MBA Internship Report Sample
MBA Internship Report Sample The breakout role of Tom Ford in the fashion world started in the year 1990 with Gucci. The term Gucci refers to the Iconic fashion house of Italian origin. The work of Tom Ford reinvented Gucci for a new era. It is worth noting that as a creative director, Tom Ford took responsibility in designing everything from store design to advertising, and from fashion to fragrance. Notably, he took this responsibility in 1994.1 His work led to an increase in sales from ten million to approximately one billion within a period of ten years. This rapid increase in sales made Gucci become one of the world’s largest and most profitable luxury brands. Tom Ford later left the Gucci group in 2004 and formed his own company known as the Tom Ford Brand. Eyewear collection, as well as fashion collection, debuted in the tear 2005, and Tom Ford’s first flagship store opened to critical acclaim in the city of New York in the year 2006. Notably, Ford’s first flagship had already devoted to luxury menswear. Selective and strategic expansion of Ford’s brand has been established to facilitate in creating more than a hundred freestanding Tom Ford global retail stores over the next few decades. Tom Ford also became a director of a moving drama known as “a single man” and this increased his popularity. He later made a return to womenswear in September 2010. The 2016 spring collection made Tom ford Continue to hold his position and reputation as one of the big fashion names in the fashion and luxury industry. The 2016 spring collection featured a very special model for Tom Ford’s film as well as an original public performance in the video. For instance, the original song sang by Lady Gaga known as “I Want Your Love”. Structure and Functions of Tom Ford Beauty Tom Ford beauty is an international company that produces and markets cosmetics, glasses, accessories, menswear collection, and womenswear collection. Tom Ford beauty is one of the reputable companies in the global fashion industry. The company’s commercial presence is felt on a global scale with several points of
sale (over 200) in all the world’s major economic centers, from the American continent to Asia, Middle East, Europe, and Australia. The company consists of a shareholder structure which constitutes of Domenico De Sole with 11.25% shares, Americo Amorim Group with 25% shares and Tom Ford with the majority stake of 63.75 percent shares. Americo Amorim has largely contributed to the internationalization of Tom Ford International because it embraced the project in the year 2007, making it acquire a stake in TFI.2. Tom Ford International’s shareholder structure consists of members who have been doing well in the fashion and luxury industry. One of these members is the Americo Amorin Group. This group holds 25 percent of the shares the fashion and luxury company, which is a prestigious international company that is based in the United States. This group’s major investment objective in the fashion and luxury company was to make a contribution to Tom Ford’s process of internationalization. This has enabled Tom Ford Beauty to have more than 200 points of sale in all parts of the world. The company’s brands such as an international haute couture brand have been perceived to have and indispensable name in the fashion and luxury world. This has been multiple award-winning brands in the fashion luxury industry. Since its founding in the year 2007, Tom Ford beauty has pursued and glittering path of internalization and affirmation. It is worth noting that Tom Ford has both women’s and men’s collections. The company also is present in major markets of the world, from the United States to Asia and Europe. Description of Experiences and Activities I had the opportunity to engage in various activities during my position working directly for the President at the luxury brand, Tom Ford Beauty, operating in New York City. In performing these duties, I gained significant knowledge and experience concerning the manner in which the fashion and luxury organization runs and the dynamics in the company. My time at Tom Ford Beauty was a period where I interacted with many diverse people with unique backgrounds and cultures. Working for the President allowed me the ability to better understand the aspects surrounding fashion and luxury, as well as, provided adequate exposure to the
industry. During this time, I served as the lead of all the administrative assistants within the office, overseeing the operations of different departments in the company and realized the complexity of the organization and activities that go on in order to achieve the organizational goals. In this report, I will focus on the activities that I did during the project work. I will also present organization behaviors in the company, its resources and the expertise in each activity. Additional roles in the company Being in the fashion and luxury industry, the company considers marketing research as one of the core tools in marketing that contributes to its organizational success. The role of marketing research is to use the best approaches that the company should use to link with the potential consumers and the public at large.3 This industry is prone to quick changes that conform to the latest trend, thus extensive marketing is appropriate for the company to reach many of its intended customers. I supported and managed different initiatives and projects in coordination with different functional teams, which included Consumer Marketing, Copy and Product Marketing. In these duties, the aim was to supply the tools for the global brand to ensure that it could achieve its business needs. In offering the support, the major activities performed included the following: Traffic digital asset requests: In compliant with the request guidelines, mockup and copyright, I ensured the global online teams in the company acquired digital assets including standard social media crops, standard web crops, emails and ad-hoc requests that helped the company operate efficiently. Conference calls: On a weekly basis, conference calls were held with the online teams operating in the European / Middle East / Asia (EMEA), North America (NOAM), and UK regions to review incoming digital asset requests. The Asia Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), and Travel Retail (TR) regions were vetted through email. I liaised with the team conducting the digital designs to ensure requests were produced and delivered on time. In addition, I helped to manage the process of required approvals, facilitated internal deployment of the assets, and coordinated their dissemination to the regional teams based on the regions’ need.
