Debenhams: Strategic Actions, Analysis, and Critical Reflection Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of strategic actions Debenhams could have implemented to enhance its performance and recover from financial difficulties. It begins with an executive summary highlighting key strategies such as new pricing policies, e-commerce expansion, technological innovation, and employee training. The introduction provides background on Debenhams' history and the factors leading to its closure, including financial mismanagement and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A strategic audit is conducted, covering resource audit, financial analysis, core competence analysis, portfolio analysis, and SWOT analysis. The analysis section delves into the reasons for Debenhams' failure and proposes strategic actions such as technology adoption, innovation, collaboration, employee training, market analysis, portfolio diversification, and performance analysis. The report emphasizes the importance of adapting to market trends, understanding customer needs, and making informed investment decisions. Overall, the report offers a detailed roadmap for Debenhams to rebuild its brand and achieve sustainable growth.

Individual
Management Report

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This file includes the strategic actions that can be taken by company to improve it's
performance. The most important strategies includes New price policies – The company can
make changes in the old prices of product and can pitch customers by introducing new price
policies. They can offer discounts to customers in order to clear it's left over stocks, this will help
in popularizing about company. With this, they can makes changes in it's products to get
competitive advantage. Also they can charge higher prices for it and recover their loss. As the
company had more than 178 store which means a huge amount of cost was invested in
infrastructure, maintenance cost, administration expenses, salary and wages to workforce and
other expenses. To cut down these unnecessary cost and expenses company can start selling it's
products through E-commerce platforms through which extra cost and expenses such as
maintenance charges and distribution charges will be deducted. In order to achieve competitive
advantages company should keeps on adding new features or uniqueness in it's products. With
this, they can use new technology through which their productivity and performance is
improved. This will also save time, cost and efforts of the company. With this, Before making
any changes or formulation of new plan company should make proper analysis of the cost that is
going to incurred at the time of implementation. This will give a brief idea to company where
and how much they had to expend on particular operation. A team of effective manpower leads
in achieving the goals of organisation successfully. The company can conduct a training and
development program for it's employees. With the improvement in performance of workforce the
efficiency and productivity of organisation also enhanced.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................5
Strategic audit.........................................................................................................................5
Analysis..................................................................................................................................6
Critical reflection....................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES:.............................................................................................................................11
Books and Journals...............................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Debenhams Plc. was private limited company, which was dealing in fashion online retail
and beauty store commodities. It was founded in 1778 by William Debenham having it's
headquarter in England, UK with a workforce of 25,000 employees at the time of dissolution. It
was serving across Denmark, Republic of Ireland and United Kingdom, with having 178 stores
over these countries. The company was defunct on 15th may, 2021 as they are facing certain
financial problem starting from 2019 with gradually increased during the situation of Covid – 19
pandemic occurred in 2020. Their profit was reducing with leads in increasing debt of the
company. This results in shut down of all there stores, along with a job loss of 12000 employees
in UK. This file includes strategic actions and it's analysis that could be taken by company in
order to rebuild image of company (Mitrík, 2019). Strategic audit is performed to evaluate
performance of company and lastly ended with critical reflection.
Strategic audit
Strategic audit is a detailed analysis which is used to evaluated either the organisation is
meeting it's desired output or not and also making full utilisation of it's resources (Bushuyev,
Murzabekova and Khusainova, 2021). The stages to conduct a strategic audit is as follows -
 Resource audit – This analysis is performed in order to check the availability of
resources with the company. Mostly it includes fixed resources such as plant &
machinery, building, furniture, trademarks and goodwill, with this partnership, merger
and acquisition, joint ventures are also included in this audit (Jahani and Yazdani, 2022).
The company is having around 178 physical stores available across UK, Denmark and
Republic of Ireland. A huge amount of maintenance cost and rental expenses where
incurred by company on it's store. During Covid – 19 pandemic stores were shut down,
results in generating zero revenue but all it's cost and expenses like rental income and
salary to employees remains same which result in decrease it's cash and profit rapidly.
 Financial analysis – Financial analysis helps in determining financial condition of
company. Due to poor financial management company winded up, initially company was
performing good but pandemic affected company a lot. Current liabilities of company
was 741.9 million and current asset was 470.5 million as per 2013 reports. The total
assets of company was 2800 million and total cash of company in 2014 was 54 million

which dropped to 38 million in 2018. Net operating income of company also dropped to
37 million. The revenue of company was 2277 million, which dropped and remained just
75 million in 2021.
 Core competence analysis – Core competence analysis is basically analysis for the
competitors. The facilities provided by the company is more or less then it's competitors
facilities (Falqueto and el. al., 2020). It also includes the quality, cost and services by the
company with context to it's competitors. The top most competitors of company were
John Lewis, Marks & Spencer, House of Fraser and Arcadia. They adopted latest
technology in there business where as, Debenhams remains same due to which they lack
behind as compare to it's competitors.
 Portfolio analysis – Portfolio analysis is analysis done by the companies to check which
business unit or product line is producing more output for company. Also it is used to
analyse which segment or geographical area can bring out more profit for them.
Debenhams was serving in limited countries so geographical area covered by them was
limited hence, results in smaller customers base. When the company expand it's business
then their customer base will be enhanced with this high revenue will be generated by
company.
 SWOT analysis – SWOT analysis is performed by the company to check the internal
strength, weakness, opportunities and threats of organisation. The company do not
adopted latest technology which was their threat which soon transformed into real factor.
Along with this they were investing all it's profit in stock market, with collapse in the
market during Covid -19 pandemic results in declining it's profit rapidly. So the company
should find out different mode of investment and diverse it's portfolio. In case they are
occurring loss from platform they can recover it from another portfolio.
Analysis
Debenhams was having around 178 physical stores before they were about to close (Betti
and Sarens, 2020). Their financial management was not properly managed with this they do not
upgraded themselves this was the major reason why the company shut down after 242 years.
Apart from this 12000 people lost their jobs due to dissolution of company. The reasons why
company failed and strategic action that could be taken by company in order to recover them
from losses are as follows -

 Use of latest technology – The most importance and crucial tool through which
performance of company is enhanced is use of latest and updated technology in it's
businesses. Bringing technology in business is bit costly but with this companies can
generated huge revenue, also it is considered as fixed assets for company which has resell
value (Bushman, 2021). Lack in implementation of latest technology result decreasing
profit of Debenhams day by day. With the use of latest technology in business company
can save it's lot of time, cost and efforts. The company can start selling it's products
online, this will reduce it's maintenance cost incurred by having physical stores. They
have two options to sell their products online, either they can enrolled it's products on any
popular e-commerce websites or they can make their own website and direct sell it's
products. They can adopt both methods too, but in order to generate more profit on their
own website, they can start providing attractive offers which will influence customers to
make purchase from companies websites. With this, they can use social media marketing
for generating leads and make customers aware about it's products, offers or any
important information. This will increase customers engagement and company will be
able to create large customers base. With the use of search engine optimisation they can
rank there website at the top of page, which makes customer to check their websites first.
The competitors company timely adopted use of technology which provide them
competitive advantage. At the time of Covid – 19 pandemic all stores where closed,
customers can't reach at stores physically but competitors of company were involved in
selling online products which do not lead to decline in their profits. Now to rebuild image
of company, they can provide attractive discount offers which leads to changing mind set
of customers and shifting of competitors customers takes place.
 Innovation – Innovation in the products leads to attract customer attraction. They use to
purchase product which is unique and have some additional feature as compare to other
competitors products. Debenhams can add some features in it's existing product which
will lead them in getting more customers base and hence increase in revenue.
 Collaboration – In order to rebuild positive image of Debenhams in front of customers
and investors they can make collaboration with some popular companies. The company
should make proper and deep analysis and then identify renowned and most profit
making companies. After this they should discuss further planes with them and make

agreement to share all it's further profit and losses. After, popularisation of company and
use of innovative techniques in their products they can increase prices and recover
previous loss.
 Training to employees – As the workforce of company is considered as asset for them,
they are the one which helps company in achieving it's goals. Debenhams can provide
training to employees which will help in increasing their performance and productivity.
Enhancement in employees skills and knowledge implies increasing output for company.
Along with theoretical knowledge company should also provide them practical training.
After successful completion of training, higher level authorities should measure their
performance and provide required feedbacks. By getting productive feedback employees
will be able to understand their mistakes and make improvement for next time. All this
will positively affect output and performance of company.
 Market analysis – Before implementation of any plan Debenhams should perform
proper research about current market conditions and trends. With this, need and wants of
customer should also be considered (Siqueira-Gay and Sánchez, 2019). Initially, with the
help of all internal departments of company they should decide their mission and vision.
After it, market trends should be identified along with macro factors which directly or
indirectly affects the working of company. Then, they should identify problems and
requirements of customers. After reviewing it's customers and having a look towards
market condition, company should start working towards it's solution which they can
provide to customer and attain their focus. By identifying the solution they can promote
it's products using different tools of marketing. This will create awareness among
customers for the product and rate of customer engagement will also increase. After it's
successful promotion, heavy traffic will be generate with this, they can easily identify
their potential customer and start pitching products to them.
 Diversified portfolio - Debenhams use to invest all it's profit into stock market. With
collapse in stock market the market capitalisation of company start declining. With this,
their income starts on declining (Torres, Andrade and Gomes, 2018). To avoid this
mistake in future they should identify different sources where investment could be made.
For example apart from stock market they can invest in properties, real estates, debts,
bonds or mutual funds. If they are getting loss from one source of income then it can be

recovered from other sources. This will diversify companies income and they can get a
good average returns.
 Performance analysis – Performance analysis refers to check the performance of
company and to check either they are capable enough to meet the targets of company or
not (Artaza and Medina et. al., 2020). A benchmark is set by them and they keep it as a
standard and then evaluate it's performance. Debenhams should timely evaluate the
performance of company with the set benchmark, this will get they a clear idea either
they are making growth or not.
Critical reflection
My experience while preparing this report was quite good as I came to learn that with the
use of few strategies a dissolved business can be reopened. Initially, I found it boring as I had to
prepare a report on loss going company, which is now defunct. Then I stated preparing report by
dividing the whole report into smaller tasks, which gives me a clear understanding what topics
do I had to include. I was able to complete my tasks easily by making it's division. When I was
going through the report I realised that there are certain activities performed by company which
leads in increasing it's cost and expenses. So I recommended some of strategic activities which
could be taken by company through which they can start over it's business. At the time of
preparation of strategic audit I faced some difficulty in collecting the past data of company
where they had invested and utilised it's resources. After doing a deep analysis I came to
understand about all the operational conducted by the company and I successfully completed my
strategic audit. This enhances my knowledge on how to prepare strategic audit of company,
which will help me in upcoming years. Initially, this part was the most time consuming part for
me, but after getting the idea about the topic I was able to prepare it easily. When I reached at
analysis part I realised it was the most lengthy portion of whole report. I had lot of point to
explain who strategic action recommended by me will be helpful for the company. The
beginning of the report was interesting and I completed it very quickly but after reaching at the
middle portion I start loosing interest as I finds it boring. This made me bit delay with the time
frame which I had set but when I realised that my deadline could be missed, with full potential
and efficiency I came back to my work and start competing it. The time at which I was about to
complete my report, gave me motivation as I had put a lot of efforts in order to complete this

report. Also I was quite satisfied with the work which is performed by me. This report improved
my skills, knowledge and learning which will help in upcoming years.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that with the used of strategic actions a loss
making or defunct could be reopened. Some strategies such as new price policies, innovation in
the product, using online mode to deliver product and making a proper plan of cost analysis,
company can start over it's business. In order to check that the company is making full utilisation
of it's resources and it's goals are achieving or not strategic audit is conducted. With this a
detained analysis of recommended strategic action was also discussed and ended with the
reflection which discloses the experience faced by me while preparing this report.

REFERENCES:
Books and Journals
Artaza, O., Santacruz, J., Girard, J., Alvarez, D., Barría, S., Tetelboin, C., Tomasina, F. and
Medina, A., 2020. Training of human resources for universal health: Strategic actions
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Betti, N. and Sarens, G., 2020. Understanding the internal audit function in a digitalised business
environment. Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change.
Bushman, R., 2021. Cash-based bonus plans as a strategic communication, coordination and
commitment mechanism. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 72(2-3), p.101447.
Bushuyev, S., Murzabekova, S. and Khusainova, M., 2021, April. Strategic audit based on the
competence approach in Agile transformation of Education Establishment. In 2021
IEEE International Conference on Smart Information Systems and Technologies
(SIST) (pp. 1-8). IEEE.
Falqueto, J.M.Z., Hoffmann, V.E., Gomes, R.C. and Onoyama Mori, S.S., 2020. Strategic
planning in higher education institutions: what are the stakeholders’ roles in the
process?. Higher Education, 79(6), pp.1039-1056.
Helin, S.T., 2021. From Emotions to Actions: Chain Reactions in Strategic Adaptation.
In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2021, No. 1, p. 15063). Briarcliff
Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Jahani, A. and Yazdani, S., 2022. Develop strategic planning of internal audit system of banks
and financial and credit institutions With a Combined Audit Approach
(MRCB). Journal of Management Accounting and Auditing Knowledge, 11(42),
pp.135-166.
Mitrík, K., 2019. Achieving audit quality: a path lined with obstacles, as well as
treasures. International Journal of Government Auditing, 46(3), pp.4-6.
Siqueira-Gay, J. and Sánchez, L.E., 2019. Mainstreaming environmental issues into housing
plans: the approach of Strategic Environmental Assessment. Environmental Impact
Assessment Review, 77, pp.145-153.
Torres, R.D.C.S.R., Andrade, C. and Gomes, S.M.D.S., 2018. Strategic actions to mitigate
climate change in the electricity sector: a comparative study between a European
company and a Brazilian company. Latin American Journal of Management for
Sustainable Development, 4(3), pp.239-258.