Impact of Supply Chain Management on the Organizational Performance

Course: Diploma in Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Impact of Supply Chain Management on the Organizational Performance of Apparel Retail Sector: A Case Study of Zara

Abstract

This research study named, "Impact of Supply Chain Management on the Organizational Performance of Apparel Retail Sector: A Case Study of Zara" was composed with an aim to critically analyze and evaluate the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of apparel retail organizations like Zara. Effective supply chain management brings several opportunities for an organization to improve their annual profitability. Moreover, supply chain management helps an organization to reduce their cost and also improve their organizational performance to meet their pre-determined organizational goals. To analyze the research topic, the scholar of this study has three research objectives. The main objective is to explore the tools of supply chain management in apparel retail organization and also investigate its impact on the organizational performance. Another research objective is to analyze the role of information and communication technology in supply chain management in the apparel retail organizations like Zara. The globalization of supply chain management has created a significant impact on the performance Zara, is also considered a research objective of this study.

Simultaneously, the scholar of this study has been utilizing inductive research approach and positivism research philosophy to structure the research study efficiently. Moreover, the research analyst has also selected quantitative and qualitative research strategy for gathering authentic information from the primary data. The scholar of this project has conducted a survey among 50 customers of Zara and also conducted an interview with the five managerial heads of Zara to determine the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance. Moreover, the gathered data has been analyzed with the help of M.S Excel and thematic analytical tool. According to the finding section of this study, it can be asserted that supply chain management is an important business strategy, which has created a significant impact on the organizational performance of a retail business organization. Effective supply chain management helps an organization to develop a healthy relationship with their internal and external stakeholders to run their business activities properly.

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Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Introduction
• 1.1 Research Background
• 1.2 Research Problem
• 1.3 Research Rationale
• 1.4 Aim and Objective
• 1.5 Research Question
• 1.6 Research Scope
• 1.7 Research Outline
• Chapter 2: Literature Review
• 2. 1. Introduction
• 2.2. Theoretical Framework
• 2.2.1. Supply Chain Management
• 2.2.2. Supply Chain Management of Zara
• 2.2.3. Practices of an Organization for Effective Supply Chain Management
• 2.2.4. Impact of Supply Chain Management on Organizational Performance
• 2.2.5. Role of Information and Communication Technology in Supply Chain Management of an Apparel Retail Organization 26
• 2.3. Conceptual Framework
• 2.4. Literature Gap
• 2.5. Summary
• Chapter 3: Research Methodology
• 3.1 Overview
• 3.2 Research Philosophy
• 3.3 Research Approach
• 3.4 Research Strategy
• 3.5 Data Collection Method
• 3.6 Sampling Strategy
• 3.6 Data Analysis Techniques
• 3.7 Research Ethics
• 3.8 Research Limitations
• 3.9 Summary
• Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
• 4.1 Introduction
• 4.2 Quantitative Data Analysis
• 4.3 Qualitative Data Analysis
• 4.3 Findings
• 4.4 Summary
• Chapter 5: Discussion
• 5.1. Impact of the Tools and Techniques of Supply Chain Management on the Organizational Performance in the Apparel Retail Organization
• 5.2. The role of information and communication technology (ICT) in Supply Chain Management in the apparel retail organizations
• 5.3. Impact of globalization of Supply Chain Management on the performance of Zara, an apparel retail organization
• Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendation
• 6.1 Conclusion
• 6.2 Recommendation
• 6.3 Future Research Scope
• References

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Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Research Background

Supply chain management is one of the important factors for the growth of an organization. In the initial days, most of the business organizations emphasize supply chain management to gain customers loyalty. After that, the companies realize supply chain management has created a significant impact on their financial performance. Supply chain management helps an organization to reduce their cost and improve their organizational performance to meet their goals (Vannoppen, Verbeke and Van Huylenbroeck, 2002, p.830). In the current competitive era, the market environment is growing to be more competitive, for this reason, most of the companies have to implement supply chain management practices to sustain in the competitive market. It is one of the business strategy, which helps to develop a healthy relationship with their stakeholders, such as suppliers, customers, wholesalers, distributors, retailer, and investors (Towill, 2005, p.428). In the year 1990, most of the organization has suffered severe problems because of market competition, which was adversely affected their distribution channel. After facing this problem, the organizations have realized that they should improve their supply chain management to gain a competitive advantage. Therefore, it can be said that effective supply chain management is playing a crucial role to manage and integrate the information of supply chains, which will help to accomplish their desired goals with a specific time (Stank, Keller and Closs, 2001, p.35). On the other hand, apparel retail organizations have an aim to bring products from product manufacturers to consumers. Basically, supply chain is considered the organization's network, which involves upstream and downstream networks. For example, with the help of upstream linkage, a dress manufacturing company can able to transfer fabrics from raw material supplier to the manufacturer. Whereas, with the help of downstream linkage, retailers and distributors of a dress manufacturing company are able to deliver the final products to their customers.

1.2 Research Problem
Fund is highly required to improve the supply chain management, which brings several opportunities for the organization to improve their annual profitability. Moreover, with the help of effective supply chain, manufacturing companies are able to contribute their financial resources to their country's GDP growth. According to, Holmberg, (2000, p.847), supply chain management helps to manage the relationships with suppliers and customers in a cost-effective manner to improve their organizational performance. Many research studies have investigated the effects of customer-supplier orientation on organizational performance. These studies are addressed some interesting aspects of SCM practices. For example, by implementing effective supply chain management, Hewlett-Packard Company has saved $80 million while supplying their desk printer. At the same time, this company also resized upward inventory in their distribution department to avoid the high-cost shipment. Kamau, (2013, p.22) was analyzed the relationship between buyer-supplier and organizational performance on his research study, where he found a positive relationship between two variables. The research study of Stank, Keller and Closs, (2001, p.34), he found that most of the large multinational companies have been impacted several advanced technologies to run their distribution activities flawlessly. From the aforementioned information, it can be asserted that there are limited studies, which are emphasizing the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of apparel retail organization. Therefore, this study has an aim to analyze and evaluate the supply chain management on the organizational performance of apparel retail business organizations like Zara.

1.3 Research Rationale
In this research study, the research scholar tried to bring up the influence of supply chain management on the organizational performance of the apparel retail sector in accordance with Zara. The research analyst also tried to focus on the tools that are used in making the supply chain management an efficient one. The role of the technology can also be identified in the working of the supply chain management. In addition, it can be said that supply chain management is also getting affected because of the factors of globalisation (Kamau, 2013, p.23). From this, the research analyst will be able to know the manner by which, globalisation and other factors like technology or communication are causing effect on the supply chain management of Zara. This research topic is of great importance to the general public. With the help of the supply chain management, Zara's organizational performance can be measured along with its financial performance and market performance. From this, the research scholar will get to know about the different aspects of the organizational performance of Zara. In addition, the research analyst will be able to gain some knowledge on the working of the supply chain management, which provides an impact on the performance of the organization. Through the research work, the research scholar tries to figure out the main features of supply chain management of Zara. Along with this, the research project also aims to find out further development in the organizational structure of an apparel retail industry such as Zara.

