...Gap Inc. in 2010: Is the turnaround strategy working? Gap Inc. is a leading international specialty retailer offering clothing, accessories and personal care products for men, women, children and babies. Gap owned and operated more than 3,100 Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy stores world wide in 2010. With stores located in the U.S, UK, Canada, France, Japan and Germany, Gap Inc. employees nearly 165,000 employees world wide. Since 2002 Gap Inc. has been a number of issues including the declining sales of the family clothing store industry. During this time many turnaround strategies have been implemented in the attempt to eliminate long term debt, redesign the companies online presence, create a new e-commerce platform, expensing internationally and improving quality, styling and overall image. Through this adoption since 2002, the market share and sales of Gap Inc. have still decreased and the brand image has also taken a hit. An Internal analysis shows that even though sales have decreased, Gaps financial performance has strengthened year on year. Gap’s Liquidity, leverage and profitability have shown a stead increase that has helped the company maintain a stronger business situation than competitors throughout the recession. A SWOT analysis of Gaps Inc.’s internal structure shows strengths in net profit margins, a strong franchising model and the reinstatement of their strong brand image. Weaknesses include high levels of competition, large amount of substitutable...
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...• Gap Inc. has the components of a global retailer: centralized, standardize, and vertically integrated o (They look for countries that will except their company as is without much change… this is true to Gap Inc. the biggest change in their merchandise came during the move to Japan where they altered their clothing size to fit them) • Although most of gaps revenue (about 89 %) comes from domestic sales, it has expanded internationally to the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, and Japan • Gap Inc. has acquired several other brands in order to expand its target market while still staying true to its original Gap aesthetics • An example of this took place in Germany. While moving its company there they realized it was not brining in revenue, in fact it was the companies smallest international business. Gap, Inc. decided to acquire H&M in order to optimize their growth. • Brands Include: Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Intermix, piperlime, and athleta • More then 150, 000 employees and approximately 3700 stores worldwide • -400 franchise stores • -United Kingdom: In 1987 gap opened their first store outside the United States, which was located in London. Today there are approximately 189 stores located in Europe • Canada: gap Inc. largest international market. In 1998 Canada was introduced to its first gap store. Gap has continuously kept the strategy of opening big stores, their biggest, and extensive advertisement strategies in Canada • -Germany: 1990s,...
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...Short Case Analysis of Gap Inc. in 2010: Is the Turnaround Strategy Working? Author of the article Annette Lohman of the California State University, Long Beach The Gap Inc. In 2010 Case Summary Case Summary This case study describes the business environment of the apparel market and how Gap Inc. tried in this highly competitive market environment to manage a turnaround in the time between 2000 and 2010. The U.S. clothing store sector accounted for approximately $156 billion in the year 2009 and had slightly declined compared to 2008 due to the worldwide recession. Average before-tax profits estimated by IBIS-World were around 3% in the year 2009. The level of globalization in the market is relatively low and made up by a large number of small and few major, domestically owned companies. The family clothing store industry is the most important sector, as it is responsible for more than half of the revenues in the U.S. clothing market. Concerning the gender woman clothes are most interesting, due to their will to spend more. Women clothing accounts for 50% of the market, followed by men and children with market shares of 37% and 13%. Hereby more than one third of the adult population has to be considered obese. According to price sensitivity 65% of the market is value-priced driven and targeted by family stores of companies such as Ross Stores or TJX Companies. They focus on still wanted brand names and discounts by delivering off-season styles. More emotional driven...
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...Gap Inc. Meghan McGowan Simmons College Introduction Gap Inc. is a major player in the family clothing market worldwide. They have locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan and franchised locations in Bahrain, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Philippines, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Mexico, Egypt, Jordan, and Croatia, and Israel. In 2009 they had the highest market share in the U.S. family apparel industry. Five Forces Analysis 1. Competition from rival sellers is strong. The rapid introduction of new trends in fashion causes the clothing industry to be in a state of constant change. The myriad of options for consumers of stores to purchase clothing causes switching costs to be low. It is essential the companies are able to respond quickly to new trends in order to appeal to consumers and create brand loyalty due to the high amount of competition in the industry. 2. Competition from potential new entrants is weak. In the apparel industry the barriers to entry is very high. It is imperative for a company to have high brand loyalty, due to the low switching costs. This makes it difficult for new entrants to survive, because they will not have brand loyalty. Consumers tend to stick to clothing brands that they like and to continue to shop there if they trust the company...
