Evaluating Innovation at Debenhams PLC: UK Fashion Retail

This project undertakes a comprehensive analysis of innovation strategies within Debenhams PLC, a major player in the UK fashion retail industry. The study begins with an abstract outlining the importance of innovation for competitive advantage in the face of rising market competition and changing consumer trends. The introduction provides background on Debenhams, its business model, and the rationale for the research, emphasizing the need for innovation to improve existing products and services. The research aims to measure the role of innovation in strengthening the business against intense market competition. The project then details the research methodology, including qualitative research methods, a deductive approach, and positivism philosophy. The research design, data collection methods (primary and secondary), and data analysis techniques are explained, along with sampling and validity considerations. A SWOT and Porter's Five Forces analysis are included. The project culminates in conclusions and recommendations for future study, offering insights into how Debenhams can leverage innovation to maintain its competitive edge in the challenging fashion retail landscape. The project includes a detailed literature review covering innovation strategies, challenges, and conceptual models, alongside a chapter structure outlining the project's organization.

Strategic business project-1

ABSTRACT
Innovation can be described as an important key that leads to the creation of competitive
advantage for business that helps to compete in the market effectively. Competition in fashion
industry is rising day by day thus firm requires to pay attention towards creation of innovation at
workplace especially regarding external knowledge, skills and experiences which can easily
foster innovation and can lead to creation of competitive advantages. The present study is based
on Debenhams Plc, multinational retailer, which provides customers with fashionable shoes,
clothes and other accessories. It can be said that the main reason behind conducting this research
is that the competition is rising in fashion industry as the trends are changing continuously and
effectively.
In this context, innovation is required for company to improve and develop existing
products and services or to create new ones to attract customers in the market in order to
compete others. The primary aim of this research is to measure role of innovation to provide
strength to business in the state of intense competition in the market and it is based on qualitative
research. Businesses are facing significant challenges in gaining competitive advantage in
fashion industry over its competitors. Innovation is an art of competing with others in the market
which is difficult for many firms. It is often perceived as a threat of existing work and change
which creates uncertainty.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOPIC:.............................................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
Background of the study.........................................................................................................1
Rational of the research..........................................................................................................1
Research aim and objectives..................................................................................................2
Research questions.................................................................................................................2
Research problems..................................................................................................................2
Research methodology...........................................................................................................3
Chapter Structure....................................................................................................................4
Conclusion..............................................................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................5
Introduction............................................................................................................................5
Role of innovation in attaining competitive advantage in fashion retail industry..................5
Determining the strategies and plans for innovation..............................................................7
Innovation strategies that can be applied by fashion retailer...............................................10
Challenges faced by organisation in managing innovation and commercialisation.............11
Conceptual Model................................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 3- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................14
Introduction..........................................................................................................................14
Research philosophy.............................................................................................................14
Research design....................................................................................................................15
Research approach................................................................................................................16
Research Method..................................................................................................................17
Data Collection.....................................................................................................................17
Data Analysis........................................................................................................................18
Sampling...............................................................................................................................18
CHAPTER 4- RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS..........................................................................19
Introduction..........................................................................................................................19
Secondary Analysis.............................................................................................................19

SWOT ANALYSIS OF Debenhams plc..............................................................................27
PORTERS FIVE FORCES OF Debenhams plc...................................................................28
Integrated assessment of analysis.........................................................................................29
CHAPTER 5- CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................................................30
Conclusion............................................................................................................................30
Recommendations................................................................................................................30
Need for future study............................................................................................................31
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................33

TOPIC:
“To evaluate and determine role of innovation to combat the state of intense competition
in the UK's fashion retail industry – A case study on Debenhams PLC.”
CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
Innovation can be described as an important key that leads to the creation of competitive
advantage for business that helps to compete in the market effectively. Competition in fashion
industry is rising day by day thus firm requires to pay attention towards creation of innovation at
workplace especially regarding external knowledge, skills and experiences which can easily
foster innovation and can lead to creation of competitive advantages (The UK fashion and
apparel sector, 2019). There are so many firms operating in fashion industry within and outside
the UK which have created intense competition for firms like Morrisons, Walmart, Boots, Tesco,
Sainsburys and ALDI etc. Innovation is a changing process which helps the business in creating
more effective and efficient products and services for customers along with implementation of
new ideas. The process helps to create dynamic products and also improve existing services that
helps the business in attaining competitive advantage. It is analysed that innovation is necessary
within business in order to create something new in terms of product or service which can attract
customers in the market.
