Business of the Burberry Clothes Designer Company - Case Study Example

Task Discussing Two Examples, Analyze the Way in Which Fashion Consumption Is Changing In Relation To New Technologies of Consumption and Globalization. The Burberry clothes designer company is headquartered in the United Kingdom but has seen the demand for its designer clothing change as a result of the introduction of newer technologies of consumption and the process of globalization. In the current markets for their clothing which are competitive and tactical, the company has to make use of the appropriate and effective strategies of marketing to reach a wider market. This is usually done for the purpose of gaining a competitive advantage over their competitors while stimulating consumption of their products in several ways. Due to the changes that come from the new technologies and globalization, the meaning attached to their clothing’s by their consumers has greatly changed. The consumers currently view their dressing styles as a reflection of their beliefs, values and an extension of their personalities. This in turn means that the choice the consumer makes and wants to be associated with enables him to propel himself or herself among her society. As a result of the globalization process their customers’ influences have changed the meaning of several of the company’s brands, values along with their standings in the global market. The demand for the designer wear that the company deals in will decrease in the near future, but the demand for their strong comfort products will continue rising since the populations’ incomes continue rising as technologies advance. The market for their designer clothing is increasing becoming volatile and disorderly due to the changes in customer needs along with desires that require to be satisfied. The volatile nature of the market results from the free flow of information that results from the globalization process. It is also facilitated by the fact that new technologies are increasingly being utilized in the production of several of their commodities. In terms of reaping the benefits of using newer technologies along with globalization, the clothing company has come up with strong and desirable products for their customers. This is all happening because the markets have in turn become more of a challenge to cope with along the high rates of competition. The process of achieving growth is becoming very difficult for the company when it comes to maintaining their uniqueness along with exclusivity as a result of their competitors’ efforts. This is besides the fact that the clothing company has the desire of growing and expanding their influence using newer technologies and their globalization efforts. Through the use of accessories such as sunglasses, shoes and handbags the clothing company has developed and expanded their markets while at the same time maintaining their distinctiveness. The use of new technologies and the process of globalization has enabled the company’s exclusive products to become more accessible to their users. The goods were on the contrary not previously available to the high earning workers in the economy. The industry’s sales have been decreasing and the company has also been enduring the same problems. The newer technologies in use have caused internal turmoil and they have also established consumer relationships through the use of various media (Chorafas, 2009). The new technologies have also enabled the management of the clothing company to positively identify their market segments. The clothing company has previously been creating relationships with the British society in order to build luxury products (Chorafas, 2009). These products thrive on their customers sensibility, the international recognition that they get along with the differentiation of their brand values. The differentiation is vital for the company since their products move across various generations along with the different genders. The clothing company initially utilized an inferior fabric for the purpose of developing their products. With the introduction of newer technologies in the year 1880, the company enhanced their image and brands by making valuable arrangements with some of their consumers due to the globalization process (Chorafas, 2009). This greatly helped in the company becoming reputable for their high quality commodities and having prestige on their products. The utilization of their newer technologies greatly advanced the companies abilities of opening up newer branches in London, Paris and other international markets (Chorafas, 2009). The company has a high standing among the wealthy members of the British civil service and is continuously getting recognition from the international market. This fact has greatly been facilitated by the globalization process that enables the company to deal with customers in diverse areas. The globalization of their industry has enabled the company to explore additional opportunities for reaching their unexplored markets along with the achievement of high quality products. In pursuing the benefits of the globalization process, the clothing company’s management has taken over a chain of distribution networks in the United Kingdom and on the international market. The takeover of the distribution outlets has additionally facilitated the licensing of the third parties dealing in their products along with their designs (Chorafas, 2009). This licensing process that has been facilitated by the globalization process has in turn created complications in the production of their products along with their image to the general public. This has been largely due to the fact that there are differences in the designs created, their qualities and prices all over the globe. The issues have greatly destroyed the company’s image and product quality thus resulting in a great decline in their profits, reputations, sales and their influence on the markets for their designer products. The clothing company has eventually suffered losses that have resulted from their highly prestigious markets perceiving the products as commodities for the ordinary man. The competition that the company encounters as a result of the globalization process has also become very intense, consistent and customer focused. This occurrence at the same time makes the products on sale to take a new form. The products from the clothing company have been second to products from higher manufacturing companies such as Versace along with Gucci. This is despite the fact that they have adopted newer technologies while taking advantage of the globalization efforts. Today’s customers differ from the previous customers in terms of their tastes and lifestyles. This implies that the company should use the globalization process along with newer technologies in attracting and maintaining the existing along with new customers. The company’s management has been able to handle their target markets through the use of appropriate pricing methods. They are able to learn about their competitors’ prices through the new technologies that have been introduced to aid them in their marketing activities. The knowledge has facilitated the changing of their products design with the aim of advancing towards a wider market. Once the changes had been made, the company witnessed several changes in the way consumers buy and utilize their products. It has also enabled the company in handling the customers who are less desirable for their company. In conclusion, the consumption of the fashion products has positively and negatively impacted on the activities of the clothing company with major benefits being achieved by the management. The loss of their more affluent customers has also been dealt away with through the adoption of newer technologies and the process of globalization (Chorafas, 2009). The use of Nokia phones that are manufactured in Finland has greatly changed due to the new technologies of use and globalization. The fashion consumption of the Nokia mobile phone has lagged behind and has not adequately utilized the new technologies of consumption among its customers. The phones have however reaped the benefits of