The context of business Assignment 3 Assignment Sample

Part 1 Introduction

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            Business management is crucial for any company to flourish. Here Next Company is chosen that is considered as one of the renowned retail outlets of the United Kingdom. It mainly deals in clothing, footwear, home products, and beauty products with multiple brand options. It was founded by J Hepworth in the year 1864 and is headquartered at Enderby, GB . The 1^st retail outlet of this company that was opened on 12^th February in the year 1982 and were only dealing in the women clothing only. Later it has achieved greater heights that expanded its operations and in the present times, it is having 5 million customers base from all over the world. It has almost cover 70 countries where online purchasing is done. In the UK itself, 500 chains are present of this company. Almost 40,000 employees are engaged in managing this chain.

            The next management team which is headed by its chairperson Michael Roney. Other Directors are Amanda James: Finance Director, Richard Papp: Group merchandise and Operations Director, Jane shields: Group sales and marketing Director, Dame dianne Thompson, Franchis Salway, Jonathan Bewes, Tristia Harrison, Tom Hall: Independent non executive director (Next, 2021). The annual revenues have grown in the year 2019 as compared to 2018 from 4.06 billion pounds to 4.17 billion pounds that is a great increment in revenue. Its major competitors are Finish Line, Tilly’s, The buckle, Mark and Spencers, Asda and many more but eventually its setting its own benchmark and rising high by breaking all its stereotypes.

Part 2 Analysis

2.1 SWOT Analysis of business

2.2 Use of Corporate social responsibility by the business

•             CSR as the name itself says i.e. any corporate responsibility towards its society to make it a better one. The company has many trustees of the society and resources provided by it. It should conserve nature and environment and focus on the concept of sustainable development by leaving resources for the upcoming generation. Any corporate who is indulging in any business operations needs to manage both social and environmental factors hand in hand. The NEXT Company has always kept in mind about the United Nations Guiding Principles on business and the human rights. It protects and respects the human rights by developing positive relationships with their partners and suppliers by encouraging and appreciating their employees (Carstensen, 2017). The environment is the most important thing that needs to be protected for living healthy life and creating a good life for upcoming generation. Next have developed 2 scopes of CO₂ emissions and scope 1 is related to direct emission from stores, offices and warehouses whereas scope 2 is related to indirect emission.

            An initiative has been taken by NEXT to reduce the carbon emissions by 50 % till the year 2030 against a benchmark of 2016-17. Moreover, the energy efficiency is gained by tracking the energy performance by central data collection facility. LED lights are fitted in all new stores to reduce electricity consumption. Also Solar PV is installed so that nature serves us the source. The Next Company is also working towards reducing carbon emission which is emitted through vehicles while transporting and distributing products. Almost 26% of CO₂ is emitted that is why NEXT is investigating about some alternate fuel options including electronic vehicles. It is also working upon the recyclability of material used in packaging and using environmental friendly products (Dalikeni, 2016). NEXT is trying to create more sustainable ways of doing business by reducing carbon intensity, conserving energy and optimum utilisation of resources. Also variety of donations and charity is done both in kind and cash. Next is again as mentioned above that developing 2 scopes of CO₂ emissions and Scope 1 is related to direct emission from stores, offices and warehouses whereas scope 2 is indirect emission.

2.3 Innovation and creativity in business

            Innovation is defined as the developmental works for a company to bring a new angle to the existing as well as emerging services. Thus, the significance of innovation is integral for the company’s success as it makes it different from the marketplaces.

• Reinforcement of the brand: With the help of innovation, the chosen company can try to make its marketing and sales teams more coordinated to make effective efforts. It will be useful in attracting the right audience with increasing the brand value of this company’s products (Sethna and Blythe, 2016). Mainly it is underpinning any company’s resources to its optimum usage in order to make some innovative, trendy or useful and in accordance to the customers’ demand or markets ongoing trends.
• Unique selling point: The chosen company ‘Next’ always has a new design with good quality that makes it different from its competitors. A continuous innovation in the products would prove beneficial for making it as their USP and attract the right attention of their clients. Additionally it will satisfy their needs and also enhance the number of visitors etc.
• Competitive advantage: This aspect is significant in making the markets dynamics more comprehensive as the companies must be able to analyse and then act accordingly. If they do understand what works or not then it might be difficult to attain the targets. The chosen company always focused on understanding the preferences and tastes of their customers and serve them accordingly.
• Creative development: The companies must always be on their best efforts to mark their presence in developing something new or creative (Elwers, 2020). A clothing company like Next must be unique, sustainable, and quirky and must suit the ongoing availabilities of market to maintain the quality element.

Hence, the company must be always creating to overcome the challenges of being repetitive or showcasing repetitive designs as many big or small companies are taking the same path with same margins. It makes the survival more tough also lead towards the success of any company.

Part 3 Conclusion and Recommendations

            It is summarized that business management is crucial part in knowing the different aspects of doing business. The Swot analysis is useful in analysing the internal evaluation of this company. Next are the CSR and its aspects to know about its actual social interaction in the present market dynamics. Moreover, the chosen company has also made many dynamic change and becoming a very prominent face to generate awareness about sustainability, technological changes and meeting the customer’s needs. There are still many suggestions to be undertaken by this company for making the radical changes as mentioned in the next section/ paragraph. The company is doing a steady development and should be focusing on making it bigger by expanding through digital platforms.

            It can be suggested that the communication channel must be made more transparent by discussing tensions or verbal arguments within a team. When the teams will be given tasks then the Human Resource Department must create Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) can be established at a company for better implementation so that the members feel at ease. There is also need for incorporating an interactive platform to discuss about topics within an internal for making each employee more comfortable in order to connect. The team meetings must be easy to implement at internal level so that something innovative can be created to give an upper hand in the markets. Nevertheless, the managers, and other teams must focus in making the production faster by submitting the designs, fabrics and entire plan prior to save time and have better communication.

References

Carstensen, P.C., 2017. Competition policy and the control of buyer power: a global issue. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Dalikeni, T., 2016. Exploring perceptions on aesthetics and emotional labour experienced by women working in two different clothing retail shops in Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown.

Elwers, M.E., 2020. Changing Consumers' Minds: Overcoming the Fashion Industry's Fundamental Challenge Towards a Sustainable Future (Doctoral dissertation).

Next. 2021. [Online]. Available through:< https://www.nextplc.co.uk/>.

Pantano, E., Nguyen, B., Dennis, C. and Gerlach, S., 2016. Internet retailing and future perspectives. Taylor & Francis.

Rashid, A., 2017. The impact of country of origin on retail and wholesale brands in the UK fashion industry. The University of Manchester (United Kingdom).

Sethna, Z. and Blythe, J., 2016. Consumer behaviour. Sage.