Analytical report of GUCCI - Essay Example

? Analytical report of GUCCI Introduction Designing opulent brand is a challenging exercise for an organization. It necessitates excellent products, high investments and, above all, the brand has to continue being stylish. Gucci is one of the fruitful voluptuous brands that sell to the high-end market. Gucci Group N.V functions as a multinational and a multi-brand luxury goods company that conceptualizes, invents, produces and markets personal voluptuous goods for both men and women across the world (Gucci, 2013). It has a wide variety of goods which include jewelry, shoes, handbags, ready to wear, ties, perfumes, eyewear, cosmetics, luggage, ready-to-wear, leather goods, and skincare products. The company also offers products such as sportswear and purses. This company has distribution points and retail stores in all parts of the globe. It also has wholesale points where it sells its products. These include the departmental stores, duty-free boutiques, directly owned stores and franchise stores (Larocca, 2004). Since its establishment, the company has continuously expanded to other markets in the world. It started with its first store in Florence and later to New York, and at present, the company has over 250 directly owned stores and 40 franchised stores. Notably, during its Gucci progress, the company acquired numerous companies. The acquired companies include Bottega Veneta, Sergio Rossi, and Yves Saint Laurent Gauche. Gucci is typified as of traditional craftsmanship; high fashion and Italian style and offers beautifully crafted voluptuous items with an intensive modern sensibility (Gucci, 2013). Since the establishment of the company in 1921 by Guccio Gucci, the brand name has been the preferred choice of brand among astute men and women. Gucci typifies the outstanding goods made in Italy with their matchless and unique amalgamation of high craftsmanship, modern glamour and luxury. This company is committed to superiority and distinction and has dedicated employees who have enhanced the company’s legacy with a rigorous offering of analytically celebrated fashion collections and other lifestyle goods. Each of Gucci’s items is accompanied by a century’s worth of craftsmanship quality and exceptional design. Gucci has been in operation for 90 years now and prepares itself for 90 more years ahead. The company is dedicated to its function in the society, from philanthropy to sustainability. The company has progressively been involved in activities that seek to reduce its environmental effects and has been engaged in activities that promote women’s rights (Gucci, 2013). Gucci has encountered myriad transitions since its establishment as a luggage company. It primarily sold voluptuous leather items, and within a few years the company had become renowned among the international astute clientele. Gucci’s primary goal since this period has been to become the group leader in the opulence products market at a world-wide level and maintain the position. The company’s global presence was developed when the company first established a store in New York, United states in 1950’s. This made the company’s items attract the attention of many celebrities in the nation such as Grace Kelly, Jackie Kennedy and Audrey Hepburn. Notably, the company even went to the extent of naming one of its products, a bag, as “Jackie O” (Zargani & Luisa, 2006). Gucci’s goals also include coordinating a standard and global planning process, diminish global complexity from the diverse regions, and enhance system accuracy and lessen business risks. Gucci also aims to double its customer base from 500 million to almost one billion by 2020. The organization has been targeting emergent markets and is on the pathway. It has done exceptionally well in India and China, where it has intensified its penetration through premium and mass brands. Additionally, Gucci upholds a sustainable development program that engrosses numerous environmentally accountable approaches and the development of communities (Renee & David, 2009). The primary environmental goals include reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, waste generated and water consumed in its manufacturing plants and distribution centers. The company attained SA8000 certification that will reduce its environmental impact in the society. Another corporate goal of the company is brand rationalization. Rather than creating new brands, the organization now centers on out spreading subsistent brands into sub-ranges, for instance, Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Sergio Rossi, and Yves Saint Laurent Gauche. This will assist the company save on costs. Gucci’s corporate strategy has been the key to its success. Gucci operates exclusivity in its portfolio in order to retain its exceptional brand identity. Through its brands, the company portrays a vibrant and sexy image through fashion shows, designs and advertising. The Company positions itself distinctively and has an atmosphere of exclusiveness amongst its target customers. The image and the atmosphere that surrounds Gucci products offer an added value to the products. Gucci has a distinctive packaging that completes the customers’ experience. Gucci sustains a different retailing channel to keep its brand image in one piece (Gucci, 2013). As a corporate strategy, Gucci plans to build an empire of talented designers. This guarantees that novel and creative thoughts are thrown into the reputation of Gucci. The company designers are famous and offer an entertaining spectacle at each of the fashion shows that the company holds (Gucci, 2013). HR SWOT AND PESTLE Analysis Day-to-day functioning of human resources in every organization is affected by numerous factors. Fruitful human resources supplement the organization’s goals and mission (Deb, 2006). It is imperative to have an adaptive human resource that can adapt to the changing internal and external environments. Therefore, strategies in the human resource department should consider that these aspects that may affect its progress. Gucci’s human resources are affected by numerous internal and external factors, which