Coordination with the marketing team: Under this activity, I collaborated with the marketing team in bulletin development and posted such information on the internal global portal - Global Marketing Website / International Marketing Website (GMW / IMW). Additionally, I made adjustments to the prices and elements of the products on catalogs to reflect any changes and/or updates from the preliminary offerings posted on GMW/IMW ensuring these changes were communicated to the markets. Furthermore, I reconciled market orders right from initiation to shipment, thus enabling the process of delivering the products ordered. Copy waves: In this task, I crafted, routed, tracked, and distributed copy waves that assisted in the launching and re-promotion of new products. In connection to this, I worked closely with the Copywriter and the product marketing team to obtain collection and positioning copy, product and shade names, and SKU codes. I facilitated the obtaining of approvals before distributing the final copy waves globally. Managing budget: I was responsible for managing the budget tracker for different departments within Global Creative, including those dealing with packaging designs, 2D digital designs, and visual merchandising. Moreover, I worked closely with vendors to estimate and submit invoices, and similarly coordinate with the finance department to confirm and make accurate payments.4 I was also tracking rebills for creative lead initiatives to ensure that they reflected organizational needs. Partnership with finance department: I was able to partner with the finance manager to monitor and evaluate balances for the creative department to determine if they were in line with structural adjustment programs. This helped determine the budget discrepancies for the department, thus checking on the relevance and accuracy of its monthly expenses as a way of ensuring financial prudence. These activities were a clear indication that my coordination with managers and the creative department at Tom Ford Beauty was integral in decision making in the organization. The reason is, that it helped the management in identifying imminent opportunities and potential constraints so that the resolution made is consistent with the needs of the organization, not forgetting the needs of potential clients.5 General Administrative Operations as an Executive Assistant to the President
At Tom Ford Beauty I had ample time managing all the administrative assistants while attending to the President’s needs. I performed various managerial tasks to improve the efficiency and productivity of the President despite his overwhelmingly busy schedule. In overall, I helped improve the quality of the office and atmosphere. The specific tasks that I performed included the following: Supervision: I was charged with the supervision and delegation of duties for my direct report, a part-time administrative assistant, and for various ad-hoc tasks for departmental administrative assistants to facilitate the flow of operations in the company. In this regard, I monitored the progression of activities to ensure that the assistants were able to meet strict deadlines. This helped lessen the President’s work allowing him to attend to other important internal and external duties geared towards improving the image and competitiveness of the company. Global coordination: In this role, I developed international travel schedules in coordination with relevant organizations around the world to ensure the President’s travel to all destinations were attained with ease. On a few occasions, I assisted in travel arrangements for some of the organization’s management staff who were traveling with the President. I managed the complex shifts in the travel of the company executive staff members and often updated the status reports while consulting the President on executive travels. Communication: I was in charge of communication between the office of the President and internal departments, as well as, corporate management. I also fostered the intra- and inter-departmental communications to improve collaboration and teamwork amongst all staff, thus enhancing productivity in the organization. Corporate meeting arrangements: I had three major milestones while working in the office of the President. Annually, all brands under the Estee Lauder Companies (ELC) umbrella have to present at the corporate budget meeting, which typically takes place in April. As a rapidly growing brand in the ELC portfolio, this was an important meeting for Tom Ford Beauty. I was in charge of preparing revised agendas and cover letters, attendee lists, and assisting in the internal distribution of the budget book for the meeting to ensure that it proceeded without any form of interruption. I also organized a celebratory dinner the President desired to host for senior staff members after a hugely successful outcome. In the same line, I
coordinated the Global Conference in Milan, both internally and externally for the President and a few staff members. Internally, I met the senior leadership of Tom Ford Beauty, collected the agenda topics to facilitate the deliberations about the conference and successfully organized the President’s travel arrangements and participation. Externally, I spoke and coordinated with Italian colleagues for a meeting between members of the Intercos Group and Tom Ford Beauty. I worked one-on-one with the Intercos Group to assist with the agenda, transfers, and attendee lists, including a dinner hosted by Arabella Ferrari (Intercos Group). Perception and Judgement about the internship We considered the purchasing behavior of luxury goods among consumers and discovered that they were not always looking for similar benefits, therefore, we had to influence their purchasing behavior. As a way of promoting quality standards required for a luxury organization, quality and brand uniqueness are repeatedly used among workers as they communicate. Despite having the dominant brand in the organization, there are specific sub-brands in distinct departments that presented a unique taste, aesthetic appeal, age needs, gender needs, among others so that consumers could effectively choose the luxury items they wanted.6 In this case, the luxury products might be unique, but do not overlook the overall organization brand image. It’s understood that consumers might show withdrawal behavior if certain quality standards are not met. In an organization, consumer withdrawal behavior is the psychological or physical act of removal from a product, service or the organization due to the perceived poor quality of products. A consumer may feel stressed or exploited by the organization to the extent of removing him/herself from its products and services if they are of poor quality. The interest of both systematic and occasional consumers have on luxury goods impact on sales within the organization.7 For instance, these consumers consider the luxury goods as a collection of different symbols, they purchase luxury products through emotions, and the value, as well as the uniqueness of the brands, shape their purchasing power. The withdrawal behaviors of consumers, as shown above, have a remarkable effect in an organization in terms of reputation as discussed herein. In the fashion and luxury industry, I discovered that one of the major effects of
consumer withdrawal behavior is low sales due to poor task performance that compromises quality. Since the affected customers will lose interest in the products services offered by the company, they may forego those substandard brands and look for alternatives/substitutes instead. As the workers continue to compromise on the quality standards that the organization sets, interfere with customer service and disrupts the production system in the fashion and luxury industry, the organization is likely to experience consumer withdrawal from its products.8 This further compromises the reputation of the organization, thus influencing its competitiveness. The other effect on the side of workers is that withdrawal behavior causes employee turnover. Here, the affected employee would find him/herself less valuable to the organization hence could easily abscond duties and completely leave employment, a situation that could compromise the production of quality goods. In the fashion and luxury industry, ideological change is highly encouraged because it enhances creativity and promotes productivity of the highest quality goods that anticipated consumers seek in the highly fragmented market. At Tom Ford Beauty, management tries to remove the employees from past ways of thinking and production to embrace modern technology of production to enhance and sustain quality standards. This creates new thoughts among the staff who then device more competitive approaches to be used in enhancing the production of quality goods that consumers desire. In addition, modern ideologies promote relationships and behavior change among workers in an organization, a requisite for organizational success. One of the success ideological changes that have helped the organization is adrift from the individualistic approach to team building approach in enhancing the quality of products. Even though individuals also contribute to the success of the organization, teamwork has become highly important in organizations. Through teamwork, employees have continued to contribute the organization by sharing skills, latest fashion trends and learning from one another, thus being able to improve in performance. As part of the production team, I realized that the 4Ps, which include Product, Price, Place, and Promotion play a significant role in the promotion of company image and luxury brand management. Regarding the product, luxury goods must be unique, attractive and superfluous. On price, fair
