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the university of manchester business project mats34540 individul business portfolio jia wen huang 9821521 word count:3445 2
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table of
contents: 1: one
2: two
1.0 The Portfolio 1.1 The Brand
2.0 The Business Project and My Skills
3: three
4: four
3.0 Key Skills 3.1 Teamwork Skills 3.2 Self-Reliance Skills 3.3 Leadership Skills
4.0 Future Development Strategy 4.1 The Business Life Cycle 4.2 External Analysis 4.3 Internal Analysis 4.4 Strategic Choice 4.5 Corporate Social Responsibility
Introduction
Key Skills
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Business Project
Future Develoment
5:five Range Plan Development
6: six
Conclusion 6.0
5.0 Range Plan Develoment 5.1 Lookbook
7: seven References
8: eight Appendix
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mission
statement
‘Building a community for youth to better share their ideas and understand themsleves - As a team of entrepreneurs, we aim to make lifestyle fashion choices available, attractive and affordable to the younger generation. The collections embodies interests, attitude and opinion for today’s fashion industry’.
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vision
statement
‘Throughout our business, we aim to grow with our customers, enlighten them with positive attitudes and encouragement wherever we can.’
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1.0 The Portfolio
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The purpose of this portfolio is to compose evidence of the skills I’ve developed throughout the course of participating the Business Project. The intention is to demonstrates the continuing acquisition of skills, knowledge, attitudes, understanding and achievements in both retrospective and prospective, as well as reflecting the current stage of personal development and activity of the business (Brown, 1995). It will propose a critical evaluation of my previous skills in contrast with the skills I have cultivated through the experience of commencing my business. Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984) will be applied to enhance the understanding of my own progression and strategically reflect upon how these skills and experiences contributed to my overall personal development from the Business Project. Furthermore, the portfolio will highlight the potential key areas of BlurredLine’s future direction with application of academic theories.
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1.1 The Brand
BlurredLine is a small start-up lifestyle brand based on embracing simplicity, which has minimalistic and contemporary sensibility driven in the products. The brand is established by a group of young entrepreneurs who are enthused to offer millennial high quality staple products at a relatively affordable price. During the launch of the first collection, the brand was inspired to incorporate influential understanding of neutralising gender roles and exhibiting androgynous contemporary fashion that resonate with both young men and women. The occurrence of the first collection demonstrated an astonishing success in-which the t-shirts were sold out through the launch event happened in the Christmas Market. Thus, to bring appreciation to the success, BlurredLine introduced a new pull-and-tab wallet in April to focus on the mechanism of ‘making lifestyle choices available at an affordable price for the younger generation’. With our current resources and capabilities, it is important to stress BlurredLine’s ability to exploit its competences to possess and sustain competitive advantage (Barney, 1997). Correspondingly, we are currently looking to explore into the different market with the pursuit of future development to continually drive motivational prospects for BlurredLine to strive success, while the strategic decisions will be examined in this portfolio (Mackay, 2007).
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Jia Wen Huang Commercial Director Fashion Buying & Merchandising
Yiyi Li Financial Director Fashion Management
Shuyun Yang Managing Director Fashion Management
Min Jung Cho Sales Director Fashion Management
Xizhen Sun Marketing Research Director Fashion Management
Kezheng Xu Marketing Director Fashion Management
[Figure 1: The managment team of BlurredLine] 11
2.0 The Business Project & My Skills
As Kolb and Kolb (2005) stated, ‘learning is a holistic process of adaptation to the world’, this suggests that the process of learning involves thinking, feeling, perceiving and behaving. Speculating upon this, the reason I participated in the Business Project was to accumulate the real meaning to the theoretical concepts encountered throughout the course of my degree programme, Fashion Buying and Merchandising. Furthermore, Pang and Hung (2012) examined that due to the fast-changing environment and increasing market competition, students are required to have more than academic knowledge, as well as possession of personal skills. Comprehensively, from not having a placement year in the industry, I feel the creativity of establishing a new brand constitutes opportunities of a work-based learning and vocational training of the practical aspects of my academic studies to attain a competitive edge in the effort to bear competition for scarce job positions after graduation (Shaw, 2012). 12
Consequently, when concerning about the functional roles of the business, I was incline towards the role of regulating the commercial part of BlurredLine as I felt it was appropriate to perform in this area compared to the rest of the group (figure 1) who are studying Fashion Management. However, in the current economic climate, employers demand on an expanded skills set to underpin the systemic innovation required for business competitiveness (Collet, 2015). Starting up a business obligates a shift from being an individual contributor to focusing on the oversight of strategic decisions (Grubb, 2016). The surroundings of different experiences and skills could adequately fulfil the employability skills gap to help build and facilitate business operations (O’Connor, 2014). Taking that abroad, to gain a greater grasp of my personal skills, the Dreyfus skills acquisition model (2004), presented in figure 2 has been adopted to accumulate and process skills into the larger extent of the experience.
