Zara: Fast Fashion Online Case
The Zara: Fast Fashion online case offers students an array of tools to analyze the business strategy of Inditex, an international fashion retailer based in Spain. The case study uses video, graphics, spreadsheets, and interactive exhibits to help students understand the company's distinctive operating model.
Inditex has set up an extremely quick response system for its Zara chain. Instead of predicting months before a season starts what women will want to wear, Zara observes what's selling and what's not, and continuously adjusts what it produces and merchandises on that basis. Powered by Zara's success, Inditex has expanded into thirty-nine countries, making it one of the most global retailers in the world.
The case uses Flash animations to illustrate key concepts, including an exhibit that graphically represents the expansion of the retail stores across Europe and the world. An additional interactive exhibit allows students to quickly review and compare the company's six clothing chains and how each one targets different customers. A third Flash exhibit organizes complex data into one easy-to-understand interface, allowing students to compare Inditex financial data against key competitors such as H&M, the Gap, and Benetton.
Video takes students behind the scenes and offers an insider's view of Zara's four-step business system: design, sourcing and manufacturing, distribution, and retailing. Students are able to see how customer demand fluctuations in the stores are monitored and then relayed back to headquarters, where products are designed and produced in record time for specific stores around the world.
The case concludes with senior executives of Inditex discussing their strategy in detail at a management round table.
Zara: Fast Fashion allows students to engage in an analysis of competitive economics in terms of both operating economics and capital efficiency. Students are able to analyze Zara's choices, particularly ones connected to its quick-response capability, and the ways they create competitive advantage. Finally, students are able to examine the threats to and likely sustainability of Zara's competitive advantage over time.
The Zara case has been used in introductory courses on strategy and international business. Professors have also used the case as a bridge between strategy and other functional areas such as supply chain/operations management, marketing, and finance.
For more information and to purchase the Zara case, go to HBS Publishing.
