Strategic Analysis of Leadership and Communication at Arcadia Group

This report provides a strategic analysis of Arcadia Group, a prominent UK-based multinational retailing company, addressing its current challenges. The report begins with an introduction and a table of contents, followed by an examination of the company's strategic position. It includes an external analysis using Porter's Five Forces to assess supplier power, buyer power, threat of substitutes, competitive rivalry, and the threat of new entrants. An internal analysis is then conducted, utilizing VRIO analysis to evaluate the company's resources. The report identifies key issues related to leadership, communication, and organizational culture. Recommendations are proposed, including implementing transformational leadership, developing effective communication strategies, and fostering a positive organizational culture. Implementation plans are detailed, and the report concludes with a reflection and a conclusion, referencing relevant sources. The report aims to identify and address the issues the company is facing, and to suggest possible solutions.

Running Head: GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
GLOBAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................................2
Strategic position...........................................................................................................................3
External analysis.......................................................................................................................3
Porters five force.......................................................................................................................3
Power of suppliers................................................................................................................3
Power of buyers....................................................................................................................3
Threat of substitute...............................................................................................................4
Competitive rivalry................................................................................................................4
Threat of new entrants.........................................................................................................5
Internal analysis........................................................................................................................5
VRIO analysis............................................................................................................................5
Issues..........................................................................................................................................7
Recommendation to the organisation........................................................................................7
Organisational leadership........................................................................................................7
Developing the communication...............................................................................................8
Effective organisational culture...............................................................................................9
Implementation of recommendation...........................................................................................9
Implementing transformational leadership............................................................................9
Implementation of effective communication........................................................................10
Developing organisational culture........................................................................................12
Reflection......................................................................................................................................14
Conclusion....................................................................................................................................14
Reference.....................................................................................................................................16

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Introduction
Arcadia group is one of the leading multinational retailing company in UK with
its headquarter in London. The company owns in high street clothing retailers like
Burton and Dorothy Perkins. From the website of the organisation, it can be stated that
there are 2,500 outlets and departmental stores in UK owned by Philip Green
(Arcadiagroup.co.uk 2019). However, the organisation has been facing series of issues
such as decline in the sales of the organisation below £2 bbillion in 2017 ( Wood, 2018).
Besides the, rupture in the online retail market in UK there are also a number of internal
measures in the form of leadership and communication that perturbed the business
orientation of Arcadia group.
In this scenario, the report aims to analyse the issues by analysing both the
external and the internal aspects. The purpose of this analysis is to figure out the issues
that the company is facing currently. Apart from that, the report also design a
recommendation and its implementation that bring efficacy into the business of Arcadia
group. Finally, a reflection will be discussed as a brief of the entire research.

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Strategic position
External analysis
Porters five force
Power of suppliers
The suppliers in the UK fashion retail market has a strong bargaining power
because the raw materials are available in the market scarcely. The vendors are mainly
provided raw materials like cotton and other textiles that are important for fashion
apparels. As per the research of Çifci et al. (2016) it can be argued that due to
characterised by the presence of few suppliers the price of the raw materials was
always in high. Over the average cost of the real estate is also considered to be an
important facet of the UK fashion retail market. Therefore, the suppliers enjoys high
bargaining power in UK. In this regard, the suppliers of Arcadia group are belonged to
domestic and overseas. Internationally, the source of suppliers is belonged to 47
countries that ensures the business of Arcadia group effectively.
Power of buyers
According to Taplin (2014) the power of the buyers in a market is depended on
the number of the buyers. As a matter of fact, the presence of numerous buyers in the
UK fashion retail sector. The large product line and the presence of huge competitors in
the market puts the customers in the driver’s seat. Therefore, it can be stated that the
consumers enjoy high power in the UK fashion retail market. Moreover, the value of the
products is also considered to be important aspect for the organisations to set its target
market practice. The research of Parker and Wang (2016) opined that most of the

