Zara UK: Improving Communication, Knowledge & Information Systems

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of communication, knowledge, and information management within Zara UK. It begins by examining the range of decisions taken by senior management, the information and knowledge required for effective decision-making, and the internal and external sources available. The report identifies stakeholders for decision-making processes, suggests methods for contacting and involving them, and designs strategies for improvement. Furthermore, it reports on existing communication processes, proposes ways to enhance them, and implements improvements to integrate communication systems. A personal plan for improving communication skills is also included. Finally, the report assesses existing approaches to information and knowledge collection, formatting, storage, and dissemination, carrying out changes to improve these processes and implementing a strategy to enhance access systems. The ultimate goal is to improve Zara UK's operational efficiency and competitive advantage through better communication and knowledge management.

MANAGING
COMMUNICATIONS,
KNOWLEDGE AND
INFORMATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Range of decision to be taken by Zara senior management team..........................................2
1.2 Information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision making.............................3
1.3 Internal and external sources of information and understanding available in ZARA UK for
decision making...........................................................................................................................4
1.4 Recommendations for improvement to ZARA UK management team.................................5
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Identify stakeholders for a decision making process.............................................................6
2.2 Make contact with those identified and develop business relationships...............................8
2.3 Involve those identified in the decision making as appropriate............................................9
2.4 Design Strategies for improvement.....................................................................................10
LO3................................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Report on existing processes of communication in an organization...................................11
3.2 Design ways to improve appropriateness............................................................................12
3.3 Implement improvements to ensure greater integration of systems of communication in
that organization........................................................................................................................13
3.4 Create a personal plan to improve own communication skills............................................14
LO4................................................................................................................................................15
4.1 Report on existing approaches to the collection, formatting, storage and dissemination of
information and knowledge.......................................................................................................15
4.2 Carry out appropriate changes to improve the collection, formatting, storage and
dissemination of information and knowledge............................................................................21
4.3 Implement a strategy to improve access systems of information and knowledge...............23

CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................25
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................26