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...Table of Contents: 1.0. Company Overview: ........................................................................................................ 3 2.0. Industry Overview: .......................................................................................................... 3 3.0. Gap’s current channels strategy’ analysis: ....................................................................... 4 3.1. Gap’s market segmentation: ........................................................................................ 5 3.2. Gap’s Current Channel Chains:................................................................................... 6 3.3. Gap’s Directional Policy Matrix: ................................................................................ 7 4.0. Gap’s future channel chain: ............................................................................................ 9 5.0. Recommendations: .......................................................................................................... 9 6.0. Limitations: ................................................................................................................... 11 7.0. References: .................................................................................................................... 12 8.0. Appendix:...................................................................................................................... 14 ...
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...Case: The Gap Inc.’s Social Responsibility Report 1. Do you think Gap has demonstrated global corporate citizenship, as defined in this chapter? Why or why not? Gap has demonstrated global corporate citizenship because they develop one of the most comprehensive factory- monitoring programs in the apparel industry. 2. In its response to problems in its contractor factories, do you think Gap moved through the stages of corporate citizenship presented in this chapter? Why or why not? Gap move through the stages of corporate citizenship because they recognize their problem, develop a program to address the issue, made a pledge to do business with vendors with a high set of standards, they expanded discrimination section of the Universal Declaration of Human Right, and also hired dozens of vendors compliance officers, or VCOs to audit Gap factories. 3. Compare Gap Inc.’s social audit and reporting practices with those of others companies described in the chapter. In what ways is Gap’s effort different, and in what ways is it similar? Do you think Gap’s social auditing and reporting is better or worse than those of other companies, and why? What differs is that the other companies utilized a multiple stakeholder governance structure so that the firm interacts with many of the stakeholders it seeks to serve though its multiple performance targets. On the other hand what’s similar is that many companies commit to social responsive practices. 4. Will Gap Inc. maintain...
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...What does a five-forces analysis reveal about the strength of competition in the U.S. family clothing stores industry? The competition of rivals in the U.S. family industry is strong because the competitors are numerous, buyer demand is growing slowly, and the rivals face high exit barriers. The threat of new entrants is weak because the entry barriers are high and the industry outlook is risky and uncertain. The threat of substitute products is strong because good substitutes are readily available, substitutes have comparable or better performance features, and buyers have low costs in switching to substitutes. The bargaining power of suppliers is weak because good substitutes for supplier products/services exist and the number of suppliers is large relative to the number of industry members and there are no suppliers with large market share. The bargaining power of buyers is strong because buyer costs of switching to competing products are low and the industry’s products are standardized or undifferentiated. This analysis reveals that the strength of competition in the industry is strong especially since the recession that began in 2008 caused buyer demand to decrease. This decrease in buyer demand strengthened the intensity of competition. What factors are critical to success in the U.S. family clothing stores industry? The factors critical to success in the U.S. family clothing stores industry are the ability to successfully develop new product lines that...
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...Intro GAP is an American clothing and accessories retailer founded in 1969. It is currently the largest specialty apparel retailer in the United States, and the second largest in the world. The company is differentiated into five different brands. Its banner store, GAP, appeals to a wide demographic, selling clothes and accessories for men, women, and children. Banana Republic was purchased in 1983 and is now branded as an upscale retailer. Old Navy is Gap’s attempt to corner the cost leader segment of the market. Piperlime, created in 2006, is Gap’s main foray into the world of online retailing, and Athleta, added in 2009, specializes in women’s athletic wear. Business Profile Recently, Gap has begun to focus on the role international markets will have in its future growth potential. By the end of fiscal year 2013, Gap plans to close 200 Gap stores in North America, which is a cut of almost 20%. They are countering this decrease in the flagship store with an increase in its market diversification, increasing the number of Athleta stores from 10 to 50 by the end of 2013. This will coincide with an expanding of the online brand Piperlime to include men’s apparel, and a possible physical store in the near future. Gap reported a 16% growth in retail sales outside of North America, and to take advantage of this emerging market will follow a strategy of entering a market with a flagship store to build brand recognition, and then introduce smaller stores into surrounding...