pricing coupled with perceived value, relative value and subjective value instigate emotional arguments among potential consumers. Regarding place, the distribution channel used and accessibility of the place for luxury goods increase their sales. On promotion, the information about the luxury products must be effectively communicated to the potential customers using the most viable channels, including internet, posters, and brochures, and events to enhance consumer awareness. For Tom Ford Beauty, social media platforms have been on a quick rise, thus allowing it to be more influential because of the vast exposure it has garnered. In the fashion and luxury industry, ideological change is highly encouraged because it enhances creativity and promotes productivity of the highest quality goods that anticipated consumers seek in the highly fragmented market. At Tom Ford Beauty, management tries to remove the employees from past ways of thinking and production to embrace modern technology of production to enhance and sustain quality standards. This creates new thoughts among the staff who then device more competitive approaches to be used in enhancing the production of quality goods that consumers desire. In addition, modern ideologies promote relationships and behavior change among workers in an organization, a requisite for organizational success. One of the success ideological changes that have helped the organization is adrift from the individualistic approach to team building approach in enhancing the quality of products. Even though individuals also contribute to the success of the organization, teamwork has become highly important in organizations. Through teamwork, employees have continued to contribute the organization by sharing skills, latest fashion trends and learning from one another, thus being able to improve in performance. As part of the production team, I realized that the 4Ps, which include Product, Price, Place, and Promotion play a significant role in the promotion of company image and luxury brand management. Regarding the product, luxury goods must be unique, attractive and superfluous. On price, fair pricing coupled with perceived value, relative value and subjective value instigate emotional arguments among potential consumers. Regarding place, the distribution channel used and accessibility of the place for luxury goods increase their sales. On promotion, the information about the luxury products must be effectively communicated to the potential customers using the most viable channels, including
internet, posters, and brochures, and events to enhance consumer awareness. For Tom Ford Beauty, social media platforms have been on a quick rise, thus allowing it to be more influential because of the vast exposure it has garnered. In summary, my internship at Tom Ford Beauty highly benefited me a lot in terms of personal and professional development in the fashion and luxury industry and management at large. I performed different activities as the lead of all assistants in the company where I actually learned the dynamics and complexity of management in the fashion and luxury organization and this could assist me in future endeavors in the industry. References Gordon, J. R., Organizational Behavior: A Diagnostic Approach, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001. Mathis, L, R., and H, J., Jackson, Human Resource Management, 13th Edition, New York: Wiley, 2010. Proctor, T., Essentials of Marketing Research. 3rd Edition, England, Essex: Pearson Education Limited, 2003. Siddiqui, F., Financial Analysis: A short note on tools and techniques of Financial Analysis [website], August 6, 2014, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2014080618171659817714-financial-analysis-a-short-note-on-tools-and-techniques-of-financialanalysis, (accessed 2 May 2017). Simmons, B. L., Employee Withdrawal: A Big Reason You Need To Care About Job Satisfaction, [website], 2010, http://www.bretlsimmons.com/2010-09/employeewithdrawal-a-big-reason-you-need-to-care-about-job-satisfaction/, (accessed 3 May 2017). Skjold E, 'Sustainable Luxury And Social Entrepreneurship. Volume II: More Stories From The Pioneers' (2017) 4 Luxury Smith, S., 9 Stages to Marketing Research Success, [website], November 5, 2012, https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/marketing-research-process/
1 Else Skjold, 'Sustainable Luxury And Social Entrepreneurship. Volume II: More Stories From The Pioneers' (2017) 4 Luxury. 2 Else Skjold, 'Sustainable Luxury And Social Entrepreneurship. Volume II: More Stories From The Pioneers' (2017) 4 Luxury. 3 S. Smith, 9 Stages to Marketing Research Success, [website], November 5, 2012, https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/marketing-research-process/, (accessed 2 May 2017). 4 F. Siddiqui, Financial Analysis: A short note on tools and techniques of Financial Analysis [website], August 6, 2014, https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2014080618171659817714-financial-analysis-a-short-note-on-tools-and-techniques-of-financialanalysis, (accessed 2 May 2017). 5 S. Smith, 9 Stages to Marketing Research Success, [website], November 5, 2012, https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/marketing-research-process/, (accessed 2 May 2017). 6 J. R. Gordon, Organizational Behavior: A Diagnostic Approach, Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001, p. 26. 7 B. L. Simmons, Employee Withdrawal: A Big Reason You Need To Care About Job Satisfaction, [website], 2010, http://www.bretlsimmons.com/2010-09/employeewithdrawal-a-big-reason-you-need-to-care-about-job-satisfaction/, (accessed 3 May 2017). 8 B. L. Simmons, Employee Withdrawal: A Big Reason You Need To Care About Job Satisfaction, [website], 2010, http://www.bretlsimmons.com/2010-09/employeewithdrawal-a-big-reason-you-need-to-care-about-job-satisfaction/, (accessed 3 May 2017).