Zara: Critical Organisational Analysis Essay, HR9610, January 2021

This essay critically analyzes the organizational practices and behaviors of Zara, a global clothing retailer, focusing on its structure and promotion strategies. The author uses modern and contemporary theoretical perspectives to evaluate Zara's marketing mix, particularly its limited use of television advertisements and social media influencers. The essay examines the impact of globalization, market drivers, and the influence of Covid-19 on Zara's business. The author suggests that Zara should enhance its online sales and social media promotion to adapt to changing consumer behaviors and market trends. The essay also discusses the importance of internationalization and the need for Zara to compete effectively in the fashion industry, proposing improvements to its marketing strategies to address these challenges.

Northumbria University
International Business Management
Critical Organisational Analysis
HR9610
3000 Word Essay
Due – 11th January 2021
Josef Carroll
W17019014

Introduction.
In this essay I will be evaluating the practices/behaviours within the Zara organisation and identify
any problems that require investigation to help identify and resolve the issues for future reasoning.
The relevant theme that I have decided to use when discussing Zara’s problematic
practices/behaviours is ‘structure’, this because structure can affect a business like this massively as
it sells clothing products all over the world but also the high status name Zara has. Any problems that
are encouraged by Zara would hit the headline news because of its popularity meaning they need to
ensure their structure within the business is strong and fair to effect bad brand recognition and bad
publicity. From using ‘Structure’, this allows me to write the modern theoretical perspectives to help
support my recommendations.
My decision making for choosing Zara is from the size of the company popularity worldwide but also
the amount different practices and behaviours they must face on a day to day basis which allows me
to analyse these problems and come up with solutions. With them been a clothing brand, the arrival
of new trends forces retailers to adapt their collections, causing what, James (2011) calls the
Forrester or bullwhip effect. This makes their theoretical perspective Modern because of their
adapting ways to new identity for customers and their brand image as it’s a fixed and stable
structure. From this I can help obtain some objectives for Zara and add additional results to their
current identity status. Zara have always had a strong structure when it comes to leading within the
clothing market for reasonable prices, however, in terms of promotion it lacks very much especially
in countries like India which I will be discussing in this assignment.
Justify your choice of theoretical perspective: Contemporary and Modern how this will impact on
your writing approach.
The theoretical perspectives all have different approaches when it comes to the management of an
organisation. Modernists are objectivists who focus on reality of knowledge which is build based
upon the conceptualization and the theorization, UK Essays (2018). Modern perspective builds a
specific set of rules or guidance that they use in an organisation, so all their employees can follow
and easily understand, perform and function to ensure the business runs smoothly. However,
choosing the modernist perspective means that you don’t take symbolic perspective into account
(Hatch & Cunliffe, 2006). Modernists support rationalization of organizational practices as its
reflected in management research but individuals like Max Weber and Frederick Taylor (Miller, 2009).
The rational modern mind is pushed towards ‘progress’ which is proved scientifically and
productively (Mills, Terry, Boylstein, Craig & Lorean, S, 2001). Lastly, modernists assume that
behaviour of individuals within an organisation significantly determined by the values, attitudes or
beliefs the organisation apply to their business moral and image. Looking at Zara’s marketing
strategies, they use the 7Ps Marketing mix (McCarthy, 1960). From this we will be accessing the
promotion ‘P’ to see how they can gain extra advantage on their competitors due to the modern
theoretical perspectives they are missing out on. According to Skool Team, (2020), Zara choose to not
engage in television advertisements which in my opinion is a huge market to not go unmissed. Also,
Zara rely on social media to increase their sales, however, they have an exceptional 2.5 million
followers on Facebook and 15 million followers on Instagram.
From this data, I think that the modern theoretical perspective been put in place will help improve it
structure and way of spending their money which is through social media influencers to promote
their products. So, instead of spending money on opening new stores, move some of the money to

promotion strategies on influences as online shopping is the modern way and generates the most
sales (Shewan, 2020). So, I will be using my theoretical perspectives chosen to help support my ideas
for critical analysis and how my ideas will help my chosen business Zara with future preference on
promotion.
Modern Theoretical Perspective
The impact that modern theoretical perspective this has on my writing approach is that it links in
with how I improve or suggest ideas for Zara to avoid certain things effecting their identity and
employees. It will help influence performance within the organisation and give the competitive
advantage if not already adopted by rivalry companies. I believe it will also help state the external
factors that helps improve the organisation and offer a new transformation for understanding
Identity as it has great potential for understanding most areas in Zara’s Organisation.
How;
 It will help improve Zara’s marketing strategies towards ‘modern promotion’ techniques
 Modern theories evolve around social media and online sales
 Adapting to suggestions on how influencers will improve Zara’s following and connection
with external target audience that don’t follow their pages
Taylor, F.W. (1911). Principles of Scientific Management.
Contemporary Theoretical Perspective
I will also use contemporary theoretical perspective in this essay as it will have an impact on my
writing approach to help promotion Zara’s issue’s or potential issues for Promotion. Contemporary
perspectives help me access the different social structures or actions that may affect Zara their social
structure and identity within the business (Wetts & Haveman, 2019). Contemporary perspectives on
promotion has constant struggle to resist discourses and assertions of power, sustaining a positive,
authentic self. Therefore, I think linking multiple perspectives together in my writing which are
contemporary and modern theories will help me pick out the slight issues of identity and structure
within the organisation or improve upon the positive that the business Zara already have.
How;
 It will uncover alternate narratives
 Allow me to access Zara’s marketing structure and investigate ways of how they can do
different, but also how they can improve their tactics while reducing costs
 Look into the impact of online sales and apply to their marketing tool for further
investigation to increase profile
Boje, D.M. (1995). “Stories of the Storytelling Organization”

