Laura Ashley Holdings plc: The Battle for Survival
The principal activities of the Laura Ashley Holding Group are the design, manufacturing, sourcing, distribution and sale of clothing, accessories and home furnishings. The Group acts through tow divisions: Retail, which reflects sales through Laura Ashley managed stores, Mail Order and Internet, and Non-retail, which includes licensing, and franchising, although the retail sector represents the bigger one. The company operates in the UK, Ireland and Continental Europe and to some extent in the US market.
Although the former CEOs of Laura Ashley Holdings plc have conducted several cost cutting and restructuring strategies, Ng Kwan Cheong, who took over as chief executive of Laura Ashley …show more content…
According to the US market, an intensive strategic analysis of the North American market conditions has to be conducted to take the necessary steps to enter this market. Factors like growth rate of the market, number of potential buyers/women, tastes etc. should be strategically analyzed in order to see, if this market is attractive to the company. Furthermore, it would be wise to contact or even to employ an external expert who is familiar with the North American market conditions and can give advice how to enter this market in the best possible way. In this way, before opening (more) retailer shops/stores the company should focus first of all more on franchising und licensing at the beginning.
However, to finance the entry in the US market for the long run, the company has not only to reduce costs but has to secure an increase in sales to create an positive operating income and in this way to show a high liquidity to attract shareholders (like the MUI) to inject more equity. This increase in sales should be secured by tying loyal consumers and attracting new consumers through a clear mission of traditional design and job security (see below), which improved the reputation of the company.
The bad reputation of the company as a reason of job insecurity because of shop closures has to be reduced by convincing the workers/consumers/society that the workers who lose their jobs because of an closure will find a job in the new