Introduction
Zara is a Spanish-based retail chain owned by the group Inditex who has taken a new approach in the industry and has completely changed the fashion world. Zara specializes in inexpensive fashions for women and men between the ages of 16 and 35.
Zara has created a competitive advantage: they own their in-house production and they have an impressive logistic strategy. By owning its in-house production, Zara is able to be flexible in the variety, amount, and frequency of the new styles they produce.
Although Zara has a successful business model that differs from that of traditional retailers, it also has problems that can affect its sustainable growth.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze Zara’s business model and to identify their strengths and weaknesses especially in the logistics area which is, in our opinion, one of the main sources of its competitive advantage. To better understand its competitive advantage, it’s important to analyze its supply chain processes and how they add a good value to its customers, suppliers and stakeholders in general.
Theoretical Analysis
In this project the company analyzed, Zara, is going to be focused in the logistics and supply chain management area. To begin with, we have to define the area of interest, but to define logistics we have to define a supply chain management first. Since the term "supply chain" contains the word "supply", many people naturally assume that supply chain must have something to do with suppliers like purchasing or procurement. While it is true that supply chain management does encompass the purchasing and procurement functions, supply chain management actually extends well beyond those areas. Supply chain management is the practice of manufacturing and distributing physical goods as efficiently as possible.
Supply chain management encompasses the entire process of manufacturing and distributing physical goods, from supplier's supplier to