The Founders Philosophy BLAAK - Coursework Example

College: BLAAK Collection Introduction BLAAK collection was started by Sachiko Okada and Aaron sharif in 1998 as an experimental collaboration while Whilst at Central St. Martins in London. With the aim of developing a unique and new style that is believable. A style that enhances the wearer and does not isolate. By the time of graduation, in1999 BLAAK had sold internationally to Maria Luisa in Paris and Barneys New York but to name a few (Uhlenbruck, Meyer &Hitt, 2003). The founder’s philosophy ‘BLAAK’ generated from the colour Black with the idea of developing a brand that is unique and is new in style as well as it is believable with the emphasis not to isolate the wearer. ‘Blaak’ brands are much accommodative since they can go hand in hand with most colours and blaak simply was for the transformative quality of the colour. BLAAK has spread its geographical brand to Asia, US, Oceanic with new markets emerging in Africa. BLAAK philosophy remains but the visions has widened and now include other creation with colours other than black, and with the combination of innovation and imagination to create the new and unique style to bring believe to the market. These have lead to designs like the Cropped Tracksuit Trouser, Cropped shirt, Denim jackets and much more. Blaak developed inspirational men’s shirt with traditions of old U.K. embedded with English roses, and using English techniques that have been a tradition, with the detached collar, one can wear a tie or can go informal with half collar. BLAAK has sourced internationally to countries like France, US and many more countries. Strength Weakness Opportunity Threats Black colour Variety fashion designs Market niche   Geographic area       Patent      Strong brand name over dependence of one market niche high cost structure brilliant designers technological advancements cheap products from competitors -shift in consumer tastes Strength Black colour: - the dependence of the black colour which very much interacts with most                                colours and fits in all spectra of lifestyle gives black the upper edge its brand. Variety fashion designs:-with the brilliant expertise in the field of design, blaak has an    upper advantage of giving the best to the consumers Market niche:-with a market niche of states and continents, Blaak has a market niche that is enough for growth and expansion which gives it upper hand in making profits only if geographic, physiographic and demographic segmentation is taken into consideration. Patent: - patent is strength that blaak has considering it is a patent that bears a name of the ‘root material colour’ Weakness Over dependence of one market niche:-With the dependence of Britain as its main market, putting less emphasis in other markets, blaak has a weakness in that it has a growth opportunity but does not exploit fully. High cost structure: - the cost structure for maintaining and manufacturing its designs is higher compared if growth would have been expanded to other emerging markets which can offer cheaper production cost. Opportunities Emerging economies: - it pose a great opportunity to blaak, with these conditions of growing markets and population increase; investors may serve these markets profitably by adaptation of their strategies considering the local context. For example, groups with low income are prudent to be served with cost efficient mass products, with the emphasis on economies of scale and profits being earned by the large sale volumes Brilliant designers: - With the designer’s brilliance in design, blaak has the best opportunity to provide for the changing consumer preference therefore satisfying the consumer’s needs and preference. Technological advancements: - with the advancement blaak technologically, blaak has the potential to produce more products that are advance and cheap due to technological advancement therefore meeting the market demand. Threats Threats from other competitors: - the threats from other competitors from emerging markets pose the greatest threat to blaak expansion, simply because they offer cheaper designs and are targeting the low income earners who form the bigger share of the market. The shift in consumer tastes:- fashion keeps on changing day by day hence the need for blaak design to keep on with the changing tastes of the consumers that is brought about by innovation and fashion change. 6 Marketing strategy Blaak geographical spread is not only in Europe but the US, oceanic and Asia. With products such as sleeveless denim jacket is an ideal for summer season with the different change of climatic time between the continents, therefore sales will not be affected due to reliance of one single geographical zone. Track suit trousers are ideal for sports, classic shirts for formal work, with different informal wear and various gender based designs, blaak has a wide variety of market niche to exploit into and take advantage of. Blaak can penetrate the market especially now that the products have been rolled out, first it is vital that they venture much in London fashion week since most of its sales are London based after which to enter other markets through shows, this will in turn be positioning its brand ‘’blaak’’ to other market. Blaak has to consider different market penetration strategies that is, first is the opportunities and challenges in emerging markets, this can either be the sheer market size and the impressive growth in the economy. Growing economies will always provide large markets for consumer products and a potential increase in growth prospects. Growing economies also have obstacles to the growth prospects in that: most emerging economies have frequent institution changes and a volatile industry structure. Growth of the particular economy could be high but also frequented with crisis like the Asian crisis in 1997(Uhlenbruck et al. 2003).The volatility provides competitive advantage to strategic flexibility to react to changing circumstances and grab new business opportunities. In addition, different ways have been adopted by institutions to interact with authorities and business partners Institutional voids often inhibit the efficiency of markets and increase business risks. Consequently, firms may internalize markets for intermediate goods and services, such as capital and human capital. Last among the challenges is that context-specific capabilities are needed to be competitive in growing or emerging economies. Individual and firms come up with capabilities that only suit specific context hence creating barriers to entry. Secondly is Brand Portfolio for emerging economy consumers. This pose challenges in that