Report: Analysis of Sustainable Fashion Company, Cotton On

This report analyzes the sustainable fashion company, Cotton On, focusing on its business operations and challenges. The analysis includes an overview of Cotton On's mission, vision, and operational structure, highlighting its commitment to ethical sourcing and customer satisfaction. The core issue addressed is the company's struggle to enhance its online presence and compete in the digital retail environment. The report employs the DECIDE decision-making model to propose solutions, including defining the problem, establishing criteria, considering alternatives, identifying the best alternative, developing a plan of action, and evaluating the solution. The recommended solution emphasizes improving online delivery systems and enhancing the company's online presence, as well as making supply chain more efficient. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of online presence for the company's success in the fashion retail industry. The report also includes a peer-review section assessing the contributions of group members in the decision-making process.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION COMPANY
ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION COMPANY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction....................................................................................................................2
Description of the company...........................................................................................2
Analysis of the problem based on decision making model............................................3
Solution provided to the issues that occurred in business situation...............................4
Conclusion......................................................................................................................5
Peer-review of the group................................................................................................5
References......................................................................................................................7

2ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION COMPANY
Introduction
Sustainable fashion is mainly a process or movement to foster change to the fashion
products and fashion system based on social justice and ecological integrity. Sustainability in
fashion is mainly related to addressing the concerns that are related to the fashion products or
textile based items. This also comprises of the entire system based fashion products that are
developed by the organization. The process of dealing with cultural, social, financial and
ecological systems are considered to be an important aspect that is related to increase in
sustainability (Azadnia, Saman & Wong, 2015). The report will be based on the analysis of a
major sustainable fashion brand named Cotton On that has its origins in Australia.
Description of the company
Cotton On Group is the biggest retailer of fashion clothing based accessories and
stationery that had started its operations in Australia. Cotton On operates more than 1400
stores that is able to employ 22000 members on a global basis. Cotton On is fashion retailer
that was born in Australia and operates around eight brand including, Cotton On, Cotton On
Body, Rubi, Typo, Cotton On LOST, Supre, Factorie, Cotton On Kids
(Cottonongroup.com.au. 2019).
The mission statement of Cotton On Group is as follows,
“Our mission is to become the most innovative and responsive brand within our
market without compromising the values that have made us what we are today
(Cottonongroup.com.au. 2019).”
The vision statement of Cotton On Group is as follows,
“We have a genuine belief in our brands, our big ideas, and our ability to bring them
to life. Our six values underpin who we are and the way we work. They form the basis of

3ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION COMPANY
everything we do, guide us in our decision making and are the same values that our founder,
Nigel has instilled since day one (Cottonongroup.com.au. 2019).”
Analysis of the problem based on decision making model
Cotton On Group Australia has developed its operations in Australia with the help of
proper collaboration that is formed with the local communities. The company has
implemented the process of ethical sourcing of the raw materials in order to gain the raw
materials that are required for development of various products. The customers have always
been provided with the latest trends based on their demands and requirements and changes
that take place in external environment as well. The major issue that is recently being faced
by the organization is based on increasing its online presence and reaching the customers
within short periods of time (Bals, Kirchoff & Foerstl, 2016).
The brick-and-mortar stores have always been most important part of the operations
that are developed by Cotton On Group in the fashion retail industry. The company is thereby
facing major issues is attracting and retaining customers with the help of physical stores that
exist in different parts of the world. The development of online presence has become highly
important in the current business environment for understanding the demands and needs of
the customers (Elgendy & Elragal, 2016). The main concern that was the development of a
purchase funnel that is mainly focussed on the experience that is provided by the website.
The demands of customers have started changing fast due to the advent of online retail
operations of organizations like Amazon. The requirement of Cotton On Group to gain its
position in the online retail operations is quite high (Govindan et al., 2015).
The decision making model can be implemented in order to develop a solution to the
problem that is being faced by Cotton On Group due to the lack of proper online presence.
The six step decision model is also termed as the DECIDE model that helps the managers of

