Module code: |
BMA4000-20 |
Module title: |
The Business Environment |
Assignment: |
A2: Individual Reflective Performance Report (Based on Business Case Study given on Moodle) |
Word count: |
1500 (+/- 10%) |
Contribution to module mark: |
40% of overall grade |
Assessment type: |
Individual Reflective Performance Report |
Weight: |
40% |
Submission deadline: |
7th October 2024 at 23:59 |
Student
Name:
Student ID:
Executive Summary
Gibbs’ Reflective framework also helps to demonstrate the connection between professional values and personal experiences. Based on the questions answered in the appendix, then the reflective report has been constructed to highlight personal experience while performing the case study of the company within the fast-paced fast fashion landscape. Relating to various teamwork theories such as Tuckman and Jensen and others with personal experience has helped to identify the necessary skills based on positive and negative experiences. Further, the actionable steps outlined will help in the future with more informed strategic decisions.
Introduction
According to Markkanen et al. (2020) Gibb’s reflective cycle includes six stages starting from a description to an action plan that helps to reflect on learning experiences. A business refers to an economic activity where services or goods or a combination of both are supplied in exchange for a payment (Morrison, 2020). The following reflective report will demonstrate how the challenges and problems of the company from the case study have been mitigated based on the questions. Relevant theories will also be included to explain the context of teamwork.
Gibb’s Reflective Cycle
Description
The case study focused on a fast-fashion company operating within the retail industry. Being assigned the topic, I had to analyse the fast fashion industry in the UK to highlight the areas of strengths and weaknesses of the private company in the market. Presently, fast fashion companies are considered to be the predominant driver of economic growth in the country (refer to the case study). Researching the case helped me to identify the challenges imposed by the market rivals and the increased chances of data loss or cyber-attacks (refer to the appendix). Moreover, I also researched the social and environmental issues for which the company has proposed to abide by the governmental guidelines of national wage and environmental protection.
As illustrated by Sokman et al. (2023) Tuckman’s model refers to the five stages of group development outlining the initial difficulty of group formation to the essence of coordination helping to function as a team. During class time, our group engaged in various discussions related to the case study. Referring to Tuckman and Jensen’s theory, initially, we conducted an introductory phase which is a vital phase of forming to know each other well. I even participated in developing the ground rules even though there was a bit of confusion and conflict while progressing through the storming phase. However, we were able to sort our differences through active listening and open communication which in my opinion, helped us to move towards the performing stage. Communication skills are the fundamental skills to relate, connect, or meet needs while also supporting others (Brower, 2023). Active listening is another crucial aspect of helping to empathise with others by understanding and appreciating them (Taylor, 2023). This benefitted us with a shared understanding to reach the norming stage with a clear overview of our roles and responsibilities.
Feelings
While working on the fast-fashion case study, I found the subject matter both interesting and challenging. The specific case study helped me to realise the constant need for innovation in the fast fashion industry to cater to evolving customer preferences such as sustainability concerns, increased social media indulgence, and others. Solving the challenges also helped me to strengthen my problem-solving and critical-thinking abilities. Jamil, Anwar and Ali (2024) mentioned critical thinking as an indispensable attribute that helps in conceptual understanding. Delving into the strengths or weaknesses of the company along with its future plans or strategies caused a bit of apprehension and excitement. Although I was eager to apply my business knowledge, providing insightful and comprehensive answers to the questions made me a bit tense. Regarding my preparedness, I was eager and confident to apply my business knowledge for an in-depth analysis. While the dynamic fast-fashion industry immensely intrigued me it also helped me to refine my research skills to derive insightful answers to the business case. Academic research skills offer significant benefits as they help to develop actionable insights with a better concept of the subject (Vitasek, 2024). I was constantly conducting additional research and referring to course materials for relevant and accurate responses.
Evaluation
While working on the case study, I believe that one of the positive aspects of our decisions was our ability to collaborate effectively as a group. It helped me to learn the invaluable aspect of teamwork which also helped me to engage in constructive feedback. As commented by Planas-Lladó et al. (2021) for professionals, teamwork is a vital competency that helps to enhance the overall work quality. On the contrary, we seemed to focus heavily on one specific aspect of the business case which acted as a negative point as it limited our approach to research some other marketing strategies or functioning of the company. It might have helped me to make well-informed decisions by analysing the business case from multiple angles.