A critical literature review on the one theme that you consider having the greatest importance for
that organisation, using either the symbolic or the contemporary theoretical perspective as your
context.
The fashion retail industry is progressively becoming ever more turbulent and volatile because of the
different amounts of high impulse purchasing from customers in these modern times because of the
shorter modern lifecycles (Christopher et al, 2004). Zara along with many other clothing companies
dominate the fashion industry, Porter (1990) believes that global strategies essentially supplement in
the competitive advantage created in home market. Most people say that organizations should when
globalising retain their national strengths, or core competencies, however, Ohmae (1990) disagrees
and disputes that organizations trading in the global marketplace should remove their origins.
The structure is everything for many different fashion brands as that is their USP (Unique Selling
Points) because it shows how they promote their brand for high sales and brand recognition but also
how the business is run in the background. In terms of structure, this review will be looking at the
‘Promotion’ side of things for Zara and why they don’t do much of it and how I can result in
improving this issue. An obvious platform that Zara will already consume is sales through social
media as it offers many advantages especially when communicating with their target audience. Sales
over the internet have increased massively over the last decade in both the USA and Europe
(Forrester Research, 2000). The rise in internet sales was affected by the sales of toys instead of the
fashion industry (Blauw Research, 2003). According to Saraswat, (2018) the marketing strategy o Zara
is shown to be the most exclusive and unique in the whole of the fashion industry. ‘Zero investment
in marketing’ helps them utilize advertisement and allows them to open more stores and possibly
generate more of a profit. This is good as it involves the customers and provides them a shopping
experience, it’s the involvement factor for the brand (Yan & Joey, 2011). But I believe that they are
missing a massive part of marketing promotion of the brand through social media and advertisement
as Mahoney, (2020) stated, something as simple as twitter sharing can generate over hundreds and
thousands of likes which can spready worldwide. This means they could create loyalty among
customers with their future posts enhancing sales even more. Zara’s expansion through
internationalization has also played a key role in its success across the world, this is through selecting
the right market and adopting the right entry strategies for each international market (Lopez & Fan,
2009).
Hayes and Jones (2006) establish, that on Zara’s entry to the UK market, they began directly
competing with other big brands like Topman through the opening of stores and pricing strategy. Pull
factors are implemented when there is already a saturated domestic market coupled with
competitive pressures. Yip (1991) provides a framework focusing on globalization drivers in four main
areas. Firstly, on looking at market drivers, Yip (1991) comments that a shortening lifecycle can act as
a catalyst for globalization. Referring to the fashion industry, Christopher et al (2004) comments how
typically there might be 20 separate seasons in a year, implying that product lifecycles are becoming
shorter. So, it’s much harder for companies to not promote their clothing brands especially with
competitors on the raise each year. Economic drivers focus on areas revolved around a push to
achieve economies of scale and advances in transport and technology which also links in with the
social media promotion theme.
Potential effects on contemporary and modern perspectives that I’ve chosen to write about and the
impact it has on my suggestions, this is Covid-19. Covid-19 has affected businesses of all sizes due to
stores having to be closed for weeks and months at a time. As pandemic outbreaks will happen in the

