leather footwear by 孟儒李

LEE's family business of leather footwear

Nottingham Trent University

Meng-Ru Lee (Hiram)

N0656736

MA International Fashion Marketing

Words count: 15497

Supervisor: Liz Bolt

School of Art and Design

2015/16

FMMC FASH40090-FASH40093: Dissertation Declaration

This submission is the result of my own work. All help and advice other than that received from tutors has been acknowledged, and primary and secondary sources of information have been properly attributed. Should this statement prove to be untrue I recognise the right and duty of the Board of Examiners to recommend what action should be taken in line with the University's regulations on assessment contained in its handbook. Signed: ................................................................................................................. Date:.....................................................................................................................

Content: Background:

Footwear industry

Leather industry market

Leather footwear market

Macro economic in Taiwan

How does the project relate to the family business 14

Executive Summary:

Literature Review:

Family business

How to create a brand

How shoes are made

Marketing Mix

Figure2. Church's, (2016), Church's official website

Methodology:

Case study:

Main Discussion:

Conclusion:

Recommnendation:

Bibliography:

Appendix:

80 5

Rationale & Background

Figure3. TANNER BATES, (2016), ABOUT OUR LEATH

Footwear Industry Market The footwear industry market has increased rapidly, as a result of improvements in manufacturing processes and technological innovation. Modern, trending and comfortable shoes are being continuously developed at reasonable prices in order to meet up with the growing demand of these products (transparency market research, 2016). The global footwear market is significantly increasing with focus on sportswear and increasing retail culture. Moreover, increasing demand for designed and technologically innovative footwear products seems to create a wide opportunity for the worldwide footwear market during the forecast period (WALB news, 2016).

Globally, with focus on exportation, worldwide footwear sales approached $60.4 billion in total, without including internal trade and retail sales which could have being much higher. Europe led with the highest value in exports of leather shoes at $29.2 billion. Asia was not far away, with $28.4 billion in export sales in the same year. Vietnam in particular has improved its shoes exports sales by 150 percent over the period. Several factors such as labor, costs, investment and demand might be the key points to become a top producer of shoe wears. A country with a huge internal market, minimum wage increases and overtime pay like China, will give domestic consumers extra income, and strengthen the currency all of which will help in maintaining huge production (world atlas, 2016). Footwear is one of Taiwanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s top five exports. The leading markets for Taiwan-made footwears are the UK, France and United States. There are More than 1000 manufacturers in Taiwan. (Christine Genzberger, 1994).

HER - THE SMELL IS AMAZING!!

However, the Vietnam Leather, Footwear and Handbag Association (Lefaso) (2015) states that “foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) account for less than one quarter the number of businesses, but contribute as much as 70 per cent of the sector’s total export in value .Mainly from south Korea and Taiwan, footwear FIEs operating in Vietnam are typically large in scale, and sometimes recruit laborers in thousands. The Taiwanese group Pouchen annually contributes over $1 billion of Vietnam’s footwear sector export value.” During the 1970s and 80s, with beautiful craft and low labor cost, Taiwan’s footwear OEM factories made Taiwan one of the two major shoe-making countries of the world. The OEM factories gathered in Taichung and Chunghwa areas of central Taiwan manufactured everyday and earned enormous amount of foreign exchange for Taiwan. But, in recent years, such prosperity has been overtaken by low-labor-cost markets. Many of Taiwan’s footwear manufacturers have thus transformed to a production line of smaller volume but more exquisite and diverse shoe styles. They are paying more attention to brand development and marketing as well. At the moment, the biggest export country of Taiwan’s footwear is not China, but Japan. A Japanese buyer who has sourced in the footwear cluster in Tainan in southern Taiwan has said, “Taiwan’s shoe-making is getting better and better, full of style and great quality!” To meet the high-quality demand of the Japanese market, Taiwan’s footwear makers have continuously been improving products and enhancing quality control, hoping Taiwan’s shoes will walk out a bright path of its own again in the world. (TaiwanTrade, 2016)

Figure4. TANNER BATES, (2016), ABOUT OUR LEATHER - THE SMELL IS AMAZING!!

Figure5. bgfons, (2016), Download texture image: leather texture, background, leather background, leather background

Figure6. LONSDALE LEATHER, (2016), Innovation through Quality

Figure7. bgfons, (2016), Download texture image: leather texture, background, leather background, leather background

Leather Industry Market

The Leather industry totally produces about 18 billion square feet of leather a year at an estimated value of about $ 140 billion. If the by-product of the meat industry such as hides and skin could not produce this quantity of leather, shoes would have been manufactured from plastics and other petrochemical products instead. So far, developing countries produce over 60% of the leather worldwide, and the proportion is still increasing. (international council of tanners, 2016) According to ICT (2016) 65% of leather in the world would be used for footwear,. Globally, the production of footwears is estimated at 11 billion pairs. The reputation of the leather industry across the centuries could be described as one of tolerated usefulness, with a wonderful end product. As the industry enters the 21st Century, it is now recognized as a major industry of great economic importance on an international scale. The industry, as well as its national and international associations, need to make the public aware of just how seriously it takes its responsibilities in producing a host of products in one of the world's finest natural materials. The Taiwanese leather sector has a history of more than 60 years and today there are around 60 tanneries in the country. Since the 1990s, Taiwanese tanneries have started to relocate abroad, establishing their factories and investing in Thailand, Mainland China and Vietnam. Nowadays, there are more than 40 Taiwanese owned tanneries established in these countries. The production capacity of all Taiwanese tanneries is about 45-60 million square feet per month, of which 80% of all leathers are supplied to well-known international branded footwear makers (leather international, 2009). However, Taiwan’s main export orders are precision instruments, clocks and leather products, but these have declined more than expected. In November 2015, export orders declined by 6.3%, and demand for the leather products fell 18.3% (APLF, 2015).

On the ethical side, there should be more concerned on how to deal with the chemical waste from the leather industry. Though, the leather industry boosts local economic development, on the other hand, it brings tremendous environmental pollution biological chain destruction and huge waste of resource. With the rapidly developed economy, the public is increasingly aware of the health and ecological impact. The new legislations in regards to leather manufacturing pushes the leather products to be more ecologically friendly (Hu J., Xiao Z., Zhou R., Deng W., Wang M., Ma S., 2011 p.221~228). According to TIFF (2013) “ethical considerations are most important to your brand and its target customers. Although in America and Europe there are now strict regulations on how to dispose of these waste chemicals, in other countries such as China and India- two leather producing giants in today’s world, environmental laws are laxer and toxic waste is often unceremoniously dumped into rivers, untreated where it can poison water supply and cause serious health problems.”

Figure8. Loake, (2016), Burford

Figure9. Hasse Lemola, (2016) Figure10. SHARN RAYMENT, (2015), 10 of the best men's chelsea boots

Leather footwear Industry Market

Consumer ’s trends and fashion could largely influence the footwear industry. Nowadays, the demand for fancy, trendy and also comfortable footwears by all age groups is rising and even driving the global footwear industry. Leather boots are formal and largely needed among men. Leather footwear is a distinctive product and significantly occupies a market share due to high value and demand (PR Newswire, 2015). Office workers are the main customers for leather shoes and China now is emphasizing on the design and styles of leather shoes (HKTDC, 2015).

According to Taiwan’s Bureau of Standards, Metrology and inspection (BSMI) consumers nowadays are becoming more and more aware to their health and the safety of the daily essential things that they use. A high quality pair of shoes is a vital part of people’s life. BSMI has introduced a number of technical standards concerning the safety of footwear products. Two of these compulsory standards are Chinese National Standards CNS 10632[1] and CNS 8634[2], which defines the basic chemical and quality requirement of the leather shoes in Taiwan market (HKTDC, 2014)

Figure12. Christopher Klimovski, (2015), Essentials: Nick Wooster

Macro Economic in Taiwan

Figure13. Dripcult, (2014), nick wooster x the coveteur.

President-elect Tsai Ing-wen showed that reviving the moribund Taiwanese economy will be a top priority in her government following the appointment of former Finance Minister Lin Chuan as her new Prime Minister. The nomination of a minister who led the country during a period of solid growth comes as a relief to the export-driven economy. The latest batch of indicators confirmed that the weaknesses from 2015 have been carried into the first quarter of 2016: exports tallied their 13th consecutive contraction in February and the manufacturing PMI slipped back into contractionary territory in February after having expanded for two consecutive months. Prospects for an economic recovery are dim since Taiwanese goods are going to soon face harsher competition in the Chinese market since the free trade agreement between mainland China and Korea recently came into effect, and growth prospects in Taiwan’s export markets are low (Focus Economics, 2016). Taiwan’s export has declined by 11.84% in February 2016 compared to the same month of last year. Taiwan’s exports to China, the US, European Union and Japan all fell by significant percentage points. In regards to imports, Taiwan’s imports in February 2016 dropped by 13.11% as well compared to the same month of last year (TIER, 2016).

How does the project relate to the family business

Considering that my parents own a leather processing factory, it is a business I would like to expand in the future. So far, the family business does not produce any footwear products, but in the future, given that my brother Myron has studied industrial design and both of us are quite obsessed with footwear, we have decided to combine the skills that we have to start producing leather footwear. My thesis will explore an appropriate new brand, it will identify appropriate market segments, price levels needed and how to best promote footwear.

Executive Summary

This report aims to explore the possibility of extending the family business of leather processing to leather footwear production. The project is seeking the opportunity to create an entrepreneurship with an own brand to sell hand-made leather footwear online, to understand what customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; expectations are and how the leather shoes industry works essentially. By defining analytical model at the beginning, the research process follows a structure with mixed methods to collect both secondary and primary research. Both an online survey with general consumers and a structured interview with people who work in either the leather or footwear industry will be conducted to understand the leather footwear production and also to investigate the market for it. An actual case of a leather footwear fashion brand will be studied to assess their strategies on how the business works, how the leather shoes sell online, and what issues the brand might have encountered, also the advantages and disadvantages for the brand being sold online only.

The research findings show that the leather industry encounters lots of challenges including the economy in Taiwan, the social controversy stemming from the ethical concerns of using animals and the changes in the leather market from what it used to be in Taiwan. The project is going create a new brand of leather footwear mainly focusing on product diversity and marketing communication which is important to online retailers. Therefore, recommendations will be proposed at every stage of the findings to have an in-depth understanding of the leather market. The interviewees who serve in either the leather processing or the leather footwear industry will suggest the prices and also the problems that the new brand might encounter when selling online. With the interaction between customers and the producer the brand would be balanced efficiently, also that would also be a way to retain the customers. The limitations of this report includes the lack of much information on the indepth of the leather industry, the difficulty to explore an accurate target audience given that people have different perspectives on leather footwear and a single case study which cannot be generalized.

