Liz Claiborne’s Mission Essay, Research Paper

Liz Claiborne s Mission

The mission of Liz Claiborne is to design and manufacture comfortable

clothing for the professional working woman at reasonable prices. It is our

mission to extend our enterprise globally in order to achieve maximum

competitiveness and cost effectiveness in this increasingly complex

business environment. Furthermore, Claiborne will provide a new line of

fashion for both men and children. Fragrances will be added; along with

cosmetics and accessories. All of our products will accompany exceptional

quality and price value for our customers.

Environmental Analysis

Macroenvironmental:

Some retail competitors who sell their clothing may carry a lower priced

line of professional women s apparel. However, the quality isn t always

what a retail customer expects. Years ago, before women entered the work

force, there had never been a market for apparel specifically designed for

the professional woman. Today unfortunately, many women have to work

2 jobs to make ends meet and oftentimes, they can not afford to spend an

outrageous amount of cash to look good at work. As a result, many women

are forced to bargain shop. Today s women usually look for sales and

bargains on designer clothes, but sometimes, even the sales can be very

expensive. As retailers constantly search for new ways to sell their designer

products at reasonable prices a struggle usually occurs between both the

retailer and the customer.

For instance, some retailers will purchase women s clothing from

manufacturers that produce clothes with cheap fabric. This is not the desire

of most customers. Also, some retailers may purchase clothes that are out

of season or defective in some cases. causing them to ultimately lower the

prices on designer items that would otherwise be very expensive. This can

be a loss to most retailers, and a loss to the customer as well.

Microenvironmental:

From the corporate end of the spectrum, Claiborne s best retail market

customers can predictably end up in serious financial trouble. If this

happens, then Claiborne is in trouble. For example, Bloomingdales may

over spend in advertising and marketing; coupled with the fact that sales

may be low for that particular quarter. If this happens; in which case it

often does, bloomingdale s will inevitably cut back on purchases of

Claiborne s clothing products, and put their current merchandise on sale in

an attempt to push their backlog out the door. Huge sales will facilitate a

major financial loss although there will always be an opportunity for

recovery.

STRATEGY

To find out what kinds of clothing professional woman want and look for

competent employees who posses exceptional talents and expertise in the

area of clothing design. They will get hired at entry level with full benefits

and opportunity for growth; but they will be the best. This strategy will

save Claiborne money in designing costs.

Countries such as Mexico will usually mass produce for a lower price than

the American production industry. Claiborne will use this to our advantage.

We will purchase the finest material to produce our garments because

quality is very important. It would not be to Claiborne s advantage to

conduct business with a vendor who sell their clothing material below

market value just to save money in the area of supplies. Low cost material

will probably mean that it would lack in the quality that customers look for

when making a purchase. Claiborne will not make this sacrifice. however,

we will not spend alot of money to have our garments made. We will search

for an economically efficient way to get our clothes made. Another strategy

is to purchase quality material in bulk to receive a larger savings and stop

requiring the retail industry to purchase 50,000 dollars worth of apparel.

Once Claiborne lowers it s production cost, it could possibly offset the

monies not being made through selling our finished goods to Macy s or

Dillard s for 50,000 dollars. Instead of requiring established retailers to

make 50,000 dollars worth of purchases on our product, Claiborne can

require that established retailers buy 30,000 dollars worth of our collection.

This would appear to be more reasonable. Furthermore, Claiborne can sell

it s products to J.C penny, Mervyn s, Kohl s and Bealls. This strategy will

ensure guaranteed business on a monthly basis. Our products will definitely

sell in the lower end retail establishments because retail customers usually

look for quality. Quality clothing at affordable prices is what Claiborne will

offer.

GOALS

Claiborne s goal is to bolster our sales by 92 percent and lead the company

into new areas of growth and expansion. Claiborne will partner with other

like-minded professionals that have already established a regular business

with low-end industries such as kohl s, bealls etc. Our goal is to remain the

clothing line of choice for women. Men, girls and boys clothing will be a

result of our expanding line of merchandise. Clairbornes goal is to redefine

how we do business by adjusting our supply chain to increase profitability

and get closer to our customers. Claiborne s goal is to produce 200 million

units per year while maintaining sales volume that exceed 4.5 billion dollars

per year. We are expecting to keep 8000 employees working in facilities

located in different parts of the United States and abroad. Our goal is to

continue to provide retail customers with the same quality that they ve come

to know with Claiborne s merchandise.

POLICY

Claiborne will have an information infrastructure that is open and flexible.

Claiborne s knowledge of the industry will ensure that customer demands

are met with a 98% satisfactory rating. If however, the remaining 2% of

customers are not satisfied with his/her purchase for any reason, the

merchandise may be returned (customer must have a reciept) to any one of

Claibornes outlet centers. Claibornes outlets are scattered throughout all

major cities in the United States. It is our policy to provide exceptional

service and treat all customers with respect and understanding of their

immediate needs.

SWOT ANALYSES

Strengths: We recognize that there is a market for a professional segment

of women s clothing. Since 1976, women have been entering the work

force and few companies were producing clothes for them. With the

addition of men and children clothing; Claiborne will lead the competition

in this industry.

Weaknesses: There are stipulations on marketing clothing in today s

industry. In other words, anyone can design clothes specifically for an

untouched segment of this industry and be highly successful. If other

designers and manufacturers create clothing in the same line as Claiborne, it

could affect our future revenues; in other words, profits may start to

decline. We cannot patent ideas.

Opportunity: Claiborne can open up other lines such as men s

professional apparel; a children s line and even a sports line. Claiborne can

also appeal to big and tall and petite sizes. Claiborne has the opportunity to

communicate with retail stores all over the world with the implementation

of information technology. With IT incorporated into the way Claiborne

does business, we maximize our profits and expose our name to everyone

world wide.

Threats: Competitors who carry low-priced lines of professional clothing

for women. Retailer who make unintelligent decisions in marketing and

advertising can really be a threat to Claiborne. The fact is, if our customers

(retailers) don t make money; or misuse funds, then we don t make money.

TACTICS

To produce a low-cost line of clothing and broaden Claiborne s product

line. This needs to be done while protecting the brand name Claiborne from

public scrutiny. Claiborne can merge with Russ Togs; who already

produces these three product lines: Crazy Horse, The Villager and Red

Horse. Now, instead of unnecessarily upgrading and redesigning

Claiborne s current product line, we can form a partnership with Russ Togs

at a 60/40 split. This tactic will generate substantial revenues because

Claiborne is a household name and Togs line is known throughout the

discount merchandising industry that serves the general clothing market.

RECOMMENDATIONS

It is recommended that Claiborne DOES NOT sell clothing through

established retailers such as: Macy s, Abraham and Strauss, Bloomingdales

and Dillards for 50,000 dollars worth of purchase. This seems to be

outrageous and unreasonable. Instead, Claiborne should lower this price

and implement a different strategy to accomplish the same goal.

It is recommended that Claiborne consistently create new business

relationships, one on one relationships. Marketing programs should be

created and Electronic Commerce should be embraced; That is,

Internet-based clientele. This will allow Claiborne to react quickly to

customer demands, reduce costs of supplies and build customer loyalty.

It is recommended that Claiborne understand and fulfill the needs of its

customers before competitors do. It is recommended that Claiborne invests

aggressively in technology; i.e.. Data warehousing and network/systems management.