The Strategic Management Capabilities of John Lyttle, the CEO of BooHoo Group Plc.

Write a report describing and analysing the strategic management style of Mr John Lyttle Beighton, the CEO of BOOHOO GROUP Plc.

After undertaking an extensive research on the company, students are required to analyse the problems, issues and challenges faced by the firm and  examine the strategies used by the CEO in order to increase the market share. The topics from the module to be covered are given below from A to E and the work can be backed using relevant examples from the corporate world.

For each task given (FROM A to E, you are expected to incorporate at least one appropriate theory/model or concept.  For example, you may be guided by theories from Michael Porter, Strategic planning tools and others, for example, on strategy.

In your conclusion, you are to include at least three recommendations as to how might the company improve the situation in the future.

 

A)    Undertake external and internal environment analysis and analyse how the complex problems at BOOHOO GROUP Plc were managed by the CEO using business framework. (725 words)

B)     Examine the business and corporate level strategies used by the CEO which has brought about positive contribution to the organisation?   (725 words)

C)     Describe the strategic tools/ techniques / models used by the CEO of BOOHOO GROUP Plc to enhance the organisational performance. You may be guided by theories from Michael Porter, Blue Ocean strategy, Strategic planning tools  and others, for example, on strategy. (725 words)

D)    You need to critically analyse and evaluate the different contemporary  issues in strategy, clearly stating the different strategies used by the CEO of BOOHOO GROUP Plc. It is important to refer to a theory or theories (for example,  resource based strategy and competitiveness, innovation and technology strategies, Blue ocean strategy)  when formulating the task (725 words)

E)     Examine how the CEO of BOOHOO GROUP Plc created, developed and designed strategic planning for BOOHOO GROUP Plc (525words)

F)      Based on the discussion and debate what suggestions / recommendations would you make BOOHOO GROUP Plc to sustain its position? (625words) Feel confident in arguing a strategic position based on well researched evidence and a strong theoretical base. (Please see page 4

G)     for the break up of words for each section)

 ANSWER

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Boohoo is one of the most renowned global brands in the clothing and apparel industry. With a presence in the UK, the company, through its numerous e-commerce retail outlets, has been able to expand its product offerings and market, reaching customers beyond the shores of Great Britain. It offers a number of products targeting fashion-enthusiasts aged 16 to 64 years old, and has continued to solidify its market capitalization with £1.745 billion in 2021 revenue, representing a 41% increase from the previous year. While its products are not costly to imitate and not rare, the company has been able to deliver and sustain such performance through a pronounced strategic management team. The CEO, John Lyttle, in particular, has enacted numerous measures to ensure that consumer trust and preference are sustained. This was demonstrated in the Leicester event, where some of its manufacturers were the subjects of allegations bordering on poor working conditions and falsifications. The CEO understood the potential impact of such an allegation on their performance and was quick to move to address it by employing an independent investigator who reviewed the issue and made recommendations on ways to address it. The CEO was quick to implement these recommendations as part of short-term efforts to avoid such a situation happening in the future. Further discussions on the strategic measures implemented by the CEO, which are the main backbone of the company’s positive performance, are discussed in this paper.

INTRODUCTION

The essence of strategic management is based on the fact that it helps in building competitive advantage. In today’s marketplace, which features continued disruption of the workplace through technological innovation, strategic management comes with the potential of delivering solid bottom line performance. Therefore, company executives that exhibit a strong understanding of their company’s products or services, coupled with an in-depth view of the activities of their main competitors, are able to forecast and plan timely and make informed business decisions. This also implies that they are capable of preparing for future opportunities and risks. Therefore, it is imperative that any company seeking to create sustainable performance should employ strategic management approaches in its daily business operations, as doing so is pivotal for creating and sustaining competitive edge, irrespective of the industry under consideration.

To demonstrate this, this entry looks at the strategic management capabilities of John Lyttle, the CEO of BooHoo Group Plc. The work starts with an analysis of the internal and external business environment, with the aim of assessing whether the company is strategically positioned to address issues and events as they occur. The VRIO framework was used to analyse the internal environment, while the PESTLE framework was used to analyse the external environment. Secondly, the paper considers the business and corporate level strategies employed by the CEO, extensively discussing how the CEO adopts a transformation leadership style and theory of responsive practice to address urgent issues taking place in the industry that have a direct effect on the company. The third section looks at the strategic tools, techniques, and models used by the CEO to enhance the company’s performance. Discussions in this section centred on early warning systems, four corner analysis, and value chain analysis. The fourth section critically analyzed and evaluated the different contemporary issues in strategy and how the CEO has been able to address such issues. The main issue made manifest in this discussion is the event in Leicester, and it was vividly linked because of the global attention it gathered when the event started to emerge in 2020. Therefore, this section looked at how innovation, technology, and information asymmetry have been affecting the company and what the CEO has been doing to address it. The fifth section looked at how the CEO created, developed, and designed strategic planning for the company. The final section focused on recommendations on ways forward, pointing out the need for product line extension and sustaining their transparent approach to management.

INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL BUSINESS 

ANALYSIS OF BOOHOO GROUP PLC

Today’s ventures, including those that are entrepreneurship-oriented, are facing numerous challenges in their respective business environments (Okeyo et al., 2016). As defined, the business environment represents the aggregation of different factors, actors, and forces, which shape the different criteria that guide how business operations are carried out, and it is the foundation upon which businesses are created and developed (Sardak & Movchanenko, 2018). Ventures exist in highly dynamic business environments with information asymmetry and unpredictable events and outcomes of business activities, and they necessitate that the business change its foundations approach in order to form a more competitive front in the global economic sphere that is constantly influenced and shaped by the functioning of businesses.Therefore, the identification and analysis of the business environment is considered an important and complex issue (Kinange & Patil, 2020). Essentially, the business environment a venture operates in does affect its operations and performance. Boohoo Group Plc is no exception to this. Its internal and external environments are discussed below.

Internal Environment

VRIO Framework

According to Jurevicius (2021), the VRIO framework is one of the tools used in measuring the internal environment of businesses. As developed by Barney, J. B. (1991), the framework identifies four attributes that a venture’s resources must possess for it to create a sustainable edge. The resources must be valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and non-substitutable (Barney, 1991). This framework is used to analyze Boohoo Group Plc.

Valuable	Rare	Imitation	Organized	The results
NO				Competitive disadvantage
YES	NO	NO	NO	Competitive equality / party
YES	YES	NO	YES	Temporal competitive advantage
YES	YES	YES	YES	Unused competitive advantage
YES	YES	YES	YES	Long-term competitive advantage

 

Valuable - Rothaermel (2013) stated that the first question to ask is whether the resources add value by empowering the company to explore opportunities or defend threats in their business environment. Boohoo is a leading e-commerce retail group with numerous brands like Boohoo, BoohooMAN, Nasty Gal, CAOAST, MissPap, Wallis, Burton, and other products targeting fashion-conscious 16-to 45-year-olds both in the UK and across the globe (Boohoo, 2021). The company returned £1.745 billion in 2021, representing a 41% increase from the previous year, as revenue for the year, and 8.67p paid in dividends to its shareholders (Boohoo, 2021). Thus, it would be right to say that the company is valuable.

Rarity – rare resources can only be obtained by one or a few companies (Rothaermel, 2013). Its products are not uncommon, and numerous ventures offer comparable products in both the higher- and lower-end markets.

Imitation - resources that are costly to imitate are those that companies that lack them cannot imitate, substitute, or purchase at a reasonable price (Rothaermel, 2013). Essentially, Boohoo’s products are not costly to imitate because they can be bought, substituted, or acquired by companies seeking to offer similar brands. In fact, most of its competitors offer similar products, so imitations are already on the market.

Organized to capture value—this relates to how the company’s management systems, policies, processes, culture, and organizational structure are organized to fully realize its valuable potential, reality, and cost for competitors to imitate (Rothaermel, 2013). Boohoo is run by an organized system, and as such, it is able to capture desired value.

External environment

PESTLE

For any country, political stability is a great strength, and the UK prides itself in that area. However, Brexit (the UK's exit from the EU bloc) has sparked a lot of political debate and uncertainty.Some analysts believe it opens up enormous opportunities for the country, while others argue that it has already caused chaos (BBC, 2020).The fact is that it has changed trade relations between the EU and UK, with employees from EU member states that work in the UK now needing employment visas and vice versa.

Economically, it is the 6^th largest country in the world, but the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns did put immense pressure on its treasury, with numerous businesses destroyed across various industries. As a result of that, an additional £100 billion was pumped into the economy in 2020 by the Bank of England. It was reported by Inman (2021) that the economy has started moving back to its glory days, which is good news for BooHoo as it implies improved purchasing power.

Socially, the UK maintains a big consumer market with a population presently in excess of 68.5 million (Worldometer, 2022). The projection is that births will be in excess of deaths, with the population expected to reach 74 million by 2039.

