Bedenhams final

Debenhams is a public quoted company in the United Kingdom specializing in the manufacture and sale of Cloth wear, house wears, cosmetics and toilettes. Started in 1813, the company has adult from a small enterprise into a multi-national corporation. The growth has been necessitated by means of credit line ventures mainly acquisitions.The company has throughout in its lifetime been acquiring smaller cloth and cosmetics manufacturing companies the first one being Marshall & Snelgrove in 1919. Debenhams manufactures cloth wear both for domestic use and likewise for trade purposes.Much of their products atomic number 18 exported in the European, Asian and African nations including the US market. The position classify of Debenhams includes children, who buy childrens wear, women (womens wear) and men (Mens wear). Other target groups ar cosmetic shops large super-markets and an other(a)(prenominal) processing companies. The products range from matrimony dresses to school un iforms. Its policy is to analyse and identify what customer specifications are and figure the cloths accordingly. Technologically, the company has re-shaped its manufacturing methodologies that confirm produced the latest fashions of fit out in the market.These rent attracted a large number of customers. The following table can help exposit how the demand for cloth wear for different categories of its target groups has been trending for the last quaternity years. The demand is in price of the gross realized from the sale of clothes and cosmetics. Debenhams employs the e-business technology to strategically advertise its products. It also uses e-business to identify any rising trends in customer demands as well as studying the activities of equate companies. Stiff competition comes from Alexon Group plc and Arcadia Group plc.Debenhams main resources requirements are among others, wool, cotton and Chemicals for making cosmetics. Other resources are transportation facilities a s few of these raw materials maintain to be transported from far countries. The company is however approach with the ever dynamic environmental ingredients in which it operates. These are both extraneous and internal to the organization. These are Political, environmental, Social and Technological (PEST). ANALSIS OF THE EXTERNAL STRATEGIC surround OF DEBENHAMS PLC. USING PESTPEST is a tool that is used to analyse enterprises in terms of the political, economic, social and technological environment. THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT Debenhams activities are purely regulated by various political sources. In the first place, in that respect exists a government regulation at the source nations. For instance, expiry dates for cosmetics transfigure from country to country for two or more products produced within the same date of manufacture. The U. K government does regulate the health and safety conditions that workers of Debenhams plc impart to work in.Also under regulation, is the min imum wage of workers. Some political factors have favourably affected the operations of Debenhams. An example is the compulsory recycling laws. These have enabled Debenhams to save on its costs of raw materials as these have to sometimes be recycled. THE ECONOMICAL ENVIRONMENT Approximately 30% of UK budgetary revenue is based on domestic borrowing. This money is raised mainly through taxation and incorporates like Debenhams are taxed at rates that are kinda high. Inspite of the allowance of a tax holiday to some competitor companies, Debenhams does not enjoy this facility.This adversely affects its profits. Debenhams relies on external sources of finance i. e. fixed shudder capital to finance its operations. These sources of finance are associated with fixed interest payments. The efficient ramifications of these huge financial costs are that it may affect Debenhams financial position . The following graph depicts how Debenhams financial find has been responding to changes in Leverage (gearing). The other economical challenge that has faced Debenhams is that products from vie companies have also flooded the market, being cheap and readily available.They are a formidable competition to Debenhams. THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT One of the superlative social challenges of Debenhams is change of tastes and fashions. Many are times when gross revenue army a declining trend as a result of consumers shifting to other products. Before marketing and selling their products, Debenhams must consider factors like springer and believes of a people. There are some geographical areas like the Moslem communities where certain clothing are prohibited due to their religious believes. such factors tend to hinder Debenhams operations.TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT With the advent of computerization, many of Debenhams fancyt machinery have been rendered obsolete because they are analogue as opposed to digital. There is a need to buy new computerized bodys that will growth effici ency in turnout. However, Debenhams has embarked in a rapid computerization course of instruction and has hired consultancies and professionals to fast track the process. Debenham is also pursuing a strategic plan of five years that factors in probable challenges and advancement and has also hired the services of a consultancy firm.By integrating the e- business system and other advertisement modes in the electronic media like blackberrie, T. V and other electronic media, there has been an increase in orders placed by potential consumers. This has seen the sales turnover rising from ? 24bn in the year ended 31st declination 2005 to ? 28bn for the period ended 31st December 2006. THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT In order to compete successfully, Debenhams has embraced a research and development framework. The aim of this plan is to study consumer needs and trends and also innovations in production and design.Their research findings on consumer behavior are as below Additionally, the compa ny needs to have its organizational image in order to develop confidence to its stakeholders. Extending corporate responsibility to social responsibility would greatly and favourably affect its customers and local community at large. Proper financial accounting and disclosure of germane(predicate) information to the accounts would also help build investor confidence. Another internal factor likely to influence the operations of Debenham is how well the management has addressed the subject of Quality control.In order for their products to gain popularity, they must integrate a system of quality development and quality maintenance Internal factors like employee blessedness greatly determine the level of performance in the organization. To curb its ruin effects, the management of Debenhams has adapted a democratic style of management. Decision- making is alter , and any changes are brought soberly. CONCLUSION In conclusion, Debenhams exists within a symmetricalness of both the external and internal environments.This balance involves complex financial systems accommodate towards servicing its credit system, employee satisfaction and making profit. The research and development separate that is carrying out the employee training under Human resource management makes the employees of Debenham have an edge over it competitors. In addition the technological improvements in its production unit have spurred the mass production of its products while maintaining quality. In upshot this has given Debenhams credit in international quality awards. The market for this U.K articulated lorry has penetrated and is increasingly becoming a dominant presence in the European continent and the USA. References Ralph Christensen (2005) Roadmap to Strategic HR Turning a Great thinker into a Business Reality Summary, AMACOM Division Joan E. Pynes(2004) Human imagings solicitude for general and Nonprofit Organizations Jossey Bass UK Edward J. (2005) Model Policies and Proce dures for Not-for-Profit Organizations by CPA, CAE McMillan, UK Cynthia D. Fisher (2003) Human Resource Management ,Front Matter, UK Leyna Bernstein (2001) Creating Your Employee Handbook A Do-It-Yourself Kit for Nonprofits, UK http//www.debenhams. com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/topcategory_10001_10001_-1 Robert Dransfield (2000) Human Resources Management Human Resource Management, Harcourt Heinemann Mark C. Zweig (2003) Human Resources Management The Complete template for Design Firms Summary, John Wiley and Sons publishers, US Ralph Christensen (2005) Roadmap to Strategic HR Turning a Great Idea into a Business Reality Summary, AMACOM Division, and American Management. Susan Albers and Edward Lawler (2003) Creating a Strategic Human Resources Organization An Assessment of Trends and New Directions Summary, Stanford University Press, Stanford