future, businesses need to find possible ways to not be affected which Zara’s current marketing
strategies will be affected at a big scale (Donthu, 2020). My suggestions relate to online sales for
future preference as I’ve experienced myself a higher percentage of online orders been made due to
customers not been able to leave the house. However, promotion could be better from Zara by
marketing external customers with social media about their products and services, this because
more people will be stuck with their phones and online shopping purchases. So, their structure
needs to be analysed and improved with suggestions I’ve made in case this pandemic carry’s on for
years to come
Critical evaluation of the practices/behaviours of the case organisation in relation to the selected
theme through critical application of the reviewed theories.
When addressing the theme of my promotion tactics, I decided on both modern theoretical
perspective and contemporary theoretical perspective. Modern theoretical practices link in with how
they promote their products and services through social media. The emergence of social media has
transformed the world and the way its functions is unique, it is bringing the world together in
modern way (Dorado Elizabeth, 2011). Colloquial or conversational media are basically online based
applications that enables you to create and transmit pictures, videos and audios, (Brake, 2009). This
is a new modern trend that can be linked in with Zara’s Contemporary trend and structure increase
sales and brand recognition. As part of my critical application for
practices and behaviours for Zara’s future selling structure and
promotion, According to lee (2013) ‘Blooming trends like blogging,
online communities, flash mobbing, buzz agents, and old systems like
Myspace show that customers have a lot to say – they want to be asked
and they want to be involved’. More importantly consumer all around
the world use social media to look up things like ratings of brands,
reviewing blogs of recent purchases that other people around the world
have said about their products and services (Ahmad et al, 2015). So, Zara need
to ensure that the online services they officer link in with the Contemporary
and Modern theoretical behaviours, so the structure of the businesses
marketing tool ensures the quality are of a high product to match the retail
prices but also allow their social media/online services are easy to use. This is to
ensure that blogs and reviews are very seen as key asset for the business and
will improve the structure of the businesses customer service skills. Social
media has changed the game in the fashion industry (thefashionetwork, 2018).
In the fashion world, social media has brought connectedness, innovation and diversity to the
industry. One marketing tool that Zara use and can improve upon is the Instagram platform, this is
what most current trends allow users to view their products (thefashionetwork, 2018).
One of the theories that I wanted to evaluate was the social structure and identity to analyse how
Zara do it and what they could possibly do to always be above and beyond competitors in the fashion
industry. According to Ravi (2018), the overall social media presence all relates around online
services and promotion tactics to help a brand succeed especially through primary social media
platforms, i.e. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc. Zara posts product-focused content which gives the
audience a peek into their latest offerings, from this their presence, the fanbase consists of young
females according to Facebooks demographic data. With this data, I can evaluate and offer solutions

to help improve their structure more, this is through Instagram influences. Influencer marketing is
used to drive a brands message to reach their target segment (Smart Insights, 2017). Social media
influencers have emerged as a dynamic third-party endorser (Freberg et al, 2011). In the link below,
I’ve attached a website that gives you some insight into a few Instagram influencers with followers
over 50,000 followers that help boost and model clothes for certain clothing company’s, these can be
big or small clothing company’s;
https://mediakix.com/blog/instagram-micro-influencers-to-follow/
From recent research that I have conducted, it showed that Zara never really used Instagram
influencers to help promote their clothing items. They simply just used models on their pages to
show off new clothes. Problem with this is that it doesn’t reach out a wider audience, its just a
constant cycle of selling items to their already existing consumers.
According to Berezhna (2018), Zara Is in the top 5 performing brands from
likes on recent posts on social media and money earned through media.
You will be able to see in the chart below that Zara receive a lot of likes,
however, them likes aren’t generating the same amount of impact in sales
as they should do to help increase popularity and sales. Fashion Nova
leads this performance chat because of the influencers they use, prime
example would be the collaberation with Cardi, B. Shes a huge pop singer
that help drive the business brand and services to huge increasing profits.
Social media influencers like Cardi, B typically engage with their followers
by regulary updating them with the latest information (Liu et al, 2012).
This is why I believe Zara need to expand their ‘promotion’ structure with
influencers, they are potential endorsers for businesses which generate a
range of buzzwords which is differnet to common marketing strategies
and not deemed as modern and cost efficent and effective marketing trends (Harrison 2017; Patel
2016; Talaverna 2015). Here is some examples of market trends linked with influencers;
 Businesses will merge content marketing, influencer marketing, and social media marketing
 Brands will be more determined to find influences with similar values to themselves
 Long-term influnecer relationships will become the norm- rather than contracting on a
campagin basis
 Brands will increase their use of employees and customers as Adocates
(MarketingHub, 2020)
Social media influencers will be more reliable and compelling to consumers like Zara, have been
substantiated by 82% of followers, in which consumer have been more likely to follow their favorite
influences recommendations (Talaverna, 2015). It is a marketing tool that needs to be considered by
Zara’s marketing team to help boost their profile in the social media world. It is the future/modern
business target that will only get bigger and bigger want and need which Zara currently don’t
process.
Conclusions

If brands in the clothing industry want to reach through better social media influence to improve
their brand recognition and marketing strategies, they need to reach out to these people on social
media sites like Facebook, Instagram, TickTok etc to help promote their brand and services.
Influencers can not only increase traffic and sales for your products or services but can also give the
Zara brand greater reach.
Furthermore, the current crisis of covid-19 has affected businesses like Zara massively as they have
had to be closed by law for safer circumstances. This meaning their stores that they continue to open
in new cities will soon have to shut because of the lack of income. So, businesses like Zara should
focus primarily on online sales. One way to do this is through mu marketing suggestions of influences
and apply campaigns that they are strictly against.
Lastly, using both contemporary and modern theories to help find the common issues within my
chosen business has help me structure a plan for Zara to help increase demand but also deal with the
common circumstances that all of us are currently facing. You must address these issues with my
critical analysing as evidence is needed to back up my suggests. With me choosing “promotion” as
the critical impact to analyse and offer suggestions, promotion is an essential piece to a company’s
success. Promoting the product allows the potential customers to understand what benefit will be
obtained from purchasing the products. This solution is through online sales and social media
influencers that I’ve suggested in their marketing plans.
Word Count {2,848}
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