Analysis of Juicy Couture and a Review of Their Strategic Decision Process in the Changing Market Environment - Essay Example

? Analysis of Juicy Couture and a review of their strategic decision process in the changing market environment. Contents Contents 2 Background to the Study and Overall Research Aim 3 Research Objectives 3 Initial Review of Relevant Literature 4 Research Methods: Justification and Description 5 Research validity and reliability 5 Justification of the Methodology 6 Information to be collected 6 Methods of collection of information 7 Analysis Technique 7 Ethical consideration 8 Timeline of Dissertation 8 Reference List 10 Background to the Study and Overall Research Aim The current era of business is often dubbed as the era of massive turbulence and instability (Vuuren, 2013). With the large number of players in a single industry, the bargaining power of buyers reached to an inconceivable extent. In addition, the saturation of the market also leads to the crumpling of business environment. In the present scenario, the external business environment is extremely competitive and most of the companies are experiencing complexities in operating efficiently in the market place. Apart from the increasing competition, innovation is another factor which concerns majority of marketers today. In such scenarios, it becomes imperative for the organizations to have a set of innovative strategies. Every company therefore aims to achieve innovation through strategic decision-making in order to ensure greater sustainability and increase sales. Undoubtedly, companies have moved on to strategic decision-making involving all possible tactics with a direct and positive impact on their overall management policies. The overall research aim is to understand and evaluate the reasons for changes in strategic decisions of Juicy Couture Company. The global competitiveness has intensified and success of product innovation demands the organisations to change their strategic decisions. The research essay will also compare the strategies of Juicy Couture Company with other organisations of similar industry and evaluate the future strategic directions of the company. Research Objectives The study has multiple aims which necessitate the presence of multiple objectives. Therefore, the objectives for this dissertation are mentioned below: - To identify the business strategy of Juicy Couture. Understand and evaluate the reasons for changes in strategic decisions of Juicy Couture Company Compare the strategies of Juicy Couture Company with other companies Evaluate future strategic directions for the company. Initial Review of Relevant Literature Literature review is an important element of a research study. It is often considered as the foundation of a study. The literature review for this study will be carried out with the help of data from different sources. It will involve in-depth review of the theories on the importance of strategic decisions, which is portrayed by the scholars, in a competitive market environment. The literature review will discuss the origin of strategic decision making and its evolution with changing business environment. The study will also discuss why strategic decision making is important for the success of product innovation. Actions and decisions make the core of the strategic decision-making as well as implementation process. Strategic decisions can be considered as rational knowledge application to a problem. It includes finding answers to critical business questions such as different alternatives and consequences of the same. It also analyses the desirability of these consequences and applied criteria for the evaluation of various alternatives. In case of structured problems, a rational solution may be sufficient. But highly unstructured problems require specific solutions brought in only by strategic decisions. Porter (1996) has rightly emphasized that operational effectiveness cannot be considered as strategy. In other words, strategic priority is important for every organisation. According to Prahalad and Hamel (1990), realisation of core competencies can be one of the strategic priorities. According to them, core competencies can be enhanced by effective coordination of production skills and integration of multiple technological streams. However, strategic decision theories have been concurred before too. One of the initial theories of strategic decisions was linear planning model developed by Chafee (1985). It gives emphasis to sequential, methodical and a directed action portraying rational decision making. It was more of a simplistic view of strategic management and predominantly for the top management. Farjoun (2002) adopted a more conceptual view of the strategy and classified all approaches according to the time, flow of events and quality of models and constructs. Strategic decision making and innovation share an intimate relationship. For the success of the innovation process, it is critical for the organisation to adopt strategic decision making (Steptoe-Warren, Howat and Hume, 2011). In the context of a business, innovation can be referred to as a process of creating new products or services, improving the current offerings, and implementing the new ideas too (Afuah, 1998; Haour, 2003). However, innovation always does not refer to invention, rather it means development of products and services which would fulfil the needs of the customers and get adapted to the changing business scenario. In a broader sense, innovation is the way forward for the business houses to embrace growth and it also plays an imperative role in the advancement of the society. Several studies have confirmed that innovation is the forward step for the companies in order to survive in the market place for a longer period of time (Hakansson and Waluszewski, 2007). With the help of the literature review, the researcher expects to discover the strategic changes taking place in the Juicy Couture Company and unveil its past and present decision-making processes. The review on literature will also help in analysing the future scope for the company their effective use of strategies for making their innovations successful. Research Methods: Justification and Description The study will evaluate the key strategic changes for the company Juicy Couture. Research methodology is defined as the way by which data and information is collected and the technique applied for analysing those data to reach at a conclusion and make a business decision (Bryman, 2008; Hesse-Biber, 2011). The research method applied to a study is one of the most important constituents of a research study and is responsible for providing route to the study (Kumar, 2011; Pride and Ferrell, 2012). Research validity and reliability In order to ensure superior quality of data, this study will conduct some tests such as internal validity, reliability, construct validity and external validity. Construct Validity: - In order to increase construct validity, the report has used number of different source to collect data. Internal validity: - In order to increase internal validity, the report has conducted a short pilot study and also designed appropriate interview structure. External validity: - External validity helps in generalizing the study by considering a combination of qualitative and quantitative research. Reliability: - In order to ensure high reliability, the report has performed some of the activities repeatedly. Justification of the Methodology The prime intention of this study is to uncover the reasons for change of strategic decisions of Juicy Couture. Hence, the study will need to determine the correlation between strategic decision-making and external business