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fashion retailers are tried to analyse the consumer behaviours and linking it with their
product value. As a result of that a clear connection and dependency between the
customers and the business organisations are completely visible in the UK fashion retail
sectors.
Threat of substitute
The threat of substitutes is referred as one of the major aspect for high street
clothing retailers because the products are manufactured for the rich customers and the
price of the apparels are also of premium. The normal customers occasionally purchase
the premium products. Therefore, Yang, Song and Tong (2017) argued that the lack of
niche marketing creates a serious threat for the business organisations. In UK, Arcadia
group also faced the same type of the threat of substitution. Henceforth, it can be
argued that the threat of substitutes is high in the UK high street fashion retail market.
Competitive rivalry
Rivalry in the UK fashion retail market is one of the aspect that pushed the
fashion brands to implement effective strategies to get sustainability in the highly
competitive market. Moreover, the open market policy of UK leads to the international
brand to penetrate into the market effectively (Turker and Altuntas 2014). Companies
like Aldi, Marks and Spencer, Zara and H&M are existed into the UK market robustly
and as a result of that it becomes pertinent for the companies to practice unique
strategies to retain and bring new customers into the organisational fold. It is highly
challenging for Arcadia group to maximise its business practice through using unique
marketing and sales strategies.

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Threat of new entrants
The existing companies are overstretched their market capitalisation profoundly
in UK. In the words of Turker and Altuntas (2014) it can be stated that the UK market is
completely saturated with the big brands like Burton, Dorothy Perkins, H&M and so on.
Therefore, the threat of new entrants is low in the UK fashion retail market. The existing
players have significant power to prevent the entry of any new companies.
Internal analysis
VRIO analysis
For Arcadia group, the intangible resources are company culture, leadership,
trademarks, image and the brand recognition. On the other hand, the tangible resources
are customers and the revenues. There are other resources that Arcadia group has
but for this understanding, the above mentioned resources are important.
Elements Valuable Rare Imitable Organised
Culture The culture of
Arcadia group
seems valuable
for the
organisation to
perform
professionally.
There is lack of
rarity within the
organisational
culture as it is
more based on
the fundamental
concepts.
Highly imitable
as there is no
such unique
attributes within
the
organisational
culture.
It is true that the
organisational
culture in
Arcadia group
is highly
organised and
based on the
organisational
objectives.
Trademarks The trademark of Obviously, There is no As trademarks

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Arcadia group
is highly valuable
for the
organisation as it
adds value within
the
organisational
image.
Arcadia group
follows rare
trademark for a
creating a unique
identity in the
market.
chance that
other companies
can imitate the
trademark of
Arcadia group
as it is secured
by the
copyrights.
provides an
unique
organisational
image so in a
temporary
manner the
trademarks
facilitates
strategic
advantages.
Brand
Recognition
The company
has huge
consumer base
in UK and
Arcadia group
is popular for
manufacturing
high street
fashion apparels.
The company
image is not rare
in terms of the
UK high fashion
retail market
because of the
existence of
other
competitors.
Nevertheless,
there are some
unique features
that differentiate
Arcadia group
from other
competitors.
There are lack of
organised
measures that
Arcadia group
follows so that
the brand
recognition of the
organisation is
not organised.
Leadership Due to focus on
the
organisational
culture it
becomes pivotal
for Arcadia
group to follow
The CEO of the
organisation Sir
Philip Green
shares a unique
and charismatic
leadership
The leadership
practice can be
imitable.
However,
different
companies have
different
Bereft of
organised
leadership
creates sever
ethical and
organisational
issue for Arcadia

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effective
leadership
styles.
quality. objectives.
Therefore, the
leadership
quality of Sir
Philip Green is
inimitable to
some extent.
group to operate
in UK market
profoundly.
Therefore, the
leadership in
Arcadia group
does not follow
any organised
shape.
Issues
In this regard, there are three primary issues that the organisation is currently
facing in terms of the lack of effective leadership, ineffective communication practice
and problems in organisational culture.
Recommendation to the organisation
In this regard, there are three specific recommendations that this discussion is
going to addressed such as,
Organisational leadership
Imbibing an effective leadership quality that will cater better organisational image
and harness a good relationship between the executives and the employees. It is
essential for the managers to implement an effective leadership style in order to
enhance the proficiency of the organisation. In this regard, it is important to argue that
the leadership practice is entitled to guide the employees so that without having a good

