Managing Communications, Knowledge and Information: A Case Study of Zara UK

This report examines the critical role of information, knowledge, and management in enhancing business efficiency and achieving competitive advantage. Using Zara UK as a case study, the report analyzes the decision-making processes, stakeholder engagement, communication systems, and information technology infrastructure. It explores the internal and external sources of information, identifies key stakeholders, and proposes strategies for improving communication and knowledge management within the organization. The report concludes by highlighting the importance of continuous improvement and the adoption of advanced technologies to optimize information flow and decision-making processes.

MANAGING
COMMUNICATIONS,
KNOWLEDGE AND
INFORMATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Range of decision to be taken by Zara senior management team..........................................2
1.2 Information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision making.............................3
1.3 Internal and external sources of information and understanding available in ZARA UK for
decision making...........................................................................................................................4
1.4 Recommendations for improvement to ZARA UK management team.................................5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Identify stakeholders for a decision making process.............................................................6
2.2 Make contact with those identified and develop business relationships...............................8
2.3 Involve those identified in the decision making as appropriate............................................9
2.4 Design Strategies for improvement.....................................................................................10
LO3................................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Report on existing processes of communication in an organization...................................11
3.2 Design ways to improve appropriateness............................................................................12
3.3 Implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of communication in
that organization........................................................................................................................13
3.4 Create a personal plan to improve own communication skills............................................14
LO4................................................................................................................................................15
4.1 Report on existing approaches to the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of
information and knowledge.......................................................................................................15
4.2 Carry out appropriate changes to improve the collection, formatting, storage and
dissemination of information and knowledge............................................................................21
4.3 Implement a strategy to improve access systems of information and knowledge...............23

CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................25
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................26

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Stakeholders of ZARA...................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Information, knowledge and management play an important role in increasing the efficiency of
business as well as help in gaining the competitive advantage in the market. Zara operates as a
retail clothing store and focuses on various decisions making for accessing the information and
knowledge systems. The report focuses on analyzing the information and knowledge that helps
in taking the decisions in an effective manner. Various external and internal sources are also
evaluated. Stakeholders’ are identified for the new opening of store and the communication
methods are identified to contact them in the most efficient way. The report also focuses on
various communication systems and how to improve those by implementing various strategies.
The last part of the report analyzes the need of advancement in information and communication
technology to bring effectiveness in business operations.
1

LO1
1.1 Range of decision to be taken by Zara senior management team
Zara is one of the leading companies in our fashion industry and it is giving major competition
goals to other companies. It is a renowned fashion brand. The major objective of a company is to
increase number of customers by giving them satisfactory services and products. There are
various decisions which manager has to take for smooth functioning of a company. Various
decisions which help management team in making decisions are as follows:
1. Strategic decision: Strategic decisions are long term decision as it helps in changing the
strategies which will be helps in competition and might be risky for future (Hagiu, 2014). These
decisions are made by top level managers and by share holders. By mutual understanding
strategy can be changed by proper SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness,
Opportunity and Threat. Decisions are affected by various environmental factors as they are
changing with the changing environment. Manager has to take decisions by proper SWOT
analysis of environment. These decisions highly affect the working of the company.
2. Tactical decisions: This decision are taken by middle level managers as it does not involve top
level managers because they are short term decision which are less than a year it helps in
changing the technique of a company and nothing else. Though they are short term decisions but
require a sense of intellectuality from the managers. The middle level managers of Zara also
need to focus on such decisions.
3. Operational decisions: They are decision which is taken on regular basis. These are generally
taken by lower level managers. For example decisions regarding working capital, decision
regarding stock maintenance. These decisions have short period of time not more than a week.
Operational decisions are decisions relating to day to day working of a business.
2

1.2 Information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision making.
Hybrid model are made for flow of information from warehouses to store for availability of stock
and helps in maintaining the stock (Trianni et.al., 2016). There are various devices which are
handled by managers for feedback of customers and help in satisfying their needs by directly
contacting to the designers. This technique help in making proper balance between demand and
supply of customers so that there will be proper flow of information. Chain is developed between
operational, production and distribution channel which will help in making orders by passing the
information about the need of customers. This model deals in manufacturing related work.
Information system needs people technology and proper procedure needed to solve any problem.
The group of people are associated with decision making like expert system, decision support
system, and information system. The main objective of this support system is to promote better
decision making which helps in developing proper support system. It is necessary for smooth
functioning of the company (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). Information and knowledge are
backbone of any decision to be taken. They are essential for any organization. A decision can be
effective only if it is backed up proper information and complete knowledge.
3

