Success of Textile Industry Depends on Innovative Employees - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the current world of technology, companies are recognizing the essentiality of creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship. They are concentrating on diversification in business to evade the threats which come with the modern business and to increase the rate of growth in the global market. The textile industry looks for innovativeness among workers and managers, practical analysis of the market, and sensitivity in the selection of employees who would facilitate the industry's growth. One of the most recognized fashion companies, Zara, is also one of the largest companies in the industry globally. The company is one of the many clothing retailers under Inditex Company, which is based in Galicia, Spain. Zara opened its first store in 1975 in Spain ("Who we are - inditex.com," 2019). Since then, the company has expanded across the world, opening approximately 2600 stores in more than 70 countries around the globe.

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Zara is mostly known for its high rate of coming up with new products. The company specializes in fast production where they produce a product in two weeks, unlike other companies which take months. Therefore, the company can produce more than 10000 brands every year. In globalization, Zara has chosen to produce most of its products within Europe instead of shifting the entire production process to developing countries. However, some of their clothes which have long shelf life are manufactured in parts of Asia. Zara is also unique in the way it spends money on innovation strategy to ensure customer satisfaction. Its innovative plan will help the company overcome the challenges in the clothing industry. Hence, the fashion industry has various opportunities that are associated with the domain of its work in addition to opportunities that are different from its current business, which is viable in its business operations ("Zara: Expanding Overseas | SWOT, Porter's Five and PEST," 2019). Besides, many trends in the global business environment are likely to significantly impact on the entrepreneurial opportunities and sustainability of the company.

Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Zara operates all over the world to satisfy the needs of its customers. The company is closely related to the textile industry. There are various other fields under the textile industry which the company can explore through innovation and change the current trend in business.

Supply of Textile Products

With the growing number of fashion and clothing companies, Zara can make more innovation by taking advantage of supplying the much-required fabrics to other companies across the world. The opportunity is worth taking due to the high demand for the product. Zara has already developed roots in the global market. Therefore, the cost of supply will be cheaper compared to other companies that are not yet established in many countries. In the current trend, governments are encouraging their citizens to buy clothes sewn locally. This is a big blow to international companies such as Zara operating in such countries. In countries as China and India, there are barriers for foreign companies to enter the market unless they partner with the local companies.

Nevertheless, if Zara offers to supply fabrics to the local companies, it will be able to remain on top of its competitors as well as being able to penetrate in more countries (Pratap, 2019). Additionally, government agencies are increasing restrictions on the use of real animal furs and skins in a bid to reduce illegal pouching. Hence, Zara, which mainly specializes in synthetic and chemical materials, will have a broad market for its products due to the closure of companies using animal skins.

Clothes Available on Rent

The level of economic activities in the global market has a significant impact on global companies doing business in various countries. With many designer clothes attracting a high cost in the international market, there is a gap in the market since many people in the third world nations may not afford to buy such clothes. Also, there are some clothes only required for a one time occasion. To fill these gap fashion companies offer rental services to interested people at a lower price than the buying price. This business has proliferated in countries such as India and parts of Africa. With this line of business, people get the opportunity to enjoy their luxury brands at a lower cost while companies make considerable profits. Offering clothes for hire can help Zara overcome the effects of small economic activities globally. The recent experience of a complex web of reduced economic activity has affected businesses across Europe, mainly due to the growing strength of the dollar against the euro. This prompted fewer profits gained by companies operating outside the US (Pratap, 2019). Thus many companies resulted in increasing the prices of their products. Stepping up to provide clothes for rent, Zara would be able to offer variety to its customers

Fashion Brand Management

Social factors are significant to companies since they operate within the social domain. Companies doing business must be sensitive to specific social trends and preferences of different social environments. Many global companies have taken the responsibility of investing in social contexts for both business purposes and the good of society. For any company to take advantage of the business opportunities provided under the societal domain, it must invest in recruiting and hiring quality brand managers. These are personnel with vast knowledge about the beliefs and preferences of various societal groups across the world. Fashion brand managers are dynamic individuals who understand well the need of the people within which a company operates. Since the field of fashion brand management is both an art and science, brand managers have double-edged expertise on how to manage companies' brands following the preferences of the immediate society. Society and culture are essential to business growth. In the current world of business, many global companies fail to analyze societal preferences, thus making their brand fail in foreign markets (Pratap, 2019). Therefore, Zara can take the opportunity to higher expert fashion brand managers to perform analysis of different societal groups across the world. This would enable the company to produce brands that fit their immediate target customers.