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leadership it will leave an adverse impact on the organisation in terms of reducing the
profitability and sustainable position in the market. In this context, the transformational
leadership practice will be effective for the business organisation in order to get a
guidance from the managers and the top executives. According to McCleskey (2014)
the transformational leadership practice leads to develop the organisational proficiency
in a great extent. On the other hand, Breevaart et al. (2014) advocated that the role of
the transformational leaders is to make effective communication with the employees
and create a workplace friendly environment for the employees so that they can
communicate and perform effectively.
Developing the communication
Apart from the implementing transformational leadership, it is also important for
the organisation to adapt technological intervention into the organisational
communication practice. Therefore, the report opts for a simple but effective model that
will be relevant in the context of the organisational issue that Arcadia group is facing.
As per the research of Heide and Simonsson (2014) it can be argued that a simple and
effective communication strategy has to be implemented for Arcadia group
organisational practice based on the technology and current trends. As Cooper (2015)
opined that smooth and effective organisational communication has to be implemented
so that it will provide a strategic advantage to the organisation in highly competitive
market.
Effective organisational culture
Moreover, the organisational culture has to be effective and adaptive enough to
change the organisational culture. In this regard, Limwichitr, Broady-Preston and Ellis

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(2015) articulated that it is important for the organisation to understand the leadership
quality exists within the organisation and the ideal leadership practice that can facilitate
efficacy into the organisational practice. As a result of that the vision of the organisation
and the reality can be intersected each other. In this regard, it can be stated that better
HRM policy has to be implemented that will foster strategic advantage to the
organisational framework. According to Duffield and Whitty (2015) the HRM policy is not
only concerned about the recruitment practice rather it focuses on the practice of
enriching the organisational culture and makes it a practice.
Implementation of recommendation
Implementing transformational leadership
As per the research of Van Dierendonck et al. (2014) it can be argued that
transformational leadership style is easily implementable and highly effective in order to
boost the organisational performance effectively. In this regard, the role of HR is highly
appreciable. It is the responsibility of the HR to set the organisational proficiency in such
a manner that it follows the organisational objectives (Moriano et al. 2014). Moreover,
the HR is also entertained positive workplace culture that will facilitate healthy
relationship between the managers and the leaders. Therefore, choosing the
transformational leadership is a strategic measure that the organisation can rely on.
In this regard, the role of the HR is to plan a meeting with the executives and
managers in order to assess the situation of the leadership quality that is prevalent
within the organisation. Based on the assessment, the HR will procure a better plan by
assimilating both the executives and the managers in a session (Banks et al. 2016). In

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this session all the attributes and key features of the leadership style will be underlined
so that the managers can understand the significance of choosing such leadership
quality. After that an induction process between the managers and the employees is
also conducted in order to create a better organisational environment within
organisation. Tyssen, Wald and Spieth (2014) asserted that it is important for the
organisation to engage the employees and the managers at the same time and prepare
a plan that will be helpful for both the executives and the staffs.
Implementation of effective communication
The Shannon and Weaver communication model has been taken to establish
an effective communication process within the organisation. The basic concept of the
Shannon and Weaver communication model is to categorise the communication
process into five parts and each part has an important role to play ( Hume and Leonard
2014). However, this discussion propounded a new way of using the technology driven
model of Shannon and Weaver.

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Figure 1: Shannon and Weaver communication model
(Created by the author)
One of the basic components of the model is to generate the information through
technology. In the context of Arcadia group the mode of transmitter can be face to face
verbal interaction with the employees or seeking help of the technology like telephone
or official e-mails. The main purpose of the managers should focus on facilitating an
effective and flawless framework that is simple but has huge impact on the
organisational communication (Velentzas and Broni 2014). As a result of that opting for
the proposed communication model has a pivotal role to play. In this regard, there is a
number of noise or obstacle can jeopardize the communication practice. It can be
technological glitch or lack of cooperation between the employees and the
management. The technical team is responsible to resolve the technology oriented
issues. On the other hand, for making a cooperation between the management and the
employees an induction process can be developed (Dima, Teodorescu and Gifu 2014).
After that the receiver acts to get the information and based on the information he or
she will act. This is the basic outline of the Shannon and Weaver model where both the
employees and the management will take equal responsibility to establish better
communication practice within the organisation.
One of the major aspect of the Shannon and weaver model is to deal with both
as a conceptual factor and as a technology at the same time. As a conceptual
framework direct interaction between the managers and the employees is crucial for the
organisation. Moreover, it can be stated that in the receiving end both the employees