ANN TAYLOR

Ann Taylor

Table of Contents

TASK 11

PEST Analysis1

Political Factors1

Economic Factors1

Sociological Factors2

Technological Factors3

Legal Factors4

Environmental Factors4

Structure5

Conduct5

Resource-based View8

TASK 3:10

References12

Ann Taylor

TASK 1

PEST Analysis

Ann Taylor was founded in 1954, and it was founded as a wardrobe for busy, social and upscale women. The name of the founder was Robert Liebeskind who established a stand-alone clothing store. The name of the brand was not the name of a real person; however, its persona lived on in the profile of the consumer. In 1991, the company went public, and in 1994, the additions that were made in the company included mail order catalog business, fragrance line and shoe stores in order to supplement the stores owned by Ann Taylor (Assenza, P. et.al. 2009).

Political Factors

Effective strategic management also entails accounting for the external environment in the preparation of the corporate strategy. The Starbucks corporate strategy is influenced by various factors including political, economic, socio-cultural and technological as well as environmental and legal factors. To start with, political factors are manifested in aspects such as trade and regulations on market and industry practices. Furthermore, Ann Taylor has to consider government regulation through license and permits that are required in operating their area of business (Business-gov, 2011). These are specific to the food and beverage industry and include laws on entertainment provision, use of certain ingredients in their products and importation rules. In addition, political influence is evident in location of premises, retail distribution and food additives. Political influence is also brought out in the impact of the US relations with other countries. Therefore, the management as Ann Taylor has to consider the nature of the relationship that the US has with a country into which it seeks to expand.

Economic Factors

These refer to aspects of the economy that Ann Taylor considers during strategic planning and management. Economic influence is depicted in areas such as interest rates, inflation, customer income and debt. For instance, the economic recession experienced between 2007 and 2009 in the macro environment affected the operations of the company as target customers were negatively affected by the recession. This was manifested in interest rate, house mortgages and debt that reduced the buying power of consumers. Another example of economic factors affecting strategy was in 2008 when reduced price profits forced the company to close 300 of its stores. The economic downturn also impacted on their employee as 6,700 jobs were lost with the 69 percent decline in company quarterly profits (McCall, 2009). In 2009, the company was forced to take measures in order to retain customers as it offered value meals at $3.95 to suit the requirements of the global economic environment. the external forces further was the company offer food and drinks at reduced prices in designated stores to counter the 10 percent sales decline experienced (Associated-Press, 2009).

Figure 1: The United States' inflation rate (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012)

Sociological Factors

The social factors in the food and beverage market include various aspects of society such as the beliefs, values and attitudes of the target ...