Chat with AIExam 3: Zara: Fast Fashion From Savvy Systems
_____ represents an integrated solution that combines hardware, software, data, procedures, and the people who interact with and are impacted by the system.
(35) 
VerifiedC
Making seasonal apparel decisions is a challenge because it often involves making predictions on what customers will be interested in, months in advance of clothing appearing on store shelves.
(31) VerifiedTrue
What role does Zara's headquarters play in the running of its stores?
(30) VerifiedZara's store managers, armed with personal digital assistants (PDAs), gather customer input. Staff members regularly chat up customers to gain feedback on what they'd like to see more of. The staff looks for trends in the piles of unsold items that customers tried on but didn't buy to spot any preferences in cloth, color, or styles offered among the products in stock. Managers send this valuable data to Zara's headquarters which allows the firm to plan styles and issue rebuy orders based on feedback rather than hunches and guesswork. The goal is to improve the frequency and quality of decisions made by the design and planning teams.
While stores provide valuable front-line data, headquarters plays a major role in directing in-store operations. Software is used to schedule staff based on each store's forecasted sales volume, with locations staffing up at peak times such as lunch or early evening. This constant refinement of operations throughout the firm's value chain has helped reverse a prior trend of costs rising faster than sales.
Even the store displays are directed from the firm's headquarters outside, where a basement staging area known as "Fashion Street" houses a Potemkin village of bogus storefronts meant to mimic some of the chain's most exclusive locations throughout the world. It is here that workers test and fine-tune the chain's award-winning window displays, merchandise layout, even determine the in-store soundtrack. Every two weeks, new store layout marching orders are forwarded to managers at each location.
Zara's vertically integrated model is easier for rivals to copy compared to Dell's, as computing is more complex than clothing in terms of number of new models offered.
(28) The strengthening of the euro relative to the dollar has insulated Zara against financial vulnerabilities.
(34) Maintaining large inventories is highly essential for the viability of the fashion industry.
(48) An information system is an integrated solution that combines five components: hardware, software, data, _____, and the people who interact with and are impacted by the system.
(42) Zara holds a competitive advantage over its rivals in spite of:
(32) Describe how Zara's counterintuitive practice of making limited production runs is profitable and effective in maintaining a competitive advantage over the firm's rivals.
(41) According to an independent study, Zara books some 85 percent of its products at full price compared to the industry average markdown ratio of 50 percent. This is made possible by:
(31) How does Zara differ from its competitors in converting ideas into products?
(34) Zara's IT expenditure, measured by IT workers as a percentage of total employees, is only slightly higher than the industry average.
(41) Limited production runs ensure customers do not have to visit Zara's stores as often as they visit other stores, allowing the firm to save money through staff reductions when compared to peers.
(39) Many firms have developed innovative information systems, only to find that employees fail to adopt these tools. How does Zara encourage store managers to effectively use the systems deployed in stores?
(32) _____ involves outsourcing production to third-party firms.
(32) Most fashion retailers place orders for a seasonal collection a few days before these lines make an appearance in stores.
(34) Briefly explain the intelligence-gathering exercises carried out by Zara in its stores and the role of technology in such efforts.
(36) Elaborate customer surveys help Zara designers predict fashion trends months into the future and design products accordingly.
(43) Walmart is a large firm, but some suggest that Zara has had more success implementing effective RFID. Why?
(42) Why has Zara been more effective in leveraging technology to enhance its operating strategies than its rivals? Provide an example to contrast Zara's handling of technology in its operations.
(36) 
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