Business Strategy of Gap Inc.

Running head: BUSINESS STRATEGY
Business strategy of Gap Inc.
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BUSINESS STRATEGY
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Business Strategy of the Company..................................................................................................4
Original Vision and Mission of the company..............................................................................4
Corporate philosophy...................................................................................................................4
Code of Business Ethics..............................................................................................................4
Objectives of gap.........................................................................................................................5
Business Model of the Company.....................................................................................................5
Key Issues of the Company.............................................................................................................6
Strategic Solutions to the Issues..................................................................................................7
Theories and Frameworks that are applicable in the Company.......................................................8
BCG Matrix.................................................................................................................................8
Porter’s Five Forces Analysis......................................................................................................8
Recommendation with Justification................................................................................................8
References......................................................................................................................................10

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BUSINESS STRATEGY
Introduction
Gap Inc. is a popular retailer that provides clothing accessories and personal care
products for babies, children, women and men. The company provides the products under a
variety of brand names like Gap, Old Navy, banana republic, Piperlime and Athleta brands. The
stores of the company are generally located in the USA, Canada, Japan, Ireland, France and
many more such countries. The company has a total of more than 3000 stores across various
countries of the globe and employee more than 1,50,000 people in the stores as their employees.
Apart from this business, the company has also other subsidiaries like Gap Kids, Baby Gap and
Gap body. The organization has also maintained its presence in the online world with the help of
gap.com, oldnavy.com, type online.com and many more similar websites to cater to the needs of
online customers. All of the clothing products produced by the company are private label
Merchandise that is made specifically for the organization. The management of the company
designs each and every aspect of the business which starts from store displays and other controls.
The company experienced a major growth from the year 1980. The time between the
years 1990 to 1999 was the progressive expansion efforts of the company. In the year 1993 the
organization became the second largest fashion styling apparel brand in the globe. The company
is slowly expanded itself globally as they entered into the French Marketplace which is
considered as the birthplace of fashion. In the year 2005 the management of the company
revamped its online stores and offered much more convenience and interactive shopping
(gapinc.com, 2018). The same here also so get to introduce Forth &Towne in the city of Chicago
and New York. The store caters mainly to pregnant women that offer stylish, age appropriate
clothing especially designed to appeal to their feminist characteristics and individuality. In the
year 2007 Glen Murphy became the CEO of the organization and within a few months of
appointment as the CEO he closed all the 19 Forth & Towne stores across Chicago and New
York. On the other hand in the next year the management under the leadership of Glen acquired
all the capital stock of Athleta Inc. the women’s sports and active apparel company present in
California for $148 million. Another important factor that is added to the success of the company
has been the continuity of the company to add stores annually in different countries of the globe.

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BUSINESS STRATEGY
Though all of the above stated strategies of the company seems quite encouraging the
annual revenue of the company dropped by 5% in the year 2011. The following drop affected the
total revenue for the month that fell to $ 949 million which was just a small increase from the
earlier $948 million (gapinc.com, 2018). Gap also includes the banana republic and Old Navy
change outlets and other small written concerns and is also one of the biggest clothing sellers of
USA. However the annual revenue at these different stores drop by 10% while the revenue
growth fail by 6% for the different stores of gap. Another upsetting figure was the fall of 4% at
banana republic and 3% at Old Navy in the same year (gapinc.com, 2018).
This direct fall in the sales and the revenue is a challenge to the management of the
company and thus the company needs a clear strategic plan to overcome the crisis in the future.
Business Strategy of the Company
Original Vision and Mission of the company
The company in original does not have any proper mission and vision statement. The
company generally claims itself to be a brand builder and also claims to create emotional
connection with the customers around the globe through providing proper product design unique
store experiences and a great marketing experience (gapinc.com, 2018).
Corporate philosophy
The management of the company find it hard to claim a leader in the clothing industry.
The statement of corporate philosophy of the company States that the company wants to make a
lasting and positive impression on the people and the communities with whom they do business.
This is because the company believes that it is right to do the things that are good for the
business. The following means to deliver value to the shareholders while walking to listen the
impact of the planets and make the government workers a part of the company and its culture.
Code of Business Ethics
The management of the organization has formulated when established code of ethics and
has translated it into a large number of different languages that helps to address the different
aspects and guidelines about the purpose responsibilities lodge violations retaliation policy