Business Analysis of a Clothing Line - Assignment Example

Business analysis An overview of the business The product that will be an analyzed in this essay will be a clothing line.The clothing line will be urban women and men clothing retail business that will specialize in selling fashionable clothing for both women and men. The clothing line will tend to be teen focused, which will entirely focus in diminishing the monotonous clothing among the youths. Though following the generational fashion trend and the customer buying preference, the products will be designed to meet the broad needs of the targeted clients. The business will mainly focus on the western and locally demanded brands, styles, and colors to meet the drastically growing market. The business will use direct and indirect distribution channels. Direct distribution will distribute to specific clients using online selling and telemarketing to consumers, whereas, on the indirect distribution channels, the products will be distributed through retailers and stores to consumers (MAGAZINE, 2012). To ensure that the business penetrates the market, the business will often undertake promotions such as advertisements and sales promotions to inform and remind clients on the fashion trends and the ultimate goods to new and older customers. The business will provide our broad range of customers with fashionable and quality products and by giving opportunities that will help the business increase its sales volume. To ensure that they the business gains a competitive advantage over other clothing lines, the business has to develop a management that will push the business forward to achieving a high range market. The business will also build trust with the customers and make them understand that the clothing products the business offer are reliable for the growing market thus hoping to build on the strengths and to overcome the weaknesses encountered during the business operations (MAGAZINE, 2012). The core functions within the business The fashion industry is a drastically changing one, where trends comes and go, therefore, for a business to succeed in the clothing line industry, one must understand the customers and their tastes and preferences. One must possess the ability to predict the fashion trends before they hit the market, also be creative and flexible in all activities of the business. Therefore, one has to develop working functions of the business, to ensure they capture all the activities of the business that will secure its success. Some of the main business functions are found in the different business process developed for daily business operation (BROWN, 2008, p. 53-56). First, the business has external functions that consist of all necessary business activities undertaken outside the business; one of them is distribution. In this case, it involves the distribution of the business products to the consumers. The main two methods of distribution implemented in the business will be, direct distribution, where the business will sell the clothing directly to the clients, for example, through online selling and direct selling. Additionally, the business will also spread its wings and use other different retail stores as an indirect selling method of distribution (BROWN, 2008, p. 53-56). Marketing, customer accounts, and marketing are the other external business functions aimed at informing the existing and potential customers. Some of these activities include advertising, telemarketing, retail management, and promotions. Moreover, market research is another business activity important to the business. Market research ensures to capture the trends of the fashion in the market, the preference, and tastes of the clients, also to ascertain the future scope of the business. Primarily, product and service development is a major business processes that will ensure that the clothing line is successful in selling clothes to the target customers (BROWN, 2008, p. 53-56). Secondly, the businesses also have internal business functions such as acquisition of finances and hiring of labor. In this case, the business has to hire potential sales people and marketers, who will ensure that the clothing line has a high sale volume also a high clientele range. Internal functions are important since they will continue the business objectives established by the owner at the startup of the clothing line; also contribute to the general management and infrastructure of the business in terms of the corporate governance and administrative support (BROWN, 2008, p. 53-56). Hierarchy and management responsibilities A hierarchy refers to the levels of management in any business, where those on the higher level have more decision-making powers and control than those on the lower levels of the business. In this case, the top-level management in the clothing line business holds the maximum responsibilities, for example, they have the responsibilities of approving budgets, and redirecting the business into the direction it should take in its operations, also have the last word on the proposed changes activities of the business. The top-level managers in the clothing line will develop business policies, goals, and strategic plans; also, they play a role of mobilizing the outside resource that the business requires to ensure its success (NIEUWENHUIZEN, ROSSOUW, & BADENHORST, 2008). Middle manager is the other level of management in the clothing line business. In this case, they are expected to complete the objectives set by the top-level management, communicating the goals to the team working under them. In the business, they will be responsible in the daily operations of the business since they act an intermediary between the top-level and first level managers. Finally, the first-level managers are the bottom in the hierarchy and they are usually in contact with the employees. Often, the first-level managers serve as supervisor, retail managers, or office managers. For example, they will serve as sales team supervisors for the clothing line; they will also be scheduling tasks for employees, budgeting, and