Brand Strategy Case Analysis Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Brand Strategy Analysis - Case Study Example The company also maintains threats that come directly from the consumer and their attitude regarding Starbucks’ quality and viability to fit their needs. Domestically, the success in consumer attitude or its previous ability to corner the market on unique coffee products met with higher capital growth for expansion into new market environments. However, the business has had to adjust its marketing strategies to include extension into the virtual environment, as only one example, because of this influence. Coupled with growth in competition know-how and product replication, Starbucks is unsure of whether its expansion from years prior will continue to serve its sustainability or growth objectives. The extension of other value-added products such as theater tickets or other branded merchandise is one contingency for revenue production that meets with short-term gains based on social or cultural trends. However, Starbucks seems to be able to recognize the appropriate short-term b randing partnerships and builds, at least, a short-run increase in sales growth. Starbucks’ hot spot music-related product focus is yet another example of its short-term focus in gaining higher revenues. Using reputable artists or other media to explore new technologies and sounds appealed to a buyer sentiment in the late 1990s at a time when there was little in terms of social media or other advertising formats. These strategies are now facing competition from major players in music downloads and kiosk formats such as Apple iTunes and multitudes of music downloading and access sites. This requires Starbucks to be always flexible regarding its strategic goals for gaining new market share or improving its capital position to be used in expansion or other business objectives related to outperforming other industry leaders or direct competitors. Success, Growth and the Global Brand They key successes are in environmental scanning to recognize opportunities in measurement to comp etition and buyer attitudes driven either by social factors, cultural factors or generic attitudes toward coffee and its innovations or convenience. Extension into non-food product offerings shows this flexibility and understanding of environmental forces that influence how the company manages its total product offering package. The company was able to build its positive brand based on quality by reinforcing through advertising and actual product that it was a best-in-class offering using only quality ingredients and development expertise. It was an engrained strategy used to appeal to mass market groups of varying demographics that never changed its positioning to create a portrait in the minds of consumers against competition. Starbucks’ growth strategy seemed a bit premature, extending itself into unknown markets too quickly without adequate knowledge of what their social trends included. Joint ventures and other partnerships provided the expertise and/or funding necessary to achieve this sudden growth, however only so much knowledge can be developed when most efforts are directed toward product innovation as a key goal or branding attribute. The partnerships with agencies such as Marriott were a practical and realistic method of introducing Starbucks into new environments where coffee consumption was typical. However, with high risks of cheapening the brand and allowing it to be leveraged and capitalized upon by knowledge leaders in the partner or joint

Discussion Week 1b Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion Week 1b - Assignment Example The first written language of accounting systems constitutes the use of symbols in various memoranda such as goods and business ideals (Albu, 2013). In early Babylonia and ancient Egypt society, a number of stone transaction dated back to 3600 BC were recorded indicating the beginning of auditing in the past centuries (Stone, 2014). In Ancient Egypt and Babylon there are a lot of evidences indicating that the scribes were well educated and involved in finances systems, businesses, auditing, accounting and other inventory balances in the Pharaoh government. Scribes had the ability to do simple arithmetic’s, read and write various government revenues policies (Albu, 2013). In the early Persian civilization system, tax collection and finance auditing were done by the king empire agencies (Stone, 2014). Furthermore, in Hebrew civilization, the scribes involved in financial auditing for goods received by the king. A number of scholars also argued that the Ancient Greece society uses slaves in order to conduct and embrace accounting and auditing practices (Boyd, 2004). The Athens uses around ten accountants and checking clerks in tax collection as well as reporting income profits and government revenues to the general public (Stone, 2014). The Roman Empire also practiced a number of accounting procedures including the provision of checks, financial recordings as well as counter checks practices (Stone, 2014). In the Middle Ages accounting system decline but was later reestablished in many European countries. It is also clear from the articles that the private sectors also involved in auditing and accounting systems in early centuries. Accounting system was not properly recorded in the early civilizations but from the Middle Ages onwards most of the accounting systems were well recorded (Stone, 2014). Therefore, from these articles it is clear that accounting is one of