1.4 Aim and Objective
The research study has tried to analyze and evaluate the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of the apparel retail sector. For this reason, the scholar of this particular study has set an aim, which is to critically analyze the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of apparel retail organizations like Zara.
Based on the research aim that had been formed by the research scholar, the following research objectives have been set to analyze the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of the apparel retail sector. The research objectives of this research study are:
• To explore the tools of supply chain management in apparel retail organizations and also investigate its impact on the organizational performance
• To analyze the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in supply chain management in the apparel retail organizations like Zara
• To critically analyze the globalization of supply chain management on the performance of Zara, an apparel retail organization

1.5 Research Question
Based on the aim and objectives of this research study, the scholar had been formed certain research questions to critically analyze the research topic. The research questions of this study are provided below.
Primary Research Question
• What is the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of apparel retail organizations like Zara?
Secondary Research Questions
• What is the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in supply chain management in the apparel retail organizations like Zara?
• How globalization of supply chain management influence the performance of Zara, an apparel retail organization?

1.6 Research Scope
Supply chain management is playing a crucial role in the development of an organization. This operation management is responsible for delivering the products and services efficiently. Moreover, it can be said that the process of supply chain management starts from transforming raw materials into the final products. In this operational process, promotional as well as marketing channel plays a significant role (Ballou, 2007, p.32). The impact of supply chain management has been researched and analyzed in several industries such as the automobile, healthcare, retail etc. but there is a limited researched information about the impact of supply chain management on apparel retail business organizations. This particular study has the aim of critically analyze and evaluate the supply chain management of clothing retail business sectors. Moreover, this study also discussed the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of an apparel retail organization, Zara. In this particular research study, the meaning of supply chain management was defined clearly, at the same time, the management issues are also discussed appropriately. This research study mainly emphasizes the apparel businesses like Zara. The role of information and communication technology in supply chain management in apparel retail organizations is also defined in this paper. Zara is one of the renowned apparel retail business organization, which has spread their businesses all over the world (Choi and Cheng, 2015, p.12). For this reason, the needs and desire of the customers are different from country to country. Therefore, it is difficult to cover all the aspects of supply chain management, but this study has attempted to cover all the vital aspects of supply chain management of apparel retail organization.

1.7 Research Outline
This part of this dissertation provides a detailed structured of a research project, which helps research scholar to complete his study successfully (Walliman, 2017, p.15). At the same time, this portion of the study has an aim to provide a brief description of every chapter headings that helps to understand the research project easily. The outline of this research study is described below:

Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter introduces the research topic appropriately. Introduction chapter provides detailed background information on the research topic. Based on this research topic, the scholar has formed a research aim. On the basis of the aim, the scholar of this dissertation has formed research objectives and research questions to analyze the research topic.

Chapter 2: Literature Review
This chapter of this research study provides theoretical knowledge on the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of apparel retail organizations. On the basis of the theoretical knowledge, the scholar has provided a conceptual framework of the study, which helps to understand the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of apparel retail organization easily (Kiende, 2017, p.27).

Chapter 3: Research Methodology
In this chapter of the research study, the scholar was selected appropriate research methods to run the research study. In this particular research study, the scholar has selected primary data collection methods to accumulate data to analyze the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of apparel business organizations like Zara.

Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
In this chapter, the research analyst has analyzed the gathered data to answer the research questions. In this particular research study, the research scholar has accumulated data with the help of primary and secondary data collection process. On the basis of the gathered information, the scholar has selected appropriate data analysis tools to analyze data in an efficient manner (Barasa, 2017, p.27).

Chapter 5: Discussion
This chapter provides a detailed discussion on the finding chapter of this study.
Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendations
It is the final chapter of every dissertation, which has an aim to provide a brief conclusion of the study and also tries to provides certain recommendations on the research topic. Along with this study also provides certain research scope or opportunities for the future research scholar to conduct their research study in this particular field (Kiende, 2017, p.29).

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Chapter 2: Literature Review

2. 1. Introduction
Literature review section of this particular study has an aim to provide elongated knowledge of supply chain management that helps other to understand the research topic significantly. Supply Chain Management is the most important feature of an organization, but due to its complexity, most organizations are unable to implement it ideally in its working process. (Handfield and et al., 2015, p. 10). Supply chain management of Zara has a great impact on the financial as well as market performance of Zara, which also make use of the Information and Communication Technology to improve the overall performance of the organization.

2.2. Theoretical Framework

2.2.1. Supply Chain Management
The flow of different goods and services from the stage of raw material to its transformation into final products needs managing. This kind of management is known as the "Supply Chain Management". To get a maximized customer value, the business of an organization actively streamlines all its supply side activities. By doing so, the organization is able to get an advantage over its competitors. According to the viewpoint of (Monczka and et al., 2015, p. 25), The Supply Chain Management is responsible to develop a supply chain which is efficient as well as economical and then implement it. It also includes the information system from which it can control everything from the production to shipment to the distribution of each of the products. The reason behind managing the supply chain is that it helps the organizations to cut down excess cost during all its stages and along with that it is capable of delivering the products to its customer a lot faster than usual. The principle idea behind supply chain is that a single product which comes to the market is actually the result of the efforts of different organizations (Fredendall and Hill, 2016, p. 52). By controlling the inventories of vendors of the company, the sales, and distribution, along with the internal production and inventories, very tightly, an organization is able to manage the supply chain.

2.2.2. Supply Chain Management of Zara
One of the leading brands of the apparel industry in the whole world is "Zara". According to Choi and Cheng (2015, p. 85), Zara had not reached this position easily, after it was founded in the year 1975 in Spain. This particular fashion merchandise is always many steps ahead in understanding the market needs of fashion all over the world. It is due to the classy management of its supply chain that it is able to open more than 2200 stores in 96 countries all over the world. Zara has a specific and discrete way of managing its supply chain, where it regularly produce a small batch of products and deliver them with clockwork precision. These products are delivered to its stores all over the world exactly two times a week and at precisely the same time. Even while producing and delivering such perfect volumes of product, how Zara stays so efficient, is really a matter of question (Stevens and Johnson, 2016, p. 35). Zara follows an ambient strategy where there is an adaption of couture designs, manufacturing, distributions and retailing of clothes, exactly within two weeks of the first appearance of the original design on the catwalk. It is possible through its perfect management of the supply chain at the perfect speed.

2.2.3. Practices of an Organization for Effective Supply Chain Management

2.2.3.1. Procurement
Zara follows certain strategies for the effective procurement process. According to Chan, Ngai, and Moon, (2017, p.491), at first, it conducts an analysis of the internal needs and assesses the suppliers market. The information about the suppliers are collected and a strategy of sourcing or outsourcing the raw materials are developed and implemented. After negotiation with the suppliers, the winning bid is selected and a contractual supply chain is implemented and improved according to the transition plan.

2.2.3.2. Designing
Within few days of the occurrence of a dress in the designer fashion show, the designers of Zara make sketches of the same, select the fabric and other raw materials required, and send it to the head office. There are designers of Zara in most of its regional offices, which can design independently to make the process of designing faster but need approval from the head office, where information technology comes into use.