in turn affect the demand and supply of human resources. Some of the internal factors that affect the demand and supply of human resources is the company’s business strategy, human resource policies, business competition, trade unions, job analysis, time horizons, and the organization’s production and operational policy (Armstrong, 2006, Gucci, 2013). The type of organization is an imperative aspect since it shapes the production activities engaged in the functioning of the organization, the type and number of employees required and the supervisory managerial workers needed (Deb, 2006). In this regard, Gucci, which is a manufacturing company, is multifaceted in this respect. The company’s strategic plan delineates the human resource needs of the organization. Gucci has continuously increased and expanded its operations to other parts of the world while still considering the innovation and talent among the employees (Renee & David, 2009). In this case, the organization has continuously recruited talented men and women to join the company’s production and design team. This has for a long period influenced the demand and supply of skilled human resources within the organization. Principally, a company chooses either to be hands-on or reactive in human resources. It can anticipate the needs and plan how to tackle them as they arise or may handle and respond to them as they emerge (Taylor et al, 2010). Effective business strategies ensure that the requirements of human resources are controlled by obtaining the right number of people with the required skills. Gucci has a broad human resource strategy embedded on the company’s strategy that sets guidelines on numerous fields of human resource such as selection and recruitment and employee development, training and remuneration (Gucci, 2013). This plan is formal and spelt out in paper and supported by data available to all the staff members and anyone willing to join the organization. This has a direct influence on the employees within the company and outside the company. Anyone fascinated with Gucci’s human resource policies on recruitment, selection and remuneration will desire to be part of the company’s workforce, increasing the supply of human resources (Gucci, 2013). The internal procedures and policies of Gucci impact the human resource activities. For instance, the organization is committed to enhancing and developing its operations. This, in turn, requires the human resource to guarantee that the workers attain apposite training and development. In this case, the human resources supervises the number of individuals within the organization that are entitled to go on retirement, thus creating more space for more potential replacements. This assists in creating the demand for human resources within the organization. Compensation is part of the human resource policies (Armstrong, 2012). The compensation offered by an organization drives labor supply in the market. Gucci compensates its employees adequately and continuously reviews its compensation structure to ensure that its prices are competitive to attract principal employees. Additionally, the growth stage of a company influences human resources within it (Deb, 2006). During the growth stage, it is imperative for the organization to develop its employees simultaneously, in order to maintain parity between the growth of the company and that of the employee’s skills (Armstrong, 2006). Additionally, the human resource policies may cause dismissals, transfers, promotions and resignation. On numerous occasions, employees have been dismissed for failure to perform in Gucci. On the other hand, the company has promoted numerous employees for performing well. This is seen when the company recently promoted Frida Giannini from being the director of accessories to the Creative director (Gucci, 2013). The level of competition available in the market affects the human resource demand and supply (Price & Price, 2011). In essence, the competition available in the market or industry influences the organization’s aptitude to recruit qualified employees. Notably, the industries giants are sought out by the candidates while the less powerful or organizations find themselves not sought by prospective candidates and ends up looking for them. Gucci has, in numerous reports, been regarded as the leader in prestigious commodity industry. In this case, Gucci enjoys a high reputation among the prospective talented candidates and only recruits qualified and competent candidates. This assists in creating an increase in supply of human resources available to the company. Additionally, the competitive nature of Gucci allows it to plan for long-run goals of human resource requirements (Gucci, 2013). Trade unions are a challenge to most of the organizations in any industry. This is because they offer restrictions on the productivity norms, levels, compensation levels, and recruitment resources. If the trade unions state that the employees will not work for more than 8 hours, then this creates more demand for human resources in order to attain the production goals of the company (Deb, 2006). However, these demands may be affected by the high competition in the market. High competition in a market may dictate the compensation and working hours of employees thus rendering the trade unions ineffective. In this case, Gucci operates in a competitive environment, and trade unions play less significant roles (Gucci, 2013). Government regulations, prevailing economic conditions, technological advancements, workforce demographics, and shortage are the external factors that affect human resources. Government policies affect human resources as the company has to conform to the set laws and standards (Armstrong, 2012). In most cases, Gucci has found itself in situations that require it to be compliant with the law due to the introduction of new laws such as equal opportunities for both men and women. These laws have impacted how the company hires, trains and compensates its employees. In most occasions, the company has had to consider gender parity among the employees with women occupying one third of the company’s positions (Gucci, 2013). The prevailing economic condition of a nation determines the profitability of the company. In this case, Gucci’s success is determined by the economic conditions. This, in turn, affects the ability of the company to hire. The economic recession of 2009 to 2010 immensely affected the company since this had not been anticipated (Gucci, 2013). However, the company has instituted a plan to deal with the situation whenever it happens again. This plan aims to reserve a set amount of money to deal with such economic downturns. Since the advent of technology, human resources departments in almost all companies have made attempts to reduce the number of people that can perform a set task. Therefore, technological advancements have for long shaped human resources in almost all organizations (Armstrong, 2012). Gucci has among the best production technologies and allows its employees to work well alongside the technologies. The company has adequate staff members and does not require downsizing the number of personnel. TALENT DEVELOPMENT If an organization desires to attain its chief goals, it ought to bring into line the employees’ talent with an approach that equips them with the necessary competences. The development of careers and talents of the staff members not only furnishes them with skills to perform but also motivates them to work (Taylor et al, 2010). Notably, this inspires the workers to make the most of their skills and competences they attain. The engagement of workers is an extremely fundamental organizational performance matter. Employees may have the best knowledge and competences in the world, but a lack of involvement by the organization may result to underutilization of the skills and competences. Numerous literatures have associated employee involvement to improved productivity, retention and, eventually, organizational performance. Needless to say, failure to engage employees in an organization may lead to loss of the most talented workers, and their aptitude to react speedily to the shifting market conditions, and their competitive advantage (Armstrong, 2012). Since its inception, Gucci has continued to offer training and development programs to its employees and crucial leaders of its brands, in order to support and expedite the growth of Gucci’s strategic positioning (Gucci, 2013). This training allows the staff members to expect transitions in the business environment and give them an upper hand in handling them in the novel environments. The talent development program stimulates knowledge develops cohesion among the employees and amalgamates a shared tactical vision of forthcoming market and chief players (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010). Current Talent Planning Attaining and retaining talent in Gucci have been the primary agenda on attaining its exclusiveness and brand uniqueness (Gucci, 2013). The ever shifting leisure industry and access to a worldwide puddle of competencies are speedily changing the game for Gucci from an outspending business strategy to a talent concerned strategy. Notably, a talent strategy requires an action plan in order to highlight operations and track usefulness. Gucci plans its talent in an approach that centers on its primary objectives as its impetus. The company then develops actionable talent management guidelines that explain both the accessible labor supply and forthcoming talent demand. Gucci’s current talent planning involves numerous steps that include evaluating the talent demand, talent supply, building the talent plan, and generating functional talent management action plans. The first step involved in talent planning and management in Gucci is the apprehension of the company’s long term and short term goals (Gucci, 2013). The human resource department consults with the senior executive officers of the organization on the business’s goals and this interaction results to clear apprehension of the objectives of the company, and the talent that will be required to attain these goals. Comprehending how each of the roles of the human resources contributes to the defined goals permits the company to identify the most premeditated and precarious roles in driving attainment. Gucci segments the roles of the organization's employees to assist in highlighting functional action plans. These roles are categorized into pivotal roles, core roles, Supporting roles and misaligned roles. The pivotal roles are the functions that create a competitive edge, core values are directly associated to functional distinction while supporting roles are the treasured and needed roles to maintain the daily operations of the company. Gucci evaluates talent supply by conducting an environmental scan to apprehend the external and internal talent supply. The internal talent supply engrosses the organization’s own capabilities while external supply engrosses the other part-time workers that the company may take to fill in positions. This assists the company to determine the talent required and the talent available in the market (Gucci, 2013). The third process in the current talent planning in Gucci is the generation of the talent plan. After analysis of the environment, a clear picture of the variance between talent supply and demand is evident. Gucci then formulates and develops models that offer it numerous options that the company can use to deal with and close the variance. This process primarily involves forecasting the forthcoming direction of the company. As such, this process involves all the chief players in the company (Gucci, 2013). Gucci’s talent planning process primarily involves planning, selecting, developing, promoting and replacing. Planning entails expecting talent needs and skills, selecting involves recognizing prospective high performers, and developing involves promoting the skills of high-potential workers. On the other hand, promoting involves generating a pool of ready managerial talent while replacing involves managing effectual succession in leadership positions. Gucci has a formal resourcing strategy and their resourcing objectives include attracting and recruiting new chief workers, attain the