BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

Burberry Group Plc: Research Notes



Burberry Group Plc: Research Notes

Introduction to Organization

Burberry is a luxury brand in the global world, where it stands for representing unique heritage of British, offering different customized products in the fashion arena. The brand is superior quality fashion seller, offering core outerwear and large leather goods base as its forte. It is one of the most recognized icons in the world in terms of luxury items and fashionable stuffs. The brand represents the core values of being a dominant leader within its own sector, while reaching out for the untapped parts of the world. As of June 30, 2011, it had 181 retail stores, 197 concessions, 45 outlets, and 52 franchise stores. The company was founded in 1856 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Discussion

Fashion is extremely important to a society because it involves our tastes, reveals our character mainly in the field of clothing, and it is something that helps us see how we live.

Size, Sector and Type

Burberry Group operates in the Women's & misses' outerwear sector. The sector in which Burberry Group operates is the one of global luxury market that aims to define fashion in terms of clothing and accessories. Hence, it is a global luxury goods manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer (Luxury products brief: Burberry group PLC, Proquest). The Company's operates through its two channels to market, which include Retail or Wholesale and Licensing. Its products include outerwear, casual wear, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces, shoes; handbags, small leather goods, scarves, shoes, belts, and jewellery (Refer to appendix for size of company as reflected in its balance sheet). In the second half of Burberry's fiscal year, its revenues rose 6% to GBP 390 million ($682 million). Burberry operates within 3 distinct sectors of the Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Asia Pacific. The company concentrates its operations principally in the UK, and also makes a strong account of its presence within Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Hungary, the Netherlands and the Middle East. In the American region, the company operates within United States, Canada, Mexico, and other parts of the same region (Gray, Bebbington, 2001, pp. 100).

Stated Values and Social Responsibility Activities

The main values of the company are states as follows:

Providing leverage to the franchise through adopting sound financial and capital structure mixes.

Providing a reinforcement and intensification of the development of non-apparel sectors

Finding mechanism for accelerating the growth of the company as compared to its sector's size and structure

Enhancing the market growth of the sector as a whole, and investing in markets that are untapped or unexploited,

Aiming to achieve operational and administrative excellence of the company within the given sector (Luxury products brief: Burberry group PLC, Proquest).

Burberry is a socially aware company, which understands its role towards the socio-economic development of the countries, in which it operates. One of the social responsibility activities included the establishment of Burberry Foundation in 2008 that is aimed to enhance the community engagement of the company ...