Figure14. Tod's, (2016), Italian Notes

Figure15. Koval, (2016), Cheers To: Horween Leather Company

Literature Review 19

Family Business Family business is the most common and ubiquitous form of business through all of history. Recently, however, the world has begun to notice and recognize the importance and uniqueness of the family-controlled firm (Denise KenyonRouvinez and John L. Ward, 2008). Likewise, according to Liisa Niemi (2015) states that the influence of family-controlled enterprise has become quite visible again in recent decades, family business as an academic doctrine is fresh but of major interest. Business firm has become a highly discussing topic all over the world, and also inheriting a family business is one of the special interesting topic in European countries. Many of these companies are small sole proprietorships, which will never impact from generation to generation.

According to Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez and John L. Ward (2008) in their book announce that â&#x20AC;&#x153;the family comes to believe that a strong business creates extra advantages as a family, not just in income but, more importantly, in identity and opportunity. The greatest such opportunity in the eyes of many business-owning families is that an outstanding business reinforces the family values, which will enhance the perpetuation of those core values for future generations. Values that enhance both the business and the family include trust, integrity, the long-term view, modesty, and work ethic.â&#x20AC;?

Moreover, the author also stands that to be successful in long term family business requires a healthy business and family. Therefore, many family businesses stay small scaled to fit an economic niche and support a single family, small family enterprises can show remarkable longevity, without ever growing (Denise Kenyon-Rouvinez and John L. Ward, 2008).

Figure16. giannicanali, (2012),

Also, more and more people are working from their family business, or extended from the next generation, there are some advantages to operating a home-based business, people do not need committed to a commercial lease for a period of time. Moreover, a family business allowed people to combine the duty of family and income-producing (Mary G.Wolfe, 2009). In Denise K. R. and John L.W. (2015) ‘family business key issues’, the author discusses such and such pointing out that the advantages to the family business, this view point is similar to Mary G.W. (2009) in her book ‘fashion Marketing & Merchandising’ who tells us that the benefits from the family business. However, nothing is perfect, there are also disadvantages with a family business, it all comes from family, its matters can be distracting and disrupt people’s job process, it might take all of owner’s time even work in weekends without time off. Moreover, clients may intrude entrepreneur personal time or not bring serious attitude to talk about the business, because the atmosphere would be relaxing by staying in the house (Mary G.Wolfe, 2009).

‘’What I did as a fashion designer for both Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent was to create a character and then costume that character throughout her life”- Tom Ford.

Following the statement of Gwyneth Moore (2012), to achieve building a strong identity is a main point for any fashion brand, it allows a brand to present a clear idea or what are the company selling, the concept and ethos, principles of the brand, the way it is sold are the elements for creating a background for a brand and picture it is about. Thus, even though, it is difficult to convey the message through a exactly suitable channel, instead of it, focusing on what the brand values are and how to implement it, it is important that speak to audience from the true core of the business ethos (Linzi Boyd, 2014) A brand is a company’s personality and what it hopes to represent to the customers. Without a brand name, identity, value and equity, it is challenging for a customer to firstly catch the brand (Gwyneth Moore, 2012). Figire17. Nate Bodansky, (2013), Tom Ford Unveils Makeup Products for Men

How to create a

Furthermore, the identities could include internal and external identities. The internal part of the company has to do with the company itself, to understand how well the company knows itself, and what are the values of the company, and how the company really believes in their quality of its products and services. The external part of a company’s identity is how well it connects and relates to customers. When both of internal and external combine together as the same, the brand will be strong. A brand is determined by people use the tangible criteria such as services, products and marketing materials from the company. When a brand acts consistently on the core set of values and communicates consistently and truthfully both internally and externally, the brand is considered trust-worthy and reliable. The owner of the brand must frequently ensure that the qualities and values of their brand are maintained their attractiveness in a changing society (Moser, 2003). As the project is aims to create an own brand, which is also relates to the definition of the entrepreneurship. An entrepreneur is a person who runs, launches and directs to a new business risk and consider the financial risks and uncertainties of the enterprise. Attempting to be a successful entrepreneur should be able to follow the trend and turn innovation, flexibility and creativity into a functioning business operating. For new business to be become successful and profitable, technically, it takes ‘at least’ two years (Mary Wolfe, 2014). The owner of the company must be able to shore up themselves through the time within start-up, the achievement and great satisfaction are come from a venture that becomes a success. Most of the well-known business of these days started as small companies. However, many new businesses fail each year due to lack of experience, imperfect planning and insufficient capital (Mary Wolfe, 2014). Entrepreneurship could be suitable for everyone, but the conditions below must be carried, it requires self-confidence, ambition and drive, also, needs to good at time management and discipline to arrange work, meet deadlines and decisive. What is more, entrepreneurs must well-use of their humans, materials, and the most important part in financial resources. Technically, it is necessarily with long work hours. From the point of view, it is similar to what William D.B. and Andrew Z. (2016) in their book ‘Entrepreneurship’ is stated. Moreover, in their book the author states that the main reason of become an entrepreneur to start a new business is independence, self-realization, recognition, innovation and roles. Which tells us that to become an entrepreneur is not easy, people have to carry all the skills no matter internal or external of them, people need the conditions has mentioned above, even though entrepreneurship could be suitable for everyone, but there is no guarantee to be successful.

When it comes to being a successful entrepreneur, there are certain qualities in common for the successful entrepreneurs, most of them are optimistic. Also, creativity is essential and typical for new entrepreneur as they come up with new products, services, or sales techniques. Furthermore, the owners of the small business are willing to take risks or they would not let the lose of their investment, self-esteem and community happened with a new business venture. Thus, the owners of the company have to be realistic about the potential of their business idea to balance their optimistic emotion (Mary Wolfe, 2014).

Figure18. 123RF, (2016), Stock Photo - Shoemakers wooden mold for shoes, wooden form

How the shoes are made

Shoe fashion are a truly visual sign of their times, related to the circumstances of peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives, shoes were polished and sometimes even passed down from generation to generation. People saved their money and worked hard for shoes, it was also a symbol of rich and powerful. People can suddenly imagine how people a few generations before us lived, loved and worked wearing their shoes. In Europe, fashion was a force that was enthusing, enlivening and animating people as early as the 15th century, and even at that time, the changing fashion were an expression of a dynamic society in constant flux. People might consider what makes a good shoes, the last on which it is made or the look of the shoes. Nowadays, people would say it is a combination of the two. Shoe manufacture is an automated process, until the 19th century when the shoes began to develop. Moreover, shoes were largely made by customize basis so far. (case study Undandy).

Since a shoe has to fit and suitable a human foot, a ‘shoe last’ has to have a similar shape, however it is not simply an exact duplication. As a pair of bespoke leather shoes, the main feature is every customer has their own shoe last, traditionally, lasts are made of wood, but industrially, shoe lasts are made of plastic in order to decrease the damage and deprecation and also would be easier operated with machine (Pixnet, 2012). The ‘shoe laste’ is the mold in the shape of a foot on which a shoe is made, even the shoe laste is made-to-measure for the width and height at certain points in regards to the ample space for the foot. The shape of shoe laste determined by the the size system of the shoe and the type of shoe to be made from the laste. However, feet can be wide and narrow, and also have insteps of differing sizes (Bernhard Roetzel, 2015). Next step will star with drawing and sketching, it is also called “pattern making”, the purpose of drawing is to communicate and connect to the idea for how the shoes will look or work. The drawing or sketch is also a tool for explore and develop the ideas (Wade Motawi, 2015). Before pattern making, shoe maker will use tracing paper to stick on the shoe laste, after drawing, they will tear off from the shoe laste and drawing and tracing on the thick paper, the thick paper will be cut and put on the leather to cut out pieces the shoe needed. After having the leather pieces, the following step will be sewing up all the leather pieces, then, before add with the sole, it needs to combine the pieces of leather and the shoe last. The forth step of making a pair of leather shoes is follow the shoe laste to manufacture the middle part of sole, the leather of its part is highly requirement with good moisture absorption, outgassing, and flexibility, and the shape of in the middle part of sole must completely fit with the shoe laste. After finishing the midsole, the fifth step of making a pair of leather shoes is seam along the strip, the purpose of it is to make the shoes more robust, then to sew up the sole, and then stick the shoe heel, a pair of leather shoes will be completed with the last step of polishing and decorating (Pixnet, 2012).

Figure19. 123RF, (2016), Stock Photo - Shoemakers wooden mold for shoes, wooden form

“Marketing is not the art of finding cl dispose of what you make. Marketing creating genuine customer value” –Philip

“Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of Marketing is the art of creating genuine customer value” –Ph

Marketing Mix

Nowadays, more and more organizations are strategically distinguishing themselves in the area of service and quality in the market. Successful organization invested in people, technology, personnel policy and remuneration system for their employees by strongly focus on the service paradigm. For the reason is that the behavior of employees can have a direct influence on the quality of the service, employees are the representatives for their company to the customers. The Marketing Mix offers a framework that can be utilized to manage marketing and consolidate it within a business context. Newer thinking believes that the consumer should be the priority of all the matter.

lever ways to g is the art of p Kotler

f what you make. hilip Kotler

Figure20. Edwin Kover, (2013), Philip Kotler on Marketing for Profit

In 1981, Bernard H. Booms and Mary J. Bitner further developed the 4Ps marketing mix by American professor of marketing Jerome McCarthy into the extension of marketing mix or service marketing mix, which can also name 7Pâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s model. The strategy extended from four to seven elements can be applied in service of companies and knowledge intensive environment (Vincent van Vliet, 2013). Product: if the company is to be successful, the firm must produce the products that customers desire. The products must also be presented to potential customers in the way that make customers want to purchase it. By doing this, the company must be marketing oriented at all levels of the business, with this action based on the satisfaction of customers from the needs and want (Mary G.Wolfe, 2009).

Figure21. hafiztannery, (2016), Company Profile

Price

In marketing mix of price, which refers to the cost of the manufacturing, wholesale, retail prices, discounted prices and margin and profit, all these costs should be considered of. For marketing purpose, there are two perspectives for view pricing; one is from the point of view of cost, what is a product exactly costs, either to produce or a buyer to purchase. It relates tangible expenses so that a cost price can be calculated. The second point of view of selling price, concern about the customer’s or end-customer’s view. It considers what might be the affordable and realistic selling price, realistic selling price and factors in issues such as affordability and perceived value are the matter. An understanding of customer’s awareness of value is therefore very important, as is knowledge of competitor pricing within the marketplace. Price Architecture can be applied in the marketing mix of price area to set the right price for the products of the company, price architecture is dependant on the type of market, the market level and the product concerned. The proportion of styles and the stock volumes within each of the tiers is adjusted so that the business can satisfy the greatest number of customers and generate the highest potential sales margin and profit (Harriet Posner, 2015).

