Identify and describe the greatest environmental threats that have immediate implications for A&F. Abercrombie and Fitch do not fit the image of being a company that is diverse. The store seems to focus a person’s appearance rather than what qualifications the individual has that will help to increase the company’s profits. They seek to find individuals who capture what they believe have the all American look. When entering the store there are photos are young attractive white men and women who appear to be physically fit and attractive. The brand labels as they are called fit that same picture as well. The store does not show a diversity when it comes to other races being employed there or items of apparel that would bring other races into the store to purchase their products. Employees are handpicked by this company both by going on college campuses and getting young attractive white men and women or they are chosen when they come into the stores to shop. The employees must agree to wear their make up a certain way, their hair has to look a certain way, and they have to purchase articles of clothing from the store to wear while they are at work as well as when they are not working so that they will display the look of the store at all times. The employees that are in the back stock areas of the stores are usually of other ethnicities, these individuals are not allowed to be on the sales floor or at the cash registers. Having a bad reputation for discrimination is not something the public takes lightly and this will cause businesses to fail. Identify & describe the greatest opportunities available in the marketplace for A&F to pursue. Abercrombie and Fitch should try to pursue things such as expanding the type of clothing that they sell to attract not just the young white college students but to all college students. If they decided to do this then this could possibly mean a better chance at their profits increasing since there are millions of universities around the world and when a student sees their friends wearing a certain outfit then they will perhaps go into the store and purchase something similar. If they market their clothing apparel not just in certain neighborhoods and expand into other neighborhoods then this will increase their profits as well. By changing the photos on the walls and incorporating more ethnicities in the store then this will have the former image that people had stuck in their heads replaced with better ones which will also increase revenue as well as make the store have a better reputation in the public eyes. Something else that can be done is since the economy has taken a nose dive and the job market is not that great right now, they can try to satisfy the needs of those consumers who have to shop wisely. They can create better bargains then their competitors that help the consumers save money. If they provide better bargains then this will draw customers in who can go and spread the news that the bargains you get in Abercrombie and Fitch are worth the money. Identify and describe A&F’s greatest organizational strengths. Abercrombie and Fitch have a major strength which is the fact that the company has been around for a long time which makes them well known to the public. Brand equity also plays a positive effect because consumers agree to pay for the brand based on the fact that they know the value of the clothing apparel that they are receiving as an end result. The overall performance of the company is also an organizational strength that this company has. Abercrombie and Fitch have other chains of stores that help to increase their overall performance and by expanding their companies internationally will definitely increase their sales revenue. Identify and describe the company’s greatest weaknesses. One of the major weaknesses of Abercrombie and Fitch is their marketing strategies. The company’s image is of men and women who are half dressed and wearing revealing clothing. This does not portrait a very good image in the eyes of many of the consumers. They are focused more on sensual rather than casual clothing which is what the company initially set out to do. This type of image has a negative effect on consumers which will cause them to shy away from purchasing their brand of clothing. Also their websites offer the same type of sexual images as are displayed in their stores which also doesn’t help to build the number of customers that would be interested in purchasing merchandise from their stores. Describe how A&F’s strengths can be used to deflect environmental threats to further the company’s success in the industry. Abercrombie and Fitch’s strengths can be used to deflect environmental threats to further the company’s success in the industry in several ways. The first would be that since they are a company that has been around for a long time they have the means of having their name already out there so that people will know their brand. In order to do this though A&F must begin by getting the idea out of individual’s heads that they are a company that discriminates against individuals who are of non white races. They have to show consumers that they are a company that accepts all types of races and the first thing to do would be to change the pictures on the walls so that they display other ethnicities as well as employ other ethnicities to work in their stores not just in the back stock areas. Something else that could be done is to have other brands of clothing that would attract a multitude of people to come into their stores and shop. If they were to do this then they would get more business in their stores because people would start to see that they have made these visible changes.
Describe how A&F’s strengths can be used to take advantage of opportunities to further the company’s success in the industry. A&F can definitely use their strengths to further the company’s success by doing several things differently. Since just about every American has a computer and goes online they can change their website overall appearance. They can take off the images of the all American white male or female who is half dressed and put up images of college children of all races in casual clothing that you would see on many college campuses. This would perhaps draw in a much more diverse group of individuals which will increase their sales. By showing that they believe in non discrimination they will perhaps not be sued as much which causes the company to have to put out lots of money in an effort to pay the individuals that felt they were being discriminated against. Abercrombie and Fitch could also use the television as a way of getting their brand of clothing out but the catch to this would have to be that they would need to lower their prices in an effort to make buying suitable for everyone.