Zara SA: Project Management Strategies for Summer Shoe Launch Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Zara SA's project management strategies for the launch of a new summer shoe. It begins with an introduction to Zara and the context of the project, focusing on the London Fashion Week launch. The main body of the report details the project's aims and objectives, outlining marketing strategies to compete with international brands. It then presents a project management plan, covering aspects such as cost, scope, time, quality, communication, risk, and resources. The report further analyzes the work breakdown structure (WBS) and Gantt chart used to generate knowledge and manage the project's timeline and tasks. A significant portion is dedicated to the small-scale research conducted, employing both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The report also discusses the presentation of findings to the intended audience and offers recommendations based on the research and data analysis. Finally, it evaluates the value of undertaking the research to meet the stated objectives, followed by the conclusions and references.

Managing a Successful
Business Project

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
a) Aims and objectives of the project.....................................................................................3
b) An appropriate project management plan to meet objectives and time frames.................4
c) Analysis of Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart to generate knowledge .............6
d) Small scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods..............8
e). appropriate manner for the intended audience................................................................11
f) Appropriate recommendations as a result of research and data analysis..........................18
g) The value of undertaking the research to meet stated objectives ....................................19
CONCLUSIONS ...........................................................................................................................19
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
New product development is a process of taking a product or service from conception to
market. It can be a process of bringing a new product to the market place. Management includes
the activities of setting the strategy of an organisation and coordinating the efforts of its
employees to accomplish its objectives through the application of available resources such as
financial, natural, technological and human resources. Managing a successful business project is
the main objective for obtain the desired outcome from the project (Drucker, 2012). A project
involves various resources and its failure that affect the functioning of the business. So it is the
responsibility of the manger to effectively conduct the project. This assignment based on Zara
SA, it is a Spanish fast fashion company and founded in 1975 by Amancio Ortega and Rosalia
Mera. This company stores men's and women's clothing and accessories and operate its business
internationally. The present report discusses about a new products i.e. summer shoe which is
launched by the company during London fashion week that will be organised on the 16th -20th
February 2019. The company establish aims and objectives, produce a plan, conduct research to
generate knowledge and do analysis for the project.
MAIN BODY
a) Aims and objectives of the project
Project Background
Zara is a Spanish fashion company which manufacture various clothing products such as
men's and women's clothes, accessories and others. This company was founded in 1975 by
Amanico Ortega and Rosalia Mera and the headquarters of of this company is in Arteixo, in the
north of Spain. This fashion company owns brands such as Massimo Dutti, Pull&Bear, Bershka,
Stradivarius, Oysho, Zara Home and Uterque. Zara sells its products to various small brands and
retailers. Now this company going to manufacture a brand-new summer shoe to compete with
the big name brands and launch event to sell the product to major industry representatives during
London fashion week which is going to organised on the 16th -20th February 2019 (Doherty,
Ashurst and Peppard, 2012).
Aims and objectives of the company

TITLE: To examine marketing strategies for Brand new summer shoes at London Fashion
Week to compete with international brands. A case study on ZARA.
Aim: To examine marketing strategies for Brand new summer shoes at London Fashion Week to
compete with international brands. A case study on ZARA.
Objectives
 To understand the concept of new product development.
 To examine the impact of introduce a new product on sales and profitability of a
company.
 To identify the relationship between new product development and growth of business.
b) An appropriate project management plan to meet objectives and time frames
A project management plan is a formal document that helps outline all the components
which involve in a project such as goals, cost, scope, stakeholders. It is a documentation plan
which defines all the activities that are needed to be executed to achieve desired aims and
objectives of the company (Goksoy, Ozsoy and Vayvay, 2012). There are some steps of this plan
like; cost, scope, time, quality, communication, risk and resources. Zara can also make a project
plan for its new product new summer shoe and following these factors in its manufacturing
products.
Cost- It is an important part to start and operate any businesses and it is the monetary
value that a company has spent in order to produce a product. It is the important and essential
part of the business because without it no business can run and a company can not operate its
business. In the project of Zara, it shows that how much finance is allocated to complete the
project and company can make budget for its project. For example Zara is going to manufacture
a product of new-summer shoe and it is important for the company to establish the expenses such
as premises leasing cost, machinery, maintenance, etc. for each milestone which are needed to
manufacture the product. The project management department of company has make budget
£38000. Researcher require 350 pounds in order to complete the research.
Scope- It is related to the market when a company launched its new product, the scale of
business operations which is results achieve strong sustainability in market. In Zara, there are
large and much scope for its project where it can sale its product and promote it (Crane, A. and
Matten, 2016). The company can sale its product in other countries where it is not operate its
business. Other scope can be increase sales and customers and generate profit. According the

