Arcadia Group: Business Project Report on Summer Shoe Launch

This report examines Arcadia Group's project to launch a new summer shoe at London Fashion Week, focusing on the impact of new product development on business performance within a global context. It outlines the aims and objectives, including understanding new product development and its effects on business performance during globalization. A project management plan is presented, detailing cost, scope, time, quality, communication, and resources. The report includes a work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart for time frame and stages. Research methodologies, including qualitative and quantitative approaches, are discussed, along with data collection methods (primary and secondary) and sampling techniques. The report also covers findings, recommendations, and a performance review to assess the project's success and its support of organizational performance. Overall, the report provides a comprehensive analysis of the project's planning, execution, and outcomes.

Managing A
Successful
Business Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
(A) Aims and objectives of the project...................................................................................1
(B) Project management plan that covers various aspects including cost, scope, time, quality,
communication and resources................................................................................................2
(C) Work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart to provide time frame and stages.............4
(D) Carrying out small scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research
methods...................................................................................................................................5
(E) Research and data using an appropriate tools and techniques..........................................9
(F) Appropriate recommendations as a result of research and data analysis.......................18
(G) Performance review.......................................................................................................19
a. The success of the project and its usefulness in supporting organisational performance.19
b. Your own performance.....................................................................................................19
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21
APPENDIX....................................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
Globalisation is the process of expanding the business operations of a firm at
international or global level. There are various factors like economical, political, technological,
social etc. which can negatively impact the business operations while globalising the business.
Organisations needs to analyse the trends and changes of market using proper research before
entering in a new market (Lock, 2017). In this report, the taken firm is Arcadia which is a retail
organisation having headquarter in London, UK. Arcadia group decided to create and market
their brand-new summer shoe at the London fashion week which is taking place between the
16th – 20th February, 2019. This report will discuss the aims, time-frames and objectives for
introducing their shoes along with a project management plan to meet the objectives and time
frames. This report will further cover the research, findings, recommendation and performance
review which will address the success of project. Also Gantt chart, work break down structure
will be done for the given time frames.
(A) Aims and objectives of the project
Background of firm:
Arcadia group is a British retail based business having headquarter in London, United
Kingdom. The company has more than 2500 stores in UK as well as 1170 stores in 36 countries
outside the UK and also the company is shipping to 107 countries through online website. The
firm is employing more than 22,000 employees through out their stores (Binder, 2016). The
company owns clothing retailers such as Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, Miss Selfridge,
Topman, Topshop, Wallis etc. The company is expanding their business so they decided to
introduce their new shoes in the London fashion week which is going to be held between 16th to
20th February 2019. The company is introducing these shoes for selling them to the leading
fashion retailers around the world. For this expansion, they needs to develop and implement new
strategies for attracting new customers towards this new product. The firm needs to evaluate
their product in terms of quality, features etc. before introducing them to London fashion week.
The Product Design Manager has developed some aims and objectives which are discussed
below.
Aim: “To identify the impact of New product development on the business performance
for successfully competing with global brands.” A case study on Arcadia group.
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Objectives:
 To understand the concept of new product development.
 To understand the effect of new product development on business performance during the
globalisation process.
 To understand the relationship among the new product development and business
performance in globalisation.
(B) Project management plan that covers various aspects including cost, scope, time, quality,
communication and resources
Project management planning is the planned structure or process of executing the
assigned project in the pre-specified time by managing it in an effective manner (Peppers and
Rogers, 2016). This plan includes the course of action which can be taken by the researcher to in
order to draw a valid and reliable result. There are various factors which must be considered by
the researcher for conducting a proper research to execute the project on time.
Cost: It is very important for executing the project in determined time. Sufficient amount
of funds is very essential for the researcher and Arcadia group to carry out the research properly.
Arcadia group is introducing their new product in the London fashion week for which the firm
needs to analyse the market situation and trends for this product. For this expansion, company
has estimated a amount of 2,00,000 pound for purchasing the machinery and equipments.