1.3 Internal and external sources of information and understanding available in ZARA UK for
decision making.
Internal as well as external information helps to make business decision more accurate. The
internal sources include all the information from the sources which are within the organization
like middle level management and employees of organization as they give information regarding
overall performance of company. Various internal and external source of information are
available in any company. These sources provide information as well as help in decision making
of company (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). The primary sources of data are generally managed by
Google and secondary sources are information is not part of Google as it required different
researches by different analysts. It helps in strength of an organization as it will help in real
experience of company and provides the clear picture of performance of company.
ZARA uses different approach for obtaining information from market which is different from its
competitors as it depends on elite design teams as they plan according to needs of the customers.
The speed of ZARA in product development is better than any other companies. It keeps on
developing its products and brings new products in the market on a regular basis. The
information collected through various sources forms the base of development for Zara.
4

1.4 Recommendations for improvement to ZARA UK management team
ZARA is well known brand in reputed designing and manufacturing industry in UK fashion
industry. It has great popularity. It is appreciated for its strategic policies and for its competitive
strategies which help in giving competition to its competitors. It is top most company which is
providing satisfactory services all over the world. The products launched by Zara are status
symbol for people all over the world. ZARA is enjoying its leadership as it is leading fashion
company but it has to decide implacable combination for future because fashion market is
changing frequently that may lead to undesired results. For making its position strong, ZARA
needs to improve its communication channel so that information flow must be managed
effectively. The technology must be advanced. The advancement in the technology and software
helps in lowering the risk of information leakage which can be through adoption of new
technology. The adoption of new technology is necessary to be updated (Delgado et.al., 2014).
Managers have to understand the requirements of customers by proper flow of information
which should be managed by managers. Another thing which manager has to understand that
there should be well formed structure for internal and external communication so that this will
help in decision making process of company. Main drawback of UK company is distribution
system of ZARA as it has high delivery cost so company has to ensure about there would be no
increment in distribution system as it directly affect the cost of the product. Zara should adopt
new designing methods and techniques (Van Der Aalst et.al., 2016). Also, it should try to make
its communication channel better so that there is no loophole in its communication.
5

LO2
2.1 Identify stakeholders for a decision making process
Stakeholder plays an important role that helps the business to sustain in the market. They also
help in enhancing the processing of business in an efficient manner (Qingchun, 2017). For the
new product launch of Zara, it is important to invite following stakeholders.
 Customers: Customers are the most important stakeholder that helps in growing the
business. Zara operates as a retail clothing store and therefore it is important to target the
market for increasing the sales. Customers are the only stakeholder that helps to identify
the effectiveness of buying products and services.
 Stockholders: Stockholders help in providing the capital for increasing the inventory of
the Zara. Employees from within the organization or other organizations form a major
part of stock holders. Stockholders offer support in the launching of new product at the
marketplace.
 Employees: Zara’s main focus is to motivate the employees so that their efficiency in
achieving the targets can be increased. Therefore, it is important to invite employees for
the new product launch so that they are aware of the information related to the product.
 Competitors: It is important to improve the strategies and decision making by
implementing the innovative ideas of competitors (Kujala et.al., 2017).Various
information related to business of competitors can be analysed and must implemented by
Zara to gain competitive advantage in the market.
 Suppliers: Zara must focus on maintaining healthy relationship with its suppliers so that
it can get raw material of good quality. The good quality of product helps Zara to gain
good prices as compared to its competitors.
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Figure 1: Stakeholders of ZARA
7
Stakeholder
ZARA
Customers
Suppliers
Stockhold
ers
Competito
rs
Employee
s