company’s objectives and fulfilling the imminent competence requirements of the company. Over the past years, the company has encountered a decline in the number of vacancies that the company has attempted to fill over the past two years. Gucci’s primary objective of recruiting is to obtain the required skills. However, Gucci has a complex recruiting system for choosing the most desirable candidate for a position. The company plans for a year ahead. The company has retained 80 percent of its employees over the past 5 years. It has successfully done this through improving the skills of the line managers and increasing learning and development (Gucci, 2013). Evaluation of their contribution to organizational success currently Gucci’s talent planning is an approach that assists the company to overcome challenges in the market. Providing career development opportunities offer an essential contribution to dealing with challenges in the business environment (Price & Price, 2011). Because of talent planning, Gucci engages its employees in its activities. This is as a result of talent planning, which allows the company to retain the talented employees within the organization (Gucci, 2013). Offering career opportunities to the employees within the organization drives engagement, which in turn increases and develops the productivity of the organization (Gucci, 2013). It drives improvement in the organization through processes, awareness and skills. Developing and building the skills and capabilities of the employees assists Gucci attain its strategic goals and allows employees to utilize their skills and competencies. Talent planning allows the company to apprehend how the world perceives it and what makes other companies in the industry to be successful (Gucci, 2013). Talent planning offers information that is vital for the progress of the company. This information is used to make critical decisions, which are critical for the success of the organization. Additionally, current talent planning has created increased customer loyalty and company growth. This is because of the new possibilities of enticing talent from other sectors and regions. As a result of talent planning, Gucci requires its employees to have an annual individual training and development plan. This plan includes both technical and nontechnical activities which are grounded on the aims and objectives of the company. Talent planning is a reliable tactic to managing employee performance. Anticipated future contribution in light of anticipated changes Effective and successful talent planning are likely to yield benefits from talent planning. Human resource is experiencing transformational adjustment and the contemporary working places are oversupplied with numerous trends (Price & Price, 2010). The current talent planning is anticipated to create more customer loyalty and company growth in the near future. Additionally, the current talent planning is anticipated to allow the company to employ contemporary sourcing strategies such as social media platforms and automated applicant tracking system. The company is expected to make use of a healthy mix of selection tools such as interview panels engrossing staff members who work alongside the prospective candidates to be hired (Pilbeam & Corbridge, 2010). Talent planning is anticipated to impact the company’s human resource policies and procedures. Talent planning is anticipated to impact the way the company hires, recruits, remunerates and retains its employees (Armstrong, 2006). Additionally, talent planning is anticipated to change the way the company competes. This is because it will offer the company a competitive edge. This is also anticipated having an impact on the company’s production and operational policies. Recommendations It is essential for Gucci to ensure that every staff member apprehends the significance of talent management and develop an approach to attract and retain the talent and skills required for the progress of the company. Notably, working in unison with the employees will assist the company attain the general objectives through career progress. This is because talent planning and management bring into line the competencies of employees with the company’s strategy. Gucci has a complex recruiting system for choosing the most desirable candidate for a position. This is because it involves an in depth screening. However, Gucci should institute a simple system for recruiting and choosing the desirable candidate. In the contemporary competitive business world, speed is an imperative aspect and the manager who moves faster will get the candidate first. Gucci should do away with redundant approvals in the selection process, and institute clear selection and recruitment criteria. Additionally, the company has over the past five years reduced its recruitment and replacement of vacancies within the organization by 20 percent. The company should try to increase the recruitment of new talented employees as this may bring in novel talents and skills into the organization since its development is dependent on development of new talents. References Armstrong, M. 2006. A handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page. Armstrong, M. 2012. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page. Deb, T. 2006. Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. Gucci. 2013, January. Gucci - world of gucci. Retrieved December 2013, from http://www.gucci.com/int/worldofgucci/mosaic/the_house_of_gucci/gucci_history Larocca, Amy. 2004. “Collectible Gucci.” New York Magazine: n. pag. Web. 12 Dec 2013. . Pilbeam, S., & Corbridge, M. 2010. People resourcing and talent planning: HRM in practice. Harlow, England: Financial Times Prentice Hall. Price, A., & Price, A. 2011. Human resource management. Andover: Cengage Learning. Renee, K., David. Y. “Gucci Group in 2009.” Harvard Business School. 9-702-479. (2010): Print. Taylor, S., Taylor, S., & Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 2010. Resourcing and talent management. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Zargani, and Luisa. 2006, May. "Gucci's Wild Ride." EBSCO HOST. 12 Dec. 2013 . Read More