some of the human resource activities. While lower-level managers do not have the decision-making power within the business, they have a larger influence on how well work is performed and, therefore, on the success of the business (NIEUWENHUIZEN, ROSSOUW, & BADENHORST, 2008). Effectiveness of the business operations The effectiveness of the business operations include the kind of practices that will allow the business maximize the use of their inputs through developing better products than the competitors, that is, gaining competitor advantage. The business operations are divided into different components that include controlling and leading functional performance, measuring and improving business functions, continuously improving performance, and automating and leveraging business processes (LONGENECKER, 2012). To ensure these operations are effective, sustainability should be the goal of the business, where it enables the business start looking delivering and operating impact in the long-term perspective. For instance, to ensure there is a continuous improvement of performance, the clothing business will capitalize on the cost side of the business and approaches that will help identify more efficient and effective practices. In this case, benchmarking as a tool of cost management will help gain experience and records of accomplishment of competitors, suppliers, and the whole market at large (LONGENECKER 2012, p. 610). Challenges faced and solutions A clothing line store exposes the owner to many industry risks, where if they are not well managed, the results can be damaging to the business. Inventory management is one of the risks involved in the business. When a business purchases a huge inventory, they may incur losses through selling the excess clothing at discount prices and the risk of incurring more storage costs and this can be reduced through proper inventory management. The owner must keep an adequate supply of the clothing at hand to ensure there is no risk associated with inventory management (Hines, & Bruce 2007, p. 54). The other risks are associated with trend analysis, where clothing line tends to have a trend assessment risk. Fashion industry trends are ever changing, elusive, and fickle, thus a business must capitalize on the latest trends and recognize when they decline their popularity to the market. Therefore, one mistake may result to; excessive inventory, confused brand identity, and undermined the credibility. To avoid such errors, the business should ensure to employee experienced market researchers, who will ensure they detect the trends, also through purchasing well-appreciated clothing brands. Finally, marketing strategies of the clothing line also incur risks. If the business does not enter the market with a clearly defined niche, otherwise, the business may suffer losses due to factors such as competition and recession in the economy. To avoid these risks, the business should adapt to changing economic conditions and clearly define its products (Hines, & Bruce 2007, p. 54). Recommendations for the future development of the business Planning in business is important since it secure the continuous growth of the business. One of the recommendations for the future development of the business is investing in innovation and creativity. In this case, the business will need to capitalize in trying to manufacture its own clothing line. For the business to achieve that, it will need creative people and trends sensitive developers, who will capture the trends before they hit the market, and manufacture the clothing (JM, SE, & NMP 2006, p. 68-71). Consumer education is a vital aspect, since it ensures that information on the clothing line products is made available to the consumers. Therefore, the business address cases of motivation to the consumers, this can be done through blogging, and use of the social media to educate consumers of how to choose their clothing based on different occasions. In this case, the business will capitalize on modelling, where they can display the variety products the business is manufacturing, also through advertising, where they will be consumer education of the fashion trends in the industry (JM, SE, & NMP 2006, p. 68-71). Summary and recommendations The accomplishment of the wanted results of the business’s operation and behaviour depends on how well they will make use of the available resources and their development of results, which are suitable for the needs and the demands of the customers. Management stability is also important in the success of the business since it ensures that the business is one right track in growth development. In recommendations, it is important that the business owners be sensitive more on customer support, where there is a need for clear information on the products, and education to link this information to support development in their clothing. Distribution is the other important aspect of the business; this is because it ensures that products are available to the consumers at their nearest places. Consumers have to feel that they are not taking too long or using much effort to get what they need, therefore, in the future, when the business will start its production line, they will ensure that their distribution channel is strong. References BROWN, S.P., (2008). Business Processes and Business Functions: a new way of looking at employment. Monthly Labor Review, 131(12), pp. 51-70. Hines, T., & Bruce, M. (Eds.). (2007). Fashion marketing. Routledge. JM, A., SE, L., & NMP, B. (2006). Well dressed? The present and future sustainability of clothing and textiles in the United Kingdom. LONGENECKER, J. G. (2012). Small business management: launching and growing entrepreneurial ventures. Mason, OH, South-Western Cengage Learning. MAGAZINE, E. (2012). Clothing Store and More Entrepreneurs Step by Step Startup Guide. New York, Entrepreneur Press. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=953095. NIEUWENHUIZEN, C., ROSSOUW, D., & BADENHORST, J. A. (2008). Business management: a contemporary approach. Cape Town, South Africa, Juta. Read More