Individual Management Portfolio

The company has a shared vision that approaches for optimum sustainability in economic, social and environmental grounds. Being the leading fashion brand in Europe, H & M sets out to make fashion sustainable on the long run. As the brand new eco line clothing of H & M is ready to be launched in the market, it also aims to keep the sustainability quotient intact considering the seven commitments, H & M owes to the customers. My aim in this project is to generate a creative marketing plan for the launch and success of the eco line range without compromising on the sustainability module of H & M.

Definition of the new project of H & M

The fashion industry has gained huge importance in the present years, and the industries are trying are their best to launch new and innovative products so that they can maintain a rising profit trend (Anderson & He, 2015). H & M is launching a new product named new eco line of clothing in the fashion market, which contains fashionable and trendy clothes that are eco-friendly. It is a common notion among people that eco-friendly clothes are not affordable for low-class of people. H & M thus has thought of launching the eco-friendly clothes so that every section of people can afford those dresses.

I think it is a very innovative process of entering into the fashion market with a bang of environment-friendly products. People will like to wear such products because these are the new set of clothes and is also less costly. I feel it is a great step of H & M towards saving the environment and I hope people will like the products after its launching in early spring.
Eco line of clothing will contain dresses for women, men as well as kids because all the people of the society love to accept the new set of stylish clothes. People, in the present days, have become very style conscious and they love to adopt various sort of fashion in their life so that they may look very appealing to others (Choi, Yang & Yoon, 2014). That is why; H & M have taken such a big step towards launching eco-friendly clothes for every common people. I think the clothes of H & M are accepted by the large section of people in the society and people demands new types of clothes from H & M.

This is the main reason behind launching the products and I feel people would love to wear those clothes. H & M have the vision of sustainable fashion, and eco-friendly clothes are the answer to such vision of H & M. I saw that the fabrics used in the new product of H & M are organic cotton, soy fabrics, hemp, linen, and polyester. The usage of organic cotton in the fashion industry is a major step towards making the environment greener (Hm.com, 2017). 

H & M is trying to contribute towards making environment green, and thus H & M has increased the use of organic cotton in the other products of H & M too. The new products contain soy fabric, which is soy oil by-product and is used for preparing soft and silky products of H & M. Hemp, linen and polyester are prepared by less harnessing the energy. As a result, the purchasing of these products will be a step of the common people towards saving the environment. Moreover, the purchasing techniques of people have changed nowadays, and people are trying to buy such clothes that will cause no harm to their skin (Griffioen, de Haan & Willenborg, 2014).

I feel keeping this point in mind; H & M have started this project so that the company can gain more popularity in the global market. Eco-friendly products are more lasting than the normal clothes, and I think people will like to buy such products more. By launching the new project, H & M will be able to keep their aim of providing sustainable products to the people constant. The CEO of H & M has set a target of making their fashion ultimate and sustainable and with this new project; the company will be able to meet their targets. As a result, the brand image of the company will be maintained in the global market, and thus, the company will have a high rise in the profit margin. I consider that launching of this new project should be done as soon as possible so that people come across the new clothes in the early of the New Year. I think the company will increase its business development towards sustainability and H & M will have a great business share in the fashion industry by the end of the month of April.

Designing the project of H & M

To design the project for the new eco line range of H & M, I will start by finding out the relevance of the project and design a perceptual map. The perception map helps in analyzing the perception of an organization regarding the equilibrium regarding their quality and pricing technique (Halvorsen et al. 2013). The development of the perceptual map will further help me to identify the drawbacks; the company is yet to fulfill for the sake of improving their sustainability. Moreover, I will design the perceptual map to change the customer opinion about the brand on the long run.

I will carry out a thorough market research to find out the relevance and acceptability of the new eco line product among the consumers. The primary market research will enable me to gather information related to customer preference through online market surveys and interviews with the icons of the fashion industry. On the other hand, during the secondary market research, I will go through the annual sustainability report produced by H & M to estimate the probable costs and budgets related to the marketing plan for the new product line. Followed by the initial estimation of the project, I will shift my focus on assessing the external and internal factors that may have a direct impact on the execution of the project.