2.2.3.3. Manufacturing
Ross, (2016, p.42) defines that, the manufacturing of the dresses are mainly done in-house by Zara, which keeps the control centered. More than 50% of its clothes are manufactured in the middle of a fashion season. When a trend is going strong in the fashion market then Zara manufactures it and fast-track to the stores. If demand changes abruptly, then Zara have extra capacity and flexibility of extra shifts and temporary labour, along with frequent shipments to manage it.

2.2.3.4. Packaging
To make sure that all its products are in its perfect condition when a customer takes them home from a Zara store or are delivered to their homes due to an online order, Zara follows some steps. The retailers bend the dresses in a perfect way and put them inside a plastic. Then they are put in a black colored box which has the logo of Zara on its top. It makes the whole packaging very attractive and efficient.

2.2.3.5. Distribution
Holmberg, (2000, p.850) says, after manufacturing and packaging, the products are delivered to the stores according to their orders. Zara makes sure that the products are shipped to the stores within 24hours of its packaging. To keep all its stores up-to-date with fashion, Zara delivers products twice every week and they are put on display at the stores on the same day. Zara takes a maximum of 2 weeks from designing till distribution, after the first occurrence of the style in the catwalk.

2.2.4. Impact of Supply Chain Management on Organizational Performance
In the context of Tatoglu and et al., (2016, p. 190), To compete effectively with its rivals, an organization has to produce high-quality products and services at a reasonable price while decreasing waste, and still make profits. All these are possible only when the organization is efficient enough to handle its supply chain management, and every organization should understand it as early as possible. However, the fact is managing the supply chain after understanding its complexities is not that easy for most of the organization. During the upstream and downstream movement of products and services along with finances and information, there are some entities or practices which are directly involved. That Supply Chain Management is considered the best, where the initiatives are able to influence the whole supply chain and all its small parts. However, some factors influence the supply chain, such as the type of the industry, size of the firm, type, length and its position in the supply chain. Handfield and et al., (2015, p. 10) thinks, within the supply chain, the relation of the organization with its customers, the training of its employees, sharing of information and the strategic partnership with its suppliers have a direct impact on its management. The prime aim of the Supply Chain Management is to provide a cost-effective process of managing all the process from raw materials to delivery of the product.

2.2.4.1. Impact of Supply Chain Management on Financial Performance of an Apparel Retail Industry

(Source: Jakhar, 2015, p. 400)
According to, Shen and Li, (2015, p.1180), it can be said that financial performance of an apparel retail industry is one of the vital factors that can be observed while bringing out the economic consequences of the business. For evaluating the working of the business organization, external and internal stakeholders unite together. Along with this, they also try to measure their success depending on the financial performance of the company (Chan, Ngai and Moon, 2017, p. 490). On the other hand, it can also be observed that the managers of the supply chain management try to make decisions with the help of organizational resources. This, in turn, delivers a great impact on the financial status of the firm.
As in the case of Zara, it can be observed that this company is able to enjoy its competitive advantage over the other universal fashion retailers (Ülgen and Forslund, 2015, p.60). This is possible because of its efficient supply chain management that helped the company in gaining success. According to the viewpoint of, Jakhar, (2015, p.400), Zara's success is possible because of its "Fast-Fashion" strategy. Due to the efficient supply chain management, Zara is seen capable of bringing up new fashionable and trending products, which are found in reasonable prices. In addition, they also try to market those products, which can fulfil the customers' desires and wants (Ayers and Odegaard, 2017, p.2). Thus, it can be said that the financial performance of an apparel retail industry is somewhat related with the supply chain management, which provides a great impact on companies like Zara.
In accordance with, Ayers and Odegaard, (2017, p.4), it can be said that a company can develop in the world market, only if it maintains a balance between the organizational performance and the decisions of supply chain. In addition, it can also be said that the supply chain management of the organization should cooperate with their financial element. It is the responsibility of the firm to analyze the effect of supply chain management on financial performance (Li et al., 2016, p. 65). This, in turn, will help in measuring the impact of supply chain management on the financial performance of the apparel retail industry like Zara.
In the study of Shen and Li, (2015, p.1180), Zara is known among the best supply chain management operators of all times. Its supply chain management has contributed a lot to the financial performance of the company. In a recent study, it can be observed that after doing the market research, Zara came in competition with the H&M Company (Jakhar, 2015, p. 400). In the study of, Brammer and Walker, (2016, p.70), it can be observed that with the help of its facilities of supply chain management, Zara was capable of creating a prestigious place worldwide, above of H&M. Such progress leads to an increase in the financial condition of Zara, which in turn, provided a great impact on its organizational performance.

2.2.4.2. Impact of Supply Chain Management on Market Performance of an Apparel Retail Industry
According to Jakhar (2015, p. 400), the sales revenue an organization has along with its market share, profitability, and competitive advantages can be the determinant of the organization's market performance. Customer satisfaction and their loyalty also play a greater role in the market performance of the organization. In addition to the aforementioned aspects, the market performance of an organization is also determined by the behavior of its valuable assets in the marketplace. In the apparel retail industry too, Supply Chain Management plays a very important role in the organization's market performance.
In the Apparel Retail Industry, one phrase is very common, "One day it's in and the next day it's out". This is the reason behind such a high degree of uncertainty in this business. In the context of Huq, Chowdhury and Klassen, (2016, p. 25), the market trend is changing every now and then and it is becoming harder to predict what will be the next trend and what kind of raw materials and supplies will be required. In the past, the apparel industry can be put in the category of "push model", where the retailer outlets pushed out different styles and outfits in the market. In the present situation where each industry has its competitors at every nook and corner, the brands are more pressurized to go with the flow of the needs of the customers (Ayers and Odegaard, 2017, p. 56). However, to retain one's position the organization must react very fast before any of its rivals are able to.
According to the viewpoint of Venkatesh, Rathi and Patwa (2015, p. 160), the renowned apparel retail organization, Zara follows seven rules for the fashion supply chain. The key term which can be heard about Zara is its "lean manufacturing", it means it always creates a small lot of each dress which helps in both retaining its exclusiveness and force the customer to make a prompt decision. Secondly, it designs its dresses and develops them at a particular place, using only the in-house staffs. They eliminate the stage of sending a sample to its retailers, which reduces the time of making and delivering the final products to its stores. Having own designers along with sales, procurement and production planners at every new development team helps Zara to streamline all its internal communication. Shipments of the products are always within 24 hours of the placement of order and they are on display on the same day itself (Chan, Ngai and Moon, 2017, p. 492). Automation of all stages with the help of IT helps in increased speed and accuracy of its operation. Zara invests its most in the in-house manufacturing which increases the flexibility due to less dependability on others. All these steps have a steady and fast pace which helps in reducing the waiting time to its minimum.

Sales Revenue and Profitability
Each location has different patterns of spending according to their affluence, prefer different styles and also the per capita income of that place. All these have a direct impact on the sales revenue of the apparel retail organization. Exclusiveness of all the products of renowned apparel companies like Zara increases the traffic as well as its revenue.