Whereas the researcher has estimated 10000 pound for doing the research which will be used in
gathering the data.
Scope: The term scope is related with the possibilities of gaining huge sustainability of
new product launched by an organisation. The Arcadia group is introducing their new product
i.e. summer shoe in order to compete with established brands. Launching a new product grabs an
attention of large number of people which will increase the market image and existing customer
base of company in different areas due to which their profitability and sustainability among their
rivals in the competitive market will maximised. Thus, the scope of the project is much wider.
For this expansion, firm needs to gather the information and trends of London market for taking
important judgements to launch this new product (Brady and Davies, 2014). For gathering this
knowledge, firm needs to conduct s market research. So the scope for the researcher is also very
broad.
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Time: Arcadia group is introducing their new shoe in the London fashion week, where
several other brand will also introduce their own products. The firm has estimated a time period
of 6-8 month for the success of these newly introduced shoes in the new market. Whereas the
researcher has estimated a time period of 3 months for conducting the research. Researcher has
the sufficient time period for conducting the research properly in an efficient manner.
Quality: Nowadays the people are more willing to take quality as main priority instead of
price of products and services as it maximises their standard of living and satisfaction level.
Thus, Arcadia group need to focus on quality of its new product i.e. summer shoe which can be
possible through enhancing quality of work performed by its employees. Along with this, the
company also required to oversee the products already existed in the market by their rivals which
provides them an opportunity to enhance the quality of their new products. Also the researcher
needs to carry out the research by using qualitative method of collecting the suitable and proper
data for bringing effective outcomes in the end. Through the qualitative data collection method,
quality of the research can be controlled and maintained.
Communication: Arcadia group needs to communicate with their customers regarding
their new product so as to grab their attention and influence their buying behaviour towards their
new product. It can be done through using various ways such as social media, company's official
website etc. Also the researcher needs to communicate with various people of different culture
and nature. Through this communication, researcher can gather the reliable data and information
required for the research using the emails, fax and telephone (Brown, 2013).
Risk: It is necessary for the management of Arcadia group to determine the risks
associated with the introduction of new product. The included risks are dynamic nature of
customers, poor communication skills in staff etc. Researcher also needs to face several risks
while doing the research such as insufficient funds, lack of time etc. These associated risks must
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be eliminated by the both researcher and Arcadia group to get the desirable meaningful output in
the end. These risks can be eliminated by properly utilising the employees and by determining
the ongoing trends in the consumers mindset.
Resources: Several types of resources are required by the Arcadia group as well as
researcher for carrying out the research regarding the introducing of new shoes in London. These
resources are time, money, employees etc. Firm needs these resources for launching their new
product in the market whereas the researcher needs resources such as money and time for
collecting the data from primary sources for drawing a meaningful conclusion in the ending of
research (Cusworth and Franks, 2013).
Different types of information is needed for introducing and marketing the summer shoe
in the London Event. This information include trends and preferences of consumers and market,
marketing strategies, durability and comfort of shoes, etc. Through this information, Arcadia
group can develop the summer shoes according to the demand and preferences of the consumers
as well as of market. The required information for designing and marketing the shoe can be
gathered from the public to whom the shoe will be provided. Also this data can be gathered from
the professionals who has the experience and knowledge for carrying out such works and
projects. Also questionnaire is helpful for determining the views of various stakeholders of the
firm.
(C) Work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart to provide time frame and stages
Work breakdown structure: It is the process of segmenting big work in smaller parts for
easily executing the project within the determined time frame. It is helpful for the management in
executing the assigned project in a timely manner. The smaller parts are provided to the team
members for finishing them easily and efficiently (Rosenau and Githens, 2011). It also provide
the proper structure for estimating the cost of project to execute it according to the goals and
objectives.