Big Data

Big data are essential to companies that have overgrown the level of using traditional processing applications. It sets facilitate business intelligence for managing activities within a short time. Computer technology has changed things globally, triggering a high rate of transition in various sectors such as transport, communication, supply and demand, and production process (Thomassey & Zeng, 2018). In all levels of production, there is hardly a process that has not been impacted by technology. The use of data has also risen to high standards. Every business has to gather essential data before making important decisions. Various companies in the apparel industry have been mindful of utilizing technology to maximize profits. Collecting and analyzing data can help Zara produce clothes according to customers' preferences (Pratap, 2019). This would also help the company save costs for the distribution of products since all transactions would be conducted online. The data gathered would also help to determine the current trend in fashion and design globally.

Entrepreneurial Assessment

After making a critical assessment of all opportunities that may be disposable to Zara company, the most significant opportunity for the company is the big data. The reason for selection is because it offers unlimited possibilities for the company improvement of its operations in the field of fashion and design. Zara forms part of the textile industry and one of the most recognized companies in Europe and other parts of the world. The company has a vast database of people to whom it provides a variety of products (Pratap, 2019). Therefore, it can convert its customers to viable sources of data, which would help the management improve their customer experience. Data collected are of considerable significance to the company and can be utilized in a range of processes, from production to marketing.

Viability

Computer technology is an essential component in the textile industry today. Apart from gathering data, the internet enables companies to analyze the overall global market. Through online market analysis, the company can also evaluate different potential partners who would help to penetrate through restricted markets. In countries such as China and India, where foreign companies are limited, an online advertisement would help Zara reach their potential customers in such markets. Through the company's innovative mission, data gathering would facilitate the hiring of creative and innovative labor (Pratap, 2019). Besides, since the world is fast changing with technological advancement, this opportunity would be much viable for Zara than the rest. The company has excellent financial strength and hence, can invest more in big data as a new line of business.

Trends in the Global Business Environment

As time goes by, it is vital to not only reflect on what has already happened but also foreshadow the top trends that will affect and change the fashion industry. As the economic recession always shakes the growth of the fashion industry in Europe, emerging companies from Asia are set to bring significant competition in the global market (Nayak & Padhye, 2015). The Indian market, for instance, is predicted to grow by seven percent annually between 2019 and 2022. Besides, China is set to create competition for American and European companies.

The concept of integrating all customer accessibility, such as social media and the internet to offer complete consumer experience has dominated the industry in the past few years. Multiple apparel companies in 2019 have prioritized in providing all-round knowledge to customers. For the effective creation of an omnichannel experience, the companies need to understand their customers' needs efficiently. This transpires to gathering customers' data through technology, which has enabled companies to collect a lot of data (Nayak & Padhye, 2015). However, many companies still find it a challenge to utilize the data appropriately. Whether focused on improving a single channel, every company would aim to the absolute improvement of the consumer experience.

Fast fashion is another emerging trend in the apparel industry. This is characterized by designing clothes at a significantly lower cost taking approximately three weeks to move materials from the design desk to finished products in the retail stores. Spanish industries such as H&M and Zara are pioneering in this development.

Impact on Opportunities

These trends in the apparel industry would have a positive effect on the possible opportunities for Zara. However, the company will initially have to invest a large amount of capital and other resources for profits to be realized. For instance, it will be costly for Zara to gather a significant amount of data to understand its customers critically. Also, the process requires a highly qualified labor force in addition to consuming a lot of time. However, ones the process is completed, Zara will be a threat to its competitors. Moreover, creating an omnichannel will give customers a variety of ways to communicate their preferences through modern technology. Hence, the company, through its fashion brand management, will have an opportunity to serve the customers based on their needs, which will, in turn, transcribe to more profits for the company.

Impact on Sustainability

Sustainability involves the pr...