globalization through various achievements within the global market. The Nokia mobile phones have been increasingly used in many countries across the globe thereby being able to revolutionalize the exchange of information between different people located in different places. The company that manufactures the Nokia phones is one of the biggest in the world. It deals with products that are within the telecommunications industry and currently enjoys market shares of 35% (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). Nokia Company manufactures one of the cheapest and most reliable phones that are widely used across the world as a result of adopting new technologies. Nokia Company has failed to adopt new technologies of consumption as characterized by their failure to produce smart phones. The smart phones have been increasingly replacing the mobile phones in the global market. Although the Nokia Company is still profitable in its industry, their revenues have recently been under intense pressure due to the company’s option of lagging. The Nokia Company’s management has been urged to undergo various changes to facilitate their survival within the industry. This suggestions were recently suggested by the new chief supervisory officer, Mr. Stephen Elop. The officer recently signed a contract with the Microsoft Company to develop smart phones using their platforms (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). This was intended to take advantage of the new technologies in the telecommunications industry so as to cope with the changing needs of the users. The users have been influenced by the impact of globalization in revolutionizing the telecommunications industry (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). In order for the Nokia company management to cope with the changing trends in mobile phone use their supervisory officer has decided to change many members of his team. The Nokia Company has recently adopted to dwell on innovations that are brought about by individuals who are working on the key segments of the industry (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). The Nokia company has continually missed out for several years in the revolution taking place within their industry. This occurred due to their failure to develop smart phones for their customers in good time (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). The company has for a long time focused on the production along with the distribution of hardware services which are not doing well in terms of sale. They have lagged behind since most of their competitors have invested in the production along with the distribution of software which are earning large profits for them. The company’s failure to adopt newer technologies in consumption of their products has greatly reduced their products lifecycle with the shift towards the smart phones becoming too drastic (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, p.241). This shift caught the management of the Nokia company completely unaware thereby bringing very intense competition from other emerging manufacturers within their industry. Their competitors have managed to outperform them by using new technologies for marketing and developing their products (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). Nokia Company has recently suffered from poor leadership along with complacency that came from the success they achieved from selling phones that were not using the smart technology. This has made them to become highly consensual thereby lacking adequate innovations along with an entrepreneual spirit (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). The results of these factors is that the Nokia company has failed to take advantage of the globalization process happening in the mobile phones industry. The company has also been retrenching many of its workers due to the fact that their profits have been on the decline. Decision making within the Nokia company was until recently left to the central management, but this has currently changed (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). The national and local bodies have been left to make the most appropriate decisions concerning which technologies to adopt and how to best take advantage of the globalization process. The management has also made their goals along with objectives more transparent with the aim of enabling their workers to work towards achieving them. The mobile phone company has been facing very stiff competition from companies such as Apple, Android and Google among others who have been changing their products in line with the new technologies. They have also made adequate use of the globalization process by effectively producing goods that satisfy their wide variety of consumers around the world .The failure of the Nokia Company to take advantage of the new technologies within their industry has led to their declining profit levels along with sales. Nokia’s management has recently carried several retrenchments of their personnel who would have greatly assisted them in adopting new technologies and marketing their products. They have been making user friendly mobile phones which before the introduction of the smart phones were leading their industry (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). The management has been urged to retain workers who are strategic and beneficial for their company. This is because they would assist in maintaining the pressures of the industry and their consumers changing demands. The management of this company have previously argued that a reduction in their staff members would greatly assist their company in reducing their operation costs and production expenses (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). This is however not to the case since they will require to employ and train more staff in the event that their company recuperates in the future. Their recovery could be due to the adoption of newer technologies of developing and marketing their products. The Nokia company failed to come up with productive collaborations with other companies and this led to their declining profits (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). A decline in their profits also implied that the company’s market share went down and they have also lost a lot of their consumers due to their inability of keeping up with the demands in the market. Their innovations have failed to take advantage of the new technologies along with the globalization process because they do not provide the current requirements of their consumers (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). The company has continuously focused on the production of a single technology that has been unable to cater for the changing needs of their consumers. They have instead concentrated on the production of phones that provide accessories which consumers have to pay for so that they can generate high profits (Micklethwait & Wooldridge, 2000). This actions have led many customers into opting for their competitors products which have similar technological features but sell at cheaper prices. The company has failed in taking advantage of the globalization of software use as a result of the new technologies innovated. The world’s population is increasing changing their needs and the company has encountered several obstacles in globalizing their products. These are the switching costs incurred when customers switch from a manufacturer to another along with the loss of previously established loyalties between the company and their customers. They also include the effects of the scales which made the company incur large amounts on their inputs and lower costs. This company has in the recent past adopted newer and high quality technologies in managing their supplies, their logistics and manufacturing processes in order to satisfy the needs of their global clientele. References Chorafas, Dimitris N. Globalizations Limits: Conflicting National Interests In Trade And Finance, 2009. New York: Gower Publishing. Micklethwait, John & Wooldridge, Adrian. A Future Perfect: The Challenge And Hidden Promise Of Globalization, 2000. London: Heinemann. Read More