larger volumes, having a broad, in-depth
knowledge of design, fashion and textile, buying the right product from the right
market, being cost conscious in every stage, having efficient distribution, be
responsive and organic to response quickly. Anyhow by and large the critical success
factors can be identified and categorized as follows.
a. How strong the marketing mix compared to the competitors
b. How strong the brand
c. How strong and appropriate the management, mission, money, human resource
and machines
d. Appropriateness or the suitability of business development towards the strategy
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3.0 Analysis
3.1 SWOT Analysis for the period before acquisition
3.1.1 Strengths
3.1.1.1 Strong Brand name
It is evident in the case that the brand name of New Directions
was known for its presence in the fashion market from age fifteen
to twenty five.
3.1.1.2 Positive reputation from the market
They are known for an organization consists with ambitious,
design oriented and motivated employees lead by a charismatic
leader.
3.1.1.3 Skilled and Motivated workforce
Work force was young and highly motivated with above industry
level remuneration packages and freedom to achieve above
industry level individual and organizational achievements.
3.1.1.4 Strong visionary leadership
They had a leader who was strong willed and visionary to bind the
organization to one unit and guide towards success.
3.1.1.5 Timely business development practice
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Continuous and a rapid growth over a decade show that they were
able to match the product life cycles precisely to the market
changes.
3.1.1.6 Growth supporting, responsive Management structure
According to the case it is very common and regular practice to
capitalize upon short term opportunities successfully, which they
cant do unless they are highly responsive to market changes.
3.1.2 Weaknesses
3.1.2.1 No evidence of second level leadership
There was no enough evidence to prove that they had solid second
level leadership, otherwise the replacement may have been an
internal candidate who knows the business well than an outsider.
3.1.2.2 Management and leadership practices were bound to a person,
not to the structure
Any characteristic or specialty showed by the organization was not
due to the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization as a
whole or a system but due to the personnel capability of a singular
person, Thomas Oakley.
3.1.3 Opportunities
3.1.3.1 Demographic shift of age distribution
According to the case trend analysis of the age distribution of the
society, the relative percentage of older population in the society
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grows rapidly helped by 12% population growth in people who are
aged between 30 to 40 years.
3.1.3.2 Diversifying opportunities geographically and
demographically
There was an opportunity to diversify the business in to other age
groups as well as new geographical locations.
3.1.3.3 Shift in customer preference towards quality
Customers of highly fashionable clothes are becoming more
sensitive to the quality and have the opportunity of deriving the
advantage of being the first to reach that market requirement.
3.1.3.4 Development of overseas markets
There was a potential opportunity of expanding business to the
European market, especially to Spain.
3.1.4 Treats
3.1.4.1 Emergence of strong competition
There was evidence of the development of strong competition in
every aspect of the business which was not there in the early
stages.
3.1.4.2 Possibility of becoming the follower in to retail shopping
concept
Some competitors already initiated the movement towards newest
concepts like retail shopping to attract new customers, which was
not considered by the New Directions.
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3.2 SWOT Analysis for the period after the acquisition
3.2.1 Strengths
3.2.1.1 Backing of a group of companies which has a solid financial
strength
The group of companies acquired the New Directions is financially
a strong company which can tolerate and fund the company to run
even under a loss for few years until it start earning substantial
profits without shutting it down.
3.2.1.2 Owns a well placed and established retail shops chain
Owns 400 odd well established retail chain to strengthen the
distribution channels.
3.2.2 Weaknesses
3.2.2.1 Lack of visionary, appropriate and strong leadership
The leadership which replaced Thomas Oakley do not display the
same sense of urgency and understanding of the content and the
context of the fashion industry.
3.2.2.2 Lack of expertise in technical aspects of fashion industry and
managing fashion market
Financial expertise of the new leader tends to take decisions giving
more priority to financial aspects than what demands by the
fashion industry.
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3.2.2.3 Non availability of skilled, experienced and well motivated
workforce
Most of the experienced and well trained employees left the
organization after the replacement and to make the things worst
joint the competitors of New Directions.
3.2.2.4 Lack of responsiveness
Rigid and time consuming policies and constraints from the
groups senior management board on approval procedures of new
strategies reduce the responsive speed considerably.
3.2.2.5 Weaken Brand image
According to the newest market research, the brand image of the
company among its core market segments were weaken
significantly to drop from strong loyalty to confusing.
3.2.3 Opportunities
The analysis of the given case indicates that the opportunities presented at
this stage are quite the same as two years before. But with the economic
recession the strength of those opportunities may have reduce slightly and
immerged new opportunities like the emergence of cost conscious markets
and / or cost and quality conscious markets.
3.2.4 Treats
3.2.4.1 No longer the market leader, hence huge competition from the
competitors
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The position of market leader, the company once enjoyed was no
longer there. It allowed the other companies to capitalize on it and
develop strong market attractiveness which is quite difficult to
penetrate thus pose a huge threat.
3.2.4.2 Economic recession
Fashion clothes being a luxury item, economic recession place a
major role in diminishing the demand.
3.2.4.3 Competitors armed with left employees whom knows the
company inside out
Most important market and inside intelligence of the company was
passed out to its competitors through the employees whom have
left this organization to join the competitors.
4.0 Conclusion
Analysis of the case clearly shows that the time has changed the context the company has to
perform in a significant manner. Sources of once much strength become the key source of
both weaknesses and treats.
Major shift in Socio-cultural, technological and economical environments are creating the
major opportunities where the main opportunity lies with the production of highly
innovative, high quality but low cost garments for diverse groups in quick sessions.
5.0Recommendations for Marketing Plan
It is evident that diversity of requirements in different age groups with respect to fashion do
not allows the company to develop same type of products to the whole market. But all groups
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prefer high quality, low cost and quickly renewing range of garments. Hence developing
different market mixes for different sub groups may be the better way forward.
Expectations of pleasant shopping experience leads the company to think about refurbishing
the appearance of the retail shops to have a new looking and attractive supply chain.
6.0 References
a. Exploring Corporate Strategy, Gerry Johnson, Kevan Scholes and Richard Whittington,
7th Edition
b. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis; viewed on 10 / 02 / 2010 at 10pm
c. www.exampleessays.com/essay_search/key_success_factors.html; viewed on 10 / 02 /
2010 at 10pm
d. www.fibtex.lodz.pl/63_07_13.pdf; viewed on 10 / 02 / 2010 at 10pm
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