Dreyfus Skills Acquisition Model (2004) -
[Figure 2: The Dreyfus Skills Acqusition Model]
Fundamentally, the interpretation of the table evidently identifies the core improvement of my skills development after pursuing the business project. Additionally, authorities have emphasised the need for graduates to offer more skills and abilities, than solely associated with their academic studies (Davies, 2000). Reflecting upon the statement, teamwork, self-reliance and leadership skills has been highlighted to be ‘proficient’, in-which signifies the contrast between my academic discipline as the procurement of ‘proficient’ exemplifies that ‘individuals who use intuition in decision making and developing their own rules to formulate plans’ (Peña, 2010). To further conceptualise a critical evaluation of my personal skills, the Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984) has been established to accentuate the utilisation of developing skills through the basis of learning. Essentially, personal skills development is considered to be a crucial aspect of career success as Nabi and Bagley (1999) presented that it is believed to have appreciation for entering the work force.
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Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984) of the Key Skills Developed –
[Figure 3: Skills reflected on Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984)] Despite the fundamental skills presented through Kolb’s Learning Cycle (1984) are sophisticated in short period of time, it encourages myself as a process of cultivating a shared language between employee and employer around the value and application of skills in the industry (Holmes, 2001). Also, expanding the opportunities for myself to practice skills with support and guidance that encourages and informs constructive reflection to succeed in today’s business world (Drummond et al, 1998).
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3.0 Key Skills
3.1 Teamwork Skills: The term ‘teamwork’ aims to provide emphasis on both individual and the team’s input for work processes in-which aspires to break down barriers and obstacles among individuals and staff functions (Evans and Lindsey, 2005). Prior to the project, I would consider myself to have an acceptable background of teamwork from previous employment and other academic studies, but conceiving the business has significantly impacted my confidence in approaching a diverse team of individuals (figure 1). Simultaneously, it indicates the appreciation of a common valued organisational goal and tasks being performed with team member’s complementary and interdependent skills to create accountable methods, resources and outcomes (Kluge, 2014). Accordingly, through the establishment of our brand, I assisted the marketing director to constitute our social media networks before the Christmas Market to build upon the brand’s recognition to attract our potential consumers. In order to ensure a collaboratively 16
engagement, I took upon the task in constructing multiple networks, while marketing director designed promotion posters to advertise the launch of the brand. Altogether, as a team we were able to formulate a successful Christmas Market popup store with acknowledgement of individuals’ motivation factors to strive an effective strategic direction to achieve accomplishment. Additionally, the team’s activities empowered myself to distinguish the enhancement of my communication skills through continual group meetings and the procurement of presentations. According to Kanter (1994), open and prompt communication among members is believed to indicate the characteristic of trusting relationship to signify collaboration; thus constructing myself to acquire social and interpersonal skills to reflect on future workplace’s diverse environment. Essentially, interpreting from research, obtaining communication skills (people-oriented) is rated as the most highly valued
skill in employment as it compliments both internal and external forces of the business (Bennett, 2002). Taking that into account, Kanter (1994) further explained that the strongest and closest collaborations are value-chain partnership, as a commercial director internal communication is vital to negotiate with different suppliers to sustain a favourable deal for the production of our products (Goworek, 2001). As a small starting up business, I had inconsiderable power over suppliers to demand for a better outcome, but undergoing the process of negotiation ameliorated my utilisation of face-to-face discussions, writing and emailing several suppliers to optimise the cost price. Furthermore, external communication includes my engagement with other directors and lecturers, which has significantly made me more confident and enthusiastic in approaching diverse individuals that I could proudly translate into future career.
