An Essay on Primark's Business Operations and Strategic Management

This essay provides a detailed analysis of Primark's business operations, focusing on its strategic management, value creation model, and key performance objectives. It examines various aspects such as capacity planning, location planning, layout planning, product design, and process planning. The essay also explores Primark's use of the McKinsey model and Walter's Four V's Profile to assess its macro environment and delivery system. Furthermore, it delves into Primark's operational strategy, including corporate strategy, customer-driven approaches, and competitive priorities, while also conducting a gap analysis to identify areas for improvement and adapt to challenges such as the pandemic. The essay highlights Primark's strategies compared to competitors like Mark and Spencer and its ability to adapt in the market.

Essay about
Primark

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
The business environment is considering a number of businesses and activities which are
required to focus on in order to operate the business and develop productivity. While managing
and arranging all functions it is needed to have proper knowledge about trend and marketing that
can help to introduce products and services in order to attain higher benefits (Freudenreich,
Lüdeke-Freund, and Schaltegger, 2020). The report is all about Primark that is an Irish Fast
fashion retailer with a headquarter in Dublin, Ireland. The organization is a British Food
processing and retailing company that offers a variety of products and services in a changing
environment. The organization is developing all organizational performance by focusing on
people demand and make efforts to provide the products that help to attain competitive
advantages. The report covers different components of Business Operation Management, how a
selected organization is creating value for customers and their model to create value, Finding of
gaps, and solution that fills the gaps.
MAIN BODY
Business operation is defined as a continuous process that is used by individuals in order
to operate their business and develop the performance effectively. This is the work of managing
the inner workings and activities which are decided by top executives for the purpose of bringing
new products and services. For all organizations, it is important to run their business by
introducing a variety of products as well as services. Primark is a large-size fashion retailer
company that is offering different types of products in a challenging environment which can help
to manage all activities effectively (Kiel, Arnold and Voigt, 2017). The number of people is
working in an organization who organize and monitors all functions so that each activity can be
maintained for developing the brand image. The management is focusing on operation planning
that covers Capacity planning, location planning, layout planning, process design planning,
process planning, drawing and scheduling, and quality planning that are focusing by
management in order to manage all functions.
Key performance objectives
The key performance objective of Primark is to be a leading organization in fashion
retailing company and increase the profitability by managing all functions.
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Capacity planning is the process of determining the production capacity which is required
to meet with changing demand for its products. Primark is getting higher outcomes as it has
better capacity planning in which it understands the demand of customers and introduces the
kind of products that satisfy the customers. The organization is buying stock from suppliers at a
lower cost and keep them store selves that generate or fill the customer's demand. It has been
seen that due to Pandemic in the whole world (Covid-19) sales and production activity of
organization get hampered which has been solved by providing the option of online stores where
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customers have a choice to select the products and get home delivery (Lenka, Parida and
Wincent, 2017).
Location planning is also important for an organization as it helps in effective operation.
The management of Primark is focusing on location planning in which it decides the different
locations and implements the business expansion plan that affects cost, selling prices, and
demand of the products positively. It has approximately 370 stores across 12 countries. If an
organization is not focusing on location planning then it can be difficult for an organization to
operate its business and attain competitive advantages (Macdonald, Kleinaltenkamp and Wilson,
2016). Layout planning is defining as the best physical arrangement of all resources that
consume space within a facility. Primark is a fast fashion retailing organization that is following
the layout planning by developing a creative team that makes the uses of all resources and
arranges all departments by developing the performance. This helps to increase organizational
performance and operation in a competitive environment. Product design is considered a process
of knowing the market opportunity, defining the problem, and getting the optimum solution
effectively. In relation to Primark, the product design process is following by management where
it provides the designing products and services which attracts a large number of people and
increase the organizational sales in a competitive environment. Process planning is a kind of
methodology that should be used by an organization for distributing and delivering the products
and services that increases the sales in competitive business activities. The management is
getting orders from their regular customers and delivering the products which help to attain
higher performance. Drawing and scheduling is also kind of operational strategy which uses by
chosen organization in order to attract the customers towards brand and its design as Primark is
scheduling all function and activities that helps to understand easily by customers and increase
the sales (Zhang, Jahromi and Kizildag, 2018).