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Essay

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - Essay Example The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is a grant that aims to help move recipients into work, and therefore turn the welfare into a temporary assistance program. The report focuses on effecting changes in the social programs of the United States. It targets the branch of the government that deals with temporary assistance for families classified as needy (TANF). The recipients of this report are the various organizations, both governmental and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), which deal with welfare funding. Following the continuous complaints from American citizens about the social welfare of the working class, the issue of primary concern is that the current program falls under the Social Security Act enacted on August 14th, 1935. The nation has formed welfare recipients under the renewed act. The renewed act is the Personal Responsibility Act of 1996 based on work opportunity reconciliation. Problem Statement According to government statistics, the TANF program is represented by 31% of white families, 33% black, and 29% Hispanic (Kearn, 2000). It is important to note that the aim of the program is to provide funds to needy families with a five-year limit on financial assistance. In fact, total welfare spending for the year ending 2010 reached an astounding $900 billion. The problem arises when, even with the large amounts spent on assisting poor families, more families keep being added to the system.

Discuss the Iranian Constitutional Revolution's causes and outcomes Essay

Discuss the Iranian Constitutional Revolution's causes and outcomes - Essay Example The Iranian constitutional Revolution of 1906 stands to highlight the pivotal moment, that shaped the formation of the modern Iraq nation. The Iranian society underwent a series of changes that affected its power relations, social structure, and the political language (Campo, 2009:55). In addition, the relentless European penetration into the nation led to its subsequent weakening, affecting the economy as well as the traditional elites thus bringing Iran in the doorsteps of the expanding capitalism system (Afary, Anderson & Foucault, 2005:90). This processes led the country into a change of the constitution. This research paper will analyze the chronology of events that necessitated Iran’s new constitutional dispensation, first the birth of the revolution, secondly the causes of the constitutional revolution and thirdly the outcomes of the constitutional revolution. The itinerary of the revolution To begin with, the itinerary of Iran’s constitutional birth traces back to the days of Qajar regime (Sohrabi, 2011:48). A journey shed new light to the country. It highlighted the role of ordinary citizens, peasantry, the status of women, and the multifaceted structure of the Iranian society, in the course of realizing the new law reforms. As stated earlier in the introduction, the new changes in the military, administrative, educational, and judicial reforms led to emergency of new institutions and a new social stratum of intellectuals. As this seemed not going to end, the simplification of the Persian prose, which aimed at articulating it to a new system of historical narration no longer basing on Muslim, was on its way to change the existing social norms (Daniel, 2000:54). As a reason to this, the dominant Iranian conversation or discourse changed. This discourse, which was the bonding element between state and religion, led to the emergency of new relations of power and knowledge. People shifted away from the use of possessors of knowledge to being spiritualists (Katouzian, 2006:105). They now referred to the religious elites. At this level, it is clear that the country was operating on two different and opposing blocs. Qajar regime tried to create social reforms in the existing institutions. The regime-faced collisions even from clergies who had became an important component of the power bloc. As a result, with each group having its own resolutions and visions, the end was a conflict of interest. This slowed down the pace of reforms. The lag in the realization of reforms increased the dissatisfaction between the merchants and the intellectuals. Consequently, this brought uneasiness to the Qajar’s. At this stage, the merchants and the intellectuals opposed the government’s slow pace because they believed they possessed more revitalized ideas. All those who were for the reforms and those who formed the pact of not in support, ganged up to discredit the government due to its despotism of the state (Sohrabi, 2011:66 ). The aftermath of this was the fight that targeted despotism. This brought together even the opposing forces, which prior had diverse antagonistic demands and aspirations. In this emerging discourse, the political space divided into two (Afary, Anderson & Foucault, 2005:114). There was the state on one side and the antagonistic poles on the other (people and the state). On the side of the, opposing force, only one thing unified them, the defense of their creed (defense of the millat). At this time, there was a radical