FIgure22. Handy Man, (2016), How to Repair a Leather Tool Belt

Place

In place area, the products must be shown in the right place, where customers purchase a product from the place that the supplier distribute to, it must be appropriate and convenient for customer. Either brick-and-mortar store (physical store) or more current option through social media platform and online shop (CIM, 2015). In essence, place is about getting the right product to the right place at the right time and in the right amount. It concerns logistics and the various methods of transporting. Storing and distributing merchandising and the means by which a company’s products reach their target customers (Harriet Posner, 2015). However, transportation must also be considered, such as moving the goods or products by train, plain, or truck, company should even try to use the most efficient methods to deliver goods to the right and different locations (Mary G.Wolfe, 2009).

Promotion In the marketing mix of promotion is about the communicating between the company and the customers and includes all the tools such as magazines available and accessible for marketing, communicating and promoting a company and its products and services. The activities of promotion such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling or direct marketing, is also known as the promotional mix. In fashion industry, some of the most popular and recognized promotional vehicles are the advertising in well-known fashion magazines, for example Vogue, Harper’s Bazar or Elle (Harriet Posner, 2015). It is also defining everything that a brand is going to inform the potential customers about the products or services, and also to persuade the customer but from us rather than form the competitors. To start with the promotion, every time a brand requires to think about are who is the main target of the customers, what does the customer consider the value, what is the main benefit or advantages that the products and services of the brand can offer that no competitors can offer. After considering and the answering to the questions, the unique selling proposition will become the core and the heart of all the brand’s advertising and promotional activities (Brian Tracy, 2014).

People In the marketing mix of people, it can also refer to ‘relationship selling’, according to Brian Tracy (2014) states that “A customer will not buy from you until he/she is convinced that you are their friends and that you are acting in his/her best interests.” It is all about how customer feels about the brand, people only buy from the brand they like or it likes them in the same way, the choice of the people who interact with the customers can be the key point to determine whether the brand would be success or failure (Brian Tracy, 2014). The employees that work for the company have certain levels of influence to the company, the employees who come into contact with the customers would make an impression. Customers sometimes could determine the services or products from the brand, so, the staff member would have the profound effect positive or negative on customer satisfaction. The reputation is positive or negative of the brand or company depends on the staff, they must be well-trained and wellmotivated and have the right and positive attitude. Sales support and advice after purchased by customers could be the superior added value and also gives the company or brand a competitive edge. These services would probably become more than price for many customers over time. In the age of increasingly using social media, every employee could potentially reach many audiences. Formulated a policy of online interaction and also employees should keep their eyes on everyone stays on-message (CIM, 2015).

Physical Evidence consumers increasingly require more in terms of value, experience or extra service, physical evidence relates to packaging, brochures, business cards, carrier bags, staff uniforms, in-store décor, ambience, facilities, retail fixtures, store windows and signage and the design, content and usage of digital media and e-commerce platform (Harriet Posner, 2015). It is risky for consumer to chose an unfamiliar product or service, they would not know how well it would be until after purchase. The owner could reduce the uncertainty by showing potential customers what they are buying. The clean, tidy and well-decorated homepage is always required, some companies engage customers and ask for their feedback, then, the company can follow the advice to develop what they lack of, for new customers can also see by the testimonials to make them more confidence and trustful to purchase (CIM, 2015).

Process consumers increasingly require more in terms of value, experience or extra service, physical evidence relates to packaging, brochures, business cards, carrier bags, staff uniforms, in-store décor, ambience, facilities, retail fixtures, store windows and signage and the design, content and usage of digital media and e-commerce platform (Harriet Posner, 2015). It is risky for consumer to chose an unfamiliar product or service, they would not know how well it would be until after purchase. The owner could reduce the uncertainty by showing potential customers what they are buying. The clean, tidy and well-decorated homepage is always required, some companies engage customers and ask for their feedback, then, the company can follow the advice to develop what they lack of, for new customers can also see by the testimonials to make them more confidence and trustful to purchase (CIM, 2015).

“Marketing is still an art, and the marketing manager, as head chef, must creatively marshal all his marketing activities to advance the short and longterm interests of his firm.”- Neil H. Borden Figure23. tannerie-garat, (2016), tannerie-garat

Over the last decade, marketing through social media platforms including Facebook, which is used by over one billion users on desktop and mobile. Instagram, which is the image of app, hundreds of millions users as a way to transform the photos and videos with filters and frames in every single day into memory-laden content, which can also be shared with the world, and bloggers, which although maintaining a blog does not comprise as social media in the most modern sense, but blogging as a practice can so often act as the base of a great social network marketing strategy, above all have become an essential tool into businesses and brands, with opportunities building relationship and engaging with customers. Social media could build a strong and long-lasting relationship with customers, sharing the content of the brand and expertise, this approach will help to keep and attract loyal customers and connection. (Andrew Macarthy, 2015). Besides, social media plays an important role in the business with e-commerce, a successful website is essential and important. E-commerce has become usual nowadays, it significantly provides benefits to the economy and also to customers. Consumers benefited by the enhanced capacity to research and compare products, expanded choices in products that might be purchased from everywhere in the world at any time, also, E-commerce offer more possibilities to customize products to meet better personal preferences. However, the consequence of increasing transparency in e-commerce intensifies competition is the prices would be lower (Amir Manzoor, 2015).

Figure24. whataboutharlequins, (2016), nick woster

Figure25. whataboutharlequins, (2016), nick woster

E-commerce strategy brings advantages to the company in the area of network production, it refers to the process of distributing production to contractors who are dispersed geographically but who are connected to each other through computer networks. Network production can offer lower costs, increased strategic marketing, and also can facilitate sale of add-on products. Follow with network production, a company can assign tasks within its non-core competencies to factories around the world that specialize in such tasks. Moreover, via e-commerce, consumers have a wide choices of brands, products and vendors, and can conduct quick comparisons. Normally, a brand selling online, they would put the clear policy for customers, so they can also have more influence over what and how the products are made how services are delivered. Through e-commerce, a company can easier, faster and open process with greater customers control. E-commerce makes the information on products and market easily accessible and available, and increased transparency so that customers can make more appropriate decision.

Figure26. whataboutharlequins, (2016), nick woster

Figure27. whataboutharlequins, (2016), nick woster

Figure28. whataboutharlequins, (2016), nick woster

Following the time of development, people are more are more aware of the virtues of social media and how a successful webpage can boost sales, and it is being announced that a fine website or webpage is essential and significant to a successful business (the guardian, 2014). H o w e v e r, b e f o r e s t a r t d e s i g n t h e website, people need to think and consider what style and what they want to show to their customers (the guardian, 2014). The elements of graphics, text and lay out pages are required fro designing a website. No matter the owners would like to hire a website designer or do it by themselves, both of two ways would encounter advantages and disadvantages (Plumley, George, 2010) Also, according to Digital designer Maria Withers cited in the guardian (2014) illustrates that â&#x20AC;&#x153;your design should focus around your user's needs, if a website isn't aesthetically pleasing or intuitive your website can become redundant and users will bounce from your web page, content is key to your website. The heaviness of imagery on a website completely depends on what message you want your website to convey. Images should be relevant to your product or company so as not to confuse a user.â&#x20AC;? Furthermore, the layout of a website is seeming as a map for visitors, if the owner can keep thinking of the sites layout as a map, it will help the owner decide whether leading visitors where they want to go (Plumley, George, 2010). As mentioned above how important a design of a website to the customers, but the most important point is that customers are able to find what they like easily when they search on the internet for the products and services. For the project is utilizing the internet as a primary channel, it is necessarily concentrate on small number of products that are seems to be the most favorite to most of the customers. It would be more success if the company focus some niche area that the company expertise with, for example, an electrical retailer might want to concentrate on environmentally friendly, low-energy products (O. Lachtnain and Antoin, 2011). Moreover, as the project is focus on leather shoes, researcher can concentrate on multiple color of leather and various types of leather shoes.

Moreover, it brings benefit to the society, E-commerce provides more individual work at home, it can reduce the time of traveling for work which in turns result in less traffic on the roads and reduced the air population and saved more time. However, everything has their opposite side, by using E-commerce also brings disadvantages. Online business is just a different language to most people with traditional business experience. The owner of the company could not see the customer, money is transacted through unsecured process at the moment, and also refunds could be complicated. What is more, with the E-commerce has increasingly used by the company, by hiring skilful people would a fierce competition between company and company, many firms had had trouble recruiting and retaining employees with the technological, design, and business process skills needed to operate and generate an effective e-commerce business (Amir Manzoor, 2015).

Figure29. colourful rebel, (2016), THE CLOSET | NICK WOOSTER

Methodology

Figure30. dreamstime, (2016), leather craft tools

Methodology refers to the step-by-step direction on how to carry out a research, and contains three basic aspects: sample or subjects, instrument or prototype and method of analysis or how to deal with the data collected from the subjects (Dillon and Wals, 2006 cited in Flynn and Foster, 2010 p.99).

The overall research objective as before, is building a new brand of footwear, to understand and identify the relationship between the leather and footwear industry, the process of making leather shoes, and the dimensions of the market, then investigate the possibility of building an own business. The means of collecting data, it is necessarily through the research ‘onion’ and analysis of each process, and the philosophical stance of this research is interpretivism. Leather products usually have high prices and loved by many people. To be successful in such an industry, one has to know what people like, the reasonable prices for consumers, and also what services consumers’ expect if the company sells its products online.

Saunders (2016) suggested that a quantitative analysis of secondary data followed by qualitative research methods for identifying perception will be appropriate to “accommodate this realist ontology and interpretivist epistemology”. Thus, a combination of inductive and deductive approaches will be used to design multiple methods. The main route of this research is based on a theoretical framework with the intend to collect primary data to supplement the literature review findings. Following the research philosophy will lead to a research plan and posing of important questions. By utilizing induction as a research approach, the target would be to find out what might happen so as to better understand the nature of the problem, and to give meaning to the data collected through its analysis(Saunders, Philip and Thornhill, 2016).

The research begins by defining the analytical framework which shapes the structure and provides coherence for the research elements (Fisher, 2007). The Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model is used to explore the different responsiveness to leather footwear from the consumers’ perspective. The strategies applied to the fashion brand of the leather footwear will be evaluated according to its position within the product life cycle by analysing the profitability, the sales volume and the number of players. Moreover, the SWOT analysis of the family business in the leather-processing factory will be used to support the evaluation of strategies.

FFor certain research projects which associate national and international comparisons, secondary research would probably be the main source of data (Saunders, 2016). Books and trade journals are relevant to subjects of family business, brand creating and leather footwear industry. Brand and marketing strategy provide academic resources for this research. Other secondary data include; the footwear instruction and other organizations which are related to the project, up to date news from magazines, newspaper , internet etc. The systematic and critical review of the literature provides information on similar topics, the stimulus of discussion and argument, and the appropriate method of choice and justification (Hines, 2007). The state of the leather and footwear industry can be explored through literatures but most of the social controversy statements are one-sided and associated with organizations’ marketing and communication strategies. Thus primary research on potential leather footwear consumers’ behaviour and the leather footwear industry as a whole are necessary.