According to Petri and Jacob (2016), Quality planning is a continuous process which
mainly uses by organizations to provide a better quality of products and services so that
customers feel happy and satisfied. In relation to Primark, quality management and the top
executive are responsible for such planning in which they analyzed the quality of the product
then make plans to introduce publicly so that customers get better quality of products and share
the positive feedback. Thus, the operational strategy of the chosen organization is beneficial as it
increases the number of customers and delivers higher performance in a challenging market
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(Frank and et.al., 2019). By using the McKinsey model, macro environment has been analysed
that focuses on strategy, system, shared values, skills, staff and style. These all helps to increase
the business performance and operation by managing all resources and and activities which
develop the business performance.
Delivery system of Primark
The value of Primark UK is increasing day by day in the eyesight of customers as it is
managing or arranging all available resources optimally and develop the demand for products.
For all organizations, it is highly important that their customers feel happy and fully satisfied
then only make decisions to buy the products more. Primark is using Walter's Four V's Profile
that involves volume, variety, variation, and visibility. The value dimension of a selected
organization is high volume low-cost fashion products and food operations that influence the
number of people in a competitive environment (Sia, Soh and Weill, 2016). This helps to
organize all resources and functions effectively by providing a better quality of products which
increases sales. In Contrast, Mark and Spencer, having a much lower volume of output, less
number of employees and not focusing on the changing demand of customers due to which sales
is reducing continuously. The Variety Dimension is defining the contrast between the quality of
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products and delivery. Primark is getting the higher advantages of such dimension as it provides
the better quality of products as per customer demand that increases sales. In contrast, Mark and
Spencer, is not focusing in various components that have created the problem is selling products
because customers go towards another brand. The variation dimension is characterized by a
molded part dimensions that vary from batch to batch and supports to increase the organizational
performance. This is beneficial for Primark as it is providing the products and services in a
changing environment by developing the organizational performance where it categorized the
products into a batch to batch that becomes easy for customers to make the choice of products.
On the other side, Mark and Spencer are keeping their all products and inventory at one roof or
not categorized batch to batch which affected the sales and productivity effectively. The last is
the Visibility dimension that refers to a customer's ability to see, track their experience, and
orders through the operation process which develops organizational productivity. Primark is
having high visibility dimension as it provides a facility to its customers of tracking their
package, shipping, and delivery activity can help to provide full satisfaction. According to this,
customers share their positive feedback and make efforts to increase sales. In contrast Mark and
Spencer, the visibility process is used which also helps to track the order which has placed by
customers and get the delivery at the right time which increases sales and builds customer
confidence. This also helps to increase business productivity and profitability by creating value
for customers by offering a better quality of products and comparing with other fashion retailer
companies (Thakur and Workman, 2016).
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The operational strategy priority model is also being used by Primark for running and
operating their business efficiently in a changing environment. This is important for the
organization to understand the needs of people and market then formulate the planning which
can use the manage the all activities and functions accurately Operational strategy means how a
company uses to reach their objectives. By developing strategies management and leaders are
delivering a better quality of products which supports to improve the brand image. The strategies
which are uses by Primark is a corporate strategy and cross-functional interaction, customer-
driven strategy, developing core competencies, development of competitive priorities, and
product and service development. The corporate strategy involves a system of interconnected
parts in which management and human resources of Primark are working collaboratively and
stay healthy that helps to achieve desired outcomes. By using the customer-driven approach
chosen organization is meeting the needs and desires of a target market. This helps to enhance
the core competencies and monitor market trends in order to take competitive advantages. The
management is analyzing their practices and strategies with other organization that is also
dealing with a fashion retailer which can help to increase sales and profitability. In a chosen
organization, there is well-trained staff, optimal business location, and marketing and financial
expertise that provides customer satisfaction in a changing environment. Other than this,
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management is following competitive priorities that come from the creation of corporate
strategy, core processes, conducting need analysis, and market analysis which deliver good value
to customers. Another strategy is product and service development that means when the
organization is selling the products then it is required to focus on the product and service
department which provides higher benefits. For instance, in this strategic marketing management
of Primark is introducing new products and services as per customer demand and make efforts to
fill the goals and objectives. Thus, it has analyzed that operational strategy and model are uses by
a chosen organization which can help to operate the business in a changing environment and
create the brand value (Wang and et.al., 2016).
