Agile Supply Chain: Zara’s case study analysis Harvard Case Solution & Analysis

Company Information

This paper is about the company, Zara, which is a fashion label which was established in the year 1975 by the Spanish group, Inditex, which is owned by Amancio Ortega.

The major competitors for Zara have been Pull and Bear, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, etc.

The company has more than 3000 in-house designers who look after the design aspect of the company. The company offers 40,000 items per year out of which 10,000 are selected from the production. More than 50% of the company production is done in the European markets unlike the competitors who purchase most of their products from Asian markets.

The total sales for the company in the fashion market have been more than 15%. Zara has been operating in more than 77 countries worldwide out of which 38 in Europe whereas 39 in all other parts of the world.

This indicates that the company has been accumulating a profit of more than any other rival fashion brand because of the presence and preference in diverse markets. The company has been considered as the pioneer in agile Supply Chain and it has been considered as the major success for the company.

Question 01

Which manufacturing environment are you in? Describe improvement opportunities.
The manufacturing environment of Zara, which has been the key aspect and the success factor for the company, has been the introduction of Agile Supply Chain (ACS), which is basically a network ability to rather consistently identify and also capture the business opportunities quickly than all the rivals in the market.

The major aspect of this concept of supply chain is to make sure that the company can outclass the rivals by ensuring the fact that it identifies and also focus on business opportunities. ASC can excel by the information, which includes the market data and the information sharing between different businesses in the SCM. In agile supply chains, visibility of all information allows the supply chain management to become extra responsive to changes in demand in the market placeā€ The Company has been
Therefore, the manufacturing environment of the company is the efficient agile supply chain where the company has been able to coordinate with the designers, the buyers and the management at one place and the production facilities are also keep close to them to assure full agility and flexibility.

Along with this, the manufacturing process at the firm is related to customer enrichment, agile manufacturing, achieve massive customization at the major cost of mass production, overcome uncertainty through the routine adaptable structure.
Therefore, the manufacturing environment, which is also the key to success for Zara has been ASC. Although the current method is rather a successful one, however, moving ahead in the future, the company needs to bring in major changes along the way.
For instance, the company is outsourcing its manufacturing facilities to manufactures in India, Bangladesh where the work ethics are not followed, therefore the company before finalizing any contract, needs to assure itself about the fact that the business norms are followed rather properly.

Along with this, the firm has to coordinate with the clients or the end customer more frequently. The management can even gauge in the attention of customers by conducting survey for the preferred products and services of the customers. This would help the management to reduce the excess production of those products that are not in contention by the customers.
By following the above proposed suggestions, Zara can further succeed in the market where it shall be able to bring in more revenues for the company and would be able to integrate an element of competitive rivalry, which would outclass the rivals.............

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