Harrods' Organisational Behaviour, Global Strategy & Pandemic Impact

This report provides an analysis of Harrods' organisational behaviour and global strategies, focusing on its competitive advantages and the challenges it faced during the pandemic. It examines Harrods' social media and global strategy models, highlighting the company's approach to operational excellence, product leadership, and customer intimacy. The report details the challenges Harrods encountered, including declining sales, VAT-free shopping issues, stock management, and a store fire, and how the organisation managed these challenges through leadership capabilities, communication strategies, and organisational culture. The impact of the organisation's strategy on challenge management and the impact of the challenges on the organisation's strategy, including changes in policies, procedures, and HR practices, are critically discussed, ultimately concluding on the transformation and future outlook for Harrods.

ORGANISATION
BEHAVIOUR AND
GOLBAL STRATEGIES

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Analysis of the strategy used by Harrods and and its competitive advantages ..........................3
Challenges and transformation which affected Harrods in pandemic.........................................5
Challenge management by the organization................................................................................6
Impact of the organizational strategy on the management of the challenge................................7
Impact of the challenge on the organizational strategy...............................................................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Harrods is the department store located in Knightsbridge, London. It is owned by state of
Qatar through the sovereign wealth fund. It belongs to retailer industry which deals in quality
and luxury good products. The brand is also applied over other enterprises and undertaken by
Harrods group of companies involving the Harrods estates, air Harrods and Harrods aviation.
The motto of this is Omnia Omnibus Unique, it is Latin for all things for all people. Various
departments are well-known consisting seasonal Christmas and food halls. In 1928, the company
was the founder of international association of department stores and it is active till now. There
are 330 departments stores which offers broad range of products like clothing, electronics,
jewellery, pet accessories, foods, health and beauty items and many more items. From the service
it includes 23 restaurants, serving each and everything and personal shopping assistance
functions is known by appointment which is watch repair service, tailor, beauty spa and salon
etc.
This report will focus on strategy of Harrods utilizing the range of strategy with its
competitive advantage. It discusses the challenges and transformation which is faced and
affected by the company in pandemic and contemporary changes. Further, analysis will be based
upon how the challenges was managed by organization by focusing on leadership capabilities,
communications and culture. Apart from that it will be discussing how this strategy impacted
management of challenge and impact of challenge on organization strategy (Iqbal, 2018).
MAIN BODY
Analysis of the strategy used by Harrods and and its competitive advantages
Social media Strategy
The brand has deeply involved in tradition and luxury, social media is becoming popular
part of brand awareness and market consideration. Unique challenge was implemented to the
heritage brand. Marketing at enterprise Harrods includes coordination among various teams to
the social, creative and e-commerce departments. Social teams has the responsibility of channel
expertise in which forming a content framework and advisement to key stakeholders over
algorithms, and feedbacks to line up social creative as with campaign briefs. It has repurposed
highly polished magazines content on their social channels. Social media platforms are the way
to transform business communications on internal and external basis (Jacobs and Manzi, 2020).
Harrods social media strategy is for two side communication and it sees its audience like major

contributors in social conversations which took place around brand. Social media also brings
opportunities for building up social content with little difference of particular importance in retail
sector where companies are selling the similar products. Along with stores It has 28 restaurants
which use social media for innovating and ran a campaign namely Twenty Ate Days. Whereas it
features various restaurant on day daily basis. By the campaign it received the positive reviews
and gained consumer interest and it builds the image of brand.
In external communication, Harrods make use of social media platforms to demonstrate
not only it caters for everyone, it is more than famous store. For its customers it symbolizes the
moments in time which is shared with family and friends. Internally, the operation is to
communicate internally with its employees for regular communications. It assists to check staff
across the all company sites and functions must be engaged and informed possibly about their
business activities and purposes. The company has also invested in amount of internal channels
to check employees are up to date with the useful information by various platforms (Kaufman,
2020).
Global Strategy Model
Global strategy is all about making decision on how company can change or accept the
business models for achieving competitive advantage as company globalize the operations.
Business model is structured by company inherent value creation strategy or discipline (Lopez-
Cabrales and Valle-Cabrera, 2020). Value discipline is statement of strategic focus it gives
context for Harrods to set corporate vision and objectives for targeting profitable customers for
focusing and line up the activities. Competitive advantage is promoted through the concentrated
and innovated business model. There are three generic valuable disciplines such as operational
excellence, product leadership and customer intimacy. Operational excellence is defined as
relentless focus to provide customers with reliable products and services as compare to
competitors without any inconvenience. Secondly, product leadership is about offering
customers leading edge products which enhance their use or application of product, also making
competitor good outdated. Customer intimacy is the third aspect where segmenting and targeting
markets and tailoring offerings for matching with demands of places. For Harrods, competitive
advantage is innovated through their following strategy and it brings target audience to pay
attention at their various range of products. Other than that Company also pays attention to