One of the theoretical approaches to study consumers behaviour is the mental approach which views consumers as “information processors” who are “actively seeking and receiving environmental and social stimuli as informational inputs in aiding internal decision making” (Bray, 2008). It has been acknowledged that the environmental variables play influential roles within this approach (Bray, 2008). Thus the research will focus on how the marketing communication strategies from the contrasting sides generate the social controversy surrounding leather and in turn influence leather footwear consumption.

Figure31. TRECCANI, (2016), The Rise of Italian Leather Tanneries: Treccani Milano's Tie to the Best Leather Products

General consumer survey

Quantitative research tools such as questionnaires are often used in collecting data and such data can be analyzed by using statistics and graphs. In reality, many businesses and management are likely to utilize a combination of quantitative and qualitative elements in their research design. A research design may use questionnaires but with â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;open questionsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; which are designed to encourage the interviewees to provide broad and formative answers, and might be utilized to uncover attitudes or obtain the truth. An open question may take the following forms: what, how or why (Saunders, Philip and Thornhill, 2016). As the project aims to create a brand in leather footwear and sell it through e-commerce, this survey is designed for potential customers whether they have experience in purchasing leather footwear online or not and also to get their opinions. The survey questions will help to explore public perception on leather footwear in relation to the main arguments, to find out the extent of consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; demand for leather footwear, and what could influence them to purchase a pair of an unknown leather footwear brand. The data is collected anonymously through self-completion online by people chosen from areas relevant to the project instead of randomly sending the questionnaires online. The aim was to achieve a high and relevant response rates for the bigger the sample , the more meaningful the result will be. The questionnaire format for the survey is mainly that of choosing amongst questions asked in relation to leather footwear, and which are summarized from literature review. There were 34 participants who responded to the survey and these were people working in offices and loved leather shoes. It was important to gain their ideas as they are potential customers to the new brand of leather shoes.

Figure32. Church's, (2016), website

TConsidering that, the project’s main target is male customers, there are 20 male respondents and 14 female respondents. Also, since the project is targeting people of the middle age between 22-35 years, most of the participants who answered the questions were 22-30 year-old. In the survey, apparently, social media has become essential and is largely accepted by customers, 82% of participants had experiences in purchasing footwear online. However, even though, they had experiences in ordering products online, 85% of the people preferred to buy in physical stores rather than online. The reason for this is that most of the participants considered the issue of shoe size. When it comes to a pair of high quality leather shoes, an acceptable price is always customers’ priority for consideration. According to the survey, 62% of leather footwear lovers will tend to accept a price ranging from £170 to £200 for a pair of leather footwear. Technically, leather shoes have two separate types of format which are bench grade and hand grade. With the bench grade people can see stiches on the shoe edges. The analysis shows that people prefer bench grade. Even though, leather footwear always comes at a high price, the survey illustrates that the average frequency of purchasing leather shoes was rated at 2.68%, with 5% being the top rate. This means the leather footwear market still exist and can survive in Taiwan. Moreover, from the viewpoint of promotion, Facebook and Instagram seem like a trend to most of the people. According to the survey, Facebook and Instagram have each occupied 48% and 45% of 100%. Furthermore, a pair of handmade leather shoes usually requires to wait over one week. Surprisingly, all the participants are willing to wait for it.

Structured Interview

The qualitative interview method according to Saunders, Philip and Thornhill (2016) illustrate that “interviews may be highly formalized and structured, using standardized questions for each research participant, or they may be informal and unstructured conversations. For the project, semi-structured interviews were used, with a list of possible questions to ask.Athough this type of interview might obtain different types of answers, Semi–structured interviews tend to be more flexible than others. The data collected by this method might be captured from audio recording the conversation or maybe taking notes (Saunders, Philip and Thornhill 2012). In order to gain inside information on the industry perspective, 4 people who work in either the leather or footwear industry were necessarily invited to participate in the structured interview to clarify major opportunities and challenges. Since, the project was aiming to build a new brand and start a new business, it was necessary to have experts’ opinion. Three of the interviewees were from Taiwan, since the project is targeting Taiwan’s market in the beginning before extending to other countries. One of the interviewees is from the United Kingdom, to help understand the culture and consumer behaviour in foreign countries as this is also required if the business would like to expand into a foreign country.

All the interview questions are related and associated to the leather footwear market and according to the interviewees’ responses, social media is visibly and widely being used by people such that even customers can do the designing of their own shoes through the brand’s website. Leather footwear used to be worn in formal occasions, but as time pass by, style has changed, and people wear leather footwear in almost every occasion. Moreover, an important information gotten from the interviewees, is that the value of the products is always a priority to the customers. What they recommend is that as a start-up business and new brand, the acceptable price for the customers should be around £170- £200. However, it depends on the category and the target market that the brand is aiming too. According to the Interviewees, the issue in Taiwan is that the economy is unstable or even slightly declining, people would rather buy cheaper leather shoes than a pair of high quality and expensive leather shoes.

Case Study

As the project is for the research of family business in building a brand with leather footwear, in this case, case study strategy would be an attractive option, for the reason is that a case study strategy could generate insights from intensive and in-depth research so use the phenomenon of reality and also leading to rich experimental description and the development theory (Saunders, Philip and Thornhill, 2016 p.184). To examine brand strategies of a particular leather footwear fashion brand, the case study strategy could provide a rich understanding of a research topic meanwhile triangulate multiple methods are required within one study (Saunders, 2016). This single case study is about a Portugal leather footwear brand named UNDANDY which only sell online, and significantly, UNDANDY has the service of customize. By utilizing the theory of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to analysed Undandy’s branding strategy, also, by using SWOT analysis to compare with other two brands which are George Cleverley based in London and ChenJingKai Office based in Taipei to distinguish the area that Undandy is lack of and needed to be improved. Qualitative data will be collected from my own purchased experience and company’s information shown on their webpage. Moreover, some of the qualitative data are from interview people who work in the leather or footwear industry to understand how the market has changed and what customers are looking and expecting from the brand.

Figure33. Just KVN, (2016), CUSTOMIZED LOAFERS FT. UNDANDY

There are some disadvantages to the research method, the inadequate number of respondents and information from the survey may insufficient to draw a persuasive conclusion. Moreover, there is an obvious problem and gap between the general consumer survey and the structured interview because the respondents of these two methods are mainly different knowledge of leather footwear industry. From the aspect of survey, the result of the general consumer survey is more likely to reflect a future trend of the attitude change and the possibility of their influence on others. From the aspect of structured interview, the answers from the people who work in the leather or leather footwear industry reveal the perception associated with the leather footwear buying, which also provide the evidence to examine the response of the leather footwear industry and strategies implemented by the leather footwear brand in case study. In addition, a single case study and has been chosen because it is more manageable but the disadvantage is that the result of the single case study is too small to be claimed and applied generally, but with the comparison with each British brand and Taiwan brand of leather footwear (Fisher, 2007).

Taiwan used to be well-known with its leather footwear manufactory, however, due to the economy has slightly decline in Taiwan, people tend to rather buy a functional shoe with cheaper price rather than buy a pair of leather shoes. Technically, shoes with leather is always high price as usual, after that, people could not really afford it. Also, due to the resources that researcher could access, the results are largely constituted by Taiwanese respondents which has bias for analysis then influences the value of recommendation. During the research, there are many factors could which affect the quality of findings including time limit, probability sampling of quantitative research and transparency of leather footwear industry information.

Case StudyA Portugal bespoke leather footwear Figure34. Tiago Cruz, (2015), SAPATOS A GOSTO

Background

UNDANDY shoes are produced in São João da Madeira, a Portuguese city which is knows for shoes manufacturer, utilizing fine leather luxury leathers from France and Italy. It is also a brand with family business which has already passed three generations in creating the finest quality handmade shoes. Customers can choose from a variety high-quality of materials such as patent leather and suede. Every types of shoes can be customizing within five simple steps. Technically, the shoes that customer designed will be delivered with in two weeks, the owner of the company announces that “Shoes consist of many separate parts, which can be produced easily in various combinations. The important thing is that you create speed and ensure that the customer gets his shoes home-delivered as soon as possible. The secret is a tight schedule and the help of the best shoemakers in Portugal.” With their focus on speed and attractive prices from 220 euro, Undandy committed to becoming leading in the European market for handmade shoes (UNDANDY, 2016).

Figure35. Greets Jon, (2016), SHOE GAME JOURNAL FEAT. UNDANDY

Branding

Undandy is famous with its male shoes brand that allows customers to combine models, materials, laces, colors and toes, according to personal taste, and receive the delivery, surprising as it may be, in just two weeks (Undandy, 2016). Maslow`s hierarchy of needs can be used to explain UNDANDY branding strategy. Pawlicki (2012) states that to run a new business and how well will it go could be measured by using Maslow`s hierarchy. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the needs in our daily life such as food, air, water, clothing, etc. (The peak performance centre, 2016).

Figure36. Tiago Cruz, (2015), SAPATOS A GOSTO

Figure37. The fashionisto, (2016), STEP BY STEP: JIMMY SEBASTIAN BY THOMAS VØRDING

Physiological

In Undandy’s case, it provides a basic need to the customers of bespoke leather shoes from Portugal. Also, according to the researchers at the university of Kansas (2012) cited in Undandy (2016) illustrates that “we can glean around 90% of someone’s personality just by looking at their shoes”, even can distinguish a man’s character traits, status and political leaning, which means that pair of right shoes is really important and essential to a man. Moreover, what Undandy believes is that people are trying to get noticed and fit in, to be yourself is the only way to be truly unique (Undandy 2016).

Safety

When once the first step has been completed, people can move to the safety and security step (The peak performance centre, 2016). In Undandy’s case of safety and security of needs, Undandy provides a 128-Bit-SSL encryption to ensure and secure customers’ personal data from third parties, the 128-Bit-SSL (secure sockets layer) which Undandy provided is a standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a server and clients. It is also allowing sensitive information such as credit card numbers, social security numbers and login credentials to be transmitted securely (digicert, 2016). For the products, Undandy ensures that both inner and outer leather are all made from genuine leather, which is a natural product with high flexibility, elasticity and resistance to wear and tear. Moreover, Undandy also ensures that all of their products have the high quality, endurance and comfort. Even all the leather come from the well-known of the finest leather tanneries from France. Among of the leather, calf leather is produced from the hide of a calf and extremely soft, it is a perfect high quality material with guarantees comfort and longevity. Furthermore, the shoes from Undandy are handmade in São João da Madeira, in the Douro region of Portugal. The area is well-known with its quality assurance production (Undandy, 2016). Undandy offers free delivery and free returns to Europe and US countries, it brings convenience to these countries. As the experience of mine, if people would like to return the item, they have to write an e-mail to undandy, they will ask the reason for the return, then, the sector of Undadny’s customer service will arrange the pickup date with DHL to collect the items from the place that people live. However, it took a week to arrange the time for DHL to come and collect the item without the exact time when DHL would come, and it turns out that I have to stay at home until receive the call from DHL. Compare with other website, they offer collect+ or royal mail, those service are even faster and more convenient than it.

