Louis Vuitton Summer Shoe Project: A Business Project Report

Desklib provides past papers and solved assignments for students. This project analyzes Louis Vuitton's market position and proposes a new summer shoe.

MANAGING A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PROJECT
LOUIS VUITTON

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................1
TITLE......................................................................................................................................... 2
A) PROJECT AIMS PLANNING....................................................................................................2
PROJECT BACKGROUND.......................................................................................................2
PROJECT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES..........................................................................................2
B) PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN............................................................................................3
WORK-BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE AND GANTT CHART.........................................................5
C) QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH.....................................................................7
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH...................................................................................................... 7
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH....................................................................................................9
ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF THE APPLIED RESEARCH METHODS.................................10
CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT PROCESS AND APPROPRIATE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES APPLIES...............................................................................11
D) & E) ANALYSIS OF THE RESEARCH FINDINGS.....................................................................12
F) CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................................16
EVALUATE THE SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR ACCURACY
AND AUTHENTICITY TO JUSTIFY RECOMMENDATIONS......................................................16
G) PERFORMANCE REVIEW.................................................................................................... 16
CRITICAL EVALUATION AND REFLECTION ON THE PROJECT OUTCOMES OR CHANGES AND
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROJECT PLAN..............................................................................16
REFERENCES........................................................................................................................... 16
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INTRODUCTION
Globalization has played a vital role in the growth and development of luxury fashion brands
in different regions of the world. Global brands are continuously evolving new products and
strategies to capture the attention of a large number of targeted customers across the
globe. This research project will support a luxury shoe brand “Louis Vuitton” in developing
and promoting a new summer shoe for the forthcoming season. An effective project
management plan for Louis Vuitton will be formulated in this project report by identifying
the current market situation and demand in the luxury shoe industry. This will support the
company in gaining a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.
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TITLE
“Designing, Developing and Promoting a Luxury Fashion Shoe for Louis
Vuitton to Gain Competitive Advantage in the Global Marketplace”
A) PROJECT AIMS PLANNING
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Louis Vuitton is a French luxury fashion brand and retail organization. The company offers
luxury shoes, jewelry, sunglasses, watches, accessories, and books. It is one of the leading
fashion houses across the world that sales its products through standalone boutiques and
high-end department stores as well as through online stores (Louis Vuitton, 2019). The
company is competing with the other luxury fashion brands; Gucci, Prada, Chanel and so
many other luxury brands. The company is in high need to sustain its market position and
expand its business to other regions of the world. thus, this project will support the
organization in identifying customers demands and market trends in the luxury shoe
industry to design and develop a new fashion shoe for the forthcoming summer season. The
project would also emphasize on promoting the brand in the luxury fashion events and
marketplace.
PROJECT AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
This project is aimed at obtaining a competitive advantage in the luxury fashion shoe
industry through designing, developing and promoting a luxury shoe in the global luxury
market. in order to achieve the project aims the following objectives has been set;
 To identify the new trends and challenges in the luxury personal goods market
 To analyze the customer's needs and demand in the marketplace
 To design and develop a competitive luxury fashion shoe
 To successfully promote and sell the product in the market
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B) PROJECT MANAGEMENT PLAN
A project management plan is formulated for effectively arranging and managing the project
activities for ensuring the successful execution of the project to achieve the ultimate aims
and objectives (Burke, 2013). The main aspects of this project are set below:
Cost and budgeting:
the project cost and budget are prepared according to the financial stability of the company.
The budget for the LV project is estimated at around £5-6Million. The cost structure of the
project is as presented below:
Project planning £11,000
Project research £400,000
Cost of analysis and
interpretation
£350,000
Designing cost £100,000
Manufacturing cost
Purchase of required material £1,500,000
Labor cost £650,000
Purchase of machinery £700,000
Technical cost £600,000
Maintenance cost £100,000 £3,550,000
Promotional activities
Launching at a fashion event £500,000
Print media £300,000
Electronic media £250,000 £1,050,000
Total £5,461,000
Project scope:
Project scope is the key deliverables that would be achieved after completion of the project
(Kerzner, and Kerzner, 2017). This project would provide a competitive advantage to Louis
Vuitton in the luxury shoe industry in the global marketplace. It would support in growth
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and recognition of the brand in new economic zones. However, the insufficiency of time
may lead to a compromise in the project quality.
Timeframe:
A proper arrangement of time would support in completing all the essential project
activities at right time. This project would at least require a time of 10 weeks to achieve the
aims and objectives of the project successfully. The project will be initiated from 3rd
December 2018 and set to complete until 10th February 2019.
Project quality:
All the important aspect of the project such as cost, products, process and deliverable's
quality represents the quality of the project (Lock, 2017). In this project, the project quality
is assured through quality assurance and quality control by ensuring that the project
performance meets with the set project standards.
Communication:
communication and exchange of information at right time are assured through setting
means of communication and responsibilities of exchanging information for every team
members involved in the project. The communication would be done through email, fax,
mobile applications, and face-to-face conversation.
Risk:
risks are a natural part of every business project. It involves certain issues and threats that
could affect the quality and performance of different activities of the project (Lock, 2017). In
this project, the main risks are lack of funds, lack of resources, time deficiency, and
uncertain technical errors. All the identified risks are dealt with according to the situation
and the severity of the risk.
Resources:
resources involve staff, materials, and money. Well-trained and skilled staffs simplify project
activities. A team of 70-90 people will be required to successfully complete this project. The
supply of required resources is also ensured through operations management.
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WORK-BREAKDOWN STRUCTURE AND GANTT CHART
Work-Breakdown Structure
The work breakdown structure is used to classify the key activities of the project into a
different working group. It divides the work activities into different segments so that the
project activities are controlled and monitored efficiently (Devi and Reddy, 2012). The work
breakdown structure for this project of LV is presented below;
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Work-BreakdownStructureProjectPlanningQualitativeresearchQuantitativeresearchDataanalysisProductDevelopmentProductDesiginingProdductmanufacturingProductPromotiondecidingpromotionalstrategyProductpromotion

