Company Summary
Lululemon Athletic Inc. is a company dwelling within the textile industry (Lavrence and Lozanski 76). It is popular for its capacity to develop and grow its brand and appreciate income. This successful trend has been realized since 1998 (year of foundation) when Lululemon developed its first store. The company is inspired by yoga apparel that has facilitated the initiation of the prevailing 200 stores in Canada and the USA. After founding this company, Chip Wilson selected the name ‘lululemon’ as the initial brand name that remains up-to-date.
Organizational Development
A recent establishment on the fashion and quality of the black Loun yoga apparel made by Lululemon led to the loss of about 67 million dollars after seventeen percent of the products was called off (Lavrence and Lozanski 76). This sensitivity to meet the standards expected by the customer encourages loyalty and informs customers that the company is worried about their welfare. Although the capacity of the company to compete within the market was reduced at the time, the company has retained its brand and regained market.
Company Mission
Lululemon initial mission was to elevate the world from a state of mediocrity to that of greatness, which did not relay actual intent of the company (Range 111). This statement was later revised when the company’s management decided to create components for human beings to live longer, healthier and enjoyable lives.
Need for Revision of the Mission Statement
The current mission of the company might need a revised due to the diversity and developments made within the company. This aspect avails the stated mission is not the sole intent of the company. For instance, how is wearing a cloth connected to living long? The connections between these two aspects are narrow in a similar manner as the health mentioned within the statement. My recommendation is that the company ought to present a competitive mission to facilitate to become a leading company within its specialization. For instance, the mission statement can be to develop components for people to advance their sporting activities.
Customers Perspective
Superior Value
The main strategy to ensure value is through studying the market and competitors (Ansoff 138). The firm has specialized with one class of apparels, which makes developments and market study easy. Therefore, the suggestions of the customers collected from the internet as well as comments on the social media are addressed stringently and easily. Furthermore, the prices are regulated according to the fabrics used and the prevailing fashion inspired by innovative products to maintain future profits. The study of the aspect can facilitate the update of apparel in accordance to the market in order to enhance a competitive advantage (Gamble and Peteraf 117).
Provision of Customer Value
Time
Fashion is a vital aspect that must be strict to time. The company studies the market in order to identify the designs to release and intervals between the presentations of new fashions. In other cases, the delivery of services and orders made to the company are given minimum time in order to avoid delays and satisfy customers (Johnson and Gustafsson 389). Therefore, concern of time is highly valuable to the company.
Quality
Lululemon made losses attributed to the quality of products realized to the market in June 2013 (Range 15). Low quality of products can relay a bad image of the brand. In this respect, the company has a department to check the quality of products being distributed in their name. The apparel of low quality are usually restricted to the market.
Performance and Service
Lululemon is among the most successful retail companies offering apparel in North America (Mosadeghrad 89). Its services are distributed in North America and Australia where they have managed to reach annual revenue of one billion dollars.
Cost
Cost and quality are interconnected attributes in the Lululemon’s management. This company ensures that the customer has received value for his/her payment (Woodside 19). The prices of clothes are determined by the quality of fabrics used and their durability.
Internal Business Perspective
Core Processes on Value: Price, quality, timing are the most vital factors enhancing customer satisfaction (Jenster and Hussey 56).
Efficiency and Effectiveness: Lululemon targets to realize product of the highest possible quality at regulated prices and appropriate time in order to satisfy the customer.
The distribution and supply of the company’s products need to be ensured in order to elevate customer value (Williams 897). The quality and cost of these products should be regulated to attain high profits due to huge sales (Stern and Ander 145). These changes can be implemented through increasing the quantity of production and taking advantage of the economies of scale.
Innovation and Learning Perspective
The main area of innovation lies within the designs of apparel and their quality. The company releases new clothes with such advantages developed through innovation as flexibility and durability.
The company is aware of changes made within the sporting industry. Essentially, the company pays attention to the prevailing situations such as the Olympic and world cup in order to make apparel of the winning teams or those with high number of fans.
Lululemon management is very effective. The information flows from the general manager of CEO of the company through other leaders to the general employees. The flow of information also flows to the other direction in order to address issues in the company.
The people employed within the company are responsive to orders released by the managers. This responsiveness is controlled by the rules and laws delivered to the employee and strict reactions on failure to abide by them. Human resource is, therefore, very effective in this regard.
Major strengths
Lululemon has managed to penetrate the market properly and attain many royal customers. This penetration has led to huge sales that bring high profits to the customers. Moreover, the company is enjoying economies of scale for producing large quantities of apparel to the market.
Major Weaknesses
The industry housing Lululemon has many competitors who pull down its effectiveness. Since this company has specialized with one area in the production of clothes, its market is limited.
Works Cited
Ansoff, Igor. “Strategic Issue Management.” Strategic Management Journal 6.13: 131-48. Print.
Gamble, John, and Margaret Peteraf. Essentials of Strategic Management: The Quest for Competitive Advantage. 4.th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2015. Print.
Jenster, Per, and D. Hussey. Company Analysis: Determining Strategic Capability. Chichester: Wiley, 2001. Print.
Johnson, Michael D., and Anders Gustafsson. Improving Customer Satisfaction, Loyalty, and Profit: An Integrated Measurement and Management System. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000. Print.
Lavrence, Christine, and Kristin Lozanski. ““This Is Not Your Practice Life”: Lululemon and the Neoliberal Governance of Self.” Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne De Sociologie 7.8: 76-94. Print.
Mosadeghrad, Ali. “Towards a Theory of Quality Management: An Integration of Strategic Management, Quality Management and Project Management.” International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management 11.3: 89. Print.
Range, Peter. Murder in the Yoga Store: The True Story of the Lululemon Killing. Washington, D.C.: Hawthorne, 2013. Print.
Stern, Neil Z., and Willard Ander. Greentailing and Other Revolutions in Retail: Hot Ideas That Are Grabbing Customer’s Attention and Raising Profits. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2008. Print.
Williams, Kevan. Strategic Management. New York, N.Y: DK Pub., 2009. Print.
Woodside, Arch. Creating and Managing Superior Customer Value. Bingley, Eng.: Emerald JAI, 2008. Print.