Our group's experience aligns well with Tuckman and Jensen's group working theory. Initially, we got to know each other in the forming stage, however, as we progressed towards the storming, performing, and norming stage through effective communication we were capable of performing more cohesively towards the assigned task. I could also relate my teamwork experience to Belbin’s team role theory. According to Belbin’s team role, individuals engage in infinite behaviour to contribute effectively towards team performance based on the nine behavioural clusters (Belbin, 2024). The theory extends to illustrate the effectiveness of teamwork when maintaining a balance among the roles of a team worker, monitor evaluator, creative thinker, and others. According to Chen and Wei (2020) the Social Exchange Theory proposes that social exchange relationships generally transform into a collaborative dedication to work objectives and beliefs thus helping to uplift performance. As per the theory, I have realised the importance of relationship building to feel connected on a personal level by promoting friendliness to maximise the outcomes. While performing in a group setting, the theories were of immense help to encourage each other while exchanging trust, information, or feedback.
Analysis
Reflecting on our decisions in the case study, I believe that one of the areas where we excelled was in identifying the company's key strengths and weaknesses. In my opinion, our team was capable of analysing the demographic and psychographic segmentation and the competitors of the company along with the ability to identify improvement areas. However, there were certain drawbacks related to the inability to concentrate on the long-term implications of our decisions through strategic decisions as we had focused more on the short-term gains.
I found it more challenging to navigate the complexities of the internal environment, although I was confident in certain areas, such as marketing and operations. While researching the internal complexities of the private fast fashion retailer, we failed to derive an in-depth overview of the managerial roles and the interplay among different business functions and departments which to some extent deteriorated the research outcomes. However, due to an absence of time management skills, we had to struggle at the end for which we were unable to apply Porter’s or Mintzberg’s theories. In the fast-paced business landscape, effective time management skills help to value time and complete work much faster to achieve the set goals (Houston, 2023). It otherwise might have helped us to make a better strategic decision upon attaining a better appreciation of the opportunities or the challenges in the sector.
Conclusion
Reflecting on my performance in this case study, I believe that there are several skills I need to develop to improve my ability to perform and understand these types of cases. To understand similar case studies in the future and outperform others, I realised the importance of strategic thinking and analytical skills that I must develop in the near future. Developing these will help me to develop innovative solutions by identifying patterns and trends in complex data thus ensuring long-term strategic implications.
To improve my performance when working within groups, I believe it is important to develop stronger communication, emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills. Being emotionally intelligent will help in my future teamwork endeavours to develop supportive and cohesive relationships. This paired with interpersonal and communication skills will perform an integral role in contributing towards a productive and positive group dynamic by contributing towards conflict resolution through active listening and constructive feedback.
Action Plan
For a more comprehensive understanding of the internal business environment and more informed strategic decisions, the following steps have been proposed:
Step 1: Conducting a thorough analysis of the company's internal environment through a detailed SWOT analysis.
Step 2: Analysing the company's organisational structure and culture to identify improvement areas by researching the effectiveness of the current structure in the industry.
Step 3: Developing a clear and concise vision and mission statement aligning with the long-term business objectives and goals.
Step 4: Assessing the company's resources and capabilities to evaluate the effectiveness of technology, financial capital, and human resources.
Step 5: Identifying key stakeholders such as suppliers, customers, shareholders, and employees and their interests, expectations, or needs.
Step 6: Conducting a competitive analysis and developing a strategic plan to strive towards the goals.
Step 7: Implementing the strategic plan and continuously evaluating or adjusting the same to remain relevant.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be mentioned that Gibb’s reflective cycle helps to learn and improve from personal experience for better results in the future. The above-mentioned reflective report offered a comprehensive idea of my experience while working on the case study to determine the business landscape of the company for constructing relevant strategies with my team members. It helped me to realise the importance of communication, time management, critical thinking, teamwork, research skills, and others. Referring to the theories of Tuckman, Social Exchange theory, and Belbin helped me to realise the attributes of teamwork followed by devising actionable steps to mitigate the problems.
