Company Fashion Case Study Executive

Running head: CASE STUDY 1
Case study
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CASE STUDY 2
H&M Company Fashion Case Study
Executive Summary
H&M is a retail company that deals with fashion apparel, accessories, cosmetics, and
shoes. The company has continued to enjoy a leading role at the global stage in the fields of
fashion and apparel markets. This has been the case courtesy of its unique business model,
concept, and the ability to put together elegant designs with affordable prices (Johnson, Scholes
& Whittington, 2011). On the contrary, a number of competitors have tried to challenge its
global market position. Therefore, the company intends to evaluate the sustainability of its
competitive advantage achieved from its capabilities and resources. The company plans to
highlight the important areas and functions whereby it will significantly enjoy competitive
advantage relative to its competitors. Also, H&M intends to formulate a sustainable competitive
advantage to remain ahead of its competitors.
Introduction
H&M retailer has grown from a single store retail business to a successful fast fashion
enterprise with over 3700 outlets in many parts of the world. The company boasts an employee
number of over 132,000 across the world. By the year 2009, the company had become a global
giant in the segment of fast fashion with a unique approach to business that has kept its
competitors at bay (Johnson et al., 2014). H&M business model is known as ‘cheap and chic’.
The model emphasizes on high fashion at significantly reduced prices below those offered by its
competitors. The fundamental pricing principle of the company is ‘Fashion and Quality at the
best price’. The company strives a lot to sustainably maintain its growth based strategy (Johnson
et al., 2014). The company has realized a rise in both sales and profitability with plans to open

CASE STUDY 3
more outlets across the world and new online markets. It has also exhibited a lot of respect for
the economic climate with increased focus on customer satisfaction.
The external environmental forces influencing the company
The external environment for H&M has been consolidated to strengthen its grip in the
global apparel industry and remain at the top of its competitors. Its external environment aims at
increasing revenues and growth through a number of measures (Livingstone, 2019). The
company has expanded across many countries in the world including recent expansion to Latin
America and Asia regions (Carpenter et al., 2014). Competition in both online and offline sectors
remains stiff for the company. Hence, the company faces increased threats from local retailers,
new E-Commerce entrants, and other luxury brands.
Additionally, the company remains exposed to threats arising from external factors such
as economic downturns which reduce the demand for clothing, the cost of labor, counterfeit
fashion brands, and fluctuating trend in fashion. Therefore, H&M intends to enhance its online
popularity to maintain and increase online sales. It is also innovating new fashion design trends
to increase the purchasing power of its consumers. Other threats to the company include the
changing global dynamics such as new fashion trends in the market. The threat from its ever
increasing competitors also exposes the company to the external environment (Steenkamp,
2018). For the company to remain top in the apparel industry, it intends to continuously innovate
and develop new fashions in relation to the latest trends in fashion.
Another external analysis for H&M Company is the PESTEL Analysis. PESTEL
analyses a brand based on its business acumen and tactics. The external factors to be analyzed
include political, economic, social, technological, and environmental.