3.2 Self - Reliance Skills:
As Siadaty et al (2015) purposed that due to the rapid changes in today’s knowledge-driven society, individuals need to compose a diverse range of competences and abilities to adapt to working in the newly structured dynamic environment. Likewise, Carneiro et al (2007) recognises this as the essential acquisition of self-reliance skill to regulate in contemporary workplaces. The skill brings effort to determinate personal strengths and weaknesses, and comprehends an individual strategic approach to evaluate on the accuracy of solutions to problems (Zimmerman, 2002). Resonating from the project, the utilisation of self-reliance merely retrieved from completing the commercial part of the business on time. During semester one, all directors had to complete individual business plans couple days before the deadline to ensure each directors’ parts connected to the assignment as a whole. Thus, I feel this was the one skill that I notably im-
proved on as personal time management was crucial, manipulating multiple deadlines aided myself to develop a comprehensive reliance of my time management. Substantially, the attainment of this skill supported my development of differentiating the highest priorities, thus more is done in less time; balancing collective tasks at the same time (Thomack. 2012). At same time, I cultivated contemporary practice from taking independent decisions upon negotiating with different suppliers and relying on my individual successful learning activities as guidance to achieve an overall beneficial relationship with the supplier (Siadaty et al, 2015). To give an example, since the first collection was sold out, I was given the task to reorder 30 units to before the Degree Show. From maintaining a favourable relationship with the previous supplier through establishing adequate lead times and an ongoing efficient communication has profited BlurredLine to acquire 10% off the product cost. 17
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3.3 Leadership Skills:
When considering about leadership, it gathers attention of one individual to influencing a group of others to accomplish a common goal; ‘common’ exemplifies a mutual purpose within the group (Northouse, 2013). Effective leaders’ entity with individual to transforms scientific and technological information into new products and processes. Essentially, leadership implements visions of successful innovation and intellectual stimulation to enhance creativity to push through the market (Waldman et al, 2009). Prior to the discussion on skills development, leadership is predominantly the skill I lacked excessively as I infrequently took upon authoritative decisions from previous experiences due to my exiguous personal confidence level. Using Tannenbaum and Schmidt’s (1973) continuum of leadership styles, appendix 2 illustrates my previous leadership position to be ‘subordinate-centre’, emphasising a large arena of being influenced by others rather than relying on personal influential judgment. Additionally, the analysis of the Belbin
test results (appendix 1) signifies my role to be a ‘resource investigator’, in-which Belbin (2010) stated that ‘when a problem occurs, they’re more likely to arise by being blundered innocently than through set-piece clashes’. Emphasising the element of picking up other people’s ideas and developing them, rather than expressing original conception.
time I utilised my initiative to help managing director to allocate independent tasks for each director to encourage a motivational contribution to launch the business within a timeframe. Participating in the business project enhanced my learning environment to be more realistic and the occurrence of relevant problems has improved my abilities to learn how to lead and manage complex situations Simultaneously, commencing the (Siewiorek et al, 2012). Leadership module has enabled myself to deepen my leadership Drummond (1998) interpreted skills through volunteering at dif- that ‘work placement or workferent organisations. However, the based projects are seen by employinvolvement of leadership was in- ers as the best way to develop stuconsequential and the activities dents’ employment-related skills’. did not help broaden my knowl- Reflecting upon this, the business edge around the skill acquisition. project expanded my opportunities Contrastingly, during the business to accentuate and practice transferproject I strengthened my cour- rable skills to a larger extent with a age to utilise leadership skill to wide range of different contexts to move the business forward when signify the involvement of a ‘real’ the group was having difficult time working environment. Overall, the assigning authorities to each direc- comprehensive acquisition of skills tor. This corresponds to Belbin’s has intensified my capabilities and (2012) statement of ‘situational competencies to bear job positions factors may call for the modifica- in the extreme competitive envition of leadership roles’, during that ronment. 19
4.0 Future Development Strategy
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4.1 The Business Life Cycle
[Figure 4: The Business Life Cycle - BlurredLine’s Position] Figure 4 illustrates BlurredLine’s current progression in terms of business growth. Theoretically, the business life cycle demonstrates BlurredLine’s position to be at stage 2, emphasising the brand is formulising growth, structure and in progress of sustaining competitive ability (Rudina, 2013). In conjunction to the business life cycle, during this stage, BlurredLine aims to drive forward to display a different trend towards growth and evolution for the next stage.