References
Belbin (2024) The Nine Belbin Team Roles. Available at: https://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Brower, T. (2023) Powerful Strategies To Improve Your Communication Skills. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2023/08/27/powerful-strategies-to-improve-your-communication-skills/ (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Chen, X. and Wei, S. (2020) The impact of social media use for communication and social exchange relationship on employee performance. Journal of knowledge management, 24(6), pp.1289-1314.
GOV.UK (2024) The National Minimum Wage in 2024. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-national-minimum-wage-in-2024 (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Houston, M. (2023) How Time Management Increases Efficiency And Saves You Money. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/melissahouston/2023/06/15/how-time-management-increases-efficiency-and-saves-you-money/ (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Jamil, M., Anwar, M. and Ali, M.J. (2024) DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS IN ENGLISH CLASSROOMS AT THE SECONDARY LEVEL: TEACHERS’PERSPECTIVE. Journal of Social Sciences Development, 3(1), pp.76-85.
Legislation.gov.uk (2024) Environment Act 2021. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2021/30#:~:text=An%20Act%20to%20make%20provision,that%20fail%20to%20meet%20environmental(Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Markkanen, P., Välimäki, M., Anttila, M. and Kuuskorpi, M. (2020) A reflective cycle: Understanding challenging situations in a school setting. Educational Research, 62(1), pp.46-62.
Morrison, J. (2020) The Global Business Environment: Towards Sustainability? 5th ed., Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Mintel (2024) UK Fashion and Sustainability Market Report 2024. Available at: https://store.mintel.com/report/uk-fashion-sustainability-market-report(Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Planas-Lladó, A., Feliu, L., Arbat, G., Pujol, J., Suñol, J.J., Castro, F. and Martí, C. (2021) An analysis of teamwork based on self and peer evaluation in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 46(2), pp.191-207.
Robinson, M. (2024) Cyber and data risks are the biggest concerns to retailers, according to new research. Available at: https://www.retail-week.com/technology/new-research-reveals-cyber-and-data-risks-are-top-of-retailers-concerns/7046627.article(Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Sokman, Y., Othman, A.K., Abdul Aziz, A., Musa, M.H., Azizan, N. and Rahmat, N.H. (2023) Stages in Group Work: Is There A Relationship Among Them. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 13(11).
Statista (2024) Active social media audience in the United Kingdom (UK) in January 2024. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/507405/uk-active-social-media-and-mobile-social-media-users/ (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Statista (2024) Average annual disposable income in the United Kingdom in 2021/22, by age group of household reference person. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/824464/mean-disposable-income-per-household-by-age-uk/ (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Statista (2024) Benefits of influencer marketing according to retail marketers in the United Kingdom (UK) as of April 2023. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1441095/benefits-influencer-marketing-uk/ (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Statista (2024) Consumers who are most likely to make impulse purchases online or in-store in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1418540/onine-and-in-store-impulse-shopping-uk/#:~:text=In%202023%2C%20approximately%20a%20third,purchases%20when%20shopping%20in%2Dstore. (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Statista (2024) Degree to which consumers' purchasing behavior and choices shifted towards buying more sustainable products over the past five years in the United Kingdom in 2022. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1377981/shift-to-buying-sustainable-products-uk/ (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Statista (2024) Most popular social media platforms in the United Kingdom (UK) as of the third quarter 2023, by usage reach. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/284506/united-kingdom-social-network-penetration/#:~:text=As%20of%20the%20third%20quarter,Facebook%20Messenger%20with%2060.1%20percent. (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Statista (2024) Net sales of the clothing company Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) in the United Kingdom (UK) from financial years 2017 to 2023. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/730771/h-and-m-sales-value-united-kingdom-uk/#:~:text=The%20Swedish%20clothing%20retailer%20Hennes,the%20company's%20net%20sales%20figures.(Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Statista (2024) Net sales of the Inditex Group worldwide from 2013 to 2023, by brand. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/456505/sales-inditex-group-worldwide-by-format/(Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Statista (2024) Revenue of UNIQLO from overseas operations from fiscal year 2018 to 2023. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1480287/uniqlo-revenue-international-operations/(Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Taylor, D. (2023) Active Listening And Empathy For Better Working Relationships. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesbusinesscouncil/2023/07/28/active-listening-and-empathy-for-better-working-relationships/ (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Vitasek, K. (2024) Why All Students Must Learn Academic Research (And How It Helps Them). Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/katevitasek/2024/06/12/why-all-students-must-learn-academic-research-and-how-it-helps-them/ (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
YouGov (2020) The Fashion Industry in Great Britain. Available at: https://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/centaur-wp/marketingweek/prod/content/uploads/2020/03/05120929/Fashion-Industry-in-GB.pdf (Accessed: 23 September 2024).