researcher, there are large and broad scope for them to collect information such as London
market, by various websites, social media and other modes.
Time- It is an measurable period during which an action, process or can be a period in
which any action and work occurred. If an organisation have sufficient time it can manufacture a
quality product to achieve competitive edge in competitive market (Shuen, 2018). In Zara, time
is an important factor for manufacturing a brand new summer shoe which is going to launch
during London fashion week 16th-20th February 2019. For the success in the market and increase
customers of this product will takes approx 5 months . On the other hand, researcher can do
research in 2-3 months for collecting data to doing research.
Quality- It is related to the raw material which is used by the organisation when it do
production of a product. In competitive market to achieve success and establish a brand image it
is an important factor. The company should focus on the quality so that they can provide
satisfaction to its customer and earn money or increase profit because present time customer are
ready to for good quality product. Zara also can make its product quality good by using better
quality raw material such as by using good quality leather, rubber, supported heel, adjustable
strap and others which provide comfort to its target customers. But identified its customers and
their needs, project manager of the company will organise research through researcher. For
finding appropriate information the researcher use good and better quality modes or methods
such as qualitative research in which primary source can be used by him. With the help of
making questionnaire, doing surveys and others, he can collect correct data and information.

Communication-It is a process by which information is exchanged between individuals
through a common system and mode. It is an important factor because with the help of it an
organisation can communicate with its staff and can motivate and confident them when they are
feeling demotivation in their work. In Zara, during the time of project, there are need to better
communication structure because if all workers and employees are connected with each other,
they can transfer their information an ideas with each other. For this, company can use various
communication channels and modes such as Email, message, phone calls and others. With help
of these mode, it can solve problem and get feedbacks for its new product. Researcher can also
use many communication channel such as social media, email, online questionnaire and get
correct and transparent or appropriate information for their research (Ramadani, Gërguri and
Tašaminova, 2013).
Risk- It implies future uncertainty and it can be a possibility of losing something which
have some value. In Zara, the project which it going to launch in London fashion week will be
successful in the future be4cause there care such risk like lack of customers, change in customers
needs, lack of communication and promotional channels etc. In context of researcher, it can be
lack of funds and time, modes or equipments. These all factors will be create barriers to
researcher in gathering correct an valid information (Forsgren, and Johanson, 2014).
Resources- It can be an economic an productive factor that required to accomplish an
activity and undertake an organisation to its desired goals. Resources the important element for
the business of a company because they help it in manufacturing products. There are various
resource which are beneficial for the company such as money, labour, equipments and others. In
Zara, for manufacturing its new product,resources can be raw material, funds, labour,
communication and promotional channels etc. For a researcher to collect information resources
can be fund, various modes where he collect information such as questionnaire, survey and
others.
c) Analysis of Work breakdown structure and Gantt chart to generate knowledge
Work Breakdown structure- It is a key project deliverable that organizes the team's
w9ork into manageable sections. It is a hierarchical tree structure that outlines the project and
breaks it down in to smaller and more manageable portions. It is an important structure because
it is helpful for achieving the desired goals of the company which managing in the teams and the
smaller sections. This structure is beneficial to defining and organising the project work,

identifying potential risks in project and help in tracking to identifying project cost performance
and issues or problems. The main purpose of it is to reduce complicated activities from to a task
so that it can be measurable and inde0pendent with clear defined limits. There are various
elements like product, workforce, service and others, they are also helpful for maintain a correct
structure for estimating the funds of the project and products.
Gantt Chart- It is horizontal bar chart to develop for production control and developed by
Henry L. Gantt in 1917. Gantt chart provide graphical illustration of a schedule that help a
company to plan, coordinate and track specific tasks in a project (Serra and Kunc, 2015). It
contains some features such as start and end dates for project or tasks, milestones, dependencies
between project and person assigned ton each task. This chart basically used in project
management to manage the various factors an elements of the project and task. In this chart the
work of the project divided on the basis of the day and according the given period of time. It is
important because it provide clarity, make communication easy, provide motivation and control
the activities for completing the project efficiency (Dutta and Bose, 2015).

