Supply Chain Management in Zara & H&M Dissertation

Supply Chain Management in Zara & H&M - Dissertation Example The study "Supply Chain Management in Zara & H&M" targets to investigate the different supply chain behaviors that are being exercised by the different fashion retailers. Quick refers to the time it takes to release a product in the market, and quality refers to the product as a whole -- its components, or if it is in line with current fashion trend. One way of ensuring customer satisfaction is through the offering of quality goods and quick services. Because of this, firms are pressured to increase their productivity, reduce operational expenditures, and reduce lead times. Apparently, enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is needed so that organizations will obtain market value at this crucial moment. Supply chain networks succeed when the flow of information in organizations is not interrupted by any unwanted trouble. Members of the entire supply chain must be given permission to access timely information, and this information must flow to the direction where each and every mem ber is situated. The main role of ERP in the setting of an organization's SCM is for it to become equipped with an integrated information system. Most companies nowadays are experiencing pressure, and the reason for these is the shifts in demand. They are challenged to devise new ways of creating products as well as in finding various means to address the varying customer demands. The pressure that is being experienced by these manufacturing companies is made even complex as they expand the scope of their operations. both geographically and organizationally (Gattiker, 2007). In connection to the said circumstance, it is indeed timely to study a business strategy that targets to address the dynamic shifts that are already occurring in the manufacturing industry. While many types of manufacturing organizations are encountering such complexities, fashion retailers can become one good example of a firm that has been constantly experiencing the said changes. Supply chain (SC) coordinatio n gained relevance when organizations started to evolve. From then on, more attention is being given to the enterprise level management of supply chains than the factory level management (Gunansekaran, et al., cited in Akyuz & Erkan, 2010, p.5137). Because fast fashion has been becoming a trend in fashion retailing companies, the concept was chosen to become the focus of this study. Another reason why the concept was chosen is because of its correlation with supply chain management, for it has been considered a modern means applied by fashion companies to improve their supply chain which also part of their enterprise resource planning system (ERP). Research Approach: Quantitative Research This research is being built on a quantitative research approach, an approach that is widely used in testing the validity of existing theories. With this kind of approach to research, data collection is considered intense and continuous (Taylor, 2005, p.243). Quantitative research is useful in exam ining case studies that have been derived from theories and hypothesis; one reason why this approach to research analysis has been chosen for the study. In quantitative research, theories are developed through tests theory; thus, requiring the validity and reliability of information before one can begin