2.2 Make contact with those identified and develop business relationships
Zara after inviting the above mentioned stakeholders, it focuses on maintaining the contact and
healthy relationship with them to develop the business relationships. Zara utilizes various cost
effective methods to make contact with its stakeholders which are explained below:
 Mails: Zara utilizes E mail as the source of communication with its Stakeholders. Email
helps to send the particle information about product to the specific stakeholder. Zara can
send different information such as price, new features, information about store and many
more in the most attractive way.
 Word of Mouth: This type of communication method proves to be effective in gaining
the competitive advantage. Word of Mouth highly influences the customer and if the
customer is satisfied with product of Zara, then automatically sales of an organization
increases.
 Website: Website can be used to provide detailed information about the new product to
be launched. Advertisement related to invitation can be posted on the website to invite
various stakeholders (Cardon and Marshall, 2015). This is the cost effective method and
also helps to improve the relationship with customers.
 Telephone: It is a two way communication and is a bit time consuming. But the biggest
advantage of using telephone is that Zara ensures that entire information of new product
is conveyed to its stakeholder. They can also get confirmation hand to hand that whether
the stakeholder will come to the launch or not.
 Letters: Zara focus on sending letters via online modes of communication. It is an
effective way which helps to send detailed information about the conferences and
meetings to be held in future.
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2.3 Involve those identified in the decision making as appropriate.
Stakeholder plays an important role in decision making related to new product. The involvement
of stakeholders shows that they have capability of changing various decisions of Zara related to
the event. Various agendas related to the product development can be presented to the
stakeholders and their valuable suggestions must be implemented to put a positive impact on
customers.
Stakeholders are invited to the launch of new products via various communication methods such
as social media, telephone and many more (Voinov et.al., 2016). Zara focus on getting the
feedbacks from its stakeholders for the development and improvement in business strategies. It
also focuses on social media for getting the suggestions about the launch of new product.
Employees and stockholders can be contacted by sending the letters through online medium.
Meetings and conferences are organized to know the opinions of employees and other staff
members of the organization. Employees via meetings give suggestions on how to improve the
event for launching the new product. Employees are the most important stockholders and
therefore they must be motivated to present their ideas for enhancing the processing of business.
Various other stakeholders are involved in the decision making when Zara conducts surveys
related to the new product development by providing questioners. Stakeholders fill the
questionnaires and the product development can be modified according to the suggestions given
by stakeholders. It also focuses on creating partnership and healthy relationship with
nongovernmental organizations that helps in streamlining the new business opportunities for
Zara.
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2.4 Design Strategies for improvement
Zara can implement various short term strategies for making the event of new product launch
more interesting and memorable for all. Various strategies can be explained as:
 Zara must offer promotional gifts to encourage stakeholders for attending the event.
Various agendas related to these promotional gifts must be displayed on television, social
media platforms and many more.
 These promotional gifts must include offerings related to trips, and various other gifts
that are beneficial for them.
 It can also use digital advertising to target the customers as internet plays an important
role and can be used as an effective tool for reaching the customers of various ages. Zara
can use Facebook and twitter for displaying various advertisements (Lombard and
Snyder-Duch, 2017).
 Zara must focus on displaying audio and video advertisements on television and other
social media platforms to attract large number of stakeholders to attend the event.
 An organization must involve the stakeholders and their suggestions which encourage
them to involve in the event in a positive way.
 Zara must choose the crowded venue for the event which helps in attracting more number
of stakeholders as well as other participants.
 It must conduct various seminars at various locations related to the new product launch so
that stakeholders and other participants are aware of all the necessary information of the
event.
 Stakeholders can be invited to attend meeting prior to the event and various agendas can
be discussed. This help in motivating the stakeholders to attend the event.
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LO3
3.1 Report on existing processes of communication in an organization
The organizational structure of Zara is based on pyramid model structure as well as horizontal
model which can be explained as:
 In pyramid model structure, Zara do not have any direct communication to its employees.
Leaders are involved in between the management at high level and employees for any
communication related to work and personal.
 In Pyramid based mode there exists formal communication amongst all the employees at
various levels. Employees utilize various modes of communication such as telephones
and emails to get in touch with each other for exchanging the useful information.
 Zara focus on utilizing websites for solving the queries related to operations of business.
They can contact to various experts through different web portals.
 For communication between customers and employees, Zara uses emails. This is referred
to as external communication.
 For internal communication, Zara organizes various board meetings to announce the
important information to its employees. Board meetings are conducted and lead by high
level of management employee for addressing the employees at executive level
(Nowakowska and Świderski, 2017).
 Internal memos are also circulated to the employees for distributing the information in a
uniform manner.
 Various formal and informal meetings are conducted for communicating the
information to its stakeholders.
 Horizontal based model focuses on management level. In this high level of employees are
responsible for communicating information to the employees at executive level.
Therefore Zara focuses on horizontal based model for communicating in an effective manner.
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3.2 Design ways to improve appropriateness
Zara must focus on implementing various measures to improve the communication which in turn
helps to attract the large number of customers. Zara mainly focuses on horizontal based model
for communicating purpose. They must focus on getting feedbacks from customers and focus on