Figure38. Greets Jon, (2016), SHOE GAME JOURNAL FEAT. UNDANDY

Belonging

At belonging stage, with the increasingly used of social networking, the technology such as social media as a new way to communicate without face-to –face with efficiency, also brings advantages in the social needs (Benson S. G. and Dundis S. P., 2003). In undandy’s case, it offers 156 billion possibilities on the website, people can design their own unique and stylish leather shoes which is fit on them. Pick from wide range of shoes types such as Oxford shoes, Monk, Derby, Loafer, Chukka and Chelsea boots and with wide range of colours and materials. According to Kompyte (2016) shows that Undandy utilizes multiple of social media such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook to promote their products, and which occupied 59%, 1% and 40%. Moreover, the personalization processes are all made online, which is extremely straightforward to the customers with only few steps. Firstly, for the customers who visit the website and pick the last that better suitable to their styles with three choices currently available for classic shoes, original round toe (Cosy), original claw toe (Bold) and the original puff toe (Eternal classic). Then, following the previous step, to customise all the detail in colours, materials, different options for the toecap, the shoelaces and the stitching, and finally choosing the size and finish the order (world footwear, 2015).

Esteem

At esteem stage, the needs for esteem could become dominant, and which involve needs for selfesteem and for the esteem a person obtain from others, also high level of self-respect and the respect from others (Janet A. Simons, Donald B. Irwin and Beverly A. Drinnien, 1987). In Undandy’s case, business people are their main target customers to the brand, Undandy attempting to satisfy every of their demand and persuade people to create their own style. According to Undandy official site (2016) cited in BDAILY (2016) announced that “With Undandy, we’ve created a bespoke design service that lets business people design their own shoes – from the color to the stitching and superior materials - even if they are time-poor.” However, with the experience of mine by purchased a pair of bespoke leather was unsatisfied, the image that showed between on the design webpage and reality have slightly different, the shoes were not what I expected. It is necessarily that Undandy should improve the pixel and resolution on the design webpage to make people see more about how the customers’ shoes would be look like.

Self-actualization

Following from the previous step as it is being satisfied, the next step is self-actualisation stage. At self-actualisation stage, it is defined as the desire for self-fulfillment, and what we capable of, the need for individual growth and development to reach the target (McLeod, 2007). As a successful business is always looking for new elements and ways to attract more customers. A customized branding approach is an enormous chance to create a business with sustainability. Moreover, building a brand is not only about the communication and selling, but also adapting the offer and developing proposition. By utilizing customer’s knowledge can bring better communication, and more, to offer a more attractive and relevant product (H. Nilson, T., 2003).

In Undandy’s case, it would be the first brand of custom, handmade, shoes that allow people to create and design their own shoes with luxurious of styles and fabrics. The concept came from two Portuguese friends who were tired of seeing the same styles, colours and models in every shoes store. The lack of a concept of fast fashion men’s footwear is the inspiration for them to discover the business model that fulfil to this market need. In July 2014, they have partnered with a manufacturer in São João da Madeira, where is a city that well-known with the shoemakers in the world of producing handmade, bespoke shoes. Moreover, Undandy proud of themselves about their undefeatable customer service, as a guarantee, they to response to all their customers around the world in a maximum 2hrs through a live chat and phone. What Undandy’s aim is to be the custom shoe reference model of the brand in Europe in the next five years (Johnson Gold, 2015).

Figure39. Undandy, (2016), undandy – Handmade Shoes In 156 Million Unique Combinations

Main Discussion

Figure40. photo case, (2016), Making shoes manual

Figure41. AIROWS, (2015), STYLE A STEERHIDE LEATHER MOTORCYCLE JACKET THAT AUTOMATICALLY MAKES YOU THE COOLEST GUY IN THE ROOM

This report has many practical implications. First of all, the main idea of the report is to explore whether from the researcher’s family business of leather processing, it is viable to expand from the processing stage to the production of leather footwear? All the information showing both the advantages and disadvantages are found in the appendix (Appendix SWOT). Significantly, it shows that most of family businesses would encountered conflict.

Also, as a start-up business beginning with an online store the challenge is how to really get involved in social media and increase brand awareness and exposure as an essential and important part of the business. According to the survey (Appendix Survey) 82% of participates have purchased footwear through online stores while18% of them do not have the experience of purchasing footwear through an online store. Apparently, the social media is a trend for everyone and this means an online store would be a huge opportunity for business in the market. Thus, the design of the Webpage or website would be extremely important to customers and significant to the success of the business as mentioned in literature review. Moreover, from the responses of interviewees, “Style is always the priority to me, and quality, the last is the brand.” However, on the aspect of footwear, the survey shows that 85% of participants’ prefer purchasing footwears from physical stores, only 15% of them would buy products through online stores. Which means that the brand which sells only online is not mature enough to satisfy every single customer. The reason for this is their shoe size as customers could not find the right shoes which fit perfectly to their feet. Another reason is that most of them are advised and prefer to see the shoes and try it on, because they can know whether the colour and shape of the shoes is suitable or not. However, there are still a small percentage of people who would buy footwear via online stores because customers could have more options to find what they probably like. Also, there is the filter function which helps people to easily find what they are looking for specifically. It also offers much convenience to customers as they can stay at home for shopping thought they say it would be better if the website offers free returning the products. Furthermore, one of the interviewees explains that “size would be the most disturbing problem with the leather shoes if we buy online, because leather footwear not as stretching and soft as trainers, and every single person has a different shape of foot.” A solution to this is given in the recommendation section of this project.

However, having returned products is always an issue to most of the brands that sell products online, it is unavoidable, companies should be aware of it and try to reduce the occurrence of having returned products. In this regard, one of the interviewees states that to “Fulfil customers’ require responding to their queries ASAP,” while another professional says that the company should “include all information as best as possible, cover all potential questions and be honest,” and yet another respondent recommends that the company should “learn from what strict customers review and satisfy their requirements, then, revise and improve on it. The most important thing is to be honest.” Moreover, for of the customers, they did not even know how the company deals with the returned items. According to a professional “It depends on the condition of the retuned items. If they are 100% fine, the products will be re-stocked again. Otherwise, if the items have been damaged, they would be charged from the customer’s credit card and the products would be shredded.”

As the economic in Taiwan is not going well so far, the business stays in small to fit the niche market as mentioned in the literature review. Moreover, according to the professionals announced that “apparently, in Taiwan, the market is growing but slightly. Taiwan used to be well-known with leather footwear manufacture, and used to be a huge importer of leather. Currently, it has decline year by year. Another interviewee who is from United Kingdom says that “the economic situation has had a diverse impact, slowing sales in Five years. People are buying safe.” Moreover, the market of the leather industry has a big change within five years, a profession illustrates that “In terms of leather industry, it has been shrinking in recent years, from the aspect of tannery and shoe factory, those are ongoing combine together, so far, it has reached to the peak, and following the circumstances of labour costs is being increasing, some companies focus on processing with low cost, low level and even low quality, those companies have gradually been eliminated. However, for some companies which is aiming to the direction of creating brand and high added-value, it would survive better so far. Of course, generally, it is not as good as before. For the reason is that in terms of shoe factory, labour costs occupied the large part of the total cost, it is around 3%-4%, for example, if a pair of shoes could earn £10, labour cost would be £3-£4. Labour cost is increasing follow by the location and time, as before, many people move to China, but shoe factory could not survive anymore, the company which offered low price, low quality has no longer existed. More and more people are moving to Cambodia, India and Pakistan, everything is turning over, also become a general trend.

Figure42. Sherman's Alley, (2016), TRADITIONAL SHOES: A PRIMER

Secondly, Innovative and high quality is a trend so far, even diversity, following the diversity of the customer, people expecting for different things. For example, some clients used to make only black and one shape of leather footwear, it could make ten or even hundreds thousands of it, but it is no longer work this way, some customers prefer different colours, diversity of shapes, and different way of design, because the cost has increased, diversity could increase the price and also profits. Moreover, innovative of management which including mechanize, automation and branding. Generally, it has become these way of operating business, traditional simplification has no longer existed, also customize and bespoke are also a trend.”

Hence, on the basis of survey, 62% of respondents tend to be purchase a pair of shoes with price from £170 to £200, which are the cheapest option of the amount in the survey, 24% of respondents tend to buy a pair of leather shoes with price form £200-£300, and 15% of them tend to buy a pair of leather shoes with price from £230-£270. As a result of this, most of people still take price as the priority option than quality. Whereas, from the interview to the interviewee who works in the footwear industry recommend that the best range of price is from £140-£300. However, it depends on the target audience who is the brand aiming at. According to one of the professional demonstrates that “A reasonable price for a new brand depends on the category target audience you are aiming at. When Building new brands, I work to and RRP per group Good [£35-£55] Better [£65 - £135] Best [£140 - £300]. Remember to benchmark you brand against others in the market place to set a good standard for the end consumer.” Also, the reply from another professional states that “It depends on the quality and service, also, on what target audience are you aiming to. I would say £150-£200 would be the best and reasonable price for a new brand.” In the contrary, as an opinion from another interviewee illustrates that “As a new brand, in my opinion, I would say start from at least £150, because you need to keep it high standard to make people think your quality of products are fine, do not set a really cheap price, which would always have associated to people with cheap quality.” Another profession states that “The definition of this is which reputation is not strong enough in the market, I would say the highest price to me is £80.” The interviewee also shows that the cost of the shoes “Actually, this will depend on how the company set the price in the market, for example, if the shoes priced at £300, the cost would be £30-£50, the price is always 6 times to ten times higher than cost.”

Figure43. EVERYDAYPEOPLESTORIES, (2014), GREATS All-New Luxury Offering with the Royale

Furthermore, when the business is started, the researcher should think about the cost of producing a pair of leather footwear and to see whether the business would like to gain small profits but rapid turnover or large profits on fewer sales. Nevertheless, as a new start-up business with unknown brand, it might takes time to get people involved and build the reputation to the brand, loyalty is always based on the strong and long term cooperation and interaction between the brand and the customers. To gain customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; trust, the first impression is always priority. Consequently, the researcher is required to know about how the customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; thoughts about new and unknown brand. Surprisingly, 56% of participants do trust unknown brand if the brand presents a professional and trustful lay out on the webpage and clear background and introduction of the brand.