The Benefits of a College Degree Essay Example for Free

The Benefits of a College Degree Essay Going to college to earn a degree is very important and is also an advantage for me in today?s world. I have many different reasons why I?m getting a degree. One reason is because important to have a goal, to work toward something. Having a long term goal helps me stay motivated. Most importantly getting a degree will insure that I will be personally and financially stable. Even though obtaining a college degree will help me in so many different ways in my life. Going to college is very taxing; emotionally, physically and financially. No matter how many times succeed or fail at my goals, going to college is an eye opener for me. There are so many goals I will have through out my life, none of them being as important as obtaining a college degree. Some people may say that my family is the most important achievement in my life. But a degree is in ways more important. It ensures that I will provide the best life for my family. On the other hand my family is what gives me the courage to wake up every morning and look forward to going to school to learn knew things. Working toward my degree keeps my mind focused. Having a long term goal is key in my life. Because no matter what happens I know that the next day I will be dedicating time from my life to achieve something most people only think about doing. I hope I can stay motivated enough to get more classes done. And to do my best at all times, even if my best is scraping by. Because at that time it was my best. These are small goals, but these goals will add up to a more important achievement in the end. The personal and financial stability I will get from a college education is priceless. Knowing that for eight years I didn?t quiet for anything to achieve my degree will be the greatest feeling ever. All of the motivation, dedication, wisdom, and courage that I will gain thought out my college carrier will be strongest part of my personal stability. Because of my college education I will be able to get a well paying job with benefits that will ensure the financial stability I need for my family. Knowing that the income from my job will enable me to not worry about having enough money for retirement is very satisfying. Being able to pay for my children?s education is very important to me and the well being of my children. Thanks to this financial stability I will be able to sleep a little better. There are many down falls to having a college carrier. Finding the time in my busy life to sit down and do hours of homework. It is difficult to wake up early every morning and go to work for eight grueling hours, then go home inhale my dinner, then rush to school. Only to come home and do homework for hours, go to bed late and wake up early and go through the same thing again. Not only is this exaughsting, it is emotionally hard as well. Not getting enough quality time with my family is hard to deal with. Not having time to do homework causes school work to be late. Which causes my grades to slip and my G.P.A to fall. In order to receive assistance for tuition I need to maintain my G.P.A. If my G.P.A were to fall I could be putt on academic probation. In turn I would need to work overtime to make up for money lost. College can be very physically and emotionally demanding. Obtaining a college degree is very important. A degree will help me to become personal and financially stable. Achieving this goal will help me in everyday life.

Boyz N the Hood Essay Example for Free

Boyz N the Hood Essay In the movie Boyz N the Hood there is a constant conflict that follows many of the characters. The movie takes place in South Central Los Angeles, which is a very dangerous neighborhood. There are lots of shootings, drugs, and other crimes which take place there on a daily basis. This is a predominantly African American neighborhood and the movie portrays this idea with all black people. Throughout the movie, the conflict of every day violence and crime asserts itself and makes life tough for these young men. Tre, the main character, is forced to move in with his dad after he breaks a contract with his mom and gets into a little scuffle with one of his classmates at school. While living with his dad, he gets a taste of this bad neighborhood very early. The first night he is staying with his father, a burglar sneaks into the house and attempts to rob the house. Tre’s father hears the burglar in the family room and grabs his magnum and shoots at him frightening Tre. A day or two later after Tre gets back from the beach with his father he comes home to the sight of his good friend Doughboy getting taken away in a police car. He stole from a market because he had no money, got caught, and as a result he gets sent to jail. He realizes very quickly while living with his father that there is a lot of danger that is around him. The movie fast forwards seven years and the scene is a party at Ricky and Doughboy’s house, who are brothers. Doughboy had returned from one of his few trips to jail and there is a little welcome back party to celebrate for him. Shortly after his return, doughboy is hanging outside with two of his friends when a black man rips the necklace of his friend’s neck and bolts off. The three boys chase down the man and beat him on the ground; punching, kicking, and throwing a trash can at him and they get the necklace back. While Tre, Ricky, Doughboy, and the rest of their crew are at the Crenshaw car show one night, Ricky is bumped by a random man. Both crews start getting into and chipping back and forth and after the other men leave, the other crew unloads uzi clips into the air causing everyone to scatter. The following day Ricky and Tre are on a walk back to Ricky’s house from the market when they spot the red car in which the men from the other night ride in. They hop a fence and make it to a back alley and decide to split up. While Ricky is walking down the alley he spots the car again and tries to run away. They fire a shotgun at him twice and hit him in the leg and the chest. He instantly dies right in front of his best friend Ricky. Later that evening Doughboy and two of the other boys go to avenge their fallen brother. They find the three boys at a cafà © late at night and end up gunning down all three of them for killing Ricky. Day after day in South Central there is violence and crime and there is no getting away from that. At the end of the movie it says that Doughboy was murdered just two weeks later. The movie takes place in a very dangerous neighborhood and for some of the boys they pay the ultimate price, death. Luckily for Tre he is able to stay out of the violence, but he himself is put at gunpoint twice during the movie. No matter what the boys do there is nothing they can do about the crime and violence that takes place in their neighborhood. Day in and day out there is some kind of crime going on around them. This conflict haunts Tre and his friends throughout the whole movie, and unfortunately he loses to of his good longtime friends.