Competitive Advantages and Market Share
Zara designs, develops its products and send them to their stores within two weeks of its first appearance in the ramp, and they do so twice every week (Choi and Cheng, 2015, p. 22). They are well informed of the fashions, on which the IT employees work day and night. It gives a competitive advantage to Zara over its counterparts and helps in gaining and retaining a huge market share.

Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty
Due to the delivery of order within a day and it displays on the same day, the customers are able to get their hands on the product fastest than any other store. This technique keeps the customers satisfied and loyal towards Zara.

2.2.5. Role of Information and Communication Technology in Supply Chain Management of an Apparel Retail Organization
Technology has given many opportunities to different organizations (Lee et al., 2018, p.20). Day by day, it is providing various scopes for development with the help of information and communication technology. In accordance with, Arora, Arora and Sivakumar, (2016, p.220), it can be observed that information technology plays a great role in developing the performance of the supply chain. Thus, this supply chain management, in turn, helps the organization in competing with the other organization. In the study of, Laudon and Laudon, (2016, p.4), it can be observed that IT or information technology helps in designing the plan or operating the management. On the other hand, it also helps in enhancing the profitability of the supply chain. According to the perception of, Laudon and Laudon, (2015, p.6), communication technology is also seen as a vital part of the organization. With the help of this, the supply chain management of Zara is able to communicate with its end users. Along with this, they can also receive their raw materials by communicating with the dealers. Such technological practices are helping the activities of the supply chain management of Zara.
In addition, such facilities can lead to better customer service, quick procession to information, increased productivity, etc. Alternatively, it can also be said that information and communication technology is stated as a helpful factor in this generation where the competition is high. According to the viewpoint of, Ross, (2016, p.7), Zara is seen using certain methods related to the information and communication technology. In contrast, it can also be said that such technological innovations can give rise to the better future development of Zara (Arora, Arora and Sivakumar, 2016, p.220). Therefore, with the advancement of ICT, Zara will be able to develop its organizational performance along with its SCM.

2.3. Conceptual Framework

2.4. Literature Gap
In the above discussion, it was not possible to include data about supply chain management of Zara or any other apparel retail organization. It was also not possible to give the values of revenue and profits of those organizations. What type of customers are able to buy these products and how affordable they are, is also not mentioned. How much the organization spends or how the trends and prices vary from countries to countries and cities to cities is also not mentioned.

2.5. Summary
From the discussion above, one can get a clear perspective on the necessity and impact of Supply Chain Management in the Apparel Retail Industry. The apparel organizations need to concentrate more on the latest fashion trends and by latest its means the trend of the day or the week. This is because in this industry, one trend, which is "in" someday, can be "out" the next day. So there is always a risk of going out of fashion or else the stocks may get stuck forever in the stores. Keeping this in mind, well-known fashion retailers like Zara work hard to make a perfect Supply Chain Management system, which will work in harmony. Zara uses a small in-home system where it invests, produces and then sends to all its stores all over the world. This process saves its time and makes it more cost-efficient and time-saving. Its strong Supply Chain throughout its stages makes it possible to get raw materials at the earliest and the IT involvement helps in keeping track of all the shipments, which they deliver within 24 hours of ordering. This efficiency makes Zara favourite to all its customers who stay loyal thereon.

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Chapter 3: Research Methodology

3.1 Overview
Research methodology is considered the most essential part of a research study, where the scholar can choose appropriate research methods to run their research study appropriately. A scholar can able to analyze their research topic with the help of appropriate research methods. Therefore, it is the responsibility of a research analyst to select appropriate research methods to complete their study successfully and attain the desired outcome (Battiste, 2016, p.111). With the help of appropriate research methods, the scholar of this particular study is able to analyze and evaluate the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of the apparel retail industry. This particular chapter defines research philosophy, research approach, data collection methods, data analysis methods, and research ethics etc., which help the scholar to accomplish the research objectives within a specific time.

3.2 Research Philosophy
Research philosophy provides knowledge towards scholars that help them to structure their research studies. In other words, research philosophy prepares conviction among the research scholars that help them to increase their knowledge of their particular research study. Due to this, the scholar should choose appropriate research philosophy to complete his research study within a specific period. There are primarily four types of research philosophy, which are Positivism, Realism, Interpretivism, and Pragmatism (Flick, 2015, p.15). For this particular research study, the scholar has been chosen positivism research philosophy. This research philosophy helps to accumulate authentic information on the supply chain management. Along with this, positivism research philosophy also helps the research scholar to determine the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of the apparel retail organizations like Zara. At the same time, positivism research philosophy helps the scholar to evaluate the hypothesis significantly, which helps the scholar to answer the research questions. In this particular research study, the scholar has taken epistemological approach to analyzing the research topic efficiently. Basically, epistemology focuses on the truth, which is completely opposite to ontology.

3.3 Research Approach
Research approach is considered an important portion of the research methodology chapter. Research approach plays an important role to run the research projects systematically that helps scholar to answer the research questions. Hence, it is the duty of a scholar to select an appropriate research approach to carry out their research study successfully. Simultaneously, there are three types of research approach, i.e. inductive research approach, deductive research approach, and abductive research approach (Murphy, 2016, p.277). Deductive research approach has an aim to develop and analyze the hypothesis with the help of existing theories, whereas, inductive research approach is mainly emphasizing to develop new theories with the help of relevant documents. Abductive research approach is a well mixture of both inductive and deductive research approach (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016, p.5). In relation to this, it can be said that the scholar of this particular research study has selected inductive approach for gaining a fruitful result of this study.

3.4 Research Strategy
Research strategy helps research scholar to design their data collection methods, so, it is one of the unavoidable section of the research methodology chapter. To execute this research scholar, the scholar should choose an appropriate research strategy. At the same time, it can be asserted that there are two types of research strategy, such as quantitative research strategy and qualitative research strategy (Palinkas and et al., 2015, p.536). In this particular research study, the scholar has selected both quantitative and qualitative research strategy. In order to gather information from authentic sources, the research scholar has conducted an online survey among the 50 customers Zara who are located in different location, such as UK, Australia, Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Ireland to accumulate their viewpoints on the organizational performance of Zara. Whereas, the scholar also conducted an interview session with the 5 managerial heads of Zara to determine the impact of supply chain management on their overall organizational performance. This research strategy helps the scholar to accumulate authentic data from the primary sources to attain the desired result.

It is already mentioned that research scholar of this study has been selected both quantitative and qualitative research methods for accumulating authentic data. These methods help to accumulate data from authentic sources, which helps to analyze the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of apparel retail organizations like Zara. Moreover, it can be asserted that the research scholar has been gathered authentic information from primary sources. For this reason, the scholar has prepared a close-ended questionnaire for conducting a survey among the 50 customers of Zara, and also prepare open-ended questionnaire for organizing interview session with the managers of Zara. On the basis of the gather information, scholar of this particular study is able to analyze the research topic to attain a desired result (Sekaran and Bougie, 2016, p.9).