Yet, 44% of respondents do not trust to the unknown brand, the reason could be there are more and more unknown website selling fake products, even Amazon, there is no guarantee that the product customer bought is real, without any trustful background or reputation, customer would not easily to purchase of its product. In addition, all the policy should be clearly clarified and announced, it enables consumer feel secure and safe when they purchase products from the brand. In the literature review has mentioned about how the shoes are made, necessarily, researcher should understand consumer’s preferences. Technically, shoes are made in two ways of benchgrade and handgrade, the most obvious way to distinguish the difference is to see if there are stitches shown on the shoe edge or not. In accordance with the information that the researcher gained from the survey demonstrates that 76% of respondents prefer benchgrade shoes, 24% of participants prefer handgrade, with which, people would associated to the quality of the shoes and also how hard they work on a pair of shoes. Besides, there are many shapes of leather shoes such as Chelsea boots, Oxford, Derby shoes, Loafer and Monk. Statically, 29% of consumers prefer Chelsea boots and 26% of them selected Oxford shoes, 21% of them stand for Derby shoes, 18% of them prefer Loafer shoes and 6% of people like Monk shoes. Significantly, Chelsea Boots and Oxford shoes would be the signature products to the researcher, rest of it could be potential products to the customer, for the reason is that all of it are not the trend of the footwear so far, they are either too leisure or too formal. As the brand is investigating how the bespoke leather footwear work sell via internet, it is considerable of making process and how long it might take to build a pair of customize shoes. Technically, according to the professional illustrates that “Made to order footwear can take from anywhere between 3 weeks to 10 weeks depending on if you are using existing components or creating the whole thing from scratch, and where you are making the shoes, and are based.” Also, another professional says that “Mechanically, it depends, if you are talking about the made to order footwear, the process might take 4-6weeks. If you are talking about ready to wear, it could even be finished in one day, by under the premise with we have all the materials in hand.” Another professional states that “it depends. An efficient shoe factory sample room can make one pair of shoes in one day, it’s easy to him cut stitch, stitch and last a pattern in just a few hours. However, if you don’t have the materials on hand or need printed logos, welded details or hardware it’s a totally different story.

For a new development sample that requires a new shoe pattern and outsole tooling a shoe designer can expect the process to take 4 to 6 weeks.” Whereas, from the aspect of survey, all the participants are willing to wait a pair of handmade leather footwear for ten days. However, as the experience of mine on purchased a pain of bespoke leather footwear from Undandy, it took 2 weeks to process the shoes, even though it took shorter than the interviewees of professional expected, but the quality of the product was not I expected, which does not mean high quality of shoes would take longer time of the process, but longer time of the process of producing could be the possibility of quality.

Then, when people buying leather footwear, what they are looking for is also including to see the leather is made by faux or genuine. In accordance with the information from the survey presents that 71% of respondents do care if it is made by faux or genuine, 29% of them do not care if it is faux leather, which associates that people prefer genuine, for the reason is that leather is a material with longevity and rare, also leather can shows a person’s life status. According to the interviewee demonstrates that “leather is longevity, and most of people think leather is equally means to expensive and status. However, according to another professional states that “I am not sure people are obsessed with leather.

Figure45. uptowndandy, (2013), A Conversation with Chay Cooper, Product Director at Alfred Sargent (Part One)

Figure44. ebay, (2016), Benchgrade 1920 Mens Leather Welted Lace Up Brogue Dealer Boots 7 8 9 10 11 12

Most Shoes now days are Synthetic materials.” Another interviewee clearly illustrates that “leather is a natural material, which provides comfort and breathable to the foot, after all, people like natural things. In terms of leather footwear, it must provides comfort and breathable which depends on the material. Indeed, leather is more durable. However, the source has limitation, but that is also the reason that why people like leather which with uniqueness. Assume that, from the aspect of synthetic leather, the quantity has no limitation, in the contrast, leather footwear which made by genuine leather could not produce as much quantity as made by synthetic leather, because, people have to wait for the animal growing up, and that is also the reason why people like leather.”

There are five UK brands in regards to the footwear, 76% of respondents recognized Clarks and Dr. Martens, 18% of them recognized Loake and Church’s and 12% of them recognized Grenson, which means that the strategy of Clarks and Dr. martens are well used globally, people from foreign country do feel familiar with those brands. A ‘brand’ could really influence a consumer’s behaviour, and for the reason shows by one of the interview says that “for example, Loakes, Once the Loakes had a chance to mold to the contours of my feet, they really did become a second skin. I found them equally as comfortable in normal use as my more expensive brands. The quality of construction is first rate and I see no reason to doubt the Loakes will last for many years. The Loake Bryant is an excellent stylish shoe that is well made and will last a long time if cared for correctly. Once broken in they are supremely comfortable, but my advice is to buy them in black.’’ Another interviewee deeply states that “As a brand, generally, a brand could provides well design. Technically, it offers more outstanding colour, shapes and appearance of leather footwear. Usually, leather footwear with a brand is more well designed than others. Moreover, a brand has its liability, such as liability of quality is also a reason that I would considered to purchase. The TQM (total quality management) is better than others.”

Furthermore, everything has its label shows where is it made from. Nowadays, the awareness of origin has increased, people do really care about where the products made from. On the basis of one of the question in the survey, 94% of respondents would look at where the product made from, and only 6% of respondents do not see the origin. Moreover, another question to the participants is if the label of product is “Made in Taiwan”, would you consider purchasing, significantly, 97% of people would consider to buy it, which means that “Made in Taiwan” is a symbol of trust worthy and secure, and also the quality insurance.

In the business point of view, in accordance with the reply by the professionals, the purchase decision would be influenced by the market such as Magazines, social media, and even bloggers, peers and friends, how the brand deeply rooted in someone’s mind would be a strategy for worth pondering. The comparison of four most popular social media platform between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even bloggers, according to the survey shows that 48% of respondents gain the information from Facebook, 45% of them gain information from Instagram and 6% of them gain information from Twitter. However, none of them gain information from Twitter, which associates that Twitter is not as popular as other social media platform in Taiwan. Facebook has increasingly used all over the countries, so, for the researcher, Facebook is huge opportunity of business which cannot be missed, then, Instagram which people share their lives to the public, it is also a second huge market that the brand cannot be lost. From the aspect of blog, it has huge influence to most of people nowadays, for the reason is that according to the Selfgrowth.com (2016) announced that “A common characteristic of blogs is that they are updated frequently. Most information found on a blog continues to 'evolve' due to frequent updating.

Syndicated news sites contain information that tends to 'stagnate' since updates are far and few in between, and being blogs are independent entities allows them to share their insights on the news and information they deliver. These insights can present the information in such a way that may encourage readers to consider certain perspectives they may have otherwise overlooked.” However, some people do not trust bloggers, for the reason is that “an unregulated blog platform can easily present information or news that leans heavily towards the authors' personal opinions or perspective. Too much subjectivity can easily distort the information being delivered decreasing its real value to the reader.” And also, “In a haste to 'rush' news inaccuracies happen. Being unregulated or unmonitored for news worthiness a certain expectation of unreliability does exist and therefore must be tolerated and expected.” Thus, in the light of survey, 53% of respondents trust bloggers’ comment and 47% of them do not trust the bloggers, which shows that bloggers are still influential to most of people.

Figure52. what man should wear, (2013), A Manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (should be) Wish List

Conclusion 65

For this report, it is mainly focus on how to create a new brand and start a new e-commerce business with leather footwear as an entrepreneur, it is necessarily to understand all knowledges and challenges might encounter before start the new business. Moreover, it will be a business which is extended by the researcherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s family business of leather processing factory, with this as a basis for the further extension to product line, the process of taking over family business is always an issue to most the family business. From the aspect of family business has become highly discussing topic all over the world. However, both disadvantages and advantages were included, the most serious issue to most of the family business is conflict and also the business might be disturbing by the family members. However, More and more people are working from their family business or taken over by the next generation, it is believable for a business to create an extra advantage as family, not only income but opportunity to the economic. Then, identity is a main point for an y fashion brand, it allows a brand to present a clear idea or what the company is selling to the customers, the elements of background including concept, ethos and principles of the brand is also a way to attract customers. Internally, the company is required to understand and know about itself, what are the values of the company, and also to distinguish its strength and weakness. Externally, the company is required to concern their products and services to the consumer, when both of internal and external are combined together, the brand is usually strong. In the literature review part of this project has roughly mentioned that how the shoes are made, to be an owner of the leather footwear company, it is necessarily to understand all the process of making shoes.

To analyse who are the main audience, where to sell and also what is the acceptable price as a startâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; up brand for the consumers by utilized marketing mix of 7P which including price, place, promotion, people, physical evidence and process, it offers a framework that can be utilized to manage marketing and consolidate it within a business context. Newer thinking believes that the consumer should be the priority of all the matter. As the project is firstly begins with e-commerce business, to understand to importance of social media is also an essential as a market researcher. All the information shown above illustrates that social media has widely used and high speed of spreading the information to all over the world. In terms of business, social media has already become and occupied a huge opportunity in the market, significantly, according to the survey, Facebook is the first of other social media platform, even though it is a competitive market, the management of the website and brand could be the chance breakthrough from the market.

Figure53. Ellen Hoffman, (2015), the best men's dress shoes for under $350

Recommendation

Figure53. Gianni Canali, (2012), FAMILY BUSINESS

Conflict is usually happened when the ownership is ready to pass to the heirs. In researcherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s case, how can the business give equal shares of the business to two children is an issue to the family. Moreover, who will run the business is also an issue to most of the family, it is always not easy to make everything equal. According to i4 business (2013) illustrates that to share the wealth equally between siblings is technically first priority to all the family business. Before passing the ownership to the heirs, they should have working experience at other companies as social experience, which is also important and essential to the next generation. As the project is aiming to build a new brand and manage a start-up business, one of the most important job as a business owner is to create brand awareness for the products. To ensure the products have visibility and accessibility to people, and also consider a variety of marketing strategies options. After start making sales, it is essential to ensure the quality of the products do not drop. Moreover, word-of-mouth is also a method to promote the brand without cost. there are many methods and ways to make the brand more accessible and visible. By iring a search engine optimization company to ensure that the website appears frequently in web search results.

Price Figure54. Hypebeast, (2014), Nick Wooster Departs Atrium

according to interview, it is recommended by interviewees who set the price for a new brand between £170~£300 depends on the quality of the products and service. Also, it is criteria of setting a reasonable and acceptable price by which target audience is the brand aiming to.

Place Assume that the project is aiming to sell products online without physical store, one of the biggest expenses for the small business is shipping cost. Thus, many entrepreneurs are finding ways to reduce it. It could begin with negotiate with multiple carries, from all companies such as Fedex and UPS have their price standard which based on the quantity, the more items it would be, it cheaper and lower price it would be. According to Jack Mitchell, president of PANCGroup says that “If Fedex know UPS is vying for your business, you’ve got something to negotiate.”

People it could be through your marketing, product quality or standard of service; what is crucially important is how you turn those customers into long-term, loyal consumers. According to Martin Taylor (2014) illustrates that in terms of customer service, manage the complaints from the customer can directly effect on the company’s level of consumer maintenance. No matter what the complaints are, how to sort out and deal with customer’s query would be directly influence whether they would back to the brand again. Normally, customers are more likely to remember the negative experiences than the positive one.