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Gantt chart:This chart was developed by an American engineer Henry L. Gantt. It offers
graphical representation of each and every activity to the project head for estimating the time and
to track the activities for executing the project in an effective manner (Duffield and Whitty,
2015). The activities are segmented based on the priority in Gantt chart, It is also helpful for
employees to track their performance level for contributing maximum efforts to execute the
assigned work.
(D) Carrying out small scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods
Research Methodology is the systematic process for evaluating the various methods
which can be used by the researcher for conducting the research. It consist of theoretical analysis
methods and principles of knowledge branch. In this, two types of methods for concluding the
research to draw valid outcomes. These two types of methods are discussed below:
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Qualitative: It is a theoretical type of method in which the non numeric information is
gathered by the researcher. The data gathered from this method is collected from the views and
opinions of authors who writes journals, newspapers and books.
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Quantitative: In this method, the researcher collects the numeric and statistical data. The
data gathered from this method needs to be interpreted into a understandable manner by the
researcher for getting a valid and meaningful conclusion in the end.
The researcher of this project has taken the qualitative method for collecting the reliable
data associated with the research topic.
Data collection: It is the process of collecting the data for deciding the accuracy and
validation of conclusion in the end of research project (Hillson, 2017). There are two types of
data collection methods which are primary and secondary sources. These two methods are
discussed below:
Primary: It is a information which is gathered through different sources such as panel
interviews, surveys, questionnaire etc. This method is mainly used by the researchers to generate
the reliable and proper data of the research topic but it also requires a high investment and time
for the data collection.
Secondary: It is the method of collecting the data through online portals, newspapers,
journals, emails etc. This method is less time consuming and mostly used by the researcher when
the allotted time is less or due to lack of proper investment.
In this research, researcher has included both of the data collection methods. Researcher
has developed a questionnaire in which several questions are asked for the primary data
collection (Jeston, 2014) . The researcher has taken the views and articles of the various authors
for collecting the secondary data.
Sampling: The researcher has taken 50 participants as the sample size for distributing the
questionnaire. The views and suggestions from these participants will be used for generating a
valid conclusion in the end of research. The respondents are the different stakeholders of taken
organisation.
Questionnaire
Name of participant:
Age of participant:
Gender of participant:
1) Do you think the summer shoes will improve the brand image of firm?
a. Yes
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b. No
2) Did you think Arcadia group should needs to introduce summer shoe in London event?
a. Yes
b. No
3) Will the customer gets the satisfaction from the summer shoes which will be launched
in London?
a. Yes
b. No
4) Which of the factors must be mostly considered by the Arcadia group for introducing
their new product in the London market?
a. High quality based products
b. Affordable prices
5) Which online platform is suitable for firm for marketing their summer shoe?
a. Own Website
b. Amazon
c. Social Media
6) Which issue is majorly faced by the Arcadia group while designing their summer
shoes?
a. Changing nature of consumers
b. Change in strategies
c. Enhanced cost and expenses
7) Which colour of the summer shoe will be liked by consumer most?
a. Black
b. Blue
c. Red
d. White
8) Do you think the new shoes will increase the customer base of firm?
a. Yes
b. No
9) Which brand will be the toughest competitor of summer shoes in London event?
a. Nike
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b. Adidas
c. Puma
10) Any recommendations?
(E) Research and data using an appropriate tools and techniques
Data analysis is an important part of research. Through this analysis, researcher can
generate the meaningful conclusion of the research. For generating positive and meaningful
output, researcher needs to interpret the data in an understandable manner (Serra, C.E.M. and
Kunc 2015). The interpretation of the questionnaire which is distributed among the sample size
of 60 respondents is given below:
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Theme 1
1) Do you think the summer shoes will improve the brand image of
firm?
Frequency
a. Yes 40
b. No 20
a. Yes b. No
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Frequency
40
20
Interpretation: From the above shown graph, It is clearly visible that from the total 60
respondents, 40 says that summer shoes will improve the brand image of firm whereas,
remaining 20 respondents says that It does not improve the brand image of firm.
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