Capstone Project – Interview Part 1 and 2

Company Description

Zara is a multinational clothing brand. The company specializes in the provision of contemporary fashion at affordable costs. According to the interview, Zara’s story started in Spain in 1975. Amanzio Ortega and Rosalia Mera founded the company as a single store in Arteixo. From there, the company has expanded slowly to other countries across the world. Zara’s value is in good quality fast fashion at affordable costs. Many companies that make fast fashion create clothing that is not very good quality. With Zara, the customers can be certain of the best quality possible at affordable prices. Zara targets mainly lower to middle-class consumers. The company targets both men and women. However, the manager says that the majority of the customers in the company are women.

Stakeholders Associated with Assessing Operations Management

According to the interviewed manager, various stakeholders are associated with assessing operations management at Zara. First, the company’s managers play an important role in operations management because they monitor the performance of the company’s entire operations. For instance, a branch manager will report if they receive stock too late to demonstrate a problem in operations management. The employees also play a big role in the company’s operations management. The employees perform all the planned work. Therefore, they must communicate with the organization’s leaders to consider their capabilities when planning the operations. Lastly, the customers, although not internal stakeholders, are considered when assessing operations management. The customers’ demand drives the entire operations management department at Zara. Hence, customers’ trends are considered when making operations decisions.

Zara’s vision and mission is to give its customers an exclusive choice of fashion by providing a quick turnover compared to other fashion brands (Inditex, n.d). The role played by the stakeholders above contributes to this vision and mission. The managers make the right decisions regarding the tactics of the operation to ensure that the company can meet the high demand for new fashion. The employees are equipped with the right resources and capabilities to contribute to the production of supply to meet the high demand, and the customers give the company feedback on how it can improve its operations to satisfy their needs.

Operational Tactics and Strategies

The interviewed manager estimates that Zara has over 7,000 factories in various countries worldwide where the products are manufactured. Developing so many production plants enables the company to produce large amounts of clothing in a short time. This enables them to meet their goals and mission of producing a higher turnover of fashion than other brands. Zara has created strategic partnerships across the world to source inputs for its products. For instance, the textiles are sourced from Europe and Asia. The inclusion of numerous sources of inputs creates a versatile selection to create a variety of products. Therefore, they can meet the high demand for variety by the customers.

Operational Processes and Practices

Zara’s main product is clothing. However, the company also makes shoes and bags. The operational process that leads to the development and supply of these products starts with sourcing raw materials. Zara gets its high-quality raw materials from various sources in Asia and Europe. The company has employed over 300 fashion designers responsible for developing new designs released every few weeks. The designs are then approved by the company and forwarded to the production plants for mass production. After production, they are distributed to Zara’s over 10,000 stores worldwide for sale. The remaining products that are not sold in a given fashion period are recycled.

This operations process is supported by the use of numerous designers and production plants, which allows the company to fulfill its mission of producing high turnover that offers customers exclusive choices. Most importantly, the company’s goal of being environmentally sustainable is fulfilled by recycling its surplus products instead of disposing of them.

References

Inditex (n.d). AboutUs: Our Brands-Zara https://www.inditex.com/about-us/our-brands/zara

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