To ensure the agents who response for the customer service know everything about the brand, it would be more efficiency way to make a quick response to the customer and accurately. To keep the customer stays loyalty and long-term relationship should be follow the rule as mentioned above. Apparently, social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram has widely used by people, it could be vital tools in developing brand awareness. For the reason is that the social media is used by people for sharing their lives including their purchases and items they like. Naturally, when people see the products they like, people would share it to peers or paste the link to them, eventually, the brand awareness would be increased. An interviewee is researching and developing an application for footwear, the function of it could measure the fit of the shoes to customer’s foot. According to the primary research of questionnaire, one of the question is that what is the most problem to you of buying shoes online, and the response from most of the participants said that size is always the issue of buying footwear through online store. Thus, the application is developed to measure everyone’s foot as everyone has different types of foot.

As the project is focusing on bespoke leather footwear, the main problem should be solved is size, therefore, there is a data being calculated for the usual shape of feet, and utilize the sensor which install in insole and connected to the apps, so, for the manufacturer could easily calculate customerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feet and conduct fine tuning with the insole to fit everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s foot.

Figure55. asics, (2016), ASICS STORE TAIPEI introduction

Figure56. Evans, (2015), The Most Fashion Uncle Tells You What to Wear in This Autumn/Winter!

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27. whataboutharlequins, (2016), nick woster [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www. whataboutharlequins.com/fashion-trendsetters/nick-wooster/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 28. whataboutharlequins, (2016), nick woster [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www. whataboutharlequins.com/fashion-trendsetters/nick-wooster/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 29. colourful rebel, (2016), THE CLOSET | NICK WOOSTER [ONLINE]. Available at: http://blog. colourfulrebel.com/en/closet-nick-wooster/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 30. dreamstime, (2016), leather craft tools [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.dreamstime. com/photos-images/leather-craft-tools.html [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 31. TRECCANI, (2016), The Rise of Italian Leather Tanneries: Treccani Milano's Tie to the Best Leather Products [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.treccanimilano.com/blogs/ blog/44931649-the-rise-of-italian-leather-tanneries-treccani-milanos-tie-to-the-best-leatherproducts [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 32. Church's, (2016), Church's [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.church-footwear.com/ uploads/CHURCH_S_ADV_crop_sito_3.jpg [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 33. Just KVN, (2016), CUSTOMIZED LOAFERS FT. UNDANDY [ONLINE]. Available at:http:// justkvn.com/customized-loafers-ft-undandy/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 34. Tiago Cruz, (2015), SAPATOS A GOSTO [ONLINE]. Available at: http://trendalert.me/ sapatos-a-gosto/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 35. Greets Jon, (2016), SHOE GAME JOURNAL FEAT. UNDANDY [ONLINE]. Available at:http:// www.jonthegold.com/2016/05/shoe-game-journal-feat-undandy.html [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 36. Tiago Cruz, (2015), SAPATOS A GOSTO [ONLINE]. Available at: http://trendalert.me/ sapatos-a-gosto/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 37. The fashionisto, (2016), STEP BY STEP: JIMMY SEBASTIAN BY THOMAS VØRDING [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.thefashionisto.com/step-step-jimmy-sebastian-thomasvording/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 38. Greets Jon, (2016), SHOE GAME JOURNAL FEAT. UNDANDY [ONLINE]. Available at:http:// www.jonthegold.com/2016/05/shoe-game-journal-feat-undandy.html [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 39. Undandy, (2016), undandy – Handmade Shoes In 156 Million Unique Combinations [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.mnswr.com/undandy-handmade-shoes-156-millionunique-combinations/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 40. photo case, (2016), Making shoes manual [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.photocase. com/photos/1207017-making-shoes-manual-human-being-man-old-photocase-stock-photo [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 41. AIROWS, (2015), STYLE A STEERHIDE LEATHER MOTORCYCLE JACKET THAT AUTOMATICALLY MAKES YOU THE COOLEST GUY IN THE ROOM [ONLINE]. Available at: http://airows.com/style/a-steerhide-leather-motorcycle-jacket-that-automatically-makes-youthe-coolest-guy-in-the-room [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 78

42. Sherman's Alley, (2016), TRADITIONAL SHOES: A PRIMER [ONLINE]. Available at:http:// www.shermansalley.com/style/2016/5/27/traditional-shoes-a-primer [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 43. EVERYDAYPEOPLESTORIES, (2014), GREATS All-New Luxury Offering with the Royale [ONLINE]. Available at: http://everydaypeoplestories.com/blog/greats-all-new-luxury-offeringwith-the-royale/[Accessed 25 August 2016]. 44. ebay, (2016), Benchgrade 1920 Mens Leather Welted Lace Up Brogue Dealer Boots 7 8 9 10 11 12[ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Benchgrade-1920-Mens-LeatherWelted-Lace-Up-Brogue-Dealer-Boots-7-8-9-10-11-12-/271755783645 [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 45. uptowndandy, (2013), A Conversation with Chay Cooper, Product Director at Alfred Sargent (Part One)[ONLINE]. Available at: http://uptowndandy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/ a-conversation-with-chay-cooper-product.html [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 46. Sooraj Shah, (2015), Dr. Martens selects ‘value for money’ ShoreTel over Cisco, Avaya, Mitel [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/analysis/2393025/dr-martensselects-value-for-money-shoretel-over-cisco-avaya-mytel [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 47. gredicofootwear, (2015), Loake [ONLINE]. Available at: http://gredicofootwear.com/ project-6.html[Accessed 25 August 2016]. 48. Wikiwnad, (2016), Church's [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.wikiwand.com/it/Church's [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 49. Klekt, (2016), website [ONLINE]. Available at: https://www.klekt.in/sneaker/other-brands_1/ grenson-x-nick-wooster-nw2-crepe-sole-derby-shoe_i338693 [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 50. QE happy feet, (2013), Branded Footwear Online Store [ONLINE]. Available at: http://qehappyfeet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/clarks-england.html [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 51. what man should wear, (2013), A Man’s (should be) Wish List [ONLINE]. Available at:https://whatamanshouldwear.wordpress.com/2013/12/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 52. Ellen Hoffman, (2015), the best men's dress shoes for under $350 [ONLINE]. Available at:http://uk.businessinsider.com/mens-dress-shoes-under-350-dollars-2015-7?r=US&IR=T [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 53. Gianni Canali, (2012), FAMILY BUSINESS [ONLINE]. Available at:http://giannicanali.com/ portfolio/family-business-project-portrait-people/ [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 54. Hypebeast, (2014), Nick Wooster Departs Atrium [ONLINE]. Available at:https://hypebeast. com/2014/1/nick-wooster-departs-atrium [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 55. asics, (2016), ASICS STORE TAIPEI introduction [ONLINE]. Available at:http://www.asics. com.tw/runningblog/blog_detail.asp?id=18 [Accessed 25 August 2016]. 56. Evans, (2015), The Most Fashion Uncle Tells You What to Wear in This Autumn/Winter! [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.menfashionhub.com/p/the-most-fashion-uncle-tells-youwhat-to-wear-in-this-autumn-winter/ [Accessed 25 August 2016].

Appendix SWOT: Fanily Business

S: The strength of the family relationship is that no need to pay dividends to external shareholders and the avoidance of debt finance, it gives the business freedom to pursue low-risk, longevity and aimed at sustainability (GOV, 2014). The advantage of family ownership is self determination, the owner can decide what they what to do, when will they want to take a day off, there is no need to tell anyone else (GOV, 2014). Normally, family business would take over by at least next two generations being involved in the business in one way or another, the new generation will manage the business with current ideology. When a family businesses are able to encourage learning to a company philosophy, each generation can pass on their unique knowledge to each other, then the business is able to execute innovation and easily to stay ahead in the market (Christophe Bernard, 2014).

W: Family business sometimes feel that it is a duty to hire or promote family members only because of their relationship. However, the owner often neglects people who might better suited to the job. This could eliminate to the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s profits and cause the internal problem of the company (Markbusinessblog, 2013). Conflict is commonly happened in any firms, long-lasting fights and arguments could influence every single person in the firm, and also family members are involved, conflict could be more difficult to solve and could result in difficult endings (Reg Athwal, 2014).

O: Family business includes long-term stability, trust, loyalty and shared values. Families also tend to be more willing to make sacrifices for the sake of the business (Alexis Writing, 2016).

T: In family business, it is always personal, separating the emotions from the business is not easy, especially in manage directly a family member. It is difficult to gain the critical feedback from the family members (aboutmoney, 2016). There are two main reasons non-family employees will leave: limited growth opportunities and family conflict. Most employees want to advance within a company. Unfortunately, in most family businesses there are often limited opportunities for advancement, because family employees occupy all leadership positions within the company (aboutmoney, 2016).

Appendix SOWT:

Appendix Survey: Sales

Male

Female

Age

22-30

30-35

over

Do you have any experiences of purchasing footwear online?

Yes

If no, will you consider to purchase a pair of shoes through online store?

Yes

Do you prefer to purchase a product through online or physical store?

Physical store

Online stroe

What is the acceptable price for you to purchase a high quality leather shoes?

£170-£200

£200-£230

£230-£270

What ways of making shoes do you prefer?

Benchgrade

Handgrade

Sales

1st Qtr

2nd Qtr

3rd Qtr

4th Qtr

Do you care if it is faux leather?

Yes

Do you trust unknown brand?

Yes

If you spent £200 on a designer brand, how much would you like to pay for unknown brand with fine quality?

£75

£100

£150

When you purchase a fine leather shoes, will you look at where is it made from?

Yes

If the label of the products is â&#x20AC;&#x153;made in Taiwanâ&#x20AC;?, will you consider purchasing?

Yes

What types of leather shoes do you prefer?

Chelsea Boots

Oxford

Derby

Loafer

Monk

Where do you usually gain the information about a brand?

Facebook

instagram

Online bloggers

Twitter

Do you trust bloggers comments?

Yes

If it might takes 7days for a pair of leather handmade footwear, will you willing to wait?