environment. As a result of the various internal and external environmental influences, the company had made changes in its strategy. Thus extensive literature survey will help in uncovering the reasons behind these changes. In addition, the study will also aid the analysis of the competition and various competitive strategies formulated by the company, which is also one of the objectives of the study. Therefore, the use of a secondary research method is justified. It is believed that addressing the above questions will allow the researcher to satisfy the objectives of the study. The research questions which have been formulated aims at addressing the questions of the study. In addition, they also have the capability to shed light on the broader aspect. For example, the question about future strategic direction will be analysed through various past and present strategies implemented by the company. Study of competition will also help to understand the external business environment and to prepare effective strategies for future. Information to be collected The majority of information to be collected comprises of primary data about consumer perceptions about the brand and employee perception about the company as well as the strategies implemented by the company. The secondary data to be collected involves the various strategic directions implemented by the company in the past along with the evaluation of competitors and their strategies. Methods of collection of information This study involves gathering of both primary and secondary data. The secondary data will be collected from different sources such as online databases, printed journals, online journal articles, books and authentic online sources. In addition, the report will consider newspapers to get the latest information about the subject of concern. This will help in evaluating the various strategies applied by the company in the past as well as future. The literature will also highlight various competitions and competitive strategies used by the company. Also, the perception of the consumers regarding the company is important to understand. For this, primary research will be undertaken. The data will be recorded with the help of research instruments such as questionnaire, experiments and survey (Scharff, 2002). Once the data collection instrument is chosen, the next task is to shed light on the respondent group. The respondent group for this study is the employees and general consumers of Juicy Couture. The data from the customers will be recorded through a questionnaire survey. On the other hand, data from the executives will be collected with the help of focus group interview. The sample size for the questionnaire will be 100 respondents while sample size for the focus group interview will be 10 executives, one from each department. For both the cases, simple random sampling will be employed to select the respondents of the study. In order to ensure their presence in the study, assistance from qualified company personnel will be taken. Furthermore, the HR department of the university will be also approached for the approval of the study. Analysis Technique In general there are two types of data analysis namely quantitative data analysis and qualitative data analysis. Qualitative analysis is about analysing data in a qualitative way and does not involve any numerical or statistical values. On the other hand, quantitative analysis is about analysing the data in a quantitative manner and involves numerical and statistical data (Lillis, 2008; Pannerselvam, 2004). In this study, both the techniques will be employed. It will make use of both statistical packages as well as office suite to analyze the data. The statistical package to be used is SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Science) and MS-Excel in office suite. It is also proposed that the study will present a number of graphs and charts for the representation of the data in a meaningful format. Ethical consideration The designed study will ensure that none of the participants is affected by any kind of physical injuries and do not pay for attending the interview or questionnaire session. There will be no activities in the research study that may hamper society and the environment. The participants of the study are allowed the leave the process at any moment. Moreover, they will not have to give any prior notice for the same. The study will also ensure that personal information of the participants will not be disclosed and there will be no theft or illegal use of data Timeline of Dissertation The timeline for the consumer survey will be 6 months and will involve telephonic survey and online form filing, while focus group interview will take place in the company office only. A timeline for the dissertation is provided below Activity/Time Period Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6 Designing the Study             Evaluating the background structure Review of the opening chapter Formulation of literature outline Identification of source material Collecting Literature for the Study             Writing the Literature Review             Formulation of research outline Review of research strategy Developing Questionnaire and Focus Group Interview session             Reflection of research approach Collecting Primary Data through questionnaire             Conduction of focus group interview Preliminary review of the primary data Analyzing the Collected Data             Comparison of findings with previous research Reflection on validity and reliability Summarizing the Research Findings             Writing the final dissertation             Submission of the Final File             Reference List Afuah, A., 1998. Innovation management: Strategies, implementation and profits. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. and Tight, M., 2006. How to research. 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill International. Bryman, A., 2008. Social research methods. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chafee, E.E., 1985. Three models of strategy. Academy of Management Review, 10(1), pp. 89-98. Farjoun, M., 2002. Towards an organic perspective on strategy. Strategic management journal, 23, pp. 561-594. Hakansson, H. and Waluszewski, A., 2007. Knowledge and innovation in business and industry: The importance of using others. London: Routledge. Haour, G., 2003. Resolving the innovation paradox: Enhancing growth in technology companies. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Hesse-Biber, S. N., 2011. Emergent technologies in social research. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kumar, S., 2011. Knowledge discovery practices and emerging applications of data mining. New Delhi: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Lillis, A., 2008. Qualitative management accounting research: rationale, pitfalls and potential. Qualitative research in accounting & management, 5(8), p. 239-46. Pannerselvam, R., 2004. Research methodology. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Porter, M. E., 1996. What is a strategy? Harvard Business Review, 10(2), pp. 61-78. Prahalad, C.K. and Hamel, G., 1990. The core competencies of the corporation. Harvard Business Review, 5(6), pp. 80-90. Pride, W. M. and Ferrell, O. C., 2012. Foundations of marketing. 5th ed. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Steptoe-Warren, G., Howat, D. and Hume, I., 2011. Strategic thinking and decision making: literature review. Journal of Strategy and Management, 4(3), pp.238 - 250. Vuuren, D. V., 2013. World recession update – Apr 2013. [online] Available at: < http://recessionalert.com/world-recession-update-apr-2013/> [Accessed 18 October 2013]. Read More