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[Figure 5: The market analysis of BlurredLine’s first collection] As Kumar and Phrommathed (2005) purposed that profit-seeking organisations function in the dynamic environment in order to accumulate profit, satisfy stakeholder, and survive in the excessively competitive business industry. To pursue a successful product development strategy, BlurredLine must understand the nature of competitive structure through the assessment of its own competitive identity and external activities to formulate an advantageous strategic direction (Zanoni, 2012). However, first BlurredLine undertook a secondary research to assess and pinpoint the profitable market opportunities from the first collection (Cross, 2000). Simultaneously, figure 5 constitutes a distinctive comparison between females (83%) and males (17%) who have brought the t-shirts, emphasising the dominant womenswear market BlurredLine should invest into for the approaching development. Additionally, prior to the element of market research, Patino et al (2012) purposed that it is one of the most valuable services for measuring the pulse of the industry and evaluating current standards and practices. Speculating upon this, primary market research (appendix 5) has been designed to collectively evaluate BlurredLine’s target market and provide evidence for the upcoming discussion of product development.
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4.2 External Analysis:
Furthermore, in order to envision the external opportunities and threats, a PEST analysis has been created to procure comprehensive influence on the possible success or failure of particular strategies (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2011). Interpreting from appendix 3, ethical concerns pressure BlurredLine to evolve around sustainability as millennials are demanding retailers to become eco-friendlier with their actions, as well as the comparable interest for sustainable clothing exemplified in appendix 5. Accordingly, to combat the impactful threat, social opportunities instigate BlurredLine to formulate a capsule collection that contributes clothing with versatility and comfort as 28% consumers are moving away from the latest trends to investing more into timeless styles (Mintel, 2010). Drapers (2018c) further examined the opportunity as it states the preference for versatile results from the economic uncertainty in the UK; consumers’ purchases will continue to be more considerate with emphasis on buying investment pieces. While, the market research (appendix 5) demonstrates a distinctive correlation of 87% would be interested
in versatile clothing compared to 14%. To seize the depreciation of impulse-buying, BlurredLine aims to establish capsule collection to influence people to become more responsible and sustainable with the items they purchase. The dedication behind this concept explicit BlurredLine’s statement of mission to building a community to emphasis a shared interest and attitude towards today’s environment, signifying the quotation of ‘little things make a big difference’. Respectively, the idea behind the capsule collection will consist of six versatile essential pieces that can be worn multiple ways to encourage consumers to mix and match pieces to create a month’s worth of outfits. From the market research (appendix 5), 40% of consumers purchase clothing item weekly compared to 29.57% monthly, indicating the habit of BlurredLine’s consumer to be less sustainable due to the frequent purchases of clothing items. Hence, the expression of multi-purpose clothing aims to empower consumers to buy less to advocate waste reduction in the fashion industry.
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4.3 Internal Analysis: BlurredLine’s strategic capabilities contributes to its long-term competitive advantage, essentially to examines the organisation’s resources and capabilities, a VRIO framework (appendix 4) has been generated to identify how these assets are used or deployed effectively (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2011). While, large corporations obtaining immense bundle of knowledge and capabilities, BlurredLine’s major successful source of competitive advantage is its in-house design workshops. By strategically optimising design workshops rather than sourcing from artist signifies the core element of flexibility and differentiation with its contrary personalised element. Substantially, the capsule collection requires an in-depth production of designs and silhouettes due to the complexity of versatile clothing; in accordance, BlurredLine distinctively secures control over these components to leverage into the greater environment with the best overall quality. Besides, the friendship among the directors will facilitate BlurredLine to efficiently coordinate, share and integrate relevant information across functions to aid positive attributes of the strategy (Chung et al, 2018).
