Introduction
Liz Claiborne, Inc. is a company that is involved in designing and marketing retail based apparels for both men and women all over the world. The company is also involved in offering other fashion accessories like jewelry. Most of the company’s activities are located in the United States.
There are a number of premium brands that the companies offer in the market. These include Lucky Brand, Kate Spade, Couture and Mexx. Its head quarters are located in New York. The firm’s workforce is composed of 11, 500 people. The company offers a variety of branded products.
External Analysis
Customer analysis
Liz Claiborne has customers located in different places of the world. Since the company sells both men and women wear all of which come with various brands, it has a wide variety of customers. Its customers are located in all parts of the world. However, most of its customers are in the domestic market.
The number of international customers is expanding. One of the major ways through which the company has managed to increase its customer base is by acquisition of the already existing brands. This tactic has enabled the company to win more customers in the new market networks.
Competitor analysis
In the clothing industry, the fashion trends and the personal income are the main drivers of demand. The level of competitiveness of individual company is largely determined by its ability to have an effective merchandising. It is also largely determined by the ability of an organisation to market itself successfully. In the industry, most large companies have the advantage to offer a wider variety of products. These companies also have purchasing as well as distribution advantages.
The level of competitiveness for Liz Claiborne is higher compared with most of its competitors. The company is usually engaged in bulk purchases and production. Therefore, it is able to minimize its expenses by enjoying bulk discounts. It is also able to minimize its distribution expenses.
There are three main competitors in the global market that offers competition to Liz Claiborne. These include Ann, Inc., Bernard, Chaus, Inc., and Calvin, Klein, Inc. These companies offer very similar products in the same market. Therefore, Liz Claiborne is usually forced to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction and strong marketing exercises in order to retain its customers.
As already noted, Liz Claiborne has a strong brand in its market. However, the company suffers from the fact that it has several competitors. The companies offer similar products in the market. This threatens the performance of the company.
Due to the competition offered by these companies, Liz Claiborne is forced to intensify its marketing strategies in order to retain its performance. This increases its operational costs. Competition from these companies also leads to price wars. Since there are many players in the industry, each company aims at winning more customers (Stafford 68).
Market Analysis
As already noted, the company has been extending its market at a high rate all over the world. The company has been introducing its products in new markets at a very high rate. Liz Claiborne is involved in a number of industries where it competes with other companies.
These industries include Apparel, Men’s Clothing, Women’s Clothing, Accessories, Retail and Consumer Products Manufacturers (Liz Claiborne par 3). Over the recent past, many players have entered into the industry. As a result, the level of competition has significantly increased. However, the company has managed to retain its competitiveness in the market.
Environmental analysis
As already noted, Liz Claiborne is usually engaged in a competitive market. The clothing industry has over the recent past been characterized by a very high level of competition. This has forced the companies in the industry to adopt effective policy measures in order to retain their competitiveness. Most of the products are usually similar and in most cases there is brand cannibalism.
Internal Analysis
Performance analysis
Over the past decade, Liz Claiborne has recorded a high level performance. The company has a strongly built brand. Its brand is easily recognized and therefore has a higher number of customers all over the world. This provides a competitive advantage to the company.
Despite of these achievements, the company has suffered some limitations. For instance, the company is focused on several products. It is not focused in one area of the clothing’s’ market. According to Westwood, specialization plays a significant role in promotion innovation and quality improvement of a particular product (68).
Therefore, Liz Claiborne has threatened the quality of its products by engaging on a wide range of products. This has denied the company the chances of innovation and improvement of the quality of its products. This may lead the company to lose customers to its competitors.
The company’s performance has also been significantly affected by brand cannibalization. This has led to stealing of customers from one brand to another. This has significantly affected the performance of some of other brands. As customers switch from the existing to the new products, the sales of the existing product fall significantly.
Determinants of Strategic Options
In order for a multinational company to remain competitive in its market, it needs to adopt the most feasible strategic options so as to remain competitive (Ma 98). Policy options can significantly determine the performance of an organisation in its market. It is always advisable for every organisation to consider the aspects of a business that makes certain policy options infeasible without making any major organizational changes (Proctor 56).
One of the main determinants of strategic option is the organizational capabilities and constraints. Internal structure of an organisation is a major determinant of the strategies chosen (Ma 100). The company has to choose the strategies which work well for them in various circumstances.
For instance, Liz Claiborne is usually diversified and produces a wide variety of products. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the companies with similar characteristics while seeking for alliances. This will ensure that the two companies are feasible with each other.
Another determinant of policy options for Liz Claiborne is the entry barriers. Entry barriers are one of the main challenges faced by most multinational companies (Kotler 63). Where there are high level of entry barriers, Liz Claiborne usually use mangers in order to introduce its products in the new market. This also helps the company to acquire a strong brand. As a result, Liz Claiborne has managed to spread its services at a very high rate.
Another determinant of the policy option for the company is the type of attack. The company responds to various attacks differently. For instance, the company is often faced by price cuts attacks from its competitors. When this takes place, the company is forced to lower its prices as well in order to retain its customers. It may also choose to intensify its marketing exercises in order to win more customers.
Competitiveness: ( Liz Claiborne, Inc.)
Over the past, Liz Claiborne has recorded a significant performance. This success is based on the competitiveness the company has over its competitors. This provides an advantage over other companies in the industry.
The company has managed to provide its products to various parts of the world. Therefore, it has a wider market network and it is able to maximize its sales by expanding its customer base.
Liz Claiborne has a strongly developed brand. This is one of the main resources that have significantly contributed to the performance of the organisation. Due to its strong brand, the company can easily sell its products in many places of the world. This also makes it easy for the company to market its products in various parts of the world.
The company also has strong consumer franchise (Birkinshaw 87). Again, this helps in marketing the company in many parts of the world.
Product diversification has also contributed to the company’s competitive advantage. Product diversification is one of the main tools that have been applied by many organizations in the contemporary business world to maximize sales (Pride 50). Liz Claiborne provides a wide variety of products in the market.
These include men and women apparels, jewelry among other products. As a result, the company has managed to reduce the level of risks that results from a product failure. In case one product fails, then the company is not adversely affected. Companies that have not diversified their production are usually at a high risk of complete failure.
Works Cited
Birkinshaw, Julian. Future of the Multinational Company. UK: John Wiley and Sons, 2003.
Kotler, Philip. Marketing insights from A to Z: 80 Concepts Every Manager Needs To Know. Canada: John Wiley and Sons, 2003.
Liz Claiborne. “A portfolio of Brands.” Liz Claiborne, 2011. Web.
Ma, Hao. “Determinants of strategic options in multinational market competition.” Journal of International Management Volume 5, Issue 2, summer 1999, Pages 93-113
Pride, William M. Ferrell, O. C. Foundations of Marketing. U.S.A.: Cengage Learning, 2007.
Proctor, Tony. Strategic Marketing: An Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2000
Westwood, John. The Marketing Plan Workbook. U.K.: Kogan Page Publishers, 2005.
Stafford, Edwin. “Using Co-Operative Strategies To Make Alliances Work.” Long Range Planning. Volume 27, Issue 3, June 1994, Pages 64-74