Both the competitors and consumers are considered as the most pivotal external factors for any organization on which it has to take control for sustaining the success (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014). The direct competition of H & M regarding sustainability factor is with Zara, Primark, Forever 21 and Pull & Bear. I will try to emphasize on including the key point in my project documentation with transparent evidence that will highlight that H & M will put more effort towards sustainability by upgrading the quality of the eco line product fabric, use organic cotton for their products and give warranty on the life cycle of the eco line garments. Along with this, the project will also focus on creating an environmental friendly zone for the offline shoppers so that the message of sustainability through the eco line products appear more prominently to the potential customers.

Assessing the strength, weakness, threats and opportunities of H & M will certainly be a part of my project design. Based on the strengths and opportunities of the company, I will further determine the unique selling point of the eco line product of H & M. As the company has already made a strong position in terms of sustainability, I will focus on communicating the USP of the eco line to the customers by implementing an effective communication strategy. To formulate a strong communication strategy, it is highly essential to carry out an investigation regarding the brand, the target group and the current scenario of cultural trends minutely (Kim, Lee & Lee, 2016). As H & M has always kept their concentration on targeting the young lot, following the trend, the target market of the eco line products will be the women of 20 to 30 years old. This age group will surely put their interest in preferring a brand like H & M that is promoting sustainable fashion trend.

Over the years, it became quite evident for H & M that while every other leading fashion brands are approaching for expressing and communicating their sustainability efforts, H & M was not quite vocal about their position as a part of sustainability effort. I will surely concentrate on this part and utilize both online and offline channels to ensure the future of the sustainability of the eco line project. To make an effort more prominent, I will carry out a teaser campaign to make the message more clear and lasting on the mind of the consumers. Other than this, I will communicate the message of H & M by engaging the customers to take part in a fashion challenge to make a sustainable fashion statement with the clothing line that is more eco-friendly than that of the eco line products of H & M.

Performing the project of H & M 

It is essential for H & M to make the performance of its project successful, the company has to take various actions to make its project and profitable. On behalf of the company, I have undertaken many steps to make the performance of the project good in the society; I have implicated few important strategies in the project to make it successful such as I have started online promotion activities for endorsing the launch of the new product in the society. Online marketing strategy, mix marketing strategy, use of social and electronic media, advertisement through newspaper and television, putting hoardings on the street and distributing the pamphlets among the customers will help the promotion of the new product in the society (Lea-Greenwood, 2013). I have taken special care that marketing process of the new product has done properly and any negligence of the work by the management and employees were strictly prohibited.

Marketing of the new product will automatically enhance the project value and will successfully manage to create awareness and curiosity among its customers (Lee et al. 2014). I have noticed that it is essential to get good investors for the new project without the good investors the performance of the project will collapse drastically. The financial department maintains the budget of the project. Unfortunately, I was informed by the financial department in the mid of the project progressing that the new project has already crossed its budget. This was the crucial moment for me and my main aim at that time was to find an investor or again apply for the bank loan. 

Finally, in the end, I was able to get the good investor for the project and succeeded in saving the project growth and performance in the society. The use of the external and internal resource for improving the performance of the project are essential, experts were hired to analysis the latest marketing trends in the society and what are the criteria should be followed by the management team to make the performance of the project more healthier. The experts also analyze the strategies and function of their competitors when they launch new goods in the market. This helps them in improving the performance of the new project in the society flawless and not repeating the mistake of their competitors (Nam, Son & Lee, 2015). Even I have the keen interest in the quality of product used by the production department for manufacturing the products of the new project. It is important the production department uses the good material for manufacturing the new product; the quality of the product plays the vital role in the efficient function and performance of the project. 

It is also important to avoid all kinds of negative publicity about the new project launch; the negative publicity will create the bad impression on consumers mind and adversely affect the sale rate of the new product. I have also given strict instruction to the employees not to share or discuss any details related to the project to the strangers and in social media without the permission. Any leakage of information by the employee has been proved that employee will be terminated and subject to the penalties. The cost factor is an important aspect and varies the performance of the project will be successful or not. Hence the cost of the new product must be highlighted well to its consumers properly. 