3.5 Data Collection Method

Data collection method is one of the important portions of the research methodology chapter. There are two types of data collection methods, one is the primary data collection and another one is the secondary data collection method (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015, p.21). In this particular study, the scholar has gathered autunitic data through the primary data collection process. In order to accumulate quantitative data the primary sources, the scholar has conducted an online survey among the 50 customers of Zara, who are located in the different geographic location. The scholar has prepared the close-ended questionnaire, which has been distributed through online medium to the customers of Zara to gather their responses. Whereas, open-ended questionnaire was also prepared by the scholar to gathered responses from interview session. Therefore, it can be asserted that the nature of this study is explanatory, which helps scholar to meet the research objectives significantly.

3.6 Sampling Strategy

To attain a fruitful result from a research study, the sampling strategy is playing a crucial role. This particular study focuses on the primary resource. Due to this reason, the research field worker has been conducted a survey among the 50 customers of Zara, who are from geographic location. Whereas, the scholar also conducted an interview session with the 5 managerial heads of Zara. On the other hand, there are primarily four types of sampling strategy, such as Random sampling, Stratified sampling, Cluster sampling, and Systematic sampling (Vaioleti, 2016, p.7). In this particular study, the scholar has selected random sampling techniques while gathering information from the population. In random sampling techniques, each person of the population has got equal opportunity (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault, 2015, p.23). Simultaneously, the research scholar has prepared close-ended questionnaires with the help of five-point Likert scale to determine the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of an apparel retail organization, Zara. In this research study, 50 customersof Zara have been considered as the research sample. Moreover, Primary data collection process has been taken into consideration for this study to accumulate authentic data, which helps scholar to address the research questions significantly.

3.6 Data Analysis Techniques

Appropriate data analysis techniques help to analyze the gathered data to obtain the desired result. The research scholar has been utilizing several data analysis techniques to analyze the gathered data (Palinkas and et al., 2015, p.536). Whereas, in this particular study, the scholar has been collecting data from the primary sources. M.S Excel, data analysis tool has used for analyzing the quantitative data. Moreover, the gathered data has been analyzed in a descriptive manner with the help of using several graphs, charts, tables, and bar diagrams. At the same time, the thematic analytical tool also utilized by the research analyst to analyze the gathered information, which is extracted from the interview session. These data analysis techniques help the research scholar to analyze the authentic data for accomplishing research objectives.

3.7 Research Ethics

Research Ethics are one of the vital factors, which is to be maintained while proceeding with the research work. It is the responsibility of the research analyst to conduct the research in an honest manner. On the other hand, the research scholar should follow certain ethics while doing the research. While conducting the survey, it is the duty of the research scholar to see if there are any gender biases or not (Walliman, 2017, p.2). Such practices should be avoided while proceeding with this work. Apart from this, it is also the duty of the research scholar to destroy those data, which will be utilized for this research work. This is done so that the data will not be used any further for any purpose. The Out-dated data will make the research paper, a weak one. In this manner, the ethics will be maintained in this research work.

3.8 Research Limitations

While conducting this research project, the research analyst had to face certain barriers. Such barriers provided a great impact on the outcome of this research paper. Above all, the timeframe and the assigned budget can be mentioned as the main limitations of this study. On the other hand, the research study has focused mainly on the primary data collection method. In this method, the biases should be avoided or else it may cause any problem in delivering accurate data in the research study. The Budget is also a major problem, which is faced by most of the research scholars (Murphy, 2016, p.280). Along with this, timeframe can also be mentioned as a vital issue in the completion of the research. Due to the less amount of time, many types of research remain incomplete. It may also lead to invaluableness of the research study.

3.9 Summary

From the above discussion, it can be said that the scholar has chosen certain research methods to complete his study successfully. In this study, inductive research approach has been taken into consideration and positivism research philosophy has selected by the scholar to develop authentic knowledge about the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance. Simultaneously, the research scholar has selected quantitative and qualitative research strategy for accumulating authentic information from the primary sources. Primary data collection method has been taken into consideration for this particular research study. For accumulating data from the primary source, the scholar has conducted a survey among the customers of Zara and also conducted an interview with managers of Zara. At the same time, in order to analyze the gathered data, the scholar has used MS Excel and thematic tool. With the help of these aforementioned research methods, the scholar can able to answer the research questions significantly.

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Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings

4.1 Introduction

This research study has an aim to critically analyze and evaluate the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance of appeal retail organizations like Zara. Whereas, this particular chapter of the research study has provided elongated analysis from the data for the discussion chapter. For accumulating authentic information, 50 respondents have been distributed with the online close-ended questionnaire and also asked them to provide repossess to each question. Whereas, the scholar also accumulated information from the interview process. After collecting information, the scholar of this study has entered the responses in the MS Excel spreadsheet for analyzing purpose. At the same time, the scholar also interprets the gathered data in a descriptive manner by using pie charts.

4.2 Quantitative Data Analysis

In order to analyze the quantitative gathered data, the research scholar has conducted an online survey among the customers of Zara, who are from different geographic locations, such as UK, Australia, Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and Ireland. Figure 4.1 indicates the age of the respondents, which is included in the questionnaire. According to this figure, it can be observed that majority of the respondents for this survey purpose were male. 64 percent of respondents were male, whereas the number of female respondents in the survey was less than the number of males. Whereas, 36 percent of respondents were female.

Supply chain management is one of the important business strategies that has created a significant impact on the delivery process of every organization. Moreover, effective supply chain management practices are divided into several parts, where distribution is one of the most important core practices of supply chain management. Fig 4.2 indicates that effective supply chain management helps to deliver quality products toward their target market customers to gain their loyalty. According to this figure, it can be observed that majority of the respondents were strongly agreed that effective supply chain management helps an organization to deliver premium quality products. Whereas, 30 percent of respondents claimed that were agreed with the statement and 16 percent of respondent were preferred to remain neutral in this statement. On the other hand, it can be asserted that 12 percent of respondents claimed that they disagreed that effective supply chain management helps to deliver quality products, whereas few respondents were claimed that they were strongly disagreed. From the aforementioned analysis, it can be asserted that effective supply chain management helps apparel retail organizations like Zara to deliver quality products towards their customers to gain their loyalty.

The product design strategy is one of the strategies that has created a significant impact on the buying decisions of customers. The below figure indicates that the product design strategy influences the buying behaviour of customers. According to 4.3 figure, it can be asserted that the majority of the respondents were agreed that product design strategy influences the buying decisions of customers. In other words, 42 percent of respondents were claimed that they were agreed that product design strategy influences the buying behaviour of customers. Moreover, 30 percent of respondents were strongly agreed with the statement, while 16 percent of surveyed respondents were holding a natural approach. At the same time, 10 percent of respondents disagreed that product design strategy influences the buying behaviour of customers and few respondents were strongly disagreed with the topic. Therefore, the higher authorities of every retail organization should emphasize their product design strategy to influence their customer's buying decisions.