resolving the issues as soon as possible. Also the information related to the event can be
transferred to its stakeholders by using various mediums such as:
Internet: Internet can be used as the most important communication tool. Customers can fill
feedback forms with the help of internet without wastage of any time (Park et.al., 2014). Zara
can post various advertisements on internet targeting its stakeholders. Customers can also post
positive reviews related to the organization which helps them to gain competitive advantage in
the market.
Intranet: Intranet is internally used by employees for communicating the work related
information in few seconds. Management can post information and news for their employees.
This can only be used within an organization. No information can be transferred to its
stakeholders other than employees using intranet.
Notices and memos: In this the communication is done in the written form. It helps in sharing
all the needed information to its stakeholders related to the event and about the new product to be
launched.
Email: This method is useful when the information is send to the targeted audience. It is an
effective method of communication and can be utilised in blink of seconds. Communication
through emails is very cost effective.
Advertising: Zara must focus on including promotional gifts in the advertisement related to the
launch of its new store. It helps in encouraging stakeholders to attend the event. Promotional gifs
must be beneficial for stakeholders.
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3.3 Implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of communication in that
organization.
Zara must implement various plans for improving the communication between Zara and the local
communities in following ways:
 Zara must focus on using social media channels to display information about its new
products and prices to the local community.
 It can also conduct various meetings at local levels to increase the communication
between the local community and Zara.
 A local media communication as well as town hall meeting helps in face to face
communication for resolving the issues (McCarthy et.al., 2017).
 Employees can resolve the queries of people from local community through various
distribution centres and feedback forms available online.
 For effective communication between Zara and local community, it is important to
advertise and promote its products at crowded places and physical stores of Zara.
 Zara can also create the separate department to solve the issues of customers. This unit
also helps in giving information to local community regarding the pricing of products and
services as well as other information related to its products.
 Local newspapers are also helpful to create a link between Zara and local community.
Zara can post various advertisements in newspapers to attract large number of customers.
 Website must include the feature of feedback forum which helps local community to ask
various questions related to the products and services provided by Zara. This help in
resolving the issues without standing in queue.
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3.4 Create a personal plan to improve own communication skills
It is important to improve the communication skills as this is the key factor necessary to attract
customers. Being the trainee manager in Zara, it is important to scale up the communication
factor for enhancing the skills of other employees. For analysing the communication skills,
SWOT analysis is done and is explained as:
Strength: Being the trainee manager I have good communication skills that are required to train
the other employees of Zara. A communication skill helps me to communicate with customers
and employees in an effective way. All the tasks related by job specification are completed on
time and have capability of assisting other employees if needed (Bull et.al., 2016).
Weaknesses: There is a lack of communication when group discussions are going on. It is
sometime difficult to convey the ideas in an effective way due to lack of confidence and
communication skills. The other disadvantage of lack in communication is that I sometimes fail
to communicate in critical situations.
Opportunity: With the help of good communication skills, I am able to discuss various issues
with other employees of an organization. It is easy for me to take various training sessions.
Threats: Due to the lack of communication skills in group discussions and meetings, I have
threat from other trainee managers in Zara who perform well in meetings.
By analysing the communication skills of a trainee manager, it can be concluded that there is
need to put various efforts for enhancing the skills (Ayob, 2017). Writing skills are quite
sufficient but still there is need to improve communication skills to perform well in meetings and
group discussions. Reading of books and newspapers may help in developing the communication
skills. English speaking courses are also beneficial for enhancing the skills and also help in
building up the confidence.
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LO4
4.1 Report on existing approaches to the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of
information and knowledge
Collection Methods
Zara focus on collecting information by conducting secondary market research. It collects both
qualitative and quantitative data which can be explained as follows:
Qualitative Data Collection
 This type of data collection involves the description of product rather than numerical data
such as pricing of the product (Palinkas et.al., 2015).
 Qualitative data collection is used by Zara to describe the quality in terms of colour,
texture, etc of the product.
 It is used to implement new communication and marketing strategies for the development
of product.
Quantitative Data Collection
 This type of data collection helps in gathering the information which is in numerical
form.
 Quantitative data Collection is utilised by Zara to store the numbers of purchase by
consumers which helps in developing new products (Creswell and Creswell, 2017).
 It basically helps Zara in identifying the past record of consumers.
Formatting and Storage
 Zara focuses on uniform formatting for storing it into the database. The data is formatted
by storing the information related to employee’s performance which helps Zara in taking
decisions at the time of promotions.
 Zara for the storage purpose uses SAP Systems to track all the information related to
organization.
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 They also utilises executive information system (EIS) for higher level of management for
collecting and formatting the data collected from various internal and external resources.
 Data stored in EIS is further used for dissemination purpose. EIS also helps Zara to
develop strategies for developing brand image of an organization.
Dissemination
 Dissemination can be defined as distribution of data to targeted audiences.
 Zara utilises EIS and ERP to store the information and then the collected data is
transferred to various audiences.
 Zara distributes the data to its consumers via online media and effective marketing
strategies to attract large number of customers.
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17

