Leadership and Management Practices at Burberry: A Case Study Analysis

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BUSINESS CONTEXT
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Table of Contents
Assignment 2...................................................................................................................................3
Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
Brief summary.............................................................................................................................3
Leadership and management.......................................................................................................5
Relevance to company.................................................................................................................8
Recommendation.......................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................10
Reference list.................................................................................................................................11
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Assignment 2
Introduction
In this study, a business context will be discussed. In modern days, the business execution is
carried out in a different way than compared to the way it was carried out in previous days. The
drastic difference in business is discussed over here in a case study. The main reason behind this
is changed stated as the advancement and availability of modern and emerging technology.
Global business has now become easier with the help of these modern policies and corporate
strategies that will be discussed over here in this report.
Brief summary
In this case study, a global luxury fashion brand named Burberry is chosen as an example. The
company is based in London, UK. The company is globally recognised for its quality products
like classic checks, iconic classic coats and many more. The company is servicing goods
throughout the globe for more than 150 years. The heritage brand value is maintained
successfully by its directors. Under the creative director Riccardo Tiscl, the company has
launched a wide range of products categorised between separate men’s, women’s and kid’s
section.
Burberry was established by Thomas Burberry in the year 1856. Their headquarters are in
London, UK. Since their foundation, the company is focused on designing unique accessories
which gave them a competitive advantage over the others in the fashion industry. Burberry first
sold their products online in the US market followed by the UK market in October of 2006 (Gq-
magazine.co.uk, 2019). This business expansion is achieved by the Chief Creative Officer and
Director Christopher Bailey. In the twenty-first century, the company is looking to attract more
the young generation via incorporating emerging designs and trends as fashion in their products.
Moreover, Burberry is going to launch its new fashion accessories, fragrances, cosmetics, ready
to wear outwear and sunglasses. They also managed for showcasing a special kind of modern
and fashionable hoodie that includes a specially featured nose around the neck during
Burberry’s fashion show organised by London Fashion Week in February, 2019. According to
the statistical point of view, the brand repositioning of Burberry done by their Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) Marco Gobbetti helps to earn a huge profit margin on selling the luxury brands.
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Per year revenues of Burberry have raised to 2.73 billion pounds, such that $ 3.7 billion. This
success is achieved by the company due to its global popularity among the young generation
customers. However, the company is going for opening more commercial outlets both online and
in physical stores to provide comfortable products within a large flexible range (burberry.com
2019). A major issue related to the fashion firm Burberry is destroying the unwanted items that
have possibilities in future to be sold cheaply or be stolen. They also decline the international
demand for old and traditional clothes.
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Leadership and management
Vision
Vision guides a company for developing plans and setting goals. An organisation will be able to
make decisions on selecting strategies that will be beneficial for achieving the objectives of a
company. It helps the employees and working groups of an organisation to stay focused. It is
stated that some of the companies use vision to communicate its goals and values. Vision
inspires the actions of a company and helps to pull out innovative ideas. Leaders of an
organisation create a vision for bringing changes to the organisation.
Leadership style
Leaders play a key role in bringing new changes and innovation in a company. Several
leadership styles are beneficial for guiding and motivating the employees of an organisation. The
leadership styles are listed out here:
Autocratic leadership style: In this leadership style, the leaders hold all the responsibilities and
powers. Leaders are responsible for their own decisions, as the leaders do not consult with other
employees for making decisions. Guidelines, procedures and other policies are additions of the
leaders. This leadership is used very less as it may influence employees negatively.
Democratic leadership style: In this leadership style, the leader allows their subordinates to
make decisions. Employees are free to participate in the decision-making process. Leaders also
allow subordinates to present their ideas. In this way, employee satisfaction can be availed.
Unlike the autocratic leadership style, this style is mainly based on the contribution of
subordinates. According to reports, this leadership style is one of the most preferred leadership
styles. In this leadership style, communication becomes upward (Teles,, 2015).
