Kenzo: International Business Challenges and Opportunities Analysis

This report provides a detailed analysis of Kenzo, a French luxury brand operating internationally, with a focus on its business challenges and strategic responses within a globalized market. The report examines key issues such as foreign competition, decaying infrastructure, high tax rates, changing customer preferences, and socio-environmental impacts, particularly in the UK and European markets. It explores Kenzo's response to external influences, including the need for technological advancements, employee skill development, enhanced promotional activities, and effective stakeholder management. The report further delves into Kenzo's business interests, emphasizing stakeholder perspectives and the importance of ethical business practices, as well as its socio-environmental impacts, highlighting CSR activities, ethical working conditions, and environmental sustainability. The conclusion summarizes the challenges and strategic recommendations for enhancing Kenzo's performance in the dynamic international business environment.

Managing International
Business

Table of Content
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Key issues of international business................................................................................................3
Contemporary globalization.........................................................................................................3
Multinational enterprises' response to external influences..............................................................3
Activities of enterprises for business interests and socio-environmental impacts...........................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
International business can be understood as trade of technology, services and capital
along with products and capital or knowledge across international borders. Kenzo is French
luxury brand situated in Japan offering wide fashionable clothes and products to customers
worldwide. It involves cross-border transactions on global scale where business managers take
business expansion decisions. This report analyses the key issues of international business in
contemporary globalization business environment and activities which can be taken to enhance
its position as global brand.
Key issues of international business
Kenzo is one of the most successful Japanese brand offering large variates of fashionable
clothing apparels, products and services to customer worldwide stores. The brand has large
number of stores in UK and European where brand has established strong goodwill among
consumers with high quality standards and latest trend fashionable clothes (Reeb,Sakakibara,
and Mahmood,2020). However, it has been facing many issues due to foreign competitive
business culture of new brands emergence, decaying infrastructures and high tax rates due to
expansion into new countries. The key issues can be explained as follows :
 Pressures related to foreign competition of new brands coming up in fashion industry has
impacted the growth of big giant company. Decaying infrastructure and less productive
machinery equipments have slowed the growth in output for company due to which
competency has highly reduced. The company faces huge competitive business
environment where factors such as new technology used by global brands and dynamic
uncertainty due to changing customer preferences and internal stakeholders decisions
(Vandenberg,2020).
 The UK division stores are facing challenges due to slow economic growth and changing
taxes policies as they are relatively high in comparison to other countries. Overseas
government regulation and scrutiny with respect to health and safety workers right
regulations and environmental standards are relatively very low as compared to UK
business culture. Expansion into European countries are declining the revenue margins of
Kenzo as brand has to face large tax rates barriers and stringent regulations by
government which limits its business expansion efficiently (Gray,2019).

 The changing preferences of customers due to innovative fashionable trends has also
impacted the revenue of giant retail brand, domestic supply chain and large customer
base established goodwill among stores worldwide. The company executive plays the
vital stakeholders' role here in determining the production standards to all team members
and employees working in company. Customers increasingly are preferring less costly
products with high quality standards due to which global market share has been
diminishing considerably.
 Environmental and labour activists have recently launched several protests campaigns
against company arguing brand has been unable to respond the ethical responsibilities in
their local environment. The stakeholders are relying on maximization of profit and
neglecting the key issues coming up in environment and local climate conditions, which
is an important arena to focus by global brands to retain in dynamic business culture with
profitability (Naraine and Parent, 2020).
 Contemporary globalization has impacted the international business scale of Kenzo on
various parameters where it has been able to reach the set benchmarks efficiently due to
increased competitors of new brands. Modernized technology usage in production of
clothes and products has impacted the revenue targets of brand as there is large scale of
investment deployed in uplifting the business technology. Company executives and board
members which are the sole representatives of shareholders have vital role to safeguard
their interest and also maintain company performance standards along with profitability
margins.
Multinational enterprises' response to external influences.
Kenzo, multinational retail clothing brand has to bring innovative business decisions in
the operational structure in response to external influences and changing global scenario of
fashion industry. The key parameters where business managers need to enhance their global
brand position are as follows:
 The brand needs to bring new technology in production equipments where cost efficiency
of resources are give high importance by leaders and employees use advanced skills to
enhance their productivity standards. The intentional competitive environment of brands
has to be met by building strong entry barriers of advanced technology and strong