provide their customer better product and services in each sector of department store or
restaurants (Neumann, Robson and Sloan, 2018).
Challenges and transformation which affected Harrods in pandemic
There are certain changes which affected the Harrods bottom line in the pandemic sales
and profit at the London department store drop in 2020 due to strict lock down regulations which
pressurize the Knightsbridge location for closing much of year. Business turnover decrease to 51
percent for the year ending. The company also face loss compare with profit earned from
previous year. It brings to end for the years long time of growth for retailer which motion at time
while many of department stores were struggling. As lock down is eased, still challenges are
faced, international travel is to be returned as pre pandemic levels which is blow for harrods. It
depends upon high spending shoppers pre pandemic. After that, government realised VAT free
shopping for international visitor, as a great advantage for the wealthy tourist to spend more
freely (Pandit, Joshi, Sahay and Gupta, 2018).
Moreover, One more challenge is faced by Harrods is how to move excessive volume of
newly stock which is not sold due to closure of three months. It was tough to move out the bunch
of goods, as they decided to sold out in summer sale at new outlet in London Westfield white
city mall. Shopping malls losing their tenants due to Covid-19 took a toll in retail sector.
Company use the recently shuttered place Debenhams. Furthermore, the common issue is the
company website due to which peoples are unable to take the advantage of website as it shows
server issues most of the time (Pereira and et.al., 2021). Another biggest challenge for them was
on December 7, the store caught fire unexpectedly whereas whole building was burnt down to
ground, which is not a small thing. Instead of closing down, the store moved to temporarily
service across street. Thereafter, the formation of building took place again and the Christmas
order were fulfilled which secured the store reputation. It faced the bombing attacks, it was
occurred various times while each and every time there were civilian and police casualties. Many
people were killed and injured. The IRA army council proved that attacks were not planned and
approved in capacity. But there are no threats as now and it is completely peaceful place (Pratt
and et.al., 2020).
The transformation of the Harrods is cheerful for the year ahead, it is the strongest
performer by its sales and named as best performing luxury department store. It seemed big
demand for luxury and the company is planned to move ahead with H beauty store opening in

UK. After the pandemic the rise in e-commerce platforms has gained the attention of customers
where the transformation of company has begun with developing e-commerce websites. Mostly
people are aware about themselves, and they prefer to shop online rather than going out for
purchase and the online service provides them door to door facility. Various retail sectors have
benefited from shifting to online. Their website provides each and every facility of the products
and for the department stores people can use it through remote personal shopping service.
Challenge management by the organization
Leadership capabilities
Harrods leader focus on the aspects of the democratic end of range. Employees listen to
the ideas and advice which are used for bringing up the continuous improvements. By such
issues the training and developing of employee is more focused. Whereas soft approach in
management of employees is used by the company to ensure about the overall well-being of
employees is developed. This working culture is useful for the employee engagement as it builds
the trust and respect among them. Management of the company is focused on improving the
working capabilities after challenges occur so it provides more benefits to the company. After
those challenges the managers get in touch with different people to bring more ideas for boosting
up the sales ratio which fall down due to pandemic issues. The biggest challenge was faced due
to the fire in which the store was moved across the street which was not easy to handle but the
leader were capable to manage and further they fulfil their Christmas orders as well as further
increased to more profits (Prideaux, Thompson and Pabel, 2020). By the leadership capabilities it
was easier to manage the whole task and responsibilities which was handled by them in
respectful manner even they make communication better and relations with new customers too.
Communications
By the challenge of moving excessive newly stock which remain unsold by the time of
pandemic. It was not easy to sell out those stock in summer sale at their near outlet. But
communicating and treating with good behaviour comes with response and the advantage for
Harrods. Also, leaders came up with certain ideas and people also provided with better services.
For their unsold stock leaders maintain the relation with their subordinates as well as with
customers to carry out the bunch of unsold goods. They focused on building the communications
skills which helped to interact with target audience. With proper communication the company
was able to manage to sold out their stock. At that time, line managers encouraged the