Yes

Transcript: Interview with M. Date: 03/August/2016

Q1: As you are working in the footwear industry, have you purchased a pair of high price leather shoes? A1: Yes, around £350 with discount price, original price was £670 Q2: which brand did you purchase and how do you feel about it? is it worth it? A2: Saint Laurent, it is very comfortable and stylish, combine with all elements including style, comfort, quality, brand reputation and the price after discount, it is totally worth it. Q3: What factors make you make the purchase? style/brand/quality A3: Style is always the priority to me, and quality, the last is the brand. Q4: What is the reasonable price to you for a new brand? A4: It depends on the quality and service, also, on what target audience are you aiming to. I would say £150-£200 would be the best and reasonable price for a new brand. Q5: Do you think it is getting acceptable for people to embrace a new brand with leather shoes? A5: Yes, as we can see in Taiwan, is it getting more and more people who started new business and created their own business with leather shoes, and the brand usually emphasized “made in Taiwan”, eventually it would be more than now. Q6: What issue you might encounter when you buying online? A6: Size would be the most bothering problem to the leather shoes if we buy online, cause leather footwear is not as stretch and soft as trainers, and every single person has different shape of foot. Q7: How can you stop to get returned? A7: learn from what exact customer’s review and satisfied their requirement, then, revise and improve it. The most important thing is to be honest. Q8: If it is customizing products, do you know how do they deal with the return item? A8: No idea. 90

Q9: How long would it cost to make a pair of shoes? A9: Technically, it depends. If you are talking about the Made to order footwear, the process might take 4-6weeks. If you are talking about Ready to wear, it can even be finished in one day, by under the premise with we have all the materials on hand. Q10: What do you think the market of leather shoes so far? A10: with the economic has slightly decline in Taiwan, people would buy cheaper shoes rather than expensive with high quality one. Q11: How has the market changed within five years? A11: As mentioned above, with the economic situation people tend to save their money. Q12: Do you think people are influenced by market? i.e. Magazine, TV, Social media, bloggers, friends, peers A12: Yes, as social media help with widely spread the information. Q13: What do you think why people are so obsessed with leather? Cause it is rare and longevity? Or something you think that leather can stand for? A13: Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m not sure for the reason, but could be leather is longevity, and most of people think leather is equally means to expensive and status. Q14: What leather shoes means to you? High status? Stylish? A14: Depends on the style. For example, monk could be wearing in formal occasion, Chelsea boots could be wearing with stylish and leisure. Leather shoes to me can be show a personâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s status, thoughts and personality. Q15: What equipment do you need to make leather shoes? A15: Lots of machinery. It is hard to explain by words. Q16: Do people care the quality? Would they willing to pay more if it is high quality? A16: People do care the quality and they would pay more for it. Q17: What occasions do people wear leather shoes nowadays? A17: Nowadays, leather shoes are getting more acceptable for people to wear in any occasions.

Interview with N. date: 04/August/2016 Q1: As you are working in the footwear industry, have you purchased a pair of high price leather shoes? A1: Yes Q2: which brand did you purchase and how do you feel about it? is it worth it? A2: Paul Smith, the shoes were very comfortable for the beginning, and of course very stylish to suit most of my outfit choices. Vet worth the money. Q3: What factors make you make the purchase? style/brand/quality A3: style Q4: What is the reasonable price to you for a new brand? A4: A reasonable price for a new brand depends on the category target audience you are aiming at. When Building new brands, I work to and RRP per group Good [£35-£55] Better [£65 - £135] Best [£140 - £300]. Remember to benchmark you brand against others in the market place to set a good standard for the end consumer. Q5: Do you think it is getting acceptable for people to embrace a new brand with leather shoes? A5: Yes. Q6: What issue you might encounter when you buying online? A6: Sizing. Q7: How can you stop to get returned? A7: include all information as best as possible, cover all potential questions and be honest. Q8: If it is customizing products, do you know how do they deal with the return item? A8: tough question.

Q9: How long would it cost to make a pair of shoes? A9: Made to order footwear can take from anywhere between 3 weeks to 10 weeks depending on if you are using existing components or creating the whole thing from scratch â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and where you arte making the shoes, and are based. Q10: What do you think the market of leather shoes so far? A10: footwear market is slow. Q11: How has the market changed within five years? A11: the economic situation has had a diverse impact, slowing sales. People are buying safe. Q12: Do you think people are influenced by market? i.e. Magazine, TV, Social media, bloggers, friends, peers A12: Absolutely. Q13: What do you think why people are so obsessed with leather? Cause it is rare and longevity? Or something you think that leather can stand for? A13: I am not sure people are Obsessed with leather. Most Shoes now days are Synthetic materials. Q14: What leather shoes means to you? High status? Stylish? A14: Depends on the style. Q15: What equipment do you need to make leather shoes? A15: Lots of machinery. If you are thinking of making Goodyear welted leather brogues, then this takes around 365 stages of making process. Q16: Do people care the quality? Would they willing to pay more if it is high quality? A16: I think people will pay more for Quality, equally if it costs more then people expect good quality. Q17: What occasions do people wear leather shoes nowadays? A17: Any.

Interview with L. date: 04/August/2016 Q1. As you are working in the footwear industry, have you purchased a pair of high price leather shoes? A1. yes Q2. which brand did you purchase and how do you feel about it? is it worth it? A3. Loakes, Once the Loakes had a chance to mould to the contours of my feet, they really did become a second skin. I found them equally as comfortable in normal use as my more expensive brands. The quality of construction is first rate and I see no reason to doubt the Loakes will last for many years. The Loake Bryant is an excellent stylish shoe that is well made and will last a long time if cared for correctly. Once broken in they are supremely comfortable, but my advice is to buy them in black. Q3. What factors make you make the purchase? style/brand/quality A3. I would always look up the style first and then quality, brand is not really a matter to me, quality and style are much more than a brand. A brand to me is just something that we can show off. Q4. What is the reasonable price to you for a new brand? A4. As a new brand, in my opinion, I would say start from at least £150, because you need to keep it high standard to make people think your quality of products are fine, do not set a really cheap price, which would always associated to people with cheap quality. Q5. Do you think it is getting acceptable for people to embrace a new brand with leather shoes? A5. Yes, in Taiwan, there are more and more young generation of entrepreneur creating their own small business, including shoes, clothes and food. Q6. What issue you might encounter when you buying online? A6. When I purchasing products online, from the aspect of footwear, size is always the problem for most of the customers. Even, some of online store they do not have free return policy while the customer nowadays is expecting and look forward to the service. Q7. How can you stop to get returned? A7. Fulfil customers’ requirement, and response to their query ASAP. be re-stock again. Otherwise, if the items have been damaged, it would charge from the customer’s credit and the product would be shredded.

Q8. If it is customize products, do you know how do they deal with the return item? A8. It depends on the condition of the retuned items. If it is 100% fine, the product will be re-stock again. Otherwise, if the items have been damaged, it would charge from the customer’s credit and the product would be shredded. Q9. How long would it cost to make a pair of shoes? A9 it depends. An efficient shoe factory sample room can make one pair of shoes in one day, it’s easy to him cut stitch, stitch and last a pattern in just a few hours. However, if you don’t have the materials on hand or need printed logos, welded details or hardware it’s a totally different story. For a new development sample that requires a new shoe pattern and outsole tooling a shoe designer can expect the process to take 4 to 6 weeks. Q10. What do you think the market of leather shoes so far? A10. apparently, in Taiwan, the market is growing but slightly. Q11. How has the market changed within five years? Taiwan used to be well-known with leather footwear manufacture, and used to be a huge importer of leather. Currently, it has decline year by year. Q12. Do you think people are influenced by market? i.e. Magazine, TV, Social media, bloggers, friends, peers A12. Yes. Q13. What do you think why people are so obsessed with leather? Cause it is rare and longevity? Or something you think that leather can stand for? A13. A piece of leather masterpiece could stand for longevity, also shows the status. Q14. What leather shoes means to you? High status? Stylish? A14. It could be stylish and shows the status. Q15. What equipment do you need to make leather shoes? A15. a lot. It’s hard to specifically mentioned of each Q16. Do people care the quality? Would they willing to pay more if it is high quality? A16. as my experiences., people do willing to pay more for the quality, people do care the longevity. Q17. What occasions do people wear leather shoes nowadays? A17. Any.

Interview with C. date: 15/August/2016

Q1. As you work in leather industry, what do you think that what people are obsessed with leather? A1. Firstly, leather is a natural material, which provides comfort and breathable to the foot, after all, people like natural things. In terms of leather footwear, it must provides comfort and breathable which depends on the material. Indeed, leather is more durable. However, the source has limitation, but that is also the reason that why people like leather which with uniqueness. Assume that, from the aspect of synthetic leather, the quantity has no limitation, in the contrast, leather footwear which made by genuine leather could not produce as much quantity as made by synthetic leather, because, people have to wait for the animal growing up, and that is also the reason why people like leather. Q2. Have you ever purchase a pair of high value of leather footwear? A2. Yes, I had, from Italy. Q3. Is it worth it? A3. Yes it is Q4. What thoughts does a brand brings to you? A4. As a brand, generally, a brand could provides well design. Technically, it offers more outstanding colour, shapes and appearance of leather footwear. Usually, leather footwear with a brand is more well designed than others. Moreover, a brand has its liability, such as liability of quality is also a reason that I would considered to purchase. The TQM (total quality management) is better than others. Q5. What elements make you consider to purchase a pair of leather footwear? A5. Colour is the priority option to me, then comfort and the design. Q6. What is the acceptable price to you as a new brand or unknown brand? A6. The definition of this is which reputation is not strong enough in the market, I would say the highest price to me is ÂŁ80. Q7. In Taipei, there are more and more entrepreneur came out with their brand, do you think it is getting acceptable to Taiwanese people? A7. For these new Taiwanese brand, the acceptance is even higher than before.

Q8. How much does it cost to make a pair of shoes? A8. Actually, this will depend on how the company set the price in the market, for example, if the shoes priced at £300, the cost would be £30-£50, the price is always 6 times to ten times higher than cost. Q9. How much funds do I need for the machine to make footwear? A9. Firstly, it depends on the scale of the company and the level of the machine, the price of the imported brand and Taiwanese brand are extremely different, so it is hard to say. Q10. What do you think the market in leather industry has changed in five years? A10. In terms of leather industry, it has been shrinking in recent years, from the aspect of tannery and shoe factory, those are ongoing combine together, so far, it has reached to the peak, and following the circumstances of labour costs is being increasing, some companies focus on processing with low cost, low level and even low quality, those companies have gradually been eliminated. However, for some companies which is aiming to the direction of creating brand and high added-value, it would survive better so far. Of course, generally, it is not as good as before. For the reason is that in terms of shoe factory, labour costs occupied the large part of the total cost, it is around 3%-4%, for example, if a pair of shoes could earn £10, labour cost would be £3-£4. Labour cost is increasing follow by the location and time, as before, many people move to China, but shoe factory could not survive anymore, the company which offered low price, low quality has no longer existed. More and more people are moving to Cambodia, India and Pakistan, everything is turning over, also become a general trend. Secondly, Innovative and high quality is a trend so far, even diversity, following the diversity of the customer, people expecting for different things. For example, some clients used to make only black and one shape of leather footwear, it could make ten or even hundreds thousands of it, but it is no longer work this way, some customers prefer different colours, diversity of shapes, and different way of design, because the cost has increased, diversity could increase the price and also profits. Moreover, innovative of management which including mechanize, automation and branding. Generally, it has become these way of operating business, traditional simplification has no longer existed, also customize and bespoke are also a trend .

Consent Form:

100

101

Ethical Clearance:

102

103

104