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organizations to make effective decisions. The six different steps that are a part of the
DECIDE model include, D – Defining the problem, E – Establishing the criteria, C –
Considering all alternatives, I – Identification best alternatives, D – Developing and
implementing a plan of action, E – Evaluation and monitoring the solution (Heyler et al.,
2016).
Solution provided to the issues that occurred in business situation
The steps of decision making model have been used by the members of the group in
order to develop a solution to the issues that are faced by Cotton On Group. The DECIDE
model can be used in the following way to form a solution to the problem.
D – Defining the problem – The problem that is currently being faced by the Cotton
On Group is mainly based on the lack of online presence of the organization and reduction of
the customer base. The company is also not able to reach the customer fast with the help of
products that it develops.
E – Establishing the criteria – The criteria of issue that relates to the development of
decision is based on improvement of revenues of the organization and developing an online
presence as well (Li, Kou & Peng, 2016).
C – Considering the alternatives - The criteria is mainly based on the alternatives
that can be considered by Cotton On Group in order to improve the levels of profitability and
increase the online presence as well. Cotton On Group can improve the delivery systems to
provide the customers with their products within shorter time periods. The company can
increase the levels of connectivity that is developed with the help of its website. The addition
of social media platforms in the website of Cotton On Group is considered to be a major
factor that can help the organization to understand needs of the customers (Tamir et al.,
2015).

5ANALYSIS OF SUSTAINABLE FASHION COMPANY
I – Identification of the best alternative – The best alternative that can be
implemented by The Cotton On Group is based on the development of efficient delivery and
distribution methods in order to provide the products to customers based on their
convenience.
D – Developing and implementing the plan of action – The plan of action that can
be implemented in order to solve the issue faced by Cotton On is related to formation of an
efficient supply chain of the company.
E – Evaluating and monitoring the solution – The solution can be monitored by
analysing the increase in number of customers who are a part of the customer base of Cotton
On Group (Li, Kou & Peng, 2016).
Conclusion
The report can be concluded by stating the Cotton On Group can solve the issue that it
faces in the operations with the support that is provided by the online delivery system. Online
delivery can improve the presence of the firm in the fashion retail industry.
Peer-review of the group
The members of the Group who have been able to provide their contribution in the
process of decision making are Daldeep Kaur, Reena, Rita, Anuj Gupta. Daldeep Kaur and
Reena have provided highest contributions to the decisions that have been taken by the
company. The decision making process has been supported in a huge manner by the risks that
have been taken by the two members to collect effective information about the sustainable
organization. On the other hand, Rita and Anuj Gupta were not able to communicate with the
other members in order to solve the issues that are currently being faced by the organization.

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The proper implementation of decision making model was not understood by the
members and that had led to lack of support that is provided by them to the decision making
model and the process of taking decisions as well. Rita and I had led the group and had
played the most significant role in proper formation of decision making model and gaining
solution to the issues that are faced by the fashion retail company named The Cotton On
Group. The communication between the group members had been managed effectively by the
contribution that is provided by Rita and the ways by which she was able to lead them.
The proper completion of entire task was thereby supported by the knowledge that
had been gained by them. The group members had gained knowledge based on the
implementation and use of the DECIDE model of decision making. The decision that is made
with the help of this model is considered to be a major aspect that is related to the solution
that can be provided to Cotton On Group based on the concerns that are faced by the
organization. The peers or groups had also collaborated in order to take the decisions that can
lead to the improvement of future operations of the Cotton On Group in the fashion retail
market.

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References
Azadnia, A. H., Saman, M. Z. M., & Wong, K. Y. (2015). Sustainable supplier selection and
order lot-sizing: an integrated multi-objective decision-making process. International
Journal of Production Research, 53(2), 383-408.
Bals, L., Kirchoff, J. F., & Foerstl, K. (2016). Exploring the reshoring and insourcing
decision making process: toward an agenda for future research. Operations
Management Research, 9(3-4), 102-116.
Cottonongroup.com.au. (2019). OUR VALUES - Cotton on Group. Retrieved 20 August
2019, from https://cottonongroup.com.au/who-we-are/
Elgendy, N., & Elragal, A. (2016). Big data analytics in support of the decision making
process. Procedia Computer Science, 100, 1071-1084.
Govindan, K., Rajendran, S., Sarkis, J., & Murugesan, P. (2015). Multi criteria decision
making approaches for green supplier evaluation and selection: a literature
review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 98, 66-83.
Heyler, S. G., Armenakis, A. A., Walker, A. G., & Collier, D. Y. (2016). A qualitative study
investigating the ethical decision making process: A proposed model. The Leadership
Quarterly, 27(5), 788-801.
Li, G., Kou, G., & Peng, Y. (2016). A group decision making model for integrating
heterogeneous information. IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics:
Systems, 48(6), 982-992.

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Tamir, M., Bigman, Y. E., Rhodes, E., Salerno, J., & Schreier, J. (2015). An expectancy-
value model of emotion regulation: Implications for motivation, emotional
experience, and decision making. Emotion, 15(1), 90.