communication to target and advice them t6o make more and more face to face interaction with
customers. In their restaurants they build their working experience of employee with enhancing
their skills to better deal with customers. Better service and quality of work attract the customer
which bring the positive outcome and better image of the company. Further the communications
were more developed and employees were also able to deal with customers clearly and it brings
great result and added to the company values.
Organizational culture
Harrods believe in working together and enhancing their relations with more and more
people. They value more teamwork and celebrate the cultures, experiences and background. The
company enhance the employee engagement and improving the communications, change in
leaderships and changing the organizational structure. Furthermore, Harrods has build powerful
brand reputation stage because of their competitive mechanisms. This is done with giving the
development and success approach for individuals. This is the evident that company has applied
the relevant approaches in management as per needs. Soft approach is too much relevance with
organization as it is looks for the focusing on retaining the employees, improving the long term
sustainability of organization to meet the objectives in retail marketplace.
The soft approach is also implemented in management to focus on enhancement of
employee well-being. Hard approach is the term in which organization keeps an eye on
recruitment of skilful employees who must be able to deal with the situation easily. In weakness
company accordance less attention for the needs of new demands of customers while looking on
needs of employee. There are some standards which is to be maintained which are complex and
challenging to the business environment. I in modern business environment soft system is useful
for improving high level of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Engaged with organization
business process and formulation of all other business processes is important for the growth of
Harrods (Wilkins, Butt and Annabi, 2018).
Impact of the organizational strategy on the management of the challenge
There are several challenges which may have a negative impact on the overall success of
the organization. Harrod's may have adopted appropriate strategy in order to minimize the impact
of these challenges on the productivity of the company. The social media strategy may be
suitable for the organization in order to increase its efficiency of the company. By promoting the
brand of popular social media platforms, the company may be able to manage their challenges

which are a major reason for reduction in their overall productivity (Aboelmaged and Hashem,
2019). As the organization may be deeply hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, it may be necessary for
the brand to promote their business effectively in order to increase their competitive advantage.
It may be useful in improving the branding of the organization which may provide the company
with various cost benefits. The social media marketing requires less investment than the
traditional method of advertising, hence it may be significant for Harrods to promote their
business effectively.
The organization may be able to gain better market share by improving their current
profitability as it may have a positive impact over the overall success of the company. It may
provide various opportunities to the company in order to expand into different markets and gain
a prominent share in the industry. This strategy of the business may be helpful in increasing the
engagement of the consumers towards the brand. It may have a positive impact in gaining
competitive advantage among the users which may be useful for the business. It may increase the
existing sales which were affected by the pandemic and needs to be fulfilled in order to enhance
the overall performance of the Harrods.
The business may be able to make its effective image among the customers and have a
major advantage among them which may be helpful in order to improve their overall
performance. The social media strategy may be useful in connecting with the customers and
prepare better relationships with them which may be beneficial in increasing their customer
satisfaction (Barker and et.al., 2018). It has been useful in order to increase the popularity of the
Harrods in the market which have given various opportunities to the organization to achieve
better growth and success in the industry. It may improve the sustainability of the business in the
industry and may improve the trust of the major stakeholders towards crucial decisions of the
brand.
Impact of the challenge on the organizational strategy
Covid-19 may have a major impact upon the decision-making process of the
organization. It has forced the organization to make several changes in their current
organizational framework in order to stay sustainable in the market. Harrods may have modified
its policies and procedures in order to gain better output. It may be due to the impact of Covid-19
over the business as it had been a major factor in increasing the issues faced by the business in