The gap is a kind of variation that is used by different people in order to know how their
products and services can develop their sales. In all organization, management is playing an
important role and they conduct the gap analysis by comparing with service and product of other
company that helps to know what change is needed to bring for the purpose of increasing sales
and profitability. If management has analyzed the gap and reason of gap that are arising while
running a business, a new plan or strategies are needed to bring which can help to manage all
functions and activities accurately. In other words, gap analysis is defined as a method of
assessing the difference in performance between a business information system and the software
application that is used to determine whether business requirements are being met or not. If a
business organization is not able to analyze the gap analysis then it creates the challenge of
hampering sales. Due to Pandemic, the sales of the selected organization have been affected
negatively as the government has put many legislations and lockdown in which all selling and
marketing activities have been stopped. This pandemic has reduced the sales and productivity of
the fashion brands as no single product is buying by customers. In this situation, management
has compared with Mark and Spencer, Farm food, Amazon, and other retail brands that how they
are selling their products and how they manage all activities during the lockdown. In this, gap
analysis is conducted by management and bring the uses of new technology and online shopping
which can help to continue the shopping. By using this, customers are also started to buy the
products online and increase the sales of products which helps to attain the organizational
objectives.
The gaps which are found by the management of Primark by comparing with other
fashion retailer are primary health care, success plan and position strategy, customer satisfaction,
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return policy, marketing strategies, fast and successful delivery of products and other which is
required to fill by formulating plans and strategies. This is important for all companies to analyze
the needs and make efforts to provide the products. The gap model of service quality is used by
Primark wherein gap 1 involves knowledge gap as management analyzed that lack of
management and customer satisfaction, insufficient market research, and fails to listen to
customer complaints. The Gap 2 arises due to the lack of customer service standard and failure to
regularly update service level standards that creates problems for Primark. Gap 3 is about the
difference between service delivery policies and standards because of deficiency in human
resource policies, fails to match supply to demand, employees are having a lack of knowledge
about products. Gap 4 is about what gets promised to customers through advertising and what
gets delivered. This gap arises in the organization due to over-promising, external
communication, etc. And the last is the Customer gap that occurs in an organization due to not
understanding what services have done for them and misinterpretation of the quality. This has
created the problem for a chosen organization in running and operating in a challenging
environment. To run a business it is important to know what is running in trend and how things
are going on. The management is needed to get the proper solution which can help to reduce the
gap and increase the organizational performance (Visnjic, Wiengarten and Neely, 2016).
To fill the gaps which are facing by Primark is required to formulate effective planning
and strategies that influence the number of people and deliver the best quality of services. To
reduce the knowledge gap marketing management are interacting with customers and
organization properly, to reduce the policy gap management is required to set measurable service
quality goals, and updating policies regularly that can help to influence the number of customers.
The delivery gap can be filled by training employees, focuses on internal marketing, using
technology in the right way, and taking steps for retaining high performing employees. On the
other side, communication gap which is facing by Primark can be fill by getting employee input
to advertising campaigns, and advertisement that fills the customer's demand and increase the
sales of products and services in relation to the retail sector. The customer gap is closing by
filling the needs and wants of the customer regarding particular product and services that helps to
attain the higher competitive advantages (Yee and et.al., 2017).
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As shown in BBC news, Primark can use parcel conundrum that means royal mail move
to ask people if they mind having parcels delivered to their neighbours is the latest effort for the
purpose of solving the thorny issue. This can help people to conveniently get parcels delivered as
they work all day. In this, customers can get their order at right time and share their feedback.
This increases the organizational performance and productivity by managing all functions and
activities.
CONCLUSION
From the report it can be concluded that operational strategy are important for
organization as it involves planning by analysing the performance and activity. Four V's model is
uses by management in order to deliver the better experience to their potential customers and
attain the higher productivity. The components of operational management are capacity
planning, location planning, layout planning, process design planning, process planning, drawing
and scheduling, and quality planning that helps to operate a business regularly and provide the
competitive advantages. To create the value high quality of products and lower pricing strategy
should be provided to customers that ensure them that organization is working for benefits of
society.
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REFERENCES
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