It is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, providing ample opportunities for Boohoo to develop new technologies that would offer improved solutions to customers. The UK also boasts a strong legal framework, admired and adopted across the world, creating room for efficient and effective business protection. While the operations of businesses yield a negative effect on the environment, the government is constantly making efforts to curb such an outcome. Therefore, environmental sustainability should be at the top of Boohoos' business policies and strategies.

Essentially, while its businesses are not costly to imitate and not rare, Boohoo, while operating in a stable business environment, has been able to deliver value through its offerings, and the company is organized to continue capturing these values (sustainable).

BUSINESS AND CORPORATE LEVEL 

STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY THE CEO OF 

BOOHOO

Transformational Leadership Action

Transformational leadership is a form of leadership approach that is aimed at bringing change in both individual and social systems. When employed in its ideal form, it leads to the creation of valuable and positive change in the followers, and the ultimate aim is to transform (develop) these followers into leaders. It is known to enhance the morale, motivation, and performance of the follower through different mechanisms (Alwahaibi, 2019). This includes the ability to connect the follower’s self and sense of identity into the company’s mission and collective goal; becoming a role model for the followers, which inspires them and challenges them to take higher responsibility for their actions; and understanding the follower’s strengths and weaknesses in order for the leader to align the followers with tasks capable of optimizing their performance.

In BooHoo Group’s annual report (2021), the CEO, John Lyttle, documented the strategies employed by the company to reach its height, a clear demonstration of transformational leadership on the part of the CEO. It started with the July 2020 allegation that the company’s garment manufacturers in Leicester were involved in poor and possibly illegal practice (Boohoo, 2021), and some of these manufacturers were supplying clothing to the BooHoo group.

The CEO started by stating how proud he is to lead a business that chose not to walk away from the allegation but instead, immediately took the decision to engage all parties involved and do everything within its power in order to address the issue as it emerged and partake in rebuilding the flourishing garment sector in the heart of the UK—a sector that is renowned for contributing to quality employment and helping the UK economy grow (Boohoo, 2021).

Therefore, the company took the allegation of poor working conditions and malpractice extremely seriously, with an in-depth investigation into the matter launched immediately. Alison Levitt QC, Senior Barrister, was appointed with the duty of conducting a comprehensive review and investigation of its supply chain in the Leicester region, particularly focusing on how the workers are being treated. In line with the company’s commitment to handling the issue in an open and transparent manner, the report presented by Ms. Levitt was published in full (Boohoo, 2021).

Towards a theory of responsive practice

According to Claus (2003), the way a company responds to issues bordering its operation does have a direct effect on customers’ perceptions of the brand. Based on the theory of responsive practice, a company that is able to respond in time with the right information will be able to gain and sustain the trust and loyalty of customers, and such a response should be as transparent as possible, proving to the customers that the issue was intentional and that the company is committed to avoiding its reoccurrence.

Going further into analyzing the issue above, upon receipt of the report, Boohoo Group launched its "Agenda for Change", a program designed to make sure that the company addresses all the issues highlighted in the Leicester case, and it accepted the entire 17 recommendations that Levitt’s report made. The CEO, as at the time of filing this particular report, stated that in the past eight months post-publication of the issue, the management has shown outstanding leadership as it has been able to drive significant change and is presently on track to deliver against all the recommendations made by Ms. Levitt (Boohoo, 2021).

Governance and corporate responsibility – that the company should strengthen the structure of its internal governance; increased transparency – granting unlimited access to customers on how it is handling the issue; raising standards across all of its supply chain; and improving the trust of garment and textile workers (Boohoo, 2021).

As stated by Lyttle, the changes made by the company have been able to create a strong, more transparent, and sustainable business that is of high benefit to all parties involved in the garment industry and the UK’s economy at large. The company did not just say it would do it, it did and showed evidence of all its actions to the public, increasing customers’ trust and loyalty towards the brand. Therefore, it is clear that the CEO’s transformational leadership style, fused into the theory of responsiveness, has brought about a positive contribution to the company, returning £1.745 billion in 2021 as revenue, a 41% increase from the previous year, and 8.67p paid in dividends to its shareholders (Boohoo, 2021).

THE STRATEGIC TOOLS, TECHNIQUES, 

AND MODELS USED BY THE CEO OF 

BOOHOO GROUP PLC TO ENHANCE THE 

ORGANIZATION'S PERFORMANCE.

The strategies employed by the CEO, as discussed earlier, in addressing challenges faced by the company can be linked to a number of strategic tools, techniques, and models. Some of the closest relationships are discussed below.

Early warning systems

Early warning systems are employed in strategic management to detect or predict events that are strategically important as early as possible. Normally, they are used