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...“The Future of Gap” Jocelyn Bridgett Columbia College Gap Inc. is a large retail company that operates outlet stores which sell casual apparel and accessories for men, women, and children. The company primarily conducted its business through four business divisions: Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic, and others (Wheelen & Hunger 2010, p.21-3). A resource must have five qualities to be seen as contributing to competitive advantage: it must be valuable, durable, rare, difficult to imitate and complex. That is, the resource must be valuable in that it contributes to the value perceived by the customer. It must also be durable, meaning that it is not temporary. It must be rare as well; many other companies should not possess this competitive resource. As Gap growth started to plummet the manager came up with something new such as: Gapkids, babygap, and then discount stores. Gap had a method wearing khakis and blue shirt. However, it was easy to replicate therefore Gap found themselves competing with other retailer’s such as Target and Khol’s at the time. Now-a-days there are several stores duplicating Gap’s same image of the khakis and blue shirt. The Exchange where I am employed is now going to the khakis and blue shirt as well starting May 15, 2012. Capabilities Old Navy capabilities incorporated plus sizes for women which help boost their sales. Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic were able to expand their target market by offering their clothing etc. online as well...
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...SPANISH FASHION BRAND ZARA Carmen Lopez Ying Fan Brunel Business School Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management (2009), 13:2, 279-296 INTRODUCTION Zara is one of the world’s most successful fashion retailers operating in 59 countries. However, there is little research about the firm in English as the majority of publications have been written in Spanish. This paper seeks to address this gap in the literature by examining the internationalisation process of Zara. This study adopts an in-depth case approach based on extensive secondary research. Literature published in both English and Spanish has been reviewed, including company documents such as annual reports. The paper starts with a brief overview of the global textile and clothing industry, followed by the case study of Zara. The main part of the case examines the key aspects in the internationalisation of Zara namely: motives for internationalisation, market selection, entry strategies, and international marketing strategies. In the final section, comparisons are made between Zara and two of its main competitors, H&M and Gap. The global textile and clothing industry The removal of all import quotas in the textile and clothing industry from January 2005, involving the unrestricted access of all members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) to the European, American and Canadian markets is considered a key driving force in the development of the clothing sector (Keenan, et al., 2004). This new scenario has created opportunities...
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...Assignment Questions for Case 11 Gap 1. What does a five-forces analysis reveal about the strength of competition in the U.S. family clothing stores industry? 2. What factors are critical to success in the U.S. family clothing stores industry? 3. Develop a competitive strength assessment of the four major competitors in the U.S. family clothing stores industry using the methodology presented in Chapter 4. Based on the results, who is in the strongest overall competitive position? Who is in the weakest position? 4. What is Gap Inc.’s strategy? Which of the five generic competitive strategies discussed in Chapter 5 most closely fi t the competitive approach that Gap is taking? What type of competitive advantage is Gap trying to achieve? 5. What does a SWOT analysis of Gap reveal about the overall attractiveness of its situation? 6. What is your overall appraisal of Gap’s financial performance? (Use the financial ratios in Table 4.1 on pages 94-96 of the text as a guide in doing your financial analysis.) 7. What recommendations would you make to Gap senior management to improve upon its turnaround strategy? What actions are necessary to restore the competitiveness of its core Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy brands? Hints: You can use a five force model like this one below . And a weighed Key Success Factor/Strength Measure | Importance/Weight | Gap Inc. | TJX Companies | Ross Stores | Abercrombie& Fitch | American Eagle Outfitters | | | Rating ...
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...Zara vs. GAP Inc. American GAP and Spanish ZARA Abstract We are going to compare two super giant clothing retail companies of the world in this thesis. These two giants are dominating apparel retailing market nowadays with their simple and attractive with high level quality of clothes. We will try two analyze working culture, business performance and history, competition and geographic dominance of two clothing retailer giants. Years before two small stores opened and they succeed to dominate market with their modern style and different business doing. • Zara has already changed the fashion industry. - Business Insider Zara is most #58 biggest brand in the world according to Forbes. • America's largest apparel retailer is embarking on a turnaround plan to recapture cool customers. - Business Insider Gap inc is #745 Gap biggest brand in the worlds according to Forbes Zara shops followed swiftly in New York in 1989, Paris in 1990. Now the group has nearly 3,900 stores in 70 countries around the world. Gap has 3,100 stores globally and employs about 150,000 people. A Gap spokeswoman declined to comment on the loss of the top spot to Zara. Let's check analyses of these two giants with full provided information. Firstly take brief tour to their history and about founders. Brief History of Brands Fashion giant, Zara, forms part of the retail group ‘Grupo Inditex’ which Mintel (2007) acknowledges as one of the “largest, fastest growing...
