See attachment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

See attachment - Essay Example According to Torun(2007, p.7) acknowledges that Zara direct rivals in Europe are H &M, although the latter does not manufacture their products but rather outsource such services to low cost nations in the Far East. Gap is also a big competitor in the apparels and fashion industry. In the year 2008, Inditex had edged past Gap in terms of sales to emerge as the world’s largest fashion retailer (Welters and Lillethun2007, p.541).   Zara’s organizational Structure and Culture The employees at Zara have come to recognize that they are operating in fast changing world of fashion where a product can move from being trendy to staple in just a week. The owner of the company, Amancio Ortega, he likened the fashion industry to that of food by describing the industry as one with perishable goods (Casillas, Acedo and Moreno 2007, p.129).   At the company, the employees work like bees in a hive- as a team to get the work done successfully and quickly. When they are trying out new products, the design is performed, clothes prototyped and criticized in a very short time, normally in a few hours (Dunne, 2013). Brand perception and global visibility While competitors fall, Zara is going through one of the quickestinternationalgrowth the fashion globe has ever seen, opening a store a day and entering new markets worldwide – 68 countries so far and the chain’s profitability is among the highest in the industry. In the year 2012, Zara was ranked at position 37 a forty two percent increase from position 64 they had attained in the year 2005, and according to the global ranking site, its star will continue to rise as they continue to enter newer markets (Interbrand, 2013). Zara as a fashion brand is easily distinguishable from other fashion brands due the speed at which ne collection are launched, the premium price of its commodities and the premium locations of its stores in major cities. Which means that the company is not only providing their custom ers with a basic need that is clothing, but also their customers demand for self-actualization- putting on what they feel portrays their image. Every human being feels self-actualized when associated with a high performing product that has a high brand value (Mathews, 2006). For example, the name Zara easily comes to mind when one mentions the prime locations in cities that the company is associated. Zara’s brand reception all over the globe has been phenomenal over the last couple of years to say the least, for instance in New Delhi, India, when they opened a shop in the high end district, they have been recording staggering sales over the year(Jacoband Mamgain, 2011)). Trading and Business Partnerships Zara is a vertically integrated firm, which means that it controls it most of its economic activities from manufacturing to retailing. It swathes all the facets of the fashion development: design, production, logistics and circulation on its own administered retail shops. Acc ording to the owner, the firm produces almost fifty percent of its product. When entering new foreign markets, Zara has been known to enter into a new foray either through subsidiary, joint venture or through franchising (Sorge