18

19

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4.2 Carry out appropriate changes to improve the collection, formatting, storage and
dissemination of information and knowledge.
It is important to identify the causes that degrade the performance of an organization therefore
Zara must focus on improving the techniques related to collection, formatting, storage and
dissemination by following ways:
 Zara must focus on developing new strategies for effective decision making related to the
implementation of advancement in technology.
 Zara must utilise advanced technologies for collection of data. The data collected can be
converted in a usable form so that efforts of employees can be reduce.
 Adequate software must be used for formatting the data in the uniform and adequate way.
 The storage facilities must be fast and reusable but on the other hand an organization
must ensure the security of the stored information. Advanced technologies that are used
for storing the data must be reliable.
 Efficient storage facility helps in retrieving the data in less time.
 Dissemination of information must be managed in an efficient way for overall controlling
of data in organization (Zębek and Biedrzycki, 2017).
Zara must focus on implementing the above explained technology advancement by ensuring that
there is no risk factor. Management of Zara must ensure that changes have been made after
analysing the structure and strategies.
21

22

4.3 Implement a strategy to improve access systems of information and knowledge
Zara focus on implementing the information systems by adapting user friendly strategies.
Various knowledge and information must be classified and categorised in the simplest way so
that the information can be identified in the easiest way. Efficient storage and accessibility to the
data reduces the wastage of time for employees in an organization. Various departments of Zara
must have access to variety of information, not limited to the information of their own
department.
User friendly technology must be implemented for increasing the effectiveness of various
information systems (Tyson, 2014). User friendly application forms must be provided to both the
employees and consumers to save the data for future use. Various systems such as SAP, ERP and
EIS can be utilised in the most effective way to manage the data and related information for the
future in organization.
Zara must also install upgraded and fast computers and laptops to increase the speed of various
operations. Various knowledge management systems must also be implemented to collect and
store the data in efficient manner. Efficient knowledge system helps employees of Zara to access
the documents for improving the efficiency of their work.
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24

CONCLUSION
By studying the report it can be concluded that various measures must be implemented by Zara
to gain the competitive advantage in the market. Various internal and external sources of
information prove to be helpful in efficiently accessing the information and knowledge systems.
Improvement is the basic need of organization and therefore various decisions are taken
accordingly. Zara focus on developing various strategies to increase the networking with local
community. It can also be concluded that communication skills of an employee in Zara plays an
important role in increasing the effectiveness of organization. The improved technologies must
be implemented by Zara for collecting, storing, formatting and distributing the data in the
efficient way to its consumers.
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