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OMGT2105 Assignment 1 – Zara vs UNIQLO

Read the following case studies and supplementary articles (and more related ones during your research). From a supply chain management (SCM) perspective, compare the performance of the two companies in question along four dimensions (see below). Write a report to summarise the SCM of the two companies, analyse their respective critical success factors, and answer the given assignment question.

Case Studies

• Gallugher J.M. (2008), “Zara: Fast Fashion from Savvy Systems”, Sections 1-3, Chapter 1 of the free online book Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology, Flatwork Knowledge, available at: http://www.gallaugher.com/Zara%20Case.pdf(Links to an external site.)
• Liu, K. (2015), “ZARA: Case Study Analysis”, available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337918297_ZARA_Case_Study_Analysis(Links to an external site.)
• TradeGecko (2018), “Zara supply chain analysis – the secret behind Zara’s retail success”, available at: https://www.tradegecko.com/blog/supply-chain-management/zara-supply-chain-its-secret-to-retail-success(Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
• Fast Retailing (2019), “UNIQLO Business Model”, available at: https://www.fastretailing.com/eng/group/strategy/uniqlobusiness.html(Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)
• Li, A. (2015), “UNIQLO: Becoming a Truly Global Company”, Centennial College, The Hong Kong University Group, available at: http://www.centennialcollege.hku.hk/f/upload/2133/UNIQLO_15_007C.pdf(Links to an external site.)
• White, G.B. (2019), “Why Urban Millennails Love Uniqlo?”, The Atlantic, available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/04/uniqlo-millennials-gap/583219/(Links to an external site.)

Supplementary Articles

• Agrawal, M. et al. (2013), “Supply chain and value creation”, SlideShare, available at: https://www.slideshare.net/chspravin/supply-chain-management-of-zara-28247084(Links to an external site.)
• CeMAT Australia (2016), “4 key facts about Zara’s supply chain success”, CeMAT Insider, available at: http://blog.cemat.com.au/4-key-facts-about-zaras-supply-chain-success(Links to an external site.)
• Christopher, M. (2000), “The agile supply chain: competing in volatile markets”, Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp. 37-44, available at: https://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/bitstream/1826/2658/1/Agile%20supply%20chain-2000.pdf(Links to an external site.)
• Dedhia, P. (2017), “Logistics – supply chain management of Zara – a case study”, Linkedin, available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/logistics-management-zara-case-study-prashant-dedhia(Links to an external site.)
• mhugos (2020), “Zara Clothing Company Supply Chain”, available at: https://www.scmglobe.com/zara-clothing-company-supply-chain/(Links to an external site.)
• SCM Globe (2016), “Zara clothing company supply chain”, available at: http://blog.scmglobe.com/?page_id=1513(Links to an external site.)
• Zhelyazkov, G. (2017), “Agile supply chain: Zara’s case study analysis”, Strathclyde University, available at: https://www.researchgate.net/file.PostFileLoader.html?assetKey=AS%3A273761356451852%401442281201894&id=5535dd31f15bc7601a8b460e(Links to an external site.)
• Garcia Mendoza, J. M. et al. (2016), “The case analysis of Fast Retailing Co, Ltd. (UNIQLO)”, SlideShare, available at: https://www.slideshare.net/LciaDnis/supply-chain-network-of-fast-retailing-couniqlo(Links to an external site.)
• Kaminski, K. (2017), “Uniqlo: Uniquely Capable of Beating Zara?”, available at: https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-rctom/submission/uniqlo-uniquely-capable-of-beating-zara/(Links to an external site.)
• Kim, B. (2013), “Competitive priorities and supply chain strategy in the fashion industry”, Qualitative Market Research: An Internal Journal, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 214- 242, available at: https://pdfslide.net/documents/competitive-priorities-and-supply-chain-strategy-in-the-fashion-industry.html(Links to an external site.)
• L, R. (2016), “The secret behind Zara and Uniqlo’s supply chain models”, The Leadership Network, available at: https://theleadershipnetwork.com/article/supply-chain-management/zara-uniqlo-supply-chain(Links to an external site.)
• Saunders, K. (2017), “Uniqlo remodels its supply chain to race in the fast fashion market”, eyefortransport, available at: http://www.eft.com/ecommerceretail/uniqlo-remodels-its-supply-chain-race-fast-fashion-market(Links to an external site.)
• University Alliance (2006), “The UNIQLO business”, Fast Retailing, available at: http://www.fastretailing.com/eng/ir/library/pdf/annual2006_05.pdf(Links to an external site.)Retviews (2019), “Uniqlo Strategy – The Differences with Competitors H&M and Zara”, available at: https://retviews.com/blog/focus/uniqlo-competitors/ (Links to an external site.)
• Yamaguchi, T. and Yoshida, H. (2015), “Fast Retailing: an analysis of FDI and supply chain management in fashion retailing”, University of Reading, available at: http://www.reading.ac.uk/Econ/Econ/workingpapers/emdp436.pdf(Links to an external site.)

The Assignment Question

Zara and UNIQLO are probably the two most successful companies in the fast fashion industry. From a supply chain management perspective, compare the two firms and discuss why and how they can be so successful in such a volatile market environment?

In order to compare the supply chain performance of  the two companies (i.e., Zara vs. UNIQLO), you will need to research on the history of development, the challenges and issues they faced in the development process, and the different approaches they took to address these issues. The focus should be on how they ran their businesses and served their customers using logistics and supply chain management techniques as well as information technology.

You are required to analyse the performance of the two firms along the following dimensions (each to be discussed in a separate section in the report) applying what you have learned from the first few book chapters:

1. The three decision phases in a supply chain (, how they run their supply chains);
2. The push/pull view of supply chain process (, how they structure their supply chain);
3. Implied demand uncertainty, supply chain capabilities, strategic fit, and scope of strategic fit (, how they ensure their successes); and
4. The use of the various supply chain drivers (, facilities, inventory, transportation, information, sourcing, and pricing) to achieve supply chain objectives (i.e., efficiency and responsiveness).

Please note that you are expected to use the tools described in the book chapters, such as push/pull view, demand uncertainty spectrum, cost-responsiveness spectrum, and zone of strategic fit, etc. in your analysis to aid the discussion.