Product packaging is playing a crucial role to attract customers. Hence, it is one of the prime responsibility of an organization to take appropriate product design strategy and invest money in their product designing to influence customers buying behaviour. It is playing an imperative role for supply chain management of an organization. According to fig 4.4, it can be observed that majority of surveyed respondents claimed that they were strongly agreed that product packaging is playing a crucial role in supply chain management, which has created a significant impact on the buying behaviour of customers. Moreover, 32 percent of respondents were agreed with the statement and 12 percent of respondents were holding a natural approach. 16 percent of respondents were stated that they disagreed that product-packaging play an imperative role for supply chain management an organization and very few respondents were strongly disagreed with the aforementioned statement.

Store design is one of the influencing factors that attract new and existing customers towards the products and services. Retail outlets have been implementing several innovative steps to improve their store designing to attract new and existing customers. Fig 4.5 indicates that store designing plays an important to attract new and existing customers. According to this figure, 42 percent of respondents claimed that they were strongly agreed that store-designing strategy plays a crucial role to attract new and existing customers. Moreover, 26 percent of respondent were agreed that store designing is one of the vital influencing factors that has significantly attracted new and existing customer towards the provided products and services of a retail outlet. 10 percent of respondent were preferred to remain natural with the topic. At the same time, it can also be observed that 14 percent of respondents claimed that they were disagreed with the aforementioned statement, while very few respondents were strongly disagreed that store-designing strategy of an organization plays a crucial role to attract new and existing customers towards their provided products and services.

Advanced tools, technologies, and equipment are important for an organization to accomplish their pre-decided goals successfully. At the same time, it can also be asserted that advanced technology helps an organization to redesign their product manufacturing process to produce innovative products to attract a large number of customers. With the help of advanced tools, techniques, and equipment, an organization is able to deliver the right quantity products towards their target market customers on time, which will help to gain customers loyalty. The below figure signifies that implication of advanced tools, technologies, and equipment help an organization to enhance the ability of procurement strategy. On the basis of 4.6 figure, it can be identified that 36 percent of respondents were strongly agreed that implication of advanced tools, techniques and equipment help an organization to enhance the ability of procurement strategy. Whereas 32 percent of respondents were agreed with the statement and 12 percent of respondents were preferred to remain neutral. At the same time, it can also be observed that 16 percent of respondents were argued that they disagreed that advanced tools, technologies, and equipment help an organization to enhance the ability of procurement strategy. In addition, only 4 percent of respondents were claimed that they disagreed with the aforementioned statement.

Stakeholders are considered as the building block of an organization, so the higher authorities of an organization always try to develop a healthy relationship with them to run their business operation flawlessly. Fig 4.7 signifies that the implication of effective supply chain management strategies helps an organization to establish better business relations with their internal and external stakeholders. According to this figure, it can be asserted that majority of the respondents claimed that they were strongly agreed that implication of effective supply chain management strategies helps an organization to establish better relations with internal and external stakeholders. Whereas, 26 percent of respondents were claimed that they were agreed with the statement and 10 percent of respondents claimed that they were natural. 14 percent of surveyed customers augured that they disagreed that implication of effective supply chain management strategies helps an organization to establish better relations with internal and external stakeholders. While, very few respondents were strongly disagreed with the aforementioned statement.

4.3 Qualitative Data Analysis

Scholar of this project has set certain open-ended questions for organizing an interview session with the five managerial heads of Zara. Their opinions have been taken into consideration to analyze the impact of supply chain management on the organizational performance.

Do you think that supply chain management and its various tools and techniques have an impact on the organizational performance?

According to this question, interviewee 4 argued, "Supply chain management and its various tools have created a significant impact on the performance of an organization. In addition, appropriate supply chain management of Zara has significantly influenced their financial and marketing performance. It is considered the most innovative operational tool to improve their organizational performance by reducing their extra cost."

Similarly, interviewee 2 claimed, "There are several tools and techniques of supply chain management such as lean inventory tools, ERP system, which have been implemented within our organization to improve our overall organizational performance."
From this above-mentioned information, it can be said that Zara has been implemented various tools and techniques within their organization to improve their organizational performance.

Do you think that effective supply chain management helps your organization to increase market share and profitability?

According to this question, the interviewee 1 claimed, "Supply chain management is playing a crucial role in the growth of an organization. Currently, most of the business organizations are focused on effective supply chain management to improve their annual productivity and profitability. Our organization takes certain measures to improve our supply chain management to increase our market share and profitability."

Whereas, interviewee 3 said, "It is considered the most important business strategy, which helps an organization to run their distribution process systematically that directly helps to increase their market share. At the same time, we are utilizing supply chain management strategies to cut down our extra expenses, which help to increase our profitability."

From this information, it can be said that effective supply chain management helps Zara to increase their market share and profitability.

Do you think that implication of effective supply chain management strategies may help an organization to gain better competitive advantages within the operating market?

According to this question, interviewee 2 claimed, "Zara has effective supply chain management, which brings opportunity to gain better competitive advantages within the operating market. Moreover, Zara has adopted different cultural designs while producing products for their target market customers and also delivered their products within two weeks to fulfil the increasing demands of their customers that will significantly help this company to gain better competitive advantage."

While interviewee 5 claimed, "It is proven that effective supply chain management is measuring growth factor of an organization. Lean procurement is a strategy that can significantly help an organization to reduce the utilization of resources, which will directly help to gain competitive advantage."

Based on this aforementioned discussion, it can be said that Zara has implemented certain effective supply chain management strategies to gain competitive advantages within the operating market.

Do you think that supply chain management helps your organization to build a strong relation with both internal and external stakeholders?

By answering this question, interviewee 4 claimed, "The main goal of Supply chain management is to develop a healthy relationship between the organization and both internal and external stakeholders. I think effective, innovative supply chain management helps our organization to build a long-term healthy relationship with both internal and external stakeholders."
Besides, interviewee 2 argued, "Yes, I strongly agreed that supply chain management helps our organization to develop a healthy relationship with our stakeholders. A healthy relationship with the stakeholders has created a positive impact on the organizational performance of our organization."

Interviewee 5 claimed, "Supply chain management of our organization is playing a crucial role to develop and maintain a healthy relationship with our retailers, customers, and investors that has created a significant impact on our company's brand image."
From the above-mentioned information, it can be asserted that effective supply chain management helps Zara to establish and maintain a healthy relationship with both internal and external stakeholders.

Do you think that effective supply chain management of your organization will help to meet the psychological demands of your target market customers?

As an answer to this aforementioned question, Interviewee 3 declared, "Zara is regularly producing a small batch of products and deliver the products towards their customers on time, which signifies that they flow effective supply chain. Whereas, effective supply chain management helps our organization to meet the psychological demands of your target market customers."
At the same time, interviewee 4 emphasized, "Lean supply chain management helps business organization to eliminate wastage in their production cycle to run their business activities flawless that helps Zara to meet the psychological demands of their target market customers. With the help of supply chain, Zara can deliver their innovative premium quality products toward their customer on time to meet their physical and psychological demands."

As per the above observation, it can be said that effective supply chain management helps Zara to meet their customer's psychological demands.