SWOT Analysis of HM

SWOT Analysis of HM The paper provides an overview on Hennes Mauritz (HM), analyzing the industry environment and the position in the retail market. The paper also explores the impact of the recession upon the human resource management activities, based on publicly available details of HM, which has been analyzed and presented within the context of the perspective. Introduction The retail industry is usually a very dynamic, and a fast changing sector in the market. It represents one of the main sectors in the UK economy, in terms of employment, transactions and turnover, so that as a consequence, it is a highly competitive and a sophisticated industry. Thompson (2002) argues that economic conditions are an important element in the industry and he states that they may affect the way, weather easy or difficult, a business runs the activity successfully and profitable .Furthermore he claims that economic conditions may affect both capital availability, cost and demand. Companies in the fashion sector have to keep all the time the attention on monitoring the market, and should try to identify any new trends as soon as possible and, above all, they have to keep up with the customers increasing expectations, needs and changing tastes. As the paper shows above, the analysis will be on the HennesMauritz fashion business which is considered one of the worlds favourite and preferred designers of clothes and accessories for man, women, teenagers and babies. In addition, HM its also known not only for the fashion cosmetics and accessories but also because of the quality of the clothes ,using sustainable materials like organic cotton, wool and organic denim, all being environmental friendly (HM website (1), viewed 20 October 2010). According to the Datamonitor (2010, p.4) HM is a large clothing retailer with its operations primarily set in Europe, North America, and Asia, owning in 2009 1,988 stores worldwide and reaching sales of 119 billion Sweden Kronor. (HM website (2), viewed 20 October 2010). The companys main office is based in Stockholm, Sweden and employs almost 76,000 workers out of which more than 53,476 are on full time employment as of November 2009. HMs strategic approach is to offer designer clothes to general population at affordable prices, the company working with such brand names as Stella McCartney, Karl Lagerfeld, Roberto Cavalli and Lanvin (Capell Beucke 2005, p. 16; Kroll 2004, p. 71; Zimmerman 2009, p. D1; WWD 2010, p. 2). RECESSION IN RETAIL SECTOR Nowadays almost all kinds of industries are willing to maintain their competitive position in the market during the recession period. Most of the challenges that the retail market faces are related to the economic and the financial aspects. The fashion industry faced unfavourable situation due to the reduction of the money spent on clothes, but also due to the change in consumers behaviour. According to Kambil (2009) recession should last less than 2 years, and managers should take full advantage of this in order to rethink and renew their strategies and their competitive positions in the UK retail market. The UK retail market was just one of the industries hit by the global economic downturn, as shoppers were forced to limit their spending and consumer confidence was shaken by the failure of important retail giants like Woolworth. With the retail market getting back on its feet in 2010 particularly the online sales segment, where UK web sales grew by 18% in August 2010 (BBC website, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11034030 ), compared with the same month a year earlier one of the most pressing concerns is whether there will be long-term effects on consumer confidence or spending. The retail industry has been an excellent contributor to the UKs economy. According to the British Retail Consortium, the retail sector is one of the second largest employers in the UK, employing 11% of the UK workforce, some 2.9 million people as of March 2009. Historical evidences depict that the UKs economic development has been dominantly fuelled by the successes in the fashion industry especially because of the existence of 286,680 retail outlets in the UK (British Retail Consortium website). Over all these years, industrial success in textiles and fashion goods component have been significant and can be attributed to the continuous change and improvements in the lifestyle of the shoppers and the increasing value being placed to such products. Consumers constantly experimented different looks, styles, fabrics and ideas and their interest in fashion accessories has been stimulated by high media exposure, which have been growing over the last few years. This assiduous rise in the consumer spending on fashion products led to practically unchallenged growth in the industry. Despite the crisis in this sector of the economy, some of the organizations managed to grow their market share. According to Kambil (2008) companies need to focus their attention on the market share and in addition they had to launch new products and adjust the existing ones in order to improve their relations with the customers. Using HM as a company example, they tried to beat the effects of the downturn, by launching designer clothes in partnership with well-know designers like Jimmy Choo, Roberto Cavalli and Lanvin this November (HM website, viewed 21 October 2010). Moreover the economic recession has affected many HR Processes and they needed to be adapted to the new economic environment and furthermore they had to be ready to face the new reality. The impact