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Stakeholders of ZARA...................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Information, knowledge and management play an important role in increasing the efficiency of
business as well as help in gaining the competitive advantage in the market. Zara operates as a
retail clothing store and focuses on various decisions making for accessing the information and
knowledge systems. The report focuses on analyzing the information and knowledge that helps
in taking the decisions in an effective manner. Various external and internal sources are also
evaluated. Stakeholders’ are identified for the new opening of store and the communication
methods are identified to contact them in the most efficient way. The report also focuses on
various communication systems and how to improve those by implementing various strategies.
The last part of the report analyzes the need of advancement in information and communication
technology to bring effectiveness in business operations.
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LO1
1.1 Range of decision to be taken by Zara senior management team
Zara is one of the leading companies in our fashion industry and it is giving major competition
goals to other companies. It is a renowned fashion brand. The major objective of a company is to
increase number of customers by giving them satisfactory services and products. There are
various decisions which manager has to take for smooth functioning of a company. Various
decisions which help management team in making decisions are as follows:
1. Strategic decision: Strategic decisions are long term decision as it helps in changing the
strategies which will be helps in competition and might be risky for future (Hagiu, 2014). These
decisions are made by top level managers and by share holders. By mutual understanding
strategy can be changed by proper SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strength, Weakness,
Opportunity and Threat. Decisions are affected by various environmental factors as they are
changing with the changing environment. Manager has to take decisions by proper SWOT
analysis of environment. These decisions highly affect the working of the company.
2. Tactical decisions: This decision are taken by middle level managers as it does not involve top
level managers because they are short term decision which are less than a year it helps in
changing the technique of a company and nothing else. Though they are short term decisions but
require a sense of intellectuality from the managers. The middle level managers of Zara also
need to focus on such decisions.
3. Operational decisions: They are decision which is taken on regular basis. These are generally
taken by lower level managers. For example decisions regarding working capital, decision
regarding stock maintenance. These decisions have short period of time not more than a week.
Operational decisions are decisions relating to day to day working of a business.
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1.2 Information and knowledge needed to ensure effective decision making.
Hybrid model are made for flow of information from warehouses to store for availability of stock
and helps in maintaining the stock (Trianni et.al., 2016). There are various devices which are
handled by managers for feedback of customers and help in satisfying their needs by directly
contacting to the designers. This technique help in making proper balance between demand and
supply of customers so that there will be proper flow of information. Chain is developed between
operational, production and distribution channel which will help in making orders by passing the
information about the need of customers. This model deals in manufacturing related work.
Information system needs people technology and proper procedure needed to solve any problem.
The group of people are associated with decision making like expert system, decision support
system, and information system. The main objective of this support system is to promote better
decision making which helps in developing proper support system. It is necessary for smooth
functioning of the company (Laudon and Laudon, 2016). Information and knowledge are
backbone of any decision to be taken. They are essential for any organization. A decision can be
effective only if it is backed up proper information and complete knowledge.
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1.3 Internal and external sources of information and understanding available in ZARA UK for
decision making.
Internal as well as external information helps to make business decision more accurate. The
internal sources include all the information from the sources which are within the organization
like middle level management and employees of organization as they give information regarding
overall performance of company. Various internal and external source of information are
available in any company. These sources provide information as well as help in decision making
of company (Goetsch and Davis, 2014). The primary sources of data are generally managed by
Google and secondary sources are information is not part of Google as it required different
researches by different analysts. It helps in strength of an organization as it will help in real
experience of company and provides the clear picture of performance of company.
ZARA uses different approach for obtaining information from market which is different from its
competitors as it depends on elite design teams as they plan according to needs of the customers.
The speed of ZARA in product development is better than any other companies. It keeps on
developing its products and brings new products in the market on a regular basis. The
information collected through various sources forms the base of development for Zara.
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1.4 Recommendations for improvement to ZARA UK management team
ZARA is well known brand in reputed designing and manufacturing industry in UK fashion
industry. It has great popularity. It is appreciated for its strategic policies and for its competitive
strategies which help in giving competition to its competitors. It is top most company which is
providing satisfactory services all over the world. The products launched by Zara are status
symbol for people all over the world. ZARA is enjoying its leadership as it is leading fashion
company but it has to decide implacable combination for future because fashion market is
changing frequently that may lead to undesired results. For making its position strong, ZARA
needs to improve its communication channel so that information flow must be managed
effectively. The technology must be advanced. The advancement in the technology and software
helps in lowering the risk of information leakage which can be through adoption of new
technology. The adoption of new technology is necessary to be updated (Delgado et.al., 2014).
Managers have to understand the requirements of customers by proper flow of information
which should be managed by managers. Another thing which manager has to understand that
there should be well formed structure for internal and external communication so that this will
help in decision making process of company. Main drawback of UK company is distribution
system of ZARA as it has high delivery cost so company has to ensure about there would be no
increment in distribution system as it directly affect the cost of the product. Zara should adopt
new designing methods and techniques (Van Der Aalst et.al., 2016). Also, it should try to make
its communication channel better so that there is no loophole in its communication.
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LO2
2.1 Identify stakeholders for a decision making process
Stakeholder plays an important role that helps the business to sustain in the market. They also
help in enhancing the processing of business in an efficient manner (Qingchun, 2017). For the
new product launch of Zara, it is important to invite following stakeholders.
 Customers: Customers are the most important stakeholder that helps in growing the
business. Zara operates as a retail clothing store and therefore it is important to target the
market for increasing the sales. Customers are the only stakeholder that helps to identify
the effectiveness of buying products and services.
 Stockholders: Stockholders help in providing the capital for increasing the inventory of
the Zara. Employees from within the organization or other organizations form a major
part of stock holders. Stockholders offer support in the launching of new product at the
marketplace.
 Employees: Zara’s main focus is to motivate the employees so that their efficiency in
achieving the targets can be increased. Therefore, it is important to invite employees for
the new product launch so that they are aware of the information related to the product.
 Competitors: It is important to improve the strategies and decision making by
implementing the innovative ideas of competitors (Kujala et.al., 2017).Various
information related to business of competitors can be analysed and must implemented by
Zara to gain competitive advantage in the market.
 Suppliers: Zara must focus on maintaining healthy relationship with its suppliers so that
it can get raw material of good quality. The good quality of product helps Zara to gain
good prices as compared to its competitors.
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Figure 1: Stakeholders of ZARA
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Stakeholder
ZARA
Customers
Suppliers
Stockhold
ers
Competito
rs
Employee
s

2.2 Make contact with those identified and develop business relationships
Zara after inviting the above mentioned stakeholders, it focuses on maintaining the contact and
healthy relationship with them to develop the business relationships. Zara utilizes various cost
effective methods to make contact with its stakeholders which are explained below:
 Mails: Zara utilizes E mail as the source of communication with its Stakeholders. Email
helps to send the particle information about product to the specific stakeholder. Zara can
send different information such as price, new features, information about store and many
more in the most attractive way.
 Word of Mouth: This type of communication method proves to be effective in gaining
the competitive advantage. Word of Mouth highly influences the customer and if the
customer is satisfied with product of Zara, then automatically sales of an organization
increases.
 Website: Website can be used to provide detailed information about the new product to
be launched. Advertisement related to invitation can be posted on the website to invite
various stakeholders (Cardon and Marshall, 2015). This is the cost effective method and
also helps to improve the relationship with customers.
 Telephone: It is a two way communication and is a bit time consuming. But the biggest
advantage of using telephone is that Zara ensures that entire information of new product
is conveyed to its stakeholder. They can also get confirmation hand to hand that whether
the stakeholder will come to the launch or not.
 Letters: Zara focus on sending letters via online modes of communication. It is an
effective way which helps to send detailed information about the conferences and
meetings to be held in future.
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