I have also recommended few important changes to improve the performance of the project such as communication power of the employees must be flawless whether it is verbally or written. They should communicate with customers in a polite manner and explain the qualities and advantage of the project efficiently. They have to impress the customers in such a manner that the customer will be unable to say no to the seller. Hence, especial training is provided to the employees to increase the sale and performance of the new project. Therefore, these are the important steps that I will take to enhance the growth and performance of the new project successfully. 

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Developing the new project of H & M

When I was examining the new project of H & M, I found that the step of H & M was not at all easy as it sounded. The development of the project had to undergo numerous obstructions because of the organizational culture, leadership style and values of the company. There are the different organizational culture that is followed in the organizations like normative culture and pragmatic culture (Nobbs et al. 2014). H & M follows the normative culture that means H & m employees strictly follow the rules and regulations of the organization, and they do not want to listen to any other suggestions for their betterment. I found that while developing the plan for the new project the employees provided their suggestions but they did not agree to listen to the suggestions of experts. Though these organizational cultures had brought some problems in the way of the execution of the plan, yet the employees worked hard day and night collectively for the completion of the project properly.

I think that H & M could have adopted the pragmatic organizational culture that means the employees could have listened to the experts' suggestions. This would have helped H & M to start their work much earlier and the employees' would not have to undergo a huge pressure. In H & M, the leadership style that prevails is democratic style, and the employees were very happy to work under their leader. The leaders of the organization do not give pressure to the employees, but they discussed each step before incorporating those in the new project. I suggest H & M continue this leadership style for their betterment in the business.

The employees of H & M are very cooperative and friendly, and that is why; developing of the new project did not bring disaster to the company.
Teamwork, honesty, loyalty, service to the customers, providing excellent service and commitment towards the organizational goal are the organizational values that have to be maintained within the organization (Parmenter, 2015). I researched that H & M employees are very loyal towards their work, but every employee wants to maintain their position within the organization and do not want to leave a single space for any of their colleagues. As a result, when the project was executed, the top management has to undergo some chaos in the workplace, and they faced huge difficulty in resolving the conflicts among the employees. I think the top management can announce some rewards for the employees so that they do not create any such problem and work excellently within the organization.

H & M has gained immense popularity among people by their other products, and people have the expectation of fine quality and stylish products from H & M. In order to maintain that brand image, H & M have already taken such a big step but if there arises some problem due to this chaos then the company had to undergo a huge loss. I suggest H & M top management supervise their employees because the project is very costly and a great step towards a new clothing style. Before launching any new products in the market, the business organization needs to try those products upon themselves (Reeder et al. 2016). I think time has come when H & M have to try their new products on themselves and when they find no problem, and then H & M can deliver the products in the market. It is essential for H & M to gain from the new project and become a top selling brand in the year 2017. This will help H & M to continue to live their vision of sustainability, and I think the project will become a big revolution in the fashion trend of H & M.

Conclusion

It can be summarized that the suggested marketing plan will surely bring out positive results for the sustainability project of H & M. I have carried out a thorough market analysis that has helped in estimating the requirements. As the market analysis suggests that there are plenty of opportunities that can be utilized to reach out to the customer base more efficiently, the marketing plan will lead the way to success. The leadership approach and culture of H & M are the catalysts of the company that will accelerate the implementation of the marketing plan. The barrier related to budget is systematically overcome through the intervention of the investors. 

References

• Anderson, P. M., & He, X. (2015). Consumer behavior in East/West cultures: Implications for marketing a consumer durable. In Proceedings of the 1996 Multicultural Marketing Conference
• Choi, Y., Yang, S., & Yoon, S. (2014). The Effect on Korean Consumers' Brand Preference, Trust and Purchase Intention for Donation Amount Information of Luxury Fashion Brands. Fashion business
• Griffioen, R., de Haan, J., & Willenborg, L. (2014). Collecting clothing data from the Internet. In Proceedings of Meeting of the Group of Experts on Consumer Price Indexes
• Halvorsen, K., Hoffmann, J., Coste-Manière, I., & Stankeviciute, R. (2013). Can fashion blogs function as a marketing tool to influence consumer behavior? Evidence from Norway. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing