BBS003-1 Foundations of Business Communication: Dr. Martens Report

This report provides a comprehensive business analysis of Dr. Martens, examining its competitive position, strategic challenges, and growth opportunities. The report begins with an introduction to the company and its recent success with the vegan range, followed by a SWOT and PESTLE analysis to evaluate its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as the political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors affecting the business. The report then explores the key business problem related to the recall of vegan boots and the lack of effective communication tools. The analysis then provides strategic solutions in HRM, customer communication, and online strategies. The second part of the report is a reflective analysis of the student's personal development and skill acquisition throughout the assignment, focusing on conflict management and teamwork. The report concludes with a list of references and an overview of the company's efforts to satisfy customer needs and demands.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
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Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

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Part 1: Business Analysis (approx. 1,200 words)
 Introduction to the report
Dr. Martens is one of the most well-known brands of the United States that operates in the shoe
and other garments for men and women. They have become one of the most well known and
famous brands in United Stets that tries to connect with all their customers at an emotional level
so that they can focus over the customer loyalty and can ensure that they keep on satisfying the
changing patterns of the customer needs and demands (Drmartens.com. 2020). It is through their
products that they try to add a tinge of confidence and redefine style and vigor differently. They
also try to make sure that they are taking care of the community and maintain their sustainability
approach as well. Recently they have launched their Vegan range which mainly designs and sells
those shoes that are made from natural products and there is completely no involvement of the
animal skin or any other such animal products. However they have received about 70 % surge in
their overall profit but like every other business, they are also facing some issues. This report has
dealt with the issue that is being faced by the company and also recommended how the same can
be solved.
 Summary of the assignment case study (Business Case Company)
Several issues might develop in the business operations of the company. It is because of this
reason that the organization must ensure to take up proper strategies that will be helping them to
overcome the different threats or the issue that is lying ahead of them. It is hence essential to
carry on a micro environmental analysis.
SWOT Analysis

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Strength They have a wide
range of products
A Universal appeal. They can understand
the needs and
demands of the
customers.
Weakness The price of the
products is expensive
in comparison to the
products offered by
the rest of the
competitive brands.
A comparatively
small team was also
harmful to them as
they could not
communicate easily
with others
The whole business
process was
becoming much time-
consuming.
Opportunity One of their biggest
opportunities is to get
good customer
loyalty towards the
brand.
Customers have been
able to form a very
good notion and also
develop loyalty
towards their
threat one of the biggest
threat is coming from
their competitors who
have the tendency of
providing the best
quality shoes at a
much cheaper price
Competitors might
also start introducing
better and more
unique varieties as
well.

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Pestle analysis
political The U.K has
more or less fair
political
environment. d
this is a benefit
for Dr. Martens
as they will be
able to work
properly
They will be
able to develop
cross border
selling relations
without much
struggle
The overall
revenue will
increase
economic It has a very
strong GDP and
a diverse
economy as
well.
This will also be
a major benefit
or opportunity
for the company.
The company
will be able to
get a unique
workforce and
work properly.
Social As there is a
wide availability
of free public
services, the
work can be
carried;
The company
can use it as a
benefit.
They will be
able to provide
their employees
with free
medical aids and
others
technological As U.K falls
under MEDC
that is a more
economically
developed
country there
will be large
investments in
technology
Dr. Martens will
use it as a major
opportunity.
they can develop
their digital sales
and also other
services
Technological
up gradations
will also help
them to develop
new shoes
suiting to the
taste of
customers.
legal The law and
order system is
well-formed.
This is a benefit
for the company
the company
will be able to
abide by the
existing laws
and work
smoothly
environmental Environmental
factors are also
favorable for the
growth of the
company and
also their
This is a positive
aspect for Dr.
Martens
They can work
without any
kinds of
environmental
hindrances.

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products
 Exploration of the business problem
One of the problems that the company was facing earlier was a lack of effective communication
tools. As they have a huge amount of work in comparison to the smaller number of employees or
workforce, it often became much problematic for them. To survive in the era of rapidly
developing competitions, all the organizations have to diversify themselves in terms of their
strategies. As they already saw a huge profit after they have developed their vegan range they
started emphasizing the development of that particular brand. However, later the company also
started facing an issue with its brands. The question was whether this vegan range of shoes was
natural and sustainable or they had more harmful impacts.
It is however evident that the company had to call back about 30,000 of their shoes falling
under the Vegan range mainly because they were not made by abiding the ethical standards
(Hendriksz 2017). The ration of harmful toxic chemicals was more in these shoes and this would
not only violate the ethics of the company but also had a huge chance of having a vulnerable and
bad impact on the health of their customers. It is because of this that the company had to decide
on calling back these products (Drmartens.com. 2020). This decision has mainly been taken so
that the customers are not losing their faith in the brand and are also able to ensure that Dr.
Martens is ready to accept the flaws that have taken place on their end.

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Consumers are urged to check their Vegan boots in the noted colors purchased between January
2015 and 2017 tongue label for product and batch numbers. All boots in Cherry Red and Purple
with the batch number 14585 and 17530, batch number GV...Q, GV...R and GV...S are urged to
return their boots to a Dr. Martens store, or arrange a refund or replacement online as soon
as possible (Hendriksz 2017). This shows that there has been something wrong in the
production of the shoes as they have been made with chemicals that go beyond the accepted or
the safety standards.
 Impact of potential strategic solutions supported by published academic research
Strategic solutions of HRM for growth purpose are as follows-
Creating a long term leadership solution-It is one of the essential HR growth strategies that must
be used for dealing with the issues in the long run. This will help in encouraging the morale of
employees as they will be assured of the support from their leader. After a huge call back,
Dorctor Martens employees are also shocked and suffering from fear. However the company has
to work on some leadership programs and ensure that there is a long term solution like focusing
over a horizontal communication system, hiring of proper analysis and planner and many others.
A robust recruitment system must be followed so that the right person is selected for the right
job. As there have been some production issues, it is the duty of the managers to hire the best
trainers. As Doctor Martens have got a high profit after introducing their vegan range they have
to maintain this profit surge. Therefore they must hire the best trainers who would train the
employees. As the company is suffering from some production issues, they have to conduct both
internal and external recruitment process so that they can hire the best employees.

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Dr. Martens believes in serving their customers to best interests and also tries to ensure that their
customers are staying safe (Vila et al.2018). It is because of this reason that they have developed
the consumer awareness system via which they will be able to make their customers know
about the details of their products and also the benefits that they will be getting after purchasing
the products (Matzner et al. 2019). The best impact of this potential customer communications
strategy is to ensure that the customers can know about all the different issues, both good and
bad associated with any particular product. It is because of this reason that the company could
inform customers with all the related details regarding then faulty manufacturing shoes and
prevent them from panicking.
Arranging for refunds during any issues of part of the company is also a part of the
customer satisfaction strategy. This has been introduced by the company to solve the issue of
recalling their Vegan products. This is because customers might feel that their money went into
vain and that they are suffering from any losses.
The company has also developed its online digital strategies. This is one of the most powerful
impacts of their online sales marketing system because they must be able to ensure that there are
no issues in proper communication among their employees and their customers as well. In other
words, they always try to follow both the customer-centric and the employee-centric approach as
well.
StarLeaf video conferencing and calling throughout its business operations and as part of a
strategy to double revenue and also to ensure that they can carry on with proper communication

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throughout their entire business operations. The video conferencing methods are used right from
the boardroom to the final consumers or the end-users.
 Conclusion
Therefore it can be concluded that Dr. Martens have been satisfying the overall needs and
demands of the customers with all the possible solutions. However, this must be ensured that
to stay in business in the long run, they will have to find out better strategies like proper
inspection methods so that they can manufacture their products in the best way possible and
also ensure that customers are being well informed at every point of time.

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List of References
Bao, R., 2019. Research on the Relationship between Team Roles Theory and Team
Effectiveness.
Drmartens.com. 2020. Drmartens.Com. [online] Available at:
<https://www.drmartens.com/us/en/history> [Accessed 25 March 2020].
Hendriksz, V., 2017. Uk/News/Fashion. [online] FashionUnited.uk. Available at:
<https://fashionunited.uk/news/fashion/dr-martens-recalls-30-000-pairs-of-vegan-boots-due-to-
chemical-exposure/2017082825619> [Accessed 25 March 2020].
Legge, M.M. and Taha, R., 2017. “Fake Vegans”: Indigenous Solidarity and Animal Liberation
Activism. Journal of Indigenous Social Development, 6(1).
Matzner, C.D., Cowan, N.B., Doyon, R., Hénault-Brunet, V., Lafrenère, D., Lokken, M., Martin,
P.G., Morsink, S., Normandeau, M., Ouellette, N. and Rahman, M., 2019. Astronomy in a Low-
Carbon Future. arXiv preprint arXiv:1910.01272.
Vila, A.V., Imhann, F., Collij, V., Jankipersadsing, S.A., Gurry, T., Mujagic, Z., Kurilshikov, A.,
Bonder, M.J., Jiang, X., Tigchelaar, E.F. and Dekens, J., 2018. Gut microbiota composition and
functional changes in inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome. Science
translational medicine, 10(472), p.eaap8914.

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Part 2: Reflective Report on Key Skills Development (approx. 1,200 words)
Personal development analysis is one of the most important aspects that is needed for the overall
welfare of an individual. I feel that undertaking a thorough personal development analysis will
always help show me my areas of strength and also the areas of weakness. This will help me to
understand the future strategies that I must be undertaking to know about the future strategies
that I will be undertaking (Ingham et al. 2020). I was not able to take up my first assignment as I
had to take care of my mother who was battling with cancer and eventually expired. Therefore I
was asked to take the referral assignment so that I do not lose a full academic year. Therefore I
have been fighting with many challenges since then and never gave up my willingness to work
hard and win in the long run to attain success.
Since the beginning of the semester 1 unit learning, I have been able to learn many new skills
and one among them is managing conflict at the workplace. This is very useful because there can
be several issues arising from different organizations (Duhigg 2016). This is because the
employees can come from different work cultures and backgrounds. This happened when I was
working with team members coming from Australian and Japanese background (Campbell and
Groenbeck 2018). There were conflicts of difference among opinions. These are because the
team members from Australia knew that they have to work in a very self-dependent manner but
at the same time the employees from the Japanese background wanted to largely upon the
management. It was creating a conflict. I decided to follow the class materials (Arpiainen and
Tynjälä 2017).

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Improving ways of communication with employees
I ensured that there is a proper horizontal communication approach and all the employees can
talk with each other and understand their issues.
Forming representative structures
I appointed some representatives in the group so that they can take up the responsibility of
speaking with all employees individually (Rebocho et al. 2017). This is often not possible for a
leader to talk with all employees therefore following this strategy is also very useful for the
method of developing a sound and proper culture (Flores-Parra et al. 2018).
I have also learned about team working in my semester unit 1 that has also been highly useful for
me. I have been able to learn that a proper team is one where all the members work for some
common goals and objectives (Sagnak 2016).
I have been able to learn the ways of developing the leadership skills that would help me in the
future to sustain my team. I have gained this knowledge that in the modern-day scenario the
teams must be run based on the principles like participative leadership approach and not based
on any biases like the ‘do as I say, not as I do’ basis.
I have also learned the usage of ICT materials in my semester reading. This is because during the
unit learning I was asked to write the project for the final presentation in the class. I have
undergone a thorough training of the Microsoft program courses like MS office word, PPT and
many other such aspects (Chang et al. 2019). This is because this has also helped me to add a
touch of professionalism in me (Tan and Molinari 2017). I will be able to produce all the work in
the PPT slides by using all the options like animations, font design and many others (Väyrynen

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2018). This has also been very helpful for me when I was explaining the team objectives to all
my team members via the projector TV slide shows. This has been very helpful in making the
session much interesting and interactive as well (Bao 2019).
I have also been able to learn about different team roles. The BELBIN team role model has
helped understand the most dominant trait present in me. As per the team roles, I am a specialist.
This is because I have good knowledge over the ICT usage platform and I always like to stay
focused on the same. A specialist is one who is technically expert, always stays focuses and is
dedicated towards all the works being undertaken. However, I feel that I have to help those team
members as well who are not well versed in this particular platform. In other words, I will
always help my team members to understand their skill gaps and be able to overcome the same.
This will, in turn, be helpful as this will help me to form a proper connection with all the team
members(Eva et al. 2019). I will be able to guide them at all the possible steps.
I have collected my peer feedbacks and I came to know that as a Specialist I usually avoid the
interference of others and do not take their opinion. In other words, I often get angry when others
are trying to interfere in my working style. However, this is not right because, to work as a
successful manager shortly, I will always have to maintain a proper relationship with my
colleagues and include them in the whole business process or the decision-making process.