of the recession is not the same and many HR Processes can continue their regular operation without any adjustment. Even if recession has affected many fashion organisations, closing stores or slashing prices, one of the big retailers operating on the UK market, HM ,was keeping quite well, in addition they were opening stores, entering new markets, and adding new brands (Spiegel website, April 9 2008, ). Another major effect of the recession in the retail industry is the staff redundancies. According to The Telegraph website there is an important downsizing in this sector, which may affect retail organisations in many ways. The article shows that at the beginning of 2009 economists were announcing massive staff reductions between 100,000 and 135,000 jobs due to the severity of the slowdown. Moreover the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development predicted at that time more than 600,000 jobs will be lost and many companies will be forced to freeze their workforces pay. Sales have been also suffering by the economic downturn, reporting a volume of retail sales lower with 0.1% than October last year (National Statistics Online website, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=256). Among the factors that should be taken into consideration is the current economic growth rate in the nation. This directly refers to an economys rise in value of services or goods produced. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) in the case of United Kingdom, the economic growth rate in 2010 grew by 1.1% in the second quarter of the year (BBC website, National Statistics Online website, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=256 ). Another economic factor that may influence retail business in the fashion industry is the inflation. According to the BBC newspaper, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), inflation increased to 3.2% in October from 3.1% per cent in the previous month (BBC newspaper, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11784775, Appendix A) SWOT Analysis of HM According to Armstrong (2004) SWOT is defined as (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and is a popular framework for developing a marketing strategy. SWOT analysis is basically done to find out if they have sufficient resources to cover their weakness and still achieve their objective. Strength Hennes Mauritz AB build its strengths by operating through complementary retail channels stores, Internet, and printed catalogues. According to Datamonitor (2010) one of the significant strength of HM Company is the request for its products which rise up the inventory turnover and enables low price cut. Customer express their preference for HM product especially clothes because of its quality at the best price but also because of the stores which are refreshed and reordered daily with new garments products. Moreover, collaboration with designer like Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli and Lanvin this November, which are very well know worldwide, will improve the desire for their garments ,but also will accelerate sales growth ( Business week website, viewed 19 October 2010) . Another major strength of HM is the presence on different markets such as Europe, North America and Asia with almost 2000 stores (HM website (4), viewed 20 October 2010). This fact is a positive aspect for the company because they can diversify their risk, but also be sustainably- financially, socially and environmentally (CSR Report 2009). Weaknesses One of the most important and noticeable weakness that HM encounters is the segment that the fashion company targets. HM designs clothes for young customers offering them the HM Divided and HM L.O.G.G collections. Second fact that can be taken into consideration as a weaknesses is the shoppers base which is influenced by the macro economic environment in a negative way (Datamonitor 2010).The article claims that HM focus on the young segment of the market, which is one of the worst hit by the recession, with 21% rate of unemployment for teenagers under age of 25. Opportunities First of all, one of the most important opportunities that HM faces is the e-commerce. According to Datamonitor (2010) HM online sales grew by 22% with 4.7% of the total retail online sales in Europe. Moreover the online sales within more 17 European Countries (such as France, UK, Germany) are estimated to grow by 11% each year over the next five years. Even if the recession affected the retail industry, Hennes Mauritz opened in 2009 250 stores worldwide with 25 more than they planned. (HM website (3), viewed 21 October 2010) Second of all, the expansion plans 2010-1011 for HM intend to reach a 10-15 % each year. The Company tries to focus on markets like Asia where the sales double over, China Japan and South Korea. (Financial times website October 20, 2010). Another opportunity that HM takes full advantage of is the use of organic cotton which classified the company in the top twelve global brands and retailer using organic cotton. Threats Threats of the company are also related to the economic recession because shoppers spend less money on clothes. Over the year 2010 employment were expected to become worse, peaking towards the end of the year at approximately 10.3% and consumers were expected to apply for benefits. Second major threat for the organisation is the VAT which has been reduced in the UK in 2008 by 15% and in January 2010 has been changed again do 17.5%. Apart of this change the cost for cotton has been modified as well with almost 60-75 % by