Case: Operations Strategy of Zara Question 1: Zara has a variety responsive supply chain. (a) Does it offer a competitive advantage‚ and (b) how does this affect supply chain design and performance? (a) Yes Zara’s responsive strategies improve the efficiency of information exchange in every level of supply chain; customers‚ store managers‚ designers and market specialists‚ production stuffs‚ subcontractors‚ buyers‚ warehouse managers‚ distributors‚ and so on. As a result of efficient exchange
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products are shipped twice a week allowing constant changes in style selection. Customers enjoy coming to Zara because each time they shop‚ they find new clothes‚ shoes and accessories. This intrigues them and‚ as a result‚ prompts them to visit Zara’s stores more often than its competitors’. By constantly introducing new‚ low-price items‚ Zara entices new and existing clients to return to Zara regardless of sales. Such a business model increases customer satisfaction as well as company profits
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Introduction Zara has established itself successfully over the course of five years since the opening of its first retail store in Spain in 1975. We must now consider further opportunities of growth with a sole purpose of gaining further international recognition in order to maintain our mark as a top leader in the retail industry amidst the competition of the fashion industry. Across the region in Asia‚ Europe and Middle East‚ my choice of Zara’s next expansion to branch into is Hong Kong. This
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Admiration Project (ZARA) 9.19.12 So what is Zara? Many people have probably never heard of the clothing/fashion brand named Zara. Even if you have heard of Zara‚ the chances of you seeing Zara on any poster or television advertisements is very slim. In fact the Spanish clothing retailer has a very unusual marketing strategy. Zara has a “zero advertising policy.” With almost no money going into advertisement‚ how is Zara able to compete with competitors? Unlike competitors‚ Zara only spends about
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assurances by contract with Zara. The vendor also informed Zara that they are the vendor’s only customer still running DOS based applications. Store managers at Zara also utilize handheld PDA for inventory purposes and for ordering new inventory‚ the use of which are not necessarily as effective as alternate technologies. There is a risk that the terminal vendor will make changes in the future and as such‚ they will no longer make terminals that are DOC compatible‚ leaving Zara to face obsolescence in
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Case # 4 – Zara Zara is the flagship company of Inditex‚ an international clothing retailer. Zara began its business as a small retail store in Spain founded by Amancio Ortega Gaona in 1975. In the following decades Zara has grown to nearly 450 store location in 29 countries by the year 2000. Zara consistently accounts for more than 80% of Inditex’s net sales as indicated by Figure 1; linking the success of Inditex to the success of the strategies of Zara. Figure 1 Inditex Net Sales by Concept
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Pestle Analysis of Zara SOE11108 Sources of Competitive Advantage Assessment 1 Group Presentation PESTEL – Analysis [pic] Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Overview 3 3 Business Environment 3 4 Political 4 5 Economic 4 6 Social 5 7 Technological 6 8 Environmental 6 9 Legislative 8 10 Conclusion 8 References 9 Introduction The global apparel market is a consumer-driven industry. Also‚ globalization and new technologies have allowed consumers to have more access to fashion. As a result
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Recommendations The best way for Zara to maintain their sustainable growth is to seek new opportunities in the apparel market. With changing consumer behaviors as a result of globalization‚ and U.S. department stores suffering‚ there are growth options available for specialty retailers like Zara. Zara has the opportunity to be one of the trendiest/low priced retailers that America has seen recently. Zara should most likely develop a second central distribution center in the Americas to decrease
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1. With which of the international competitors listed in the case is it most interesting to compare Inditex’s financial results? Why? What do comparisons indicate about Inditex’s relative operating economics? Its relative capital efficiency? We think H&M’s financial results are the most interesting one to compare with Inditex’s. H&M is the most important and largest competitor of Inditex and due to their similar background‚ both being large international European apparel brands and offers fashionable
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Zara’s financial performance? Since only Inditex historical financials are shown in the case‚ we took the financials of Inditex to describe Zara’s financial performance. It is reasonable to take Inditex financial data because Zara made up 76% of Inditex’s sales in 2001. Zara (Inditex) Financial Performance in 1996-2001 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Liquidity Ratio (current ratio) 0.81 1.00 0.88 0.87 0.90 1.02 Leverage Ratio (debt/ equity) 1.98 1.84 1.97 1.98 1.80 0.75 Profitability
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