Gantt Chart
A Gantt chart is used to graphically present all the activities of the project against the
required time-period. The major activities of the WBS are presented in this chart to have a
proper understanding of the required timeframe for completing the different activities of
the project activities (Lock, 2017).
Activity/weeks 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th
Project planning
Qualitative research
Quantitative research
Research analysis
Product designing
Product
manufacturing
Product promotion
Project completion
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C) QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
For successfully implementing the set management and marketing plan, a thorough analysis
of the trends, developments, and demands is needed to be done. Thus, market research is
performed by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods for the study. the
qualitative research would support in studying the latest trends and developments in the
luxury personal goods industry as well as identifying the competitive forces in the global
luxury market. while, the quantitative research would provide information about the
current needs and demand of the customers in the luxury shoe market (Collis and Hussey,
2013)
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
A literature review is performed to obtain qualitative information and data. The research is
done through accessing several articles, books, journals and other online sources related to
the luxury fashion industry (Quinlan, et al., 2019).
According to D’Arpizio, et al., (2017) the growth in the luxury market has been recorded at
5% to an estimated amount of €1.2 trillion. The experience of luxury goods has remained
very attractive for the customers that could be supported by the fact that the sale of
personal luxury goods is reached at a record high of €262 billion during the last year. there is
high growth in the personal luxury goods market has been noticed during the last two years.
According to Wolfe (2016), The emergence of fashion savvy generation has increased the
sale of luxury fashion items across the globe. The middle-class fashion savvy people
accounts a larger proportion in the increasing customer segment of the industry. While
considering the luxury fashion industry, the scope of the luxury fashion market is rapidly
increasing in the global marketplace. The luxury footwear manufacturers across the world
such as Gucci, LV, and Chanel sell a wide variety of footwear products according to the
customer demands in the different countries by adopting the multinational strategy. This
strategy allows companies to increase their revenue by offering their products in emerging
economies.
Verdu, et al., (2012) has stated that In the luxury personal goods market, wholesale is the
largest channel for distributing personal luxury goods in the global market but, the current
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developments in the industry has shown that the retail channel is also growing continuously
as the brands are increasingly focusing on controlling customer experience. The distribution
and sales of luxury goods are significantly going forward to the mix of store formats such as
off-price stores from the physical stores.
According to the reports of Deloitte (2018) For ensuring better customer experience and
engagement, the luxury fashion brands need to reinvent themselves according to the
changing market conditions. In current market trends, the online sale of luxury fashion
products is growing continuously and accessories and footwear are the top categories in
sales of personal luxury goods. The major reason for increasing sales and demands in luxury
personal goods is a generational shift to fashion savvy millennials. Amatulli and Guido (2011)
have stated that The growth in luxury fashion market is encouraged by many factors such as
increasing disposable income of customers, expanding middle-class population and booming
tourism industry. Besides this, the industry also faces different challenges such as
fluctuation in currency rate, inefficiency to predict customer demand and socio-economic &
political conflicts.
According to Donzé and Fujioka, (2015), There is a significant potential of growth in the
luxury market but only for those brands that respond positively to the changing needs and
millennialization of the luxury industry. However, the fashion brands in the luxury footwear
industry are dealing with the high competition that creates a major challenge among all the
existing as well as emerging brands. According to Caniato, et al., (2011) In order to deal with
this competition, the brands need to focus on developing a one-to-one relationship with the
customers along with implementing a holistic approach in selling and distribution of
products in the global market. by collaborating with the major fashion retailers and retailing
through online channels the luxury brands can gain a competitive advantage in the market
by reaching out to a large number of customers.
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QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
The quantitative research is performed through a survey questionnaire. The survey is
conducted among the customers of LV at the high-end luxury department stores. A set of 5-
7 survey questions is asked to the customers with a sample population of 50 (Saunders and
Lewis, 2012). A survey sample is presented below:
1. Are you a frequent customer of luxury products?
o Yes
o No
2. You prefer to purchase luxury products from.
o Online stores
o Company stores
o High-end department stores
3. Would you consider buying footwear of Louis Vuitton?
o Yes
o No
o Maybe
4. On the scale of 0-10, Rate the footwear products of Louis Vuitton against its
competitors like Gucci, Prada
o 0-3
o 4-7
o 8-10
5. Would you like to have a new range of luxury shoe for the forthcoming summer
season?
o Yes
o No
o Maybe
6. What would you prefer while buying a shoe for the summer season?
o Appearance
o Comfort
o Quality
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o Price
ACCURACY AND RELIABILITY OF THE APPLIED RESEARCH METHODS
A combination of both the qualitative and quantitative research is used for collecting a wide
range of data and information to the research. The qualitative method of literature review
has supported having an in-depth understanding of the current trends in the luxury fashion
industry as well as the challenges and opportunities for Louis Vuitton in global business
expansion and growth. Whereas, the quantitative method of questionnaire survey has
supported in having a proper understanding about the customer demand in the luxury shoe
industry as well as it has also supported in analyzing the perception of the customer
regarding the Louis Vuitton products. Thus, it can be surely stated that the applied research
methods have provided accurate and reliable data for achieving the research objectives
effectively.
the applied methods also have certain limitations such as all the essential information may
not be covered in the qualitative research due to lack of time or any other inefficiency and
the data obtained through a questionnaire survey may not present the actual statistics on
customer demand due to biased responses of the participates (Neuman, 2013). However,
these limitations have overcome by considering only the latest information sources in the
literature review and approaching real customers for the survey.
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