Appendix
SWOT analysis
Strengths |
Weaknesses |
|
|
Opportunities |
Threats |
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Table 1: SWOT Analysis
(Source: Created by the learner)
Nearest competitors in the fast-fashion marketplace.
In the fast-fashion market, the company's nearest competitors are Zara Group Limited, Hennes & Mauritz Limited (H&M), and Uniqlo Ltd (refer to the case study). In 2023, the revenue of UNIQLO was worth 1.4 trillion Japanese yen worldwide (Statista, 2024). H&M UK upheld a net sales worth 17.5 billion Swedish Krona in 2023 (Statista, 2024). Zara embarked on its highest sales of 26 billion euros globally (Statista, 2024).
Current customers
Demographics
Both men and women are the current customers of the company. Especially, Generation Z is the major consumer of fast fashion items belonging to the age group of 16 to 24 years wherein 12% of the consumers are women (YouGov, 2020). The company targets individuals in urban areas maintaining a strong presence in some of the major cities. In terms of occupation, the company targets students and young professionals opting for affordable and fashionable options belonging to the range of median disposable income. The median disposable of the targeted age group was 31,344 British pounds in 2021/22 (Statista, 2024). The hobbies of these customers are socialising and following the latest fashion trends that are advertised on social media.
Psychographic profile
Trend-conscious, impulsive buyers, value-oriented, and risk-averse are the key personality traits of the consumer of the company. From a survey in 2023, one-third of the respondents agreed to make impulsive purchases from physical stores and another 36% when shopping or browsing online (Statista, 2024). Social convictions include social media savvy individuals, those being influenced by influencer endorsements, and others selecting brands based on brand loyalty. UK’s social media penetration rate reports at 82.8% with 56.2 million active users which is much higher than the global average (Statista, 2024). The socio-political persuasions are related to the sustainability consciousness, inclusion and diversity practices of the brand and social activism. 20% of the Brits in 2022 mentioned transforming themselves towards more sustainable choices and purchases (Statista, 2024).
2 ways to promote itself to customers
Increased social media penetration and experiential marketing or pop-up shops will help the company to effectively promote itself to customers, build brand awareness, and drive sales. In terms of social media marketing, the company can design social media campaigns or use influencers that resonate well with the target audience. 69% of UK marketers acknowledged the benefit of influencer marketing to enhance brand awareness (Statista, 2024). Pop-ups and experimental marketing will help to create an immersive experience, increase brand visibility, and create a sense of excitement or urgency.
Marketing/advertising streams the company plans to use
The company plans to use Facebook Messenger, TikTok, and Twitter in the future. Facebook Messenger records a penetration rate of 60.1% followed by TikTok at 40%, and Twitter at 44.2% (Statista, 2024). The high penetration rates will help the company reach a larger audience with a strong social media penetration for higher economies of scale.
Plan to tackle its social and environmental issues
To mitigate the social issues concerning inadequate pay, the company plans to restructure the pay scale based on the National Minimum Wage of 11.44 pounds for individuals aged 21 or above as outlined by the UK government (GOV.UK, 2024).
The Environmental Protection Act 2021 aims to safeguard the environment by reducing harmful emissions with a target of net zero by 2050 (Legislation.gov.uk, 2024). As per the legislation, the company will include more sustainability practices for ethical operations.
Impact of a private limited company (Ltd.) on the day-to-day operations.
Financial Reporting: It helps the company to prepare annual accounts and file them with Companies House.
Compliance: The company must adhere to corporate governance codes and tax laws.
Raising Capital: As a private company being limited to shareholders helps to raise funds through loans or share issuance.