goodwill among consumers where Kenzo has to deliver the high quality products and
expand into new sectors of customers (Bridoux and Vishwanathan,2020).
 Employees and team members working in production department should be given
advanced skills training to reach the set company goals with efficiency and bring
innovative ideas to company executives. Production techniques and the environment
where employees are working should be maintained according to the laws of labour
union representative to keep employees motivated and retained for longer periods.
 Engagement with other participants in business culture and promotional activities on
online as well as offline platforms should be enhanced to attract new customers towards
brand products. The promotional parameters in international business should be strong
and according to dynamic preferences of market share where Kenzo must aim to
introduce new sectors of marketing their products.
 Board members are the shareholder representative in company who has vital role to
showcase the business performance of brand regarding revenue margins and profitably
factors. Kenzo top management including board members should upgrade the functional
efficiency of brand in comparison to other competitors in industry for attracting new
investors. The shareholders and investors are extensively important factor to keep the
sustainable business scale with high profitability and large customer base goodwill in
response to external influences (Laguir, Laguir and Tchemeni,2019).
Activities of enterprises for business interests and socio-environmental
impacts
Business Interests
Business inserts are very crucial are where company needs to develop their management
strategies by focusing on stakeholder perspectives and understanding the key parameters of
interests in them to invest in Kenzo.
 Stakeholder perspectives can be understood by the theory explantation where
management and business ethics of company are the key elements that accounts for
the interests of customers, employees and investors community.Stakeholders theory
elaborates company must seek platforms to maximize value for people who
emphasize interconnection between business and the stakeholders who have active
impact by the company operations.

 Kenzo must aim to create positive stakeholder management for enhanced business
interests and high profitability margins,to enable large business operation expansion
and completing the set production goals with efficiency. Strategic stakeholder
management will enable Kenzoto meet the expeditions and objectives of stakeholders
in accordance with external and internal environment of industry by creating positive
strong relationships with them.
 Investors, communities suppliers and employees working in company are the integral
stakeholder which determine growth in customers segments of market share. Kenzo
business decisions to expand into international markets for competing with new
brands emergence and shutting down the store which are non-operational and going
into looses in UK has large impact on stakeholders.
 Business interests also include the decisions to heir top management with innovative
business skills and strong potentialities to reach large scale expansion in market
share. The competitive business environment analyses the changing preferences of
customers and parameters where they need to enhance their performance standards to
reach benchmarks in company goals and increase the revenue profitability by large
margins (Mellahi and Rettab,2019).
Socio-environmental impacts
 Kenzo must aim to contribute ethical responsibilities of business towards society and
local environment where it must work toward CSR activities and reach high quality
standards in serving the expectations of customers. Local suppliers are also integral pat of
the domestic business chain which has large impact on profitability revenues of Kenzo,
There should be strong relationships between suppliers and company management to
upgrade the business scale revenue and maintain harmonious balance between output and
input of natural resources.
 The working conditions in production department should be ethical and proper to meet
the standards of labour laws which will keep them motivated and retained for longer term
(Kim, Chun and Wang,2019).Kenzo leaders and mangers should adhere to the feedbacks
of employees and solve their grievances related to production conditions. They should be
given opportunities to learn advanced technical skills and build strong competitiveness as
an internal strength of management.

 Kenzo must maintain greenery near the production area of outputs and factories which
will impact the position of brand among people positively and enable high delivery of
CSR functions. High technology advanced equipments must be used to minimize the
wastage of natural resources in clothes,apparels and other products and also follow the
principle of cost efficiency. This is one of the most important area where Kenzo can
improve the socio-environmental impact as an external factor of international business
management. These factors will enable company to deliver high quality performance to
customers base and reach new arenas of business where it can develop high potentialities
(Jia,2020).
CONCLUSION
This report can be concluded with analysis that emergence of new brands, advanced
technology in production usage and high preferences of customers are the main challenges faced
by companies in international business. Multinational businesses can build parameters with
strategic planning in respond to external influences and innovation implementation. It also
concludes CSR activities and adherence to stakeholder preferences are the main arenas where
companies can enhance performance levels in accordance with business interests and socio-
environmental impacts to enhance their position in dynamic business world.

REFERENCES
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