4.4 Strategic Choice: Strategic choice strictly concerns organisations to cooperate with a competitive strategy, in-which dominantly focuses on achieving competitive edge in its core activities (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2001). Comprehensively, Porter’ (1985) generic strategy theory believes organisations creates value proposition through the establishment of one of the three generic strategies. However, due to the dynamic of the fast-changing environment, Kim and Mauborgne’s (2005) value innovation considers the simultaneous pursuit of both strategies as its aspires to making competition irrelevant by changing the playing field of strategy. Simultaneously, the adoption 28
of a ‘hybrid strategy’ will encourage BlurredLine to operate within an emergent and mature market. Interpreting from the SWOT analysis (appendix 6), the proposition of low-cost comprehends from securing control over the design aspect of the collection and sourcing locally will enable BlurredLine to reduce transportation cost and the uncertainty of tariffs due to UK’s referendum. While, differentiation signifies the component of versatility as WGSN (2018) details the trend to be offering a flattering update to tops, dresses and knitwear across the season. Contrastingly, Lapersonne et al (2017) explained the direction of this strategy propose additional ambivalence, in-
stitutional voids and hypercompetition. However, encountering BlurredLine’s current capabilities, the brand aspires to invest within the innovation market to construct a demand for versatile clothing and converting the fundamental message of sustainability to millennials. Furthermore, BlurredLine will eventually establish a stronger market strategy through the analysis of Ansoff ’s (1957) diversification strategy to elaborate into the related product categories of a lifestyle brand. Ultimately, the expansion will enable BlurredLine to obtain a new customer base as well as strengthening its market share.
4.5 Corporate Social Responsibility: The commitment of BlurredLine’s new strategy dominantly reflects on corporate social responsibility (CSR) as the brand concerns the mechanism of assessing the impact of social responsibility, ethical policies, local community and the current environment. Annotating from Mintel (2016b), H&M has emerged as a leader in fashion and sustainability in the recent years. The brand is able to lead sustainability through their establishment of Conscious Collection and the appreciation of manufacturing sustainable materials and strict demand for suppliers to follow social and environmental regulations to advocate code of conduct. Notably, BlurredLine aims to pursuit a similar transparent supply chain management through manufacturing from local communities to support and stabilise the economical state within the UK. The ambition of the capsule collection comprises of either recycled or sustainably sourced materials to underline the element of being responsible in every aspect of
the business. However, critics purposed that CSR is employed to distract the public from ethical problems penetrated by the same corporation (Khamah et al, 2015). Hence, CSR promotes ambivalence to whether or not companies have committed to the true authenticity of sustainable strategies. To comprehend, Kapoor and Sandhu (2010) stated for organisations to conduct in a responsible manner, accountability and transparency are key to strive trust from public welfare. Concurrently, to dilute the controversy of CSR, BlurredLine aims to partner with the university’s non-profit café, Milk&Honey, donating 10% of profit to the organisation to help their day-to-day expenses. Correspondingly, Saeidi et al (2015) researched that the ‘socially responsible companies had stronger economic results’, indicating a potential improvement of BlurredLine’s performance of reputation and competitive advantage through customer satisfaction after commencing CSR.
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5.0 Range Plan Development
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5.1 Lookbook from Range Plan
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6.0 Conclusion
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6.0 Strategic Evaluation:
To address the evaluation of the strategic direction and choices, BlurredLine followed Johnson and Scholes’ strategic choice model to theoretically conclude the analysis of the decisions. The assessment of suitability dominantly relies on the opportunities and constraints BlurredLine will face; essentially, the PEST framework (appendix 3) significantly displayed the social opportunities for BlurredLine to seize the cultural demand of versatility. In conjunction to versatile, Mintel (2017c) subsequently reported that across the fashion industry, there has been a shift for unique designs comparing to only 8% wanting trendled pieces. Thus, the procurement of BlurredLine’s product development signifies the fulfilment of this gap within the market. While, the feasibility is aligned with BlurredLine’s current capabilities and resources