incomes are low, cheap labour, and variability in consumer groups. However, Dawar and Chattopadhay prove that, with these conditions investors may serve these markets profitably by adaptation of their strategies considering the local context. For example, groups with low income are prudent to be served with cost efficient mass products, with the emphasis on economies of scale and profits being earned by the large sale volumes ( Khanna et al,2005). Market development strategies should be adopted by blaak that is: having an overview of the strategy in that blaak has to come up with the goal of the market strategy, the changing consumer preferences and the population demographics that clearly show a potential increase in demand for ‘blaak’ wears. As an industry, blaak should bear in mind the challenge of providing enough products to meet the demand. Blaak ought to also develop the product; blaak should start in the product development by Generating idea: this idea generation is vital in that, blaak has to come up with a new product or idea that can suit or is unique in order to get the attention of the consumers. Idea screening: this is a process, in which questions are asked for instance, will the product fulfill the requirements of the targeted consumers, product feasibility ie the cost of production and profit, Concept development and testing: in this case typically, blaak should have the target market in mind and who is to purchase the product. Business analysis: in this the most observation is on the profit potentiality which is so much analyzed through different tools such as sales projection and profit margins. Market testing: this is mainly if cost is projected to increase, blaak should have a prototype number of products manufactured to taste the market potentiality and preference to the product before a full scale production commences that is only when the market seems viable. Technical implementation: in this stage, what blaak should look into is the supplier collaboration and what-if plan.            Commercialization: it is at this stage that the product is launched blaak should launch through advertisements and feedback is received. New product pricing: at this stage is whereby blaak a should look at the pricing level of the product with focus on long term profits 7 Consumer segmentation Demographic segmentation Blaak should divide the market into groups basing the groups to variables such as income and age. The age is another factor that ought to be looked into since ages vary, therefore blaak should ensure that as much as the most spenders are the mature age, blaak should not avoid to look into the young generation because  In doing so blaak will have made a long term impact to it future market and as a going concern. Thereof blaak must have a variety of fashioned wears for the young generation, from casual wear to official wear. Another factor to consider is income; being an international company, then blaak should know that different markets have different living standards, with the emerging economies mainly comprising the low income earners making up a large potion of the consumers, hence there is a need for blaak to produce cheap and many products to have the low- income earners to feel part of the blaak expansion. If this taken into consideration, blaak will increase its market niche and if well serviced and analsyed will yield good profits. Geographic segmentation Blaak should consider geographic segmentation since it is no longer a local firm but is trading internationally. In this blaak ought to know the different climatic conditions of various countries hence this will make it be in a better position to design wear that best fit the climatic conditions of the particular country? Geographic conditions also very much influence the behavioral aspect of the people. Behavioral segmentation The behavior of people very much influences their purchasing power as well as their willingness to change with fashion. It is so important for Blaak Company to ensure that it understands the behavior of different people in different countries, which will make them know the purchasing power of the people, therefore enable them to give or produce the products that best suits them. Psychographic segmentation Under this segmentation, the market is divided into groups that are: social class, lifestyle and personality. The social class is further divides population into chief income earner ie (A) the higher managerial, administrative or professional ( company director), (B) intermediate managerial, administrative or professional (middle manager), (C) supervisory, clerical, junior administrative or professional (bank clerk), (D) skilled manual workers(plumber), (E) semi- and unskilled manual workers(labourer), and (F) sate pensioners with no other income, widows(unemployed). Lifestyle includes dividing people in their values, interests, opinions and beliefs. Traditions, their way of life, their love or desires and their perception will much influence their lifestyle which influences their spending habits. 5 Product analysis Blaak designs are very unique and lovely, but considering the few instances where a minute percentage of its designs contain other colours, blaak should try to make majority of its designs with black not to loose its identity, but also consider some coloured replica of the designs. 6 Pricing strategy Prices should vary, with prices that target the low income earners in the market but also maintain its traditional prices that it possessed initially. 7 Distribution strategies The distribution strategy should be well organized that orders are sent in time, follow up through sites such as face book, yahoo mail, twitters and even the new goggle social sites. if possible, distribution should not delay at all. Conclusion Blaak designs are classic and unique which gives it the preference from other designs, with the simple considerations of the low end earners, having variety of coloured designs, aggressiveness to be a world class designer of every level designs, venturing into the emerging markets, technological advancements and a global strategy will elevate blaak to the pick heights that every designer yarns to reach. Finally to say BLAAK is the colour to wear. References K. Uhlenbruck, K.E Meyer, and M.Hitt, Organisational transformation in transition economies: Resource-based and organizational learning perspective, journal of management studies (40), 257-282(2003) Doh , P K and R. Ramamurti, Reassessing Risk in Developing Country Infrastructure, Long Range Planning 36:337-353(2003) T.Khanna, K.G. Palepu and J. Sinha, Strategies that Fit Emerging Markets, Havard Business Review, May-Hune, 83-89(2005)   Read More