the end of 2009 and with 20-30% during 2010 (Datamonitor 2010 , http://web.ebscohost.com/bsi/pdf?vid=20hid=7sid=4b01c02d-b8cf-414f-b787-7f93a0b69865%40sessionmgr113 ). Human Resource Management in a recession The retail sector is one of the most hit by the global economic recession, so that managers should handle the effects of recession as professionally as possible in a downturn. But since when human resource management is dealing with the implementation of the strategies and policies relating to the management of individuals, the department become one of the most responsible to bring the organisation on the right track during recession time. According to Kambil (2008) there are some important steps that a business should follow in order to maintain their competitive position on the market. Some of these vital steps are the improvement of prices in order to grow margins, the increase of the financial and operational efficiency, but also the concentration on the market share. According to Armstrong (2009, p.5) the purpose of the human resource management is to make sure that an organisation is able to perform well through its staff, but also to increase the efficiency and the capability of the business. Furthermore, it also helps the business to reach it goals by using the resources available to their best use. One of the first processes affected by a recession is the recruitment selection policies which have been massively affected by the recession. Newell and Shackleton (2000) argues that recruitment and selection process involves making anticipation about what will happen, so that decisions are made about who is the most suitable person for a certain job that can increase the performance of an organisation. Now managers and recruitment agencies are being extra careful who they bring in, and they prefer to rethink and implement new strategies in order to improve their relations with the customers. In addition, companies are even more demanding than before, making sure that they recruit the best candidate that can bring real value to the company. Another significant effect on human resource management which impact an organization in recession time is the cost cutting. Retailers are conscious about the situation of the business and try to do everything to maintain their competitive position on the market. They started to cut working hours, holidays, labour costs, and travel expenses and they dont offer long-term benefits anymore. According to Retail Week website (http://www.retail-week.com/cost-cutting-the-lean-machine/1923604.article ) organizations needed to reduce its cost not only to their store level, but also to their head offices. The career and development process have been also affected by the recession, so that managers offer limited trainings to their staff. Selecting and training employees with great potential, contribute to the increase of the sales and organisations performance. It also leads to a more structured career path which ensures that staff has the necessary skills to improve the quality of services and products of a company. Introducing flexible working arrangements and part-paid sabbaticals is another effect of the recession that has a significant impact on an organisation impact on an organization. Managers prefer to make these changes, rather than implementing redundancy programmes, because it allows them to manage every cost. This measure eliminates the need of hiring extra staff for busy periods such as Christmas or Easter holidays. The operations are also suffering due to the recession, because managers develop different channels which imply lower labour costs, such as online sales. A number of retailers found more innovative ways to deal with cost cutting by introducing 9 day fortnights, reducing daily hours and offering unpaid sabbaticals, so we also saw an uplift in the request for interim specialists to renegotiate these new practices. Conclusion The middle of 2008 saw huge changes for the UK retail industry, with the sector suffering a very intense downturn and several well-known brands were disappearing from the high streets. But on the other hand there have been retailers that improved their performance during the recession. As seen above, HM is one of them, reaching a SEK 118,697 million turnover, and about 76,000 employments. The human resource management is one of the sectors that have been also affected by the economic downturn. According to Armstrong (2000) Human resource management is a construct largely invented by academics and popularised by consultants. So that many retailers took decisive actions, like concentrating and simplifying their operations by reducing staff numbers and costs, both through natural wastage and implementing redundancy programmes and flexible working hours. Furthermore, there is now evidence of significant change in the retail sector. In line with the drop-off in demand for goods not being as bad as had initially been feared, retailers are now re-evaluating and rethinking their HR strategies. In conclusion, the paper demonstrates that the current economic conditions have provided the opportunity for the UK retail industry to learn and deal better with HRM structures and recession, adding to what had already been in progress before the economic downturn, which in turn shows an opportunity to make the business stronger, successfully and profitable. Moreover, there is a lack of standard qualifications across retail sector which is also unfavourable.ÂÂ   Government policy in this area is ineffectual and needs to be improved as soon as possible.