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...main aim of this third assignment is to compare between the evolution of spread and depth using two dierent ways to assemble stocks in portfolios. 1.1 Data We have one month of data concerning 40 rms quoted in stock Exchange per minute. For each stock, for each day, we have a detailed amount of messages, detph for ask and bid and the volume traded. AA ADBE AMAT AMZN BHI BRCM CELG COST CTSH DIS EBAY GE GILD GOOG HON INTC KMB MMM PFE PNC 1.2 Instructions Alcoa Adobe System Applied Material Amazone.com Baker Hughes Inc Broadcom Celgene Costco Wholesale Cognizant Technology Walt Disney Ebay General Electric Gilead Sciences, Inc Google Honeywell International Intel Corp Kimberly-Clark 3M Corp P zer Pnc Finance AAPL AGN AMGN AXP BIIB CB CMCSA CSCO DELL DOW ESRX GENDZ GLW GPS HPQ ISRB KR MOS PG SWIN Apple Inc Allergan Inc Amgen Inc American Express Co Biogen Idec Inc Chubb Comcast Cisco Dell Dow Chemical Express Scripts Holding Corning inc Gap inc Hewlett-Packard intuitive surgical Kroger Mosaic Corp Procter and Gamble Southwestern Energy Construct 4 equally portfolios with the average of message by stock as criteria. Plot the graphs reprensenting the spread, depths, messages and volume for these portfolios. Construct 4 equally portfolios with the average of volume by stock as criteria. Plot the graphs reprensenting the spread, depths, messages and volumes for these new portfolios. Compare between the 2 constructions of the portfolios depending on the criteria...
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...The Gap Inc.: The CSR Evaluation of Gap Inc. Outline of the notable ethical decisions made by Gap Inc. and their impacts on the company In 2003, Gap Inc. was sued for its usage of child labor and sweatshop factories in its subsidiary in Saipan. The decision to use child labor and sweatshop in Saipan was made by the management of Gap Inc. that could either be seen as egoism or utilitarianism (Smith, 2004). On one hand, on the egoism perspective, Gap Inc. could have decided to use child and sweatshop labor to cut its costs and maximize its profits. On the other hand, on the utilitarianism perspective, Gap’s decision to use child and sweatshop labor, cruel and ethical as it might seem, provided the people in Saipan a source of employment and income. As a poor, third world country, Saipan could not create enough jobs to sustain the livelihood of all its citizens, so it the citizens could choose between starving to death and making a difficult living in Gap’s sweatshops, the sweatshop is apparently a better option. Hence from the utilitarianism approach, Gap’s unethical behavior was actually better than its doing nothing at all. However, this decision gave Gap an international lawsuit over ethical treatment of labor, which does not cost Gap considerable fortune and energy, but also severely harmed its international reputation as an ethical player in the apparel industry (Smith, 2004). It turned out that the public citizens and the media prefer to use the Kantianism when...
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...non-exempt positions. The GM is responsible for implementing the individual store strategy in a manner consistent with Gap Inc.'s Purpose, Values and Behaviors. The GM leads their team to meet net contribution goals, sales goals, customer service targets, and Operating and Human Resources objectives through motivation, inspiration and accountability. The GM is accountable for professional representation of our brands within their locale, understanding our competitors and their operations as well as driving excellent tenant and community relationships. Leadership and Employee Results (25%) • Holds Store team and self accountable to all Gap Inc. standards of performance and behavior. • Effectively sources, recruits, selects and on-boards all management and non-exempt store personnel. • Maintains optimal staffing levels to ensure business needs are obtained while promoting associate retention. • Promotes a high-quality store associate experience from on boarding through the associate life cycle. • Promotes maximum team and individual performance through consistent coaching and feedback. Drives in-store performance management processes. • Partners with District Manager to create individual development plans that support performance needs and career growth for self and direct reports. • Recognizes and rewards behaviors that are in alignment and support Gap Inc. s Purpose, Values and Behaviors to promote a high-performance team. • Recognizes escalated associate and customer...
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