Debenhams plc is a British multinational retail fashion firm operating under a department
store format in the UK and Ireland with franchise store in other nations as well. The firm was
founded in 18th century and had a single store in London. The business has now grown to 240
locations across the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland and 27 other countries. There are total
27,893 workers in the firm with a net income of 85.9 million as per 2016 (Debenhams plc,
2019). The boss of business, Sergio Bucher says that we have to make shopping fun again. The
company provides its consumers around the world a differentiated, unique and exclusive mix of
own brands, concessions and international brands.
Rational of the research
It can be said that the main reason behind conducting this research is that the competition
is rising in fashion industry as the trends are changing continuously and effectively. In this
context, innovation is required for company to improve and develop existing products and
services or to create new ones to attract customers in the market in order to compete others.
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Innovation is required to enhance effectiveness of operations and production (Pedersen, Gwozdz
and Hvass, 2018). There are so many firms delivering similar products and services in the market
that competition is tough for Debenhams plc. The study is conducted for academic purpose and
to boost knowledge over different concepts of innovation at workplace, to combat the state of
intense competition within fashion industry, UK.
Research aim and objectives
Aim:
The primary aim of this research is to measure role of innovation to provide strength to
business in the state of intense competition in the market.
“To evaluate and determine role of innovation to combat the state of intense competition
in the UK's fashion retail industry – A case study on Debenhams PLC.”
Objectives:
 To identify role of innovation in attaining competitive advantage in fashion retail
industry.
 To determine strategies and plans for innovation by Debenhams Plc, UK.
 To determine the challenges faced by Debenhams in managing innovation and
commercialisation.
 To suggest innovation strategies that can be applied by Debenhams Plc to combat the
state of intense competition.
Research questions
 What are the roles of innovation in attaining competitive advantage in fashion retail
industry?
 What innovation strategies and plans can be used for raising healthy competition by
Debenhams Plc, UK?
 What are challenges faced by Debenhams in managing innovation and commercialisation
for long period.
 What are the ways in which the firm will be able to implement innovation at workplace?
Research problems
Research problems are associated with the investigation process which is a clear
statement that denotes area of concern and condition which needs to be improved with the help
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of practice points. In the present exploration, the area of concern is cost of implementing
innovation strategies, time required to formulate and apply them at workplace and insufficient
information about competition in the market.
Research methodology
It is a specific process used to select, analyse and determine information on the basis of
research aim and objectives. This section helps in evaluating reliability and validity of research
that helps to understand the process.
Research type: There are two types of research such as quantitative and qualitative. In
this study, conclusive and exploratory are two research methods which will be used by
researcher to conclude the final answer and explore the research objectives (Kumar, 2019).
Research approach: Inductive, deductive and abductive are three types of research
approaches available for researcher in order to accomplish aim of the study. Deductive approach
will be used according to the nature and scope of investigation.
Research philosophy: It is the only section which provides detailed analysis of topic.
There are four type of philosophy available for researcher in order to conduct the investigation
such as positivism, interpretivism, realism and pragmatism (Mackey and Gass, 2015). The
research is subjective in nature therefore scholar will make use of positivism philosophy.
Research design: This section helps to provide general answers regarding investigation.
Strategies and plans in relation to data analysis and collection are some important part of
research design. Correlation al, experimental, review, Meta analytic and descriptive are various
research designs among which descriptive will be used.
Data collection: Data collection is a process of collecting information with the help of
two major sources known as primary and secondary methods. Both are useful and have similar
importance for the researcher to make effective use in the investigation. Primary and secondary
collection of data will be used as it helps in gathering fresh and current information with regard
research topic.
Data Analysis: It is the procedure of examining, cleaning, transforming and modelling of
data with the objective of discovering useful information (Ledford and Gast, 2018). Thematic
analysis of data will be use by researcher in this study which is qualitative in nature.
Sampling: There are usually two methods of sampling known as probability and non-
probability in which participants have chance to take part in the research process in order to
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provide their contribution. Simple random sampling will be used as the method eliminates the
chances of bias research outcomes. Researcher will collect information from 40 respondents of
Debenhams plc of UK.