d) Small scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods
Research is the process of solving problems and finding facts in an organised manner and
it can be a process of gathering information by doing study about a specific topic. Research

methodology is the study that how research is to be carried out. It can be a systematic way to
collect information and data by using various modes and tools for the purpose of making
business decision. There are two types of research methods which bare used by researcher to find
out and collect correct and appropriate data. They are as following:
Quantitative research- This research method is totally based on numerical data and
defined as the systematic investigation by gathering statistical or mathematical data and
computational techniques. In this method the researcher use sampling methods such as online
surveys, online pools, questionnaires and others.
Qualitative research- This research method totally based on theoretical data and it is
used for collecting reasons, opinions and motivations. In this researcher collect data and
information through interviews, group discussion, observation and others.
Types of data collection
There are two types of data collection such as :
Primary- It is an original data source where the data are collected first-hand by the
researcher for a specific research of a project. When the data are collected by the researcher for
the first time and if pure data is needed, this method is used by the project manger of the
company. There are various way with the help of them, they collect pure information such as
Questionnaires, interviews, observation, group discussion etc. In the current research of Zara,
both primary data collection method is used by the researcher for collecting information and data
(Keil, Lee and Deng, 2013).
Secondary- It comes from a resource other than the researcher and it is a method where
data is already collected by someone and used by the researcher. In this method data has been
already published in books & journals, newspaper, magazines, online portals, social media and
others (Lin and Chen, 2012).
Sampling- It is process that is used by the company in statistical analysis in which a
predetermined number of observation are taken from a large population. There are two method
of sampling such as probability and non probability. In the present research, the researcher
followed probability method. 30 respondents views and opinions are related with the topic of
research. These respondents can be customers, suppliers, employees and members of community
(Gido, Clements and Clements, 2014).

Questionnaire
Name:
Age:
Gender:
1) Do you have knowledge about the concept new product development?
a. Yes
b. No
2) Are you familiar with the Zara and its products?
a. Yes
b. No
3) Which are the essential resources required by ZARA in developing new product
“Summer shoe”?
a. Technologies
b. Manpower
c. Funds
4) What are the main factors which influence customers to buy the footwear of another
brand?
a) Quality
b) Price
c) Innovation
5) Do marketing strategies of ZARA influence consumers to buy new Summer Shoe?
a) Yes
b) No
6) What are the benefits which ZARA get in launching “Summer Shoe” as new product?
a) Increased sales & revenue
b) Gaining competitive advantages
7) What are the factors affecting new product development process?
a. Organisational structure and culture
b. Industrial conflict
c. Underfunding
d. Leadership

8) Who are the target consumer for new product “Summer Shoe” of Zara?
a. Male
b. Female
9) What factors are necessary for Zara to take care before launching new product into the
market?
a. Pricing regulation
b. Taste and preferences
c. Ensuring higher quality
10) Any recommendation wants to suggest
e). appropriate manner for the intended audience
Data analysis
It is process of extracting information from data. It is the process of inspecting, cleansing,
transforming and modelling data with the goal of searching useful information, informing
conclusions and supporting decision making. The researcher use thematic
interpretation research analysis.
Theme 1
1) Have you knowledge about the concept of new product
development?
Frequency
a. Yes 17
b. No 13

Interpretation- As per above graph, it is clear that out of 30 respondents, 17 have knowledge
about new product development, while remaining 13 does not have. So it reflects that majority of
population are informed about it.
Theme 2
2) Are you familiar with the Zara and its products? Frequency
a. Yes 20
b. No 10
a. Yes b. No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
17
13
Frequency