to flexibly construct unique designs on versatile pieces to supply to the demanding market. With its core inhouse design element, BlurredLine are able to manipulate and adjust accordingly to stress success for the strategy. Distinctively, the major concerns rely on the acceptability as it proposes the requirements to meet the expected outcomes (Johnson, Scholes and Whittington, 2011). BlurredLine operates as a small business which suggests being highly problematic due the notion of its diversity and the variety of factors influencing compliance behaviours (Mitchell, 1997). However, concerning to BlurredLine’s success of its first collection, the brand aids to overcome threats with its surplus profit margin and the strategy is desirable to stakeholders to amplify the business forward to sustain recognition and profitability. 39
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7.0 References
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References: Ansoff, H.I (1957) – Strategies for diversification. Harvard business review, 35(5), pp. 113-124 Anthony Patino, Dennis A. Pitta, Ralph Quinones - (2012) “Social media’s emerging importance in market research”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 29 Issue: 3, pp.233-237, https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761211221800 Barney, J.B. (1997), “Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage”, Journal of Belbin, R.M (2010) - Management Teams; Why do they succeed or fail. Amsterdam: ButterworthBelbin, R.M (2012) - Team Roles at Work. 2nd ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Bennett, R (2002) - Employers’ Demands for Personal Transferable Skills in Graduates: a content analysis of 1000 job advertisements and an associated empirical study, Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 54:4, 457-476, DOI: 10.1080/13636820200200209 Brown, B (1995) – Portfoli development and profling (2nd ed) Qua publications. Lancaster. Butler, D (2014) – Business planning for new ventures: a guide for start-up and new innovations. Taylor and Francis group publisher. Collect et al (2015) - Chris Collet, Damian Hine, Karen du Plessis, (2015) “Employability skills: perspectives from a knowledge-intensive industry”, Education + Training, Vol. 57 Issue: 5, pp.532-559, https://doi. org/10.1108/ET-07-2014-0076 Cross (2000) – The importance of market research. Feb 2000; 72, 2; ProQuest pg. 97 Davies (2000) - Lloyd Davies, (2000) “Why kick the “L” out of “LEarning”? The development of students’ employability skills through part‐time working”, Education + Training, Vol. 42 Issue: 8, pp.436-445, https://doi. org/10.1108/00400910010379961 Drapers (2018a) – Clock ticking on Brexit as retailers seek answers. Written by Manfreda Cavazza. Available at: https://www.drapersonline.com/business-operations/clock-ticking-on-brexit-as-retailers-seek-answers/7029290.article?search=https%3a%2f%2fwww.drapersonline.com%2fsearcharticles%3fparametrics%3d%26keywords%3dbrexit%26PageSize%3d10%26cmd%3dGoToPage%26val%3d2%26SortOrder%3d1 Drapers (2018b) – Consumer confidence recovers slightly. Written by Pui-Guan Man. Available at: https://www. drapersonline.com/news/consumer-confidence-recovers-slightly/7028845.article?search=https%3a%2f%2fwww.drapersonline.com%2fsearcharticles%3fparametrics%3d%26keywords%3dconsumer+confidence%26PageSize%3d10%26cmd%3dGoToPage%26val%3d3%26SortOrder%3d1 Drapers (2018c) – The brave new world of womenswear. Written by Alice Sholl. Available at: https://www. drapersonline.com/product-and-trade-shows/the-brave-new-world-of-womenswear/7028785.article?search=https%3a%2f%2fwww.drapersonline.com%2fsearcharticles%3fkeywords%3dversatility+clothing Dreyfus, S (2004) – The five stage model of adult skill acquisition. University of California, Berkely. Drummond et al (1998) - Personal transferable skills in higher education: the problems of implementing good practice”, Quality Assurance in Education, Vol. 6 Issue: 1, pp.19-27, https://doi.org/10.1108/09684889810200359 Evans, J. R. & Lindsay, W. M. (2005). The Management and Control of Quality (6th Edition), Singapore: Thom son South-Western. 42
Goworek, H (2007) -Fashion Buying 2nd Edition Oxford: Blackwell Grubb (2016) – Clash of the generations: managing the new workplace reality. Heinemann. Higher Education. Academy of Management Learning & Education. Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 193-212 Holmes (2001) - Reconsidering Graduate Employability: The ‘graduate identity’ approach, Quality in Higher Education, 7:2, 111-119, DOI: 10.1080/13538320120060006 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.10.035 Kanter (1994) – Successful partnerships manage the relation, not just the deal. Collaborative Advantage. Harvard Business Review Khamah (2015) – Investigating effect of corporate social responsibility on consumer buying behaviour. International journal of economics, commerce and management. Vol. III, Issue 1, Jan 2015 ISSN 2348 0386 Kim & Mauborgne (2005) – Blue ocean strategy: how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant. Kluge (2014) – The acquisition of knowledge and skills for taskwork and teamwork to control complex technical systems. A cognitive and macroergonomics perspective. Springer Publisher. Kolb DA. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Upper Kolb, A & Kolb, D. (2005). Learning Styles and Learning Spaces: Enhancing Experiential Learning in Kumar & Phrommathed (2005) – New product development. An empirical study of the effects of innovation strategy, organisation learning and market conditions. Springer Lapersonne A (2017) The hybrid competitive strategy framework. A managerial theory for combining differentiation and low-cost strategic approaches based on a case study of a European textile manufacturer. A thesis submitted to the University of Manchester for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration in the Faculty of Humanities. Mackay, A (2007) – Motivation ability and confidence building in people. Elsevier Ltd Publisher Management, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 99-120. Mintel (2010) – Fashion impact of the recession UK, June 2010: The consumer – what people think about buying clothes in recession. Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/display/528299/?highlight Mintel (2012) – Clothing size UK, July 2012: The consumer – target groups. Available at: http://academic. mintel.com/display/628721/?highlight#hit1 Mintel (2016) – Youth fashion UK, December 2016: Issues and insights. Available at: http://academic.mintel. com/display/807909/?highlight#hit1 Mintel (2016c) – H&M up the ante on sustainability – 22nd April 2016. Written by Samantha Dover. Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/display/769140/ Mintel (2017a) – News report inputs emphasis on fashion brands to up sustainability efforts – 20th November 2017. Written by Richard Hopping. Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/display/869569/?highlight Mintel (2017b) – Womenswear UK, May 2017: Interest in innovations. Available at: http://academic.mintel. com/display/835073/?highlight#hit1 43
Mintel (2017c) – Womenswear UK, May 2016: What women would like improved. Available at: http://academic.mintel.com/display/835071/ Mitchell (1997) - Managing Risks: The Small Business Income Approach, 13 Austl. Tax F. 55 (1997) Provided by: The University of Manchester Library Nani and Bagley (1999) – Graduates’ perceptions of transferable personal skills and future career preparation in the UK. Education & Training 1999; 41,4/5; ProQuest pg. 184 Northouse P. Leadership (2013) -Theory and Practice. California: SAGE Publications, Inc; 2010, p.99 Pena (2010) - The Dreyfus model of clinical problem-solving skills acquisition: a critical perspective, Medical Education Online, 15:1, 4846, DOI: 10.3402/meo.v15i0.4846 research and practice vol. 5 issue 4 (2013) pp: 58-67 Review. 1 (1), pp. 1-12 Rudina (2013) – The growth performance of small business under the view of life cycle model. The growth performance of small business under the view of life-cycle model management Saddle River, NJ; Prentice-Hall Shaw, A (2012) – The value of work experience in outcomes for students Siadaty et al (2015) - How does corporate social responsibility contribute to firm financial performance? The mediating role of competitive advantage, reputation, and customer satisfaction. Journal of business research. Siadaty, M (2016) – Associations between technological scaffolding and mirco-level processes of self-regulated learning: a workplace study. Elsevier: computers in human behaviour. Volume 55, Part B. Siewiorek et al (2012) - Learning leadership skills in a simulated business environment. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2011.08.016 Tannenbaum, R. & Schmidt, W (1973) -How to choose a leadership pattern? Harvard Business Thomack, Bill, RN,B.S.N., C.O.H.N.-S. (2012). Time management for today’s workplace demands. Workplace Health & Safety, 60(5), 201-3. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3928/21650799-20120426-05 Waldman, D, Berson, Y & Keller, R (2009) – Leadership and organisation learning. Elsevier: The leadership quarterly 20 (2009) 1-3 WGSN (2018) – Buyer’s briefing S/S19: Womenswear details. Written by Sara Maggioni and Francesca Muston. Available at: https://www.wgsn.com/content/board_viewer/#/78251/page/3 Whittington, Richard, and Kevan Scholes. Exploring Strategy: Edinburgh Napier University, Pearson Education UK, 2011. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/manchester/detail.action?docID=5136867. Zanoni, A (2011) – Strategic Analysis. Routledge Ltd Publisher Zimmerman (2002) – Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. THEORY INTO PRACTICE, Volume 41, Number 2, spring 2002 Copyright © 2002 College of Education, The Ohio State University
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8.0 Appendix
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Appendix 1:
[Belbin Personal Traits Result of Each Director]
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Appendix 2:
[Tannenbaum and Schmidt’s (1973) Continuum of Leadership Styles]
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Appendix 3:
[PEST Analysis for BlurredLine]
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Appendix 4:
[VRIO Analysis for BlurredLine]
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Appendix 5:
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1. What is your gender?
2. What is your age?
3. How often do you shop for clothing items?
4. Would you be interested in versatile clothing? (Fashion items that can be transformed into something different and worn multiple ways)
5. Are you interested in sustainable clothing?
6. What is your current occupation?
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Appendix 6:
[SWOT Analysis for BlurredLine]
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