Transformational leadership style: Transformational leadership style is beneficial for
motivating then employees and maximizing their performance level. This leadership style is all
about bringing changes in an organisation. This leadership style is said to have more satisfied
and committed followers, as the followers become motivated by the leader (Ghasabeh et al.,
2015).
Cross-cultural leadership style: This leadership style helps an organisation to identify those
employees who are successfully contributing to the growth of the organisation. The leaders need
to adjust their leadership style according to this leadership theory. This leadership style helps to
manage the employees who are coming from different cultural backgrounds.
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Management practices
The process of ensuring that the work is being done effectively is known as management.
Managers need to perform different management activities to manage the growth of an
organisation. The management practices are listed out in this section:
Employee engagement: The employees are only concerned about performing the job that is
assigned to them. This management practice is beneficial for linking the personal goals of the
employees with organizational goals. In this way, employees become more enthusiastic and
productive.
Rewards and incentives: The rewarding process is beneficial for enhancing the level and
quality of work. Rewards can make the employee feel valued. Employee morale can also be
enriched with this process. Reward motivates people to build company loyalty.
Manage transparency: It is stated that one of the major management issues is a lack of
alignment with among the leaders or managers. Most of the employees do not have a clear idea
about the vision. If the managers take initiatives for managing the transparency so that
employees can have a clear sense of the vision.
Focus on the teamwork: This management practice is beneficial for boosting solidarity of a
team. Team dynamics is developed in this management process. The managers ensure that the
employees are not being distracted. In this way, the performance level of a team can be
enhanced.
Conduct face-to-face meetings: Communication among the working teams and management is
required for avoiding unpleasant issues. The management conducts a meeting for developing
strategic and tactical plans. In this way, the management can understand the progress of work.
Strategies and theories
There are some theories, which are followed by the organisation to realizing its vision. The
strategies and theories are discussed here:
Great administrative theory: This theory refers to constituted management of goods. Henry
Fayol established this theory. According to this theory, bureaucracy is considered as an ideal
rationale for the organisation. A set of 14 management principles are included in this theory.
The principle includes authority, a division of work, utilisation of commands, Direction,
discipline, remuneration, subordinates, centralization, order, scalar chain, equity, initiatives, and
tenure stability (Bannister and Connolly, 2015.).
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Path-goal theory: This theory of leadership helps to specify the leadership style of an
individual. According to this theory, the goal of leaders is to motivate employees and maximize
their working quality (Northouse, 2018). The path-goal theory is based on vroom’s expectancy
theory, which states that the actions of an individual depend upon the expectations. Leaders
choose specific behaviours for an employee that will suit their personality.
Contingent theories: This theory claims that there are no best ways, which will help to organise
a corporation. A contingent leader needs to develop strategies based on the situation (Alexander,
2017). The leaders effectively apply their leadership style and skills to develop contingent
strategies.
Management approaches are beneficial for developing strategies.
Behavioural approaches: Deplorable working conditions and industrial psychology can be
managed in this way. Individual and group behaviour can be monitored by this approach. This
will help to avoid misunderstanding and conflicts in an organisation.
Classical approaches: Scientific management process is one of the significant classical
approaches. The managers of an organisation can be able to find the strategies, which is more
cost-effective.
Quantitative approaches: In this approach, managers use quantitative techniques for recovering
the process of decision-making. This approach is based on efficient statistical and mathematical
calculations. For example, the managers of this organisation manage the inventory costs in this
approach.
Contemporary approaches: This approach is also known as a contingency approach. In this
management approach, the management style is aligned with the situations. This style helps to
develop trait-based management.
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Relevance to company
Leadership style and management strategies have helped the organisation to achieve its goals.
Marco Gobetti is the CEO of this company, which has efficiently guided the employees towards
business goals. Angela Ahrendts is one of the most popular leaders of this organisation. The
leader has utilised the democratic and transformational leadership style for managing their
employees. The company is living up to the creative images, which is developed with the help of
leaders. The company has recently faced financial issues due to poor financial management.