4.3 Findings

On the basis of the aforementioned data analysis portion, it can be clearly argued that effective supply chain management has significantly influenced the organizational performance of apparel retail organization. According to the quantitative data analysis, it can be said that majority of the surveyed respondents claimed the product designing strategy, store designing strategy are important for every organization to attract customers towards their provided products and services. Whereas, distribution is one of the vital practices of supply chain management. A maximum number of respondents were argued that effective supply chain management helps an organization to deliver premium quality products towards their customers on time, which will help an organization to attain their customer's satisfaction level efficiently. At the same time, the packaging is playing a crucial role in supply chain management to attract new and existing customers. Majority of the surveyed customers claimed that implication of advanced tools, technologies, and equipment help an organization to enhance the ability of procurement strategy. Effective procurement strategy helps an organization to accomplish their desired goals within a specific time.

On the basis of the qualitative primary data, it can be asserted that supply chain management and its various tools have created a significant impact on the performance of an organization. Moreover, effective supply chain management of Zara helps to accomplish their financial and marketing goals. Therefore, it can be stated that the majority of the business organization should implement advanced technologies in their supply chain management to improve their annual productivity and profitability. Effective supply chain management strategies help an organization to cut down their extra expenses within their production cycle that directly helps the organization to increase their profitability. At the same time, it can be identified that Zara is regularly producing a small batch of products to meet their customers' needs and try to deliver their products through an effective supply chain. The effective supply chain of Zara helps this organization to meet their customers' psychological needs and demands. With the help of supply chain management, every organization can deliver their innovative and attractive products toward their customers to meet their physical and psychological demands. From the aforementioned discussion, it can be asserted that supply chain management is one of the business strategies that must be implemented by every business organization to improve their overall organizational performance.

4.4 Summary
According to this finding section, it can be stated that procurement, manufacturing, distribution, packing, store designing are considered the core practices of supply chain management. Supply chain management is one of the business strategies, which has created an impact on the organizational performance of an organization. Effective supply chain helps an organization to manufacture and deliver premium quality products towards their target market customers, which will significantly influence the financial performance of the organization as well as help to gain customers loyalty efficiently. At the same time, supply chain management helps an organization to develop a healthy relationship with their internal and external stakeholders to run their business operation significantly.

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Chapter 5: Discussion

5.1. Impact of the Tools and Techniques of Supply Chain Management on the Organizational Performance in the Apparel Retail Organization

From the Literature Review section of the study, one can get a clear view of the fashion apparel industry. In this industry, the trends are very short lived which means something which is in or trendy on this day, can be out of fashion the very next day. To keep up with these ever-changing trends, Zara makes use of the tools of the Supply Chain Management. This tool assists Zara to efficiently design, produce and deliver its product on time (Monczka and et al., 2015, p. 25). Zara uses IT to keep the suppliers, itself as well as the retailers in the know about the whereabouts of the raw materials or the finished product's supplies. This saves it from facing a bigger consequence due to any problem related to the delivery system. It is mentioned that Zara takes orders at any time of the week but delivers its products to a particular store only twice a week, which is put on display on the same day. It makes Zara an efficient user of the Order processing tool of the Supply Chain Management.

The main idea of the supply chain is to bring together all its suppliers at a single platform and makes the managing of the supply more streamlined and easy for both Zara and the organizations who are working together to make Zara stand out among its competitors (Fredendall and Hill, 2016, p. 52). A unique technique is followed by Zara which makes its products such a huge success to its customers. Zara always makes small batches of clothes, within the first appearance of the dress in the runway. It adds an exclusiveness to the dress which makes the customers think that, if they don't buy it at that instant then it may be sold out. So they are forced to make a quick decision.

From the findings and interview, it can be found that the most innovative tool to improve the operation and the performance of the organization are to reduce the extra cost. Most of the participants agree that these tools, technologies, and equipment helps Zara to be more able to acquire different materials, supplies and services strategically (Choi and Cheng, 2015, p. 85). Most of them also think that if the supply chain is effective enough then it will improve the performance of Zara in the long-term and deliver quality products. It can be understood that Zara makes use of Lean inventory tool which reduces the cost of inventory, warehouse space and in turn, returns some of the investments and streamlines the labor force. The behavior of the valuable assets of the organization has a great influence on the market share, profitability and competitive advantage of the organization.

5.2. The role of information and communication technology (ICT) in Supply Chain Management in the apparel retail organizations

According to the Literature Review section of the study, it can be seen that technology has brought a major change in the operations of organizations. Technology has also improved the communication within the organization and with others related to the organization. Information and communication technology (ICT) helps in the improvement of the performance of the Supply Chain (Stevens and Johnson, 2016, p. 35). This Information and communication technology is responsible for the designing of a plan and also its implementation. By doing so, it makes it possible for the organization to have an edge over its competitors and also the profit of the organization.

Information and communication technology had also made it possible for an organization to be in touch all the time with its suppliers and dealers which makes it easy for them to get the supply of all the raw materials at any point of time. This affluent availability of raw materials increases the productivity of the organization (Tatoglu and et al., 2016, p. 190). Due to being connected all the time, the delivery of products to its retailers is also on time which makes the end users satisfied. This easy communication with the help of technology is great in providing better customer service and security to the data of the customers as well as the organization.

From the findings, it can be seen that most the participants believes that Information and Communication technology had decreased the lead time of production of Zara, while in turn had reduced the time of the delivery process. With the increased use of IT in every step of the Supply Chain, which makes the running of the distribution channel systematically makes Zara able to increase its market share (Handfield and et al., 2015, p. 10). Based on that, they think that if the supply chain management is effective in nature, then it helps in increasing the market share of Zara. The involvement of Information and Communication Technology had made it easier for Zara to understand the psychological needs of the customers. Quite a lot of participants think, by acting on these needs, Zara is able to meet the Psychological demands of the target customers with the help of its Supply Chain Management.

However, with fast-changing trends in the fashion apparel industry, organizations like Zara needs to make use of this Information Technology in every other way possible. From the interview with the managers of different level and the officers of Zara, one thing is quite clear, that implementation of Information technology and different innovative communication techniques had helped Zara to reach out to its suppliers as well as the retailers and its customers (Shen and Li, 2015, p.1180). This fast process due to the increased use of technology proves to be beneficial in most aspect of the organization.

5.3. Impact of globalization of Supply Chain Management on the performance of Zara, an apparel retail organization

From the literature review of the study, it can be found that the effective supply chain management of Zara had made it possible for the organization to be global and spread over different countries all over the world. It is founded just four decades ago in the year 1975 and is such a small span of time it has made itself global. That is the reason it is able to open as many as 2200 stores in over 96 countries of the whole world (Chan, Ngai, and Moon, 2017, p. 490). To manage all these the organizations have a unique way of managing the supply chain. The technique it uses is to produce very small batches of products, which makes the dresses exclusive in nature. As a result customers from all over the world gets very little time to decide if they want to buy it or not. This makes all its products been sold out within days of its display in the stores.

To make it global and effectively maintain it, Zara has an ambient strategy that is to adopt new couture designs, and then manufacture them in perfectly small volumes. To keep the exclusivity they take the order at any time of the day and deliver the products within 24 hours of the order (Ülgen and Forslund, 2015, p.60). After they are delivered they are displayed in the stores on the same day, but they only deliver products to a particular store only twice per week. Product packaging plays an imperative role in the supply chain management of an organization which is the in-between stage of manufacturing and delivery.