Validity and Reliability: It is one of the crucial part of research in which the researcher
address validity and reliability of investigation in concise manner effectively. It is important to
have a valid and reliable research to generate positive outcomes (Fletcher, 2017).
Chapter Structure
Chapter 1: Introduction- It is the first part of research which includes explanation about
what is going to be find out in this thesis. Moreover, this section consists of background of the
study with aim, objectives, questions and further methods including a short review of research
methodology.
Chapter 2: Literature Review- Literature review is a critical part of research in which
discussions are made on various theory associated with the topic of study. In this part, answers
are provided for the questions made in above introduction part. The information presented here
includes views of different authors and scholars.
Chapter 3: Research methodology- This method is useful that helps to derive
approaches and methods used by researcher in order to contribute to the investigation
procedures. This section will be important for concluding impact of innovation so that the data
could be used as valid and reliable.
Chapter 4: Results and discussions- This section finds out results in order to explain
them in detailed manner to link them with research aim and objectives. In this, data is collected
and analysed using relevant techniques and methods.
Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations- It is the last chapter of study in which
valid conclusion, recommendation and summary is provided. This section, summarize the study
which denotes effectiveness of entire study and information collected.
Conclusion
The introduction section covers all major headings which will be used in the research in
order to determine key findings and results effectively. This section concludes a brief summary
about methods, strategies, background, significance, purpose and rational of the investigation.
This helps to have an idea about overall research structure.
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CHAPTER 2- LITERATURE REVIEW
Introduction
Literature review can be described as a narrative review which is a type of article for
review purpose. This section includes, current knowledge along with theoretical and
methodological contribution. This help to have substantive findings for the study which is
focused on identifying role of innovation to combat the state of intense competition. The
information, materials and other data required for the research is collected from different
journals, articles, blogs, online websites, etc. In this part, information is presented in critical
manner to understand the topic in detail effectively. It also surveys sources in order to identify
relevancy towards the investigation that helps to provide description, evaluation and summary of
information to investigate the issues. This will help to have a better understanding of topic to
determine key potential areas of the research that helps in further research effectively.
Role of innovation in attaining competitive advantage in fashion retail industry
According to Pantano, (2014) businesses are facing significant challenges in gaining
competitive advantage in fashion industry over its competitors. Innovation is a key by which
firms are able to maintain competitive advantage by managing business operations in unified
way with broad perspective. It helps to take risks and also make operations flexible enough to
adopt changes. In addition to this, promoting innovation at workplace is a key idea of
encouraging workers to become more productive and effective towards their work to accomplish
individual goals and objectives. Continuous training and development is important for emerging
practices in innovation for large businesses. This helps workers to understand things better in
order to generate new ideas for the research. Training and development programs for employees
is vital function of human resource management as it helps to stimulate innovation in products
and services.
Yeung and Coe, (2015) stated that training and development programs not only improve
performance of employees but also creates an environment which changes their perception,
commitment and sense of ownership. It also helps to accomplish a balance between the current
performance of business and requirement of changes as per dynamic market trends. Positive
attitude and supportive behaviour is required from leaders within firm in order to motivate and
encourage worker’s participation in innovative programs. Innovation may be a great challenge
for management of organisation but it is the only way to sustain success. If one wants to fuel
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innovation among one’s workers, it would definitely not hurt to invest in training and
development programs.
Pantano, (2014) said that it is difficult for a customer to realise the difference between
products and services within the same market because every competitor is providing similar
product and service in this competitive environment. The capability of innovation is a key
towards productivity that helps to create competitive advantage for firm by discovering and
perceiving better and new way to compete in fashion industry. The success factor depends on
relative advantage of innovation which is a most important asset that creates competitive
advantage for firm and allows them to enhance their market share by reaching number of
customers effectively.
As per the views of Coe and Wrigley (2017), managing innovation in products and
services is an effective way to gain competitive advantage for the business in order to drive
growth of production and profitability. However, innovation in products comes along with new
procedures and technologies. For example, Apple is one of the innovative firms that is different
from others in the market. The products offered by business is unique and fashionable which
creates an effective brand image in consumer's mind. Nowadays, innovation has become the
important tool in order to improve and develop living standard to survive in this competitive and
advanced world. Innovation is required to provide better services to customers to enhance their
satisfaction and loyalty towards brand. This also enhance production and profitability which
saves time and cost for business.
