Analysis of Hillberg and Berk Company †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Analysis of Hillberg and Berk Company. Answer: Introduction There are certain strategies that a company focuses to maintain its brand reputation in the market and to gain competitive advantage. The chosen organization for the analysis is Hillberg and Berk founded by Rachel Mielke in 2007 (Hillberg Berk. 2018). It has a personal plan to create world class jewelry with the goal to achieve brand presence in the market. Its goal is to empower women and build strategies that would make its customers loyal. The report will highlight a complete strategic analysis of the organization with specific tools and frameworks namely, value chain, PESTLE, SWOT, Power matrix, Porter's five forces and VRIO analysis which will help to evaluate the overall strategic and company current profile. It will also help to identify certain strategic issues with amended solutions to fix it. The other part of the report will recommend the go-forward strategy to the business when expanding. In addition to it the external vision, organizational vision, mission, values would be further recommended in order to provide Hillberg and Berk with a better opportunity towards performance and collaborative approach. The report will also include a designed balanced scorecard and performance measures to support the strategic imperatives and present the organization with a roadmap to depict strategies and implement them effectively. Discussion: Value chain Primary activities Inbound logistics: it stocks its material in the factory under inventory management. Operations: the company manufactures its jewelry with the help of their women employees to give the customers that are mainly the women, a unique and personalized design. Outbound logistics: The company uses boutique retailers, retailers in location and online store to distribute its product. Marketing and sales: Investments in the national and international women organizations and various effective strategies such online marketing and shopping are adapted (Harmouche, 2017). Service: HB offers personalized jewelry with fine quality. Support Activities Procurement: This is controlled internally by HB Technology: Technology is used in the distribution, manufacturing, polishing and designing departments to enhance the operations at a faster pace. Firm infrastructure: the company works supportively with the suppliers and carries its mission to empower women. Human resource management: The organization provides its employees with several kinds of training and development programme which will induce the employees to develop their skills for the organization growth. Strategic Issues HB is operating with only one product order which can be a drawback as it needs increasing investment with normal sales. SWOT Strength Weakness The company strength lies in its high quality jewelry at competitive prices. Women empowerment Skilful and trained employees Strong brand identity Strong presence over media. Supply chain, in times of rapid growth Inventorymanagement Limited product range Opportunities Threats Diversification in the field of women garments. Innovate and create new jewelry lines Explore ways include freelancers for fresh ideas and designs Expand distribution channel Copy of design collection Competitors as Swarovski, Pandora and Kendra Scott Downturn in Global economy Fluctuations in raw materials Strategic Issues The organization do not have a strong supply chain which is a critical issue if not resolved will affect production and brand reputation. PESTLE Political: the political factors are essential as they play an important role in the operating of the organization. Tax policies, trade control, tariffs, discrimination law, employment laws, health and safety laws and competition regulation are considered by the organization. Economical: Per capita consumption can affect the Hillberg and Berk business and its consumer purchase. Interest rate in banks, production factors, confidence level, consumer behavior and the interest of the consumers are preferred by Hillberg and Berk. Social: People consider gold and luxury fashion products and love to invest in the same. Diamond and gems have become arising interest in the market. Also, several financial schemes that are being introduced in turn of the jewelries are adding importance to the gem and jewelry industry. Technological: Technology solutions are available for production control, supply chain and inventory management. The company have skilled labours and workforce to maintain its value chain. In case to maintain quality production of gems and diamonds technology is enabled in the environment. Legal: the legal issues are the manufacturing laws and regulations of the country that affect the business. Trade laws, taxes and suppliers acts combinable affect the organization. Environment: the organization does not hold any critical social responsibility regarding environment but any how does not even harms the environment significantly. Strategic Issue HB lacks in competing and achieving technology advancement in its processes to bring efficiency and effectiveness. Porter's Five Forces Bargaining power of suppliers: The Hillberg and Berk have low concentration over its suppliers. The added value of the quality of the products matters the most to the customers for which the company increases its investment frequently to maintain suppliers. The organization is a new emerging in the industry for which there are medium chances of bargaining power of the suppliers. Bargaining power of Customers: the HIllbeerg and Berk and the other players o f the industry enjoy low bargaining power of customers. Even the price of the product will increase still the buyers will purchase the product. It is a long-term positive impact on the industry. The choices are limited to the buyer which again ends up paying for the product at available prices. However, the buyer requires quality and customization. The threat of substitutes: There are limited numbers of substitutes regarding designs offered by HB. The designs are made of great quality which later is copied exactly to same design but with low performance and quality. As there is low risk of competitors which enables the customer not to switch to other product easily. The threat of new competitors: As the gems and jewelry industry is a cost assuming industry the threat of new competitors is medium to Hillberg and Berk. There are barriers to entry such as strong distribution network, high requirement cost and a strong brand reputation. Existing rivalry: There are several competitors of HB some are large-scale competitors and some small influencing company's. The riding power of the existing organizations is high as many are established way before the establishment of HB. Strategic Issue HB lacks in making value relations with the suppliers to prevent fluctuations with suppliers power of bargaining. The threat of new competitor is a significant issue that can affect the organizational brand value and market position. Power Matrix Low A Stakeholders/customers Suppliers B Suppliers employees High C Stakeholders/customers Competitors D Newsletters Website Social media High Low Meeting the needs of the customers and suppliers is done by the company to maintain and increase the level of interest in order to perform effectively. It also engages consultant with them to prevent risk to the sales of the product. Hillberg and Berks key players are its suppliers and employees that contribute their efforts to make achievements. The company maintains its relation with the suppliers and engages its employees in decision making. Stake holders and competitors are generally communicated and monitored to make them keep updated with the information of current product and offers. They monitored in terms to make of low influenced to aim to shift them to the right. The organization uses newsletters, a well organized website and properly makes uses of social media such as Instagram, twitter and Facebook to make its customers keep informed. Strategic Issue The organization is less focus towards its suppliers and hence need to monitor its competitors strategy to override the market demand. VRIO analysis Strength/Resources (what are those strength and resources that the organization have that it can leverage on) Valuable Rare Inimitable Organizationally Supported Brand identity YES NO YES YES Personalized jewelry YES YES NO YES Sparkle collection YES YES NO YES Designs of jewelry YES YES NO YES Quality of the jewelry YES NO YES YES Women based organization YES YES NO YES Employee development and women empowerment YES YES NO YES Warranty period of one year NO NO NO YES Strategic Issues The designs offered by HB are not likely to be imitated, but it gets designed in the same complete style which is a drawback for the organization. Recommendations and Implementations Go-forward option along with maintaining creative culture The company should hire leaders that would support the employees to develop new skills and allow them to make smart decisions that will help in the growth of the company as well. Provide the employees with the training skill of using and handling the computer-aided design software, to make the designing of the object in 2D and 3D designs. The company can give a boost to its creativity and design making of jewelry by giving an additional opportunity to the potential women or fresher that cannot work as a full-time employee but can contribute huge quality. This will enable the company to grab freelancers and fresh perspectives of designs. Also, maintaining the organizational culture to empower women. It is highly recommended to Hillberg and Berk to offer for gathering the feedback from its customers and all connected resource suppliers before expanding the business. This enables the organization to understand the requirement of the clients with regard to the local market to be able to craft an effective go-to-market strategy (Macchion, Danese Vinelli, 2015). The work life balance programme should be promoted to provide the employees more space to relax regarding the stress generated from their personal life. It would make ensure that the employees are relief from their personal life, hence would enhance the work attitude and culture of the employees. It is necessary to build an inspired workspace for the employees. Providing wide work space, advanced technology with airy space will let the innovation come out of and develop new ideas. Organizational vision: It is recommended to Hillberg and Berk not to change the organizational vision of empowering women and develop a corporate culture with sustainable business growth. Additionally, the company can add ensuring quality and growth of profit to their vision to make competitive position in the market. Values: External stakeholders are the key elements of success for Hillberg and Berk. It is recommended to gather the valuable insights of the customers, suppliers and even the top management to inspire the growth of product lines. Balanced scorecard Key strategic Objective (that needs to be achieved) Initiative (initiatives to achieve the objective) Measures (how do you measure the achievement) Customer/communities Improve customer retention Customers are to be awarded with various collections of designs to prevent switching to another brand. It can be measured with the growth of sales revenue. Financials Lowering the cost Increasing the revenue By introducing new product line the company would benefit in spreading brand awareness which would lessen the advertisement cost. Increasing supply chain will result into increase profit It can be measured with the growth of sales revenue. Internal Processes/Operations Increase process efficiency Empowering the women Making close working relation with the suppliers will enable efficiency Making training and development programs. Increase in suppliers supply in time. Encouraging women contribution in the organization Organizational Compacity and Technology Improve knowledge and skills Improve tools and technology Introducing CAD program to the employees. Introducing technology in distribution, polishing and cutting of diamonds and gems Skilled employees contributing in organization process. Speed in process. Strategic imperative Acquisition Strategy HB should adapt acquisition strategy to increase growth and revenue. Acquiring retailers will benefit the company to increase its distribution strategy. HB is not a large organization, for which it needs to build its strategy strongly (Cooper Finkelstein, 2014). Increasing business opportunities The company after extending the product lines and by broadening the target can develop a new brand identity. This will also prevent investing more capital to improve brand image. Sales strategy HB should engage in organizing events to display the jewelry collections to the customers. The shows may be of different kinds such as trade fairs, exhibition, craft shows, art festivals and organizing galleries (Ingram et al., 2015). High level implementation The organization should adapt Push and pull strategy to increase customer satisfaction by developing new product lines to increase its market share and enter into new business. The push strategy includes the product development with the help of its resources whereas the pull strategy includes customer feedback/demand to develop the new product (Carrigan et al., 2017). The organization should implement Hallmarking in its jewelry which will enable the organization to build brand reputation and customer loyalty by protecting them against victimization of the jewelry and quality. It will ensure that organization that the designs that are being copied do not harm its reputation. The organization is recommended to reduce its cost without cutting out the quality and making the time lower to design its products by making the close relationship with the suppliers will gradually increase the profitability. The organization always needs to make extra effort towards brand building to stay constantly a strong competitor of the market by promoting more of its consumers interest and attracting them with discounts and gifts. However, adding up all the strategies the organization might invite certain issues such as product failure regarding expanding new product lines. The company would need extra investment into its research of the market and for a new product to introduce. The company would also face tensions when the price of diamond and gems decrease which can be challenging. To increase distribution channels, the acquisition might be a risky part to explore where the acquisition is to be done in the country (Pantano, 2016). Conclusion It can be concluded that HB founded by Rachel Mielke in 2007 was a result of her passion for jewelry design and entrepreneurship. The organization is operated under the maintenance of women, and they drive each of the facility. After completing the analysis of HB with the help of Value chain, SWOT, PESTLE, power matrix, Porter's five forces and VRIO analysis it is observed that the company is mainly focused to empower women with providing various training on skill development and establishing a future for the company. Relating to this mission the organization contributes to several women organizations and charitable organizations. The organization is standing upon its success on the feet of brand loyalty, and it further has a lot of opportunities as building the stronger brand reputation with the help of delivering more qualitative products and designs with the help of its employees. The threat of the organization is its existing rivals that are well established in the market. Howeve r, the organization can adapt to acquisition strategy to acquire local retailers which will in turn help to increase its distribution strategy and revenue growth. Then by increasing the product line by introducing garments for women and men will also help to increase brand awareness without investing much. By putting extra effort and implementing the strategies effectively, HB can increase its impact on the market. References Carrigan, M., McEachern, M., Moraes, C., Bosangit, C. (2017). The fine jewellery industry: Corporate responsibility challenges and institutional forces facing SMEs.Journal of Business Ethics,143(4), 681-699. Cooper, C. L., Finkelstein, S. (Eds.). (2014).Advances in mergers and acquisitions. Emerald Group Publishing. Harmouche, B. (2017). Nurturing empathy for social cohesion: Participatory, community-based communication design research with gay youth living with HIV in Lebanon. Hillberg Berk. (2018).Hillberg Berk Gemstone Jewellery, Engagement Rings, Jewellery Stores.Hillberg Berk. Retrieved 6 April 2018, from https://hillbergandberk.com/?utm_expid=55757320-5.pU51p37CT8-cVr_q_zgRDA.0utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.in%2F Ingram, T. N., LaForge, R. W., Williams, M. R., Schwepker Jr, C. H. (2015).Sales management: Analysis and decision making. Routledge. Macchion, L., Danese, P., Vinelli, A. (2015). Redefining supply network strategies to face changing environments. A study from the fashion and luxury industry.Operations Management Research,8(1-2), 15-31. Pantano, E. (2016). Benefits and risks associated with time choice of innovating in retail settings.International Journal of Retail Distribution Management,44(1), 58-70.