From the findings, it can be understood that to make an organization global and then maintain that position, it needs to follow some certain steps. That is why Zara needs to keep a balance in the performance of the organization and the decisions of the supply chain management. Not just that, the organization is also responsible for analyzing the effect of supply chain management on the financial performance of the organization (Ayers and Odegaard, 2017, p.2). Most of the participants think that the product design is the main reason behind the global recognition and fame of Zara, which makes more new customers attracted to it and keeps its old customers loyal towards the brand. The designs of the stores of Zara also significantly influence the buying decision of its customers. That is why so many of the participants said that the association of supply chain management stratefgi4es helps an organization to make and keep a good business relation with not only its internal stakeholders but also the external ones. As there is a very high level of uncertainty in this business, Zara should focus more on customer satisfaction and their loyalty towards the brand.

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Chapter 6: Conclusion and Recommendation

6.1 Conclusion
From the above discussion of the study, one can get a clear view of the supply chain management of an apparel retail industry. The designer apparel brand Zara is taken in this study. The study mainly focuses on the management of the supply chain in Zara. It is described that Supply chain plays a very important role in effective operation in any sector of an organization. It brings a balance among all the works to make the operation smooth within and around the company. The supply chain has a multi-angle impact on the performance of an organization. More effective the supply chain management of an organization is, the more it is able to gain the loyalty of customers. Along with that, an improvement in the financial performance of the organization can be seen. A good supply chain management develops a healthy relationship between the company and its investors, suppliers, distributors, wholesaler, retailers and the customers as well.

To gain a competitive advantage over other companies and to be able to reach the goal of the organization within the stipulated time, the supply chain management influences the most. The upstream part of supply chain management deals with the procurement of best raw material from the supplier with the best bid and also to the delivery of those raw materials to the manufacturing center of Zara. On the other hand, the downstream part involves the manufacturing of the dresses, the packaging, and its delivery. The display of products in its store is also a part of its downstream network. Supply chain does help Zara to streamline all its stages and operation which make all the operations faster. Streamlining operations helps Zara to cut down excessive costs.

A marketing strategy of Zara which makes all its products exclusive is very unique. It takes the style of the dress or other things from the ramp of a large fashion show. Within two weeks it designs manufactures and displays all these products in its stores. To reduce wastage of material and space, Zara produces small batches of each product which make them exclusive and more attractive to its customers. That is why within a very short period of time all its products are sold out from the stores. The supply chain management controls the inventories of its vendors, and the internal production very tightly.

It can be understood from the discussion that the information and the communication technology keeps Zara one step ahead of its competitors. During the procurement stage, at first, Zara analyses the internal needs very effectively by using IT. After that, it gathers information about all its suppliers from whom they are going to take the raw materials. Among all the suppliers, a negotiation is done, and the winner of the bid is made the main supplier of the raw material on a contractual basis. With time an improvement is made in this process. In the design phase, the designs are made and fabrics are selected and sent to the head office for approval. Just as it is approved it is sent to the factories for manufacturing, but only according to the orders and after analyzing the market need of the products. This saves Zara from overproducing products and from occupying extra space for storing them.

Zara takes extra care during packaging its products. The dresses are folded perfectly and put in plastic and then inside a black box with Zara's logo on it and given to the customer. However, in between the production and delivery, the dresses are put on display in the stores of Zara. By effectively using the supply chain management, Zara is able to provide such good quality of fashionable dresses to the customers at such an affordable price. Zara maintains a very good relationship with its customers and gives the topmost priority to customer satisfaction. That is why most of the customers of Zara are loyal to the brand. Not just the best products, but Zara also trains its employees to behave in a certain way. It designs its stores in such a way, which create a good ambiance and spread good vibes among the customers so that they have a great experience at the stores.

6.2 Recommendation
Grounded on the different aspects, it can be asserted that a healthy environment within an organization helps to run their business operation significantly and also accomplish their pre-determined goals efficiently. Hence, it is one of the prime responsibility of an organization to take certain initiatives to improve the relationship with the internal and external stakeholders. It helps every organization to accomplish their desired goals. A healthy relationship with suppliers, customers and investors are playing an important role in the growth of an organization. At the same time, every organization should conduct market research on a regular basis to determine their customers' demands (Min and Mentzer, 2004, p.63). On the basis of that, every organization should redesign their product manufacturing cycle to produce premium quality products that will significantly help organizations to meet their customers' expectation. Advanced technology significantly helps an organization to manufacture and deliver products and services efficiently that will help to gain customers loyalty. Hence, it can be asserted that the higher authorities of apparel retail organizations should implement advanced tools, technologies, and equipment in their supply chain management to influence their organizational activities. With the help of advanced technologies, a retail company can able to deliver standardize products towards their target market customers on time to meet their expectation that will help to gain customers loyalty. On the other hand, it can be asserted that electronic data interchange (EDI) is considered as the elements supply chain management strategy, which is directly connected with customers. EDI helps to provides information towards their customers, which helps them to make their purchasing decisions. Similarly, EDI help every organization to main their inventory efficiently, which helps to control their extra expenses (Lee, 2008, p.185).

Simultaneously, training and development programmes also help an organization to improve their employee's knowledge and skills, which will significantly help an organization to improve and maintain their organizational standard. For this reason, the higher authorities of every retail organization should conduct training and development programmes for their employees to improve their skill, knowledge. Product packaging is one of the essential core components of supply chain management. As it is known to all that, attractive product packaging helps to draw the attention of customers, which will directly improve the annual sales of an organization. Therefore, it can be asserted that apparel retail organizations should invest money in their product-packaging sector to improve their product packaging that will help to attract new and existing customers towards their provided products. In addition, this initiative helps apparel retail organization to improve their annual productivity and profitability. On the other hand, operation managers of apparel retail organizations should organize customers' feedback session and accumulate their views, which helps them to determine their service related issues. According to the gathered data, the higher authorities of apparel retail organizations are able to decide appropriate measures to overcome their internal and external issues significantly (Fahimnia, Sarkis and Davarzani, 2015, p.105). These aforementioned recommendations help Apparel retail business organization to improve their annual sales and revenue.

6.3 Future Research Scope
In this study, only the primary data are taken to analyze the topic. The research scholar is not able to use any secondary data, which will give an opportunity to the future research scholar to take the secondary data into account. This study had taken the brand Zara for its research, so in the future, the research scholar can take up other fashion apparel brands to conduct such a study. The environmental or social impacts of supply chain management are not taken in consideration. This will provide further research scope to the research scholar in the future.

FAQ: Impact of Supply Chain Management on Organizational Performance

• Q: How does good supply chain management impact organizational performance?
• Q: What are some specific SCM practices that contribute to better performance?
• Q: How can companies measure the impact of SCM on performance?
• Q: How does customer satisfaction play a role?
• Q: Are there any resources for learning more about SCM and its impact?
• Q: Is strong SCM relevant for all organizations?

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