Angela has guided her subordinates to deal with such a situation. Transformational leadership
style has helped her to bring changes in the organisation (Zhou et al., 2019). The individual
oversaw the buying back of perfumes and beauty products of the organisation. She has been able
to generate 20% more revenues by bringing innovation in the product quality.
The other leaders of this company have managed to mitigate the financial risks of the company
by carrying the check patterns to 10%, which has been beneficial for minimising damages
(Albanese and Manning, 2015). The leaders of Burberry have allowed the employees to
participate in the decision-making process. The employees of this company are provided with
rewards and incentives so that their performance can be maximised. The leaders have chosen
the democratic leadership style, which has contributed to better employee management. The
organisation had problems of low-cost inventory management, which is managed by developing
strategies. The leaders and managers of this organisation play multiple duties, which are listed
here:
 Planning
 Organising
 Controlling
 Administrating
The company has implemented contingency leadership theory in their working plan, which has
helped it to mitigate financial risks. The leaders of this company have developed strategies and
implemented into a working plan so that they can be able to direct their employees towards
goals. Cristopher Bailey is the former CEO of this company who has launched a new collection
named as a rainbow legacy collection. This collection has helped Burberry to create brand
awareness. The vision of this company is to build professional relationships by developing
excellent communication skill (Former and Albright, 2015). The company has also chosen the
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TQM management process to maintain its product quality. The leaders of this organisation
prepare working plans and motivate workers to fulfill team goals. Leaders are responsible for
presenting data to the top management. In this way, the leaders and managers have contributed to
the growth of the organisation.
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Recommendation
 The company should efficiently position their products in the country market,
 Marketing trend is being changed regularly so that the company will have to conduct
research on the international market
 The competition in the fashion retail market has been increased so that the company will
have to differentiate their product line from other companies
 The team leader of this company should ensure that the employees are actively
participating in the decision-making process. This will help to bring new ideas to the
organisation
 The managers should listen to the problems of employees so that the toxic causes of
conflicts can be avoided
 Management of this company needs to be flexible
 Inventory should be selected for managing wastages but the organisation should also
have safety stock for addressing a sudden increase in demands
 The company should provide their employees with rewards and benefits, which will
maximise the performance level of employees.
 Retail chain should be managed efficiently (Ayers and Odegaard, 2017?)
Conclusion
This study includes discussion on leadership, management, and theories, which shows that an
organisation has been able to manage its employee base with the help of this process. Burberry
has been able to gain global recognition\by managing its leadership and management. A set of
recommendation is provided, which will guide the company to operate a business successfully.
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Reference list
Albanese, J. and Manning, B., 2015. Revive: How to transform traditional businesses into digital
leaders. FT Press.
Alexander, E., 2017. After rationality: Towards a contingency theory for planning.
In Explorations in planning theory (pp. 45-64). Routledge.
Available At: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/how-burberry-became-britains-most-
important-brand [Accessed 15th March 2019]
Ayers, J.B. and Odegaard, M.A., 2017. Retail supply chain management. CRC Press.
Bannister, F. and Connolly, R., 2015. The great theory hunt: Does e-government really have a
problem?. Government Information Quarterly, 32(1), pp.1-11.
burberry.com 2019, Burberry, Available at: https://www.burberry.com/ [Accessed on: 15th
February, 2019]
Former, U.S. and Albright, K., 2015. WoMeN LeadeRS. Women as Global Leaders, p.21.
Ghasabeh, M.S., Soosay, C. and Reaiche, C., 2015. The emerging role of transformational
leadership. The Journal of Developing Areas, 49(6), pp.459-467.
Gq-magazine.co.uk (2019) How Burberry became Britain’s most important brand
Northouse, P.G., 2018. Leadership: Theory and practice. Sage publications.
Teles, F., 2015. The distinctiveness of democratic political leadership. Political Studies
Review, 13(1), pp.22-36.
Zhou, S., McCormick, H., Blazquez, M. and Barnes, L., 2019. eWOM: The Rise of the Opinion
Leaders. In Social Commerce(pp. 189-212). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
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