According to Fernie and Sparks (2014), innovation is an art of competing with others in
the market which is difficult for many firms. It is often perceived as a threat of existing work and
change which creates uncertainty. Innovation helps to sustain competitive advantage which
provide strength to firm to face significant market challenges. This also helps to increase
motivation in workers. According to Filieri (2015), the goal of every firm is to get ahead of
competition in the market which is also known as competitive advantage for business. Innovation
is a way from which the firm is able to foster its competitive advantage by producing a new
product or service along with method of changing procedures effectively.
Pantano and et. al., (2017) stated that, worldwide retailing is witnessing unstable shifts
due to changing market trends. Innovation has tremendous growth in the fashion industry.
Internet is one of the emerging factor that power up-heals in the retail landscaper that are
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revolutionary in scope and unprecedented in nature. Internet is the thing which facilitates
customers to visit retailers via different channels for several purposes like collecting information
through online, make offline purchases as well as contacts customer support via telephone.
Innovation has increased the retailing practices encompassing a broader range of activities.
Businesses are facing important challenges in gaining competitive benefits in fashion industry
over its competitors. Innovation is a key by which firms are able to maintain competitive
advantage by managing business operations in unified way with broader perspective.
Competition is more and more increasing in this present world and it is only because of rising
innovation. It effects on the environment and management of company in decision making
activity. It is not so easy to implement and adopt innovation when it comes in the market. It
needs strategic planning and managing resources, time for implementation innovation within
business.
As per Pantano (2014), the progress in technology and the innovation have contributed to
the county's economic development over the decades. In order to compete in the market, it is
very essential that innovation and creation should be present. Without new products and services,
it is not possible that any company can able to sustain. Fashion industry is the industry which is
facing huge level of competition in the retailing industries. They have to work very hard in order
to design the most beautiful and unique products to gain the attention of audience. The major
reason for company to give extra importance in terms of innovation and creation is that with the
change in time customers perception, demand and way of living life is changing.
Determining the strategies and plans for innovation
As per the views of Ward, (2016) there should be defined process of innovation like
company before deciding to come up for innovation as it is very important to plan a goal or
problem. Goal like company is going to make innovation in there technologies, tools, equipments
they are utilizing and problem means in what areas organisation is facing problems, for example
outdates technologies, tools and machines. Thus, company is going to solve the problem like
areas where technologies are outdated and it is only resolve by by innovation. After setting of
goal, company will generate ideas that how they will do innovation in there business. After
planning, then organisation will move to initial evaluation. In this stage management will
measure the performance of particular innovation in the business. Afterwards, they will prepare a
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report and implement this plan within organisation. Thus, it is very essential to make a plan
before implementing any innovation in the business.
According to Mylan (2015), it is a fact that organisations never implement 50% to 65%
of their strategies and plans as because they are not adopted by all in the company which in result
fail due to expected outcomes in the defined time. Still, it is very necessary that there should be a
systematic plans and strategies for innovation. There is huge crisis of changing fashion too fast in
traditional retail industry as it is one of the most dynamic changing business in history. In order
to sustain in the competitive world of market, it is very essential that there should be systematic
strategies and plan of action to brings creations and innovation in the products and services of
company. Good strategies and plan creates a good result. It is also very crucial that strategies and
plans should be aligned with the objectives. In UK, it has been reported that many companies of
retail industry are not aligned as there is a gap between new product development (NPD) and
strategies of growth. Apart from this, lack of feasibility and risk in data for innovation as well as
new product development are the issue's comes when company plan for innovation. Retail
industry has to develop short terms and long term objectives to convent the work from
conceptual to concrete.
According to Qu, and et. al., (2015), There are some strategies for innovation like
Disruptive innovation is an innovation that creates a new market and value network and
eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market-leading
firms, products, and alliances. Secondly, Incremental innovation is a series of little
improvements or upgrades made to a company's existing products, services, processes or
methods. The changes implemented through incremental innovation are usually focused on
improving an existing product's development efficiency, productivity and competitive
differentiation.
As per the Pedersen, Gwozdz and Hvass, (2018) one of the best strategy for retail
industry to compete in this world. Balance score card system involves growth and development
of company in connection with creative capacity, efficient procedure of product development,
value of customers and stakeholders, improved and final results. The balanced scorecard is a
strategy performance management tool – a semi-standard structured report that can be used by
managers to keep track of the execution of activities by the staff within their control and to
monitor the consequences arising from these actions.
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