the market (Crick and Crick, 2020). The management may have made several changes in their
approach such as digitalizing of various organizational practices.
The management may have provided work from home facilities for various staff
members in order to provide them with a healthy work environment. The organization may have
introduced various procedures for their employees in order to motivate them to work efficiently
towards the organizational goals despite the pandemic. These procedures may be required by the
business in order to improve the current situation of the brand and effectively improve the
business practices in order to achieve better growth in the market. Harrods provided various
benefits and flexible timing for the staff in order to retain their high potential clients. It may
improve the satisfaction levels of the employees in order to provide better contribution towards
the organizational goals. These methods were crucial for the business in order to manage their
workforce efficiently which were also hit by the pandemic badly (Gil-Gomez and et.al., 2020).
These challenges have made changes in the approach of the superiors to communicate with their
subordinates effectively and maintain their satisfaction levels in order to work with them
efficiently.
Various technological changes may be made by the business in order to connect all the
departments and the employees effectively. This aspect may be useful for the business in order to
increase the productivity of the work and experience better results and gain competitive
advantage in the industry. With the help of these aspects the business may be able to reduce the
negative impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the success of the company. The organization may
have introduced new and creative HR practices in order top release the work pressure from the
employees and provide them with better assistance which may be helpful in order to increase
their overall motivation towards the business objectives. These objectives may be fulfilled with
the help of these individuals and may be mandatory in order to survive amid the pandemic.
These changes may be required by the company as the pandemic may have reduced the current
efficiency of the business and have resulted into losses which are not satisfactory for the business
(Grijalvo Martín and et.al., 2020). The lock-down restrictions may have a negative influence
over the sales of the business and had a major role in decreasing the stability of Harrods which
may be considered by the management in order to improve the overall success of the company.

CONCLUSION
By this report it has been identified about the social media strategy which is used by
Harrods and global strategy models are used which shows the competitive advantages. The
model shows how company can accept and change the business model for competitive
advantages. It also discusses the challenges faced by organization as well as the transformation
which take place for the upcoming changes of organization. Apart from that it has been analysed
how those challenges were managed by leadership capabilities, how communications were done
and analysis of organizational culture. Further, there are critical discussions based on impact of
challenges on organization strategy were policies and methods changed or implemented,
communications, new measures of retention, technology and marketing are also been discussed.

REFERENCES
Books and journals-
Aboelmaged, M. and Hashem, G., 2019. Absorptive capacity and green innovation adoption in
SMEs: The mediating effects of sustainable organisational capabilities. Journal of
Cleaner Production. 220. pp.853-863.
Barker, M. and et.al., 2018. Intervention strategies to improve nutrition and health behaviours
before conception. The Lancet. 391(10132). pp.1853-1864.
Crick, J.M. and Crick, D., 2020. Coopetition and COVID-19: Collaborative business-to-business
marketing strategies in a pandemic crisis. Industrial Marketing Management, 88,
pp.206-213.
Gil-Gomez, H. and et.al., 2020. Customer relationship management: digital transformation and
sustainable business model innovation. Economic research-Ekonomska
istraživanja. 33(1). pp.2733-2750.
Grijalvo Martín, M. and et.al., 2020. New business models from prescriptive maintenance
strategies aligned with sustainable development goals. Sustainability. 13(1). p.216.
Iqbal, A., 2018. The strategic human resource management approaches and organisational
performance: The mediating role of creative climate. Journal of Advances in
Management Research.
Jacobs, K. and Manzi, T., 2020. Conceptualising ‘financialisation’: governance, organisational
behaviour and social interaction in UK housing. International Journal of Housing
Policy. 20(2). pp.184-202.
Kaufman, B.E., 2020. The real problem: The deadly combination of psychologisation, scientism,
and normative promotionalism takes strategic human resource management down a 30‐
year dead end. Human Resource Management Journal. 30(1). pp.49-72.
Lopez-Cabrales, A. and Valle-Cabrera, R., 2020. Sustainable HRM strategies and employment
relationships as drivers of the triple bottom line. Human resource management
review. 30(3). p.100689.
Neumann, J., Robson, A. and Sloan, D., 2018. Monitoring and evaluation of strategic change
programme implementation—Lessons from a case analysis. Evaluation and program
planning. 66. pp.120-132.
1

Pandit, D., Joshi, M.P., Sahay, A. and Gupta, R.K., 2018. Disruptive innovation and dynamic
capabilities in emerging economies: Evidence from the Indian automotive
sector. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. 129. pp.323-329.
Pereira, V. and et.al., 2021. Investigating Investments in agility strategies in overcoming the
global financial crisis-The case of Indian IT/BPO offshoring firms. Journal of
International Management. 27(1). p.100738.
Pratt, M. and et.al., 2020. Attacking the pandemic of physical inactivity: what is holding us
back?. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 54(13). pp.760-762.
Prideaux, B., Thompson, M. and Pabel, A., 2020. Lessons from COVID-19 can prepare global
tourism for the economic transformation needed to combat climate change. Tourism
Geographies. 22(3). pp.667-678.
Wilkins, S., Butt, M.M. and Annabi, C.A., 2018. The influence of organisational identification
on employee attitudes and behaviours in multinational higher education
institutions. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. 40(1). pp.48-66.
2