A Comprehensive Report on Primark's Business Strategy and Integration

This report provides an in-depth analysis of Primark's business strategies and function integration over the past ten years. It examines changes in strategic direction, the influence of strategic leadership, organizational structure, and market forces, including stakeholder expectations, competition, and technological advancements. The report also explores the role of various business functions such as marketing, operations management, human resource management, and accounting/finance within Primark's operations. Furthermore, it uses SWOT and PESTLE analyses to evaluate Primark's internal strengths and weaknesses, and external political, economic, social, technological, and legal factors. The report highlights how Primark has adapted its strategies to changing consumer behaviors, market trends, and the broader business environment, including the impact of Brexit and technological innovations like online shopping and e-transactions.

The Integration of
Business Functions

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
Changes in strategy and strategic direction in last ten years.......................................................2
Role of business functions..........................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
1

INTRODUCTION
Business functions integration plays an important role in reducing personnel and
overhead costs as it minimizes employees costs and resources. Business integration strategies
helps in managing employees, minimizing ineffective communication and supplier expensitures.
Primark is clothing company which was established in 1962 by Arthur Rayan. It is headquartered
in Dublin, Ireland. It is specialised in selling diverse range of products like clothing, women
wear, house wares, beauty products and footwear. It also contributes in fast fashion trends and
accessories. The PS Pro product of the organisation has gained popularity in the world and it has
been praised by many beauties bloggers. It has 315 stores and its largest store is established in
England. In this essay, changing in strategies are tracked in 10 years (Abrhám, Bilan,
Krauchenia and Strielkowski, 2015). Relationship between these changes with strategic
leadership, structure, culture, market forces and environment is highlighted. Moreover, role of
business functions in marketing, operations management, human resource management and
accounting/finance are discussed.
Changes in strategy and strategic direction in last ten years
Primark is retail company and has used various business strategies to move with high
profile business environment. The company has changed various plans and policies to increase
their plans and process to increase their performance and productivity. Integration of business
operations before ten years was different from today's era (Akhtar and et.al., 2017). Due to
change inn demands, choices, taste, culture of the customers, Primark has to change its plans has
business policies. Various factors which has affected the old strategies of the company are
stakeholders expectations, human resources, internal and external environment, management,
market competition , variety of products and services.
Strategic leadership:
Due to change in different plans and policies in last ten years, strategic leadership has
also been changed. They have to fulfil all the expectation of stakeholders in unique ways and
communicate them their benefits and products so that they can attract more customers. The best
leaders of the company work hard and are more devoted for making effective results for their
organisation. They look after various plans and policies of the company and put their all efforts
to increase the productivity of the organisation (Aristovnik and Obadic, 2015). The leaders are
focuses only on their employees only to increase the productivity of the company. On the other
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hand, managers of Primark are now more concerned for their employees as well as their
customers. They consider them as an essential tool which can help them to achieve desired
results.
After ten years, leaders are more concerned for securing trust and respect of all their old
and new customers as well as other organisations. They have developed empathy band
communication skills so that they can effectively handle all the business operations of the
company. The people are more concerned for their products and they are much award of all the
consumer related acts and laws (Bingham and O'leary, 2014). This has forced Primark to make
effective plans and policies so that they can perform better in the market. They have to take
decisions quickly and correctly so that they can handle all the challenging situations effectively.
Culture:
Culture, belief, and values of people plays an essential role in successful operation of the
company. Though different people have different culture and their values also changes with time.
Before ten years, company does not have to concern more about the values and tradition of the
people as they do not concentrate more on their choices. The customers purchase only those
products which are affordable and best in quality. They do not aware about western tradition and
do not follow it blindly (Bouckaert,Peters and Verhoest, 2016). In this period, choices of adults
and young generation has been changed. They follow the luxurious trends and tradition of
western culture and follow all the rules and regulations of their culture also. Another greater
expect of this is that leaders are concentrating more on technological innovation to provide the
best facilities to their customers as well as their employees. Earlier, employees have to put more
efforts to make effective products.
New technology has reduced all the efforts and extra time which they have to give to
develop effective products. This has helped them to complete their tasks before deadline and
focus on long term objectives and goals. Further, culture of the people has been affected
drastically by western tradition, values and beliefs. People are more concerned towards the
rituals, brands and taste of other people (Bromley and Meyer, 2014). Cultural change has
encouraged the company to change their old policies and implement new strategies which can
provide unique and effective products and services to their customers.
Market forces:
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Segmentation, positioning and target market of Primark has broadened its range. Before
ten years, the organisation has focused only on the areas which are rich and economic condition
of the people is appreciable. They open their stores only in the area where people can access their
products easily. The organisation has targeted people under the age of 30 to 60 as they are
employable and buy more products (Crane and Matten, 2016). But in today's high profile
business environment, organisation has rooted its business in other countries to develop its
overall revenue and income. They are implementing their business through online websites and
apps. Primark has given opportunity to their customers to purchase their products online and
enjoy different services of the company. People are more concerned for their choices, tradition
and their nation's values. So, they always purchase products which meet their requirements. This
has helped them to recover all the opportunities and profits of their own organisation.
It has implemented various marketing strategies which helps them to increase their
business growth. Primark has launched product development, low pricing strategy etc. which
assists them to gain confidence and trust of their customers. Another major change which has
been seen in the last ten years is the development of technology. It has taken wide form in
operating business operations (Foxall, 2014). Earlier there was no option of online transaction
and e-shooping cards. The customers have to purchase their products from the physical stores of
the company. They have pay their bill only in the mode of cash payment.
The online transaction and shopping has proved to be more convenient for customers and
stores managers. Store managers get help from online apps of the company about new products
their features, prices which helps them to communicate directly it through the customers.
Further, buyers have also seen positive impact of company's new technology of e-shopping cards
and online transaction facility to save their time (Ismail Cebeci, 2012). Primark has developed
unique product and other plans to attract more customers and encourage them to buy their brands
and products.
Internal and external environmental:
Swot analysis
Strengths:
Primark has offered variety of clothes in UK which has helped it to attract more
customers. After ten years, it has focused more on providing best and fashionable clothes to all
the age group. It has analysed various culture, trends of the people to increase their business
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growth. It has opened various stores in Europe and employed more than 85,000 employees to
increase its productivity. Furthermore, its major strength is that it has given first priority to the
people which purchase their products in greater quantity. Revenue has also increased from 2005
to 2017. Its revenue in 2005 was 1602 million and in 2017 it has jumped to 5,347 in 2015. This
is the main factor which has increased the positioning of the organisation. Another, thing which
has affected the business growth of the company is customers buying power. The organisation
has provided online services to purchase their products online so that they can get the best goods
and services at reasonable rates with the best quality.
External Environment:
Pestle analysis:
Political factor:
In 2016, Britain has made ball the possible efforts to remove EU from their country. It
can be seen from this move of Britain that political and economic uncertainty has taken place. It
is very surprising that Brexit sparked political turn-oil in UK. The Scottland people have voted to
in the favour of Scottland which has helped them to remain in UK. This has created social
movement and violence in the country (Kew and Stredwick, 2017). This has adversely affected
Primark's business operations as people are not giving interest in purchasing new products. They
are only interested in removing EU policies from the country. Further, the whole Brexit saga has
caused a lot of uncertainty for businesses like Primark who have operations in Europe too. On
the other hand, some firm have benefited from this movement and environment of Europe. ABF
which is the parent company of Primark has decided to leave the business from Europe as they
continously facing loss and financial crises.
The parent company has analysed that the there would be an adverse transactional effect
on the profit margin on Primark’s UK sales next year if Britain goes ahead and leaves the EU.
Therefore, they have left their business from the Europe which has affected their revenue and
long term profits.
Economic factors:
Before ten years, the organisation was performing well in developing their business
operations and market value. Brexit has intensified the weak economic condition of the
company. It has analysed that people which are facing financial crises are also developing their
plans and investing money to purchase the products of the company. This is due best offering
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and fewer prices of the products and services of Primark (Marsh, 2017). Another, major thing is
that the company has analysed economic crises of Europe and uncertainty created by WU in the
business environment. For example, if current exchange rates continue, there will be a
translation benefit for Primark and other clothing retailers for the remainder of the financial year.
Social factor:
The organisation has faced various problems from changing trends and culture of the
people. This is due to increase in obesity and ageing UK population. Major of the population in
UK is facing the problem of overweight and obesity. Due to this problem, people are not
purchasing clothes as they are not getting wearable of their size and interest (Moroni,Arruda, and
Araujo, 2015). This has created major gap in market opportunity for clothing entrepreneurs. The
organisation has to focus on developing plus size clothing as half of the population will face the
problem of obesity in the future.
Technological factors:
Earlier, technological advancement was not much popular and its effect was not much
powerful. Therefore, the organisation does have to spend more on technical equipments and
other technologies. The people come to stores and purchase other things which they do not
planned to buy. These helps the organisation to increase its sale. The customers are attracted
through different varieties by displaying their dummy pieces in the front door or inside the store.
This has helped them to increase their profits and revenues (Nikolaou, Hankey and Lean, 2016).
With the implementation and advancement in technologies, the organisation has to invest more
in technical world to attract more customers.
They have to provide technical equipments to its employees so that they can increase
their productivity and performance. For this they have to employ technical employees which can
solve technical problems related to the equipments. Further, they have to provide various plans
and technical facilities like online transactions, shopping which requires development and
maintenance of apps and websites (Pettigrew, 2014). They have to purchase various softwares to
provide convenience to their customers. This increases their expenditure and disturbs their
budget plan.
Legal factors:
Government rules were not so much strict before ten years. So Primark can do whatever
it wishes. It can hire employees at lower wages. Another thing is that tax rates, tariffs rates are
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not so much high that it has face problem in earning their revenue. Further, the company do not
have to face all the new rules and regulation of the government which they have made for
employees benefits. After 10 years, situations have been changed, the government has launched
various acts which every organisation has to follow while doing its business (Proctor, 2014). It
has launched workplace pension legislation according to which every comp-any has to contribute
3% to their employees’ workplace pension for eligible British workers.
Environmental factors:
Due to less degradation of environment, the organisation does not have to focus on Green
emission policies. They are able to sell their products which emits more carbon. They have to
implement their plans without concerning much about the green policies of the country. After ten
years, rise of ethical and environmentally conscious has been increased. People are also awared
for better growth (Rosenberg Hansen and Ferlie, 2016). They were purchasing only those
products which are recyclable and made from organic materials. So, Primark has to look after all
the plans and policies which can help them to increase their customers satisfaction level.
The firm has introduced paper packaging instead plastic wrapping. They have organic
cotton in making clothes. Further, it has make use of various products which are recyclable. This
has increased the expenditure of the firm and has to wait to increase their popularity as selling
recyclable and organic products (Suh, 2014). This has adversely affected their revenue intially
buit after publicising the importance and manufacturing materials of their goods they have
regained the trust of their old as well as new customers.
Role of business functions
Marketing:
Primark has developed various plans and implemented them successfully in the market. It
has hired the best marketing managers to increase their productivity and business growth. The
marketing manager looked after marketing trends, customers choice and develop various
strategies which help them to increase their sale. They introduce different methods which attracts
more customers and encourage them to buy their products in larger quantity. The marketing
manager analyses and interprets the market value, target market and customers (Thai and
Turkina, 2014). This helps themn to increase the sale and overall revenue of the organisation.
The company introduces various functions like advertising their products with the help of
newspapers, TV, radios and social media to raise the popularity of company's brands and variety
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of products. Further, Primark marketing manager has taken help of social media websites like
Twitter, Facebook, You Tube to increase the brand value of the product. This medium has helped
them to aware people about their products, services, offering and prices. All these in turn attract
customers to purchase their new brand and increase its sale.
Operational management:
The main role of operational management is to look after the soft running activities of the
company. This department analyses that the company is meeting all the market values and
demands of the customers. It also works upon analysing choice, demands and trends of
customers and market (Wheelen and Hunger, 2017). It manages all the activities which
contributes in processing and making business of Primark successful.
Human resource management:
It plays an important role in managing all the operations of Primark. The main
responsibilities of human resource manager is to manage, staffing employees and availing
important resources to the staff members. The organisation's human resource department look
after all the necessary operations like hiring the best candidates, providing training and giving all
the benefits of the company policies. This helps them to increase the overall performance of the
organisation.
Primark has hired the best Human resource managing team which helps them to manage
all the activities related to their employees. It looks after employees performance, increments,
pension policies, health and care policies etc. to provide them all the benefits of the organisation
(Wheelen and Hunger, 2017). Another thing which helped the company is proper management
of Human resource manager. It has helped the organisation to increase its productivity by
meeting all the essential needs of their employees.
Accounting and finance management:
Accounting and finance management looks after budget plans of the company. Primark
has developed separate department which looks after these issues. The main role of this
department is to provide budget to the company for implementing new business policies in the
market. Accounting manager makes effective relations with banks and shareholders which
provide them loans and financial help in developing their business (Akhtar and et.al., 2017).
This helped Primark to prevent from facing the problem of financial crises in operating their
business activities. This has indirectly increased revenue and profits of the company.
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CONCLUSION
From this essay, it is concluded that, integration of business operation in executing its
successful implementation is very necessary. The strategic changes before ten years are modified
in various terms. Technological advancement has played an important role in developing various
plans and making business successful. These changes has affected culture, strategic leadership,
internal and external environment of Primark. The organisation has developed various plans and
policies to increase their productivity. The organisation has made pace with changing business
environment and developed various strategies which help them to increase their productivity.
Furthermore, the organisation has analysed customers trends and changing demands to satisfy
them and earn their trust and confidence.
In this essay, role of different business functions are described. Marketing manager has
developed various strategy to increase their sale. Human resource manager has managed all the
activities related to staff members and the policies of the organisation. Accounting and finanace
management has looked after all the business related activities like market trends, positioning of
the company etc. All these business functions has helped the company to raise their position in
the market and achieve desired results.
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REFERENCES
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Understand the Growth of Startups Companies in Competitive Business
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Nikolaou, C. K., Hankey, C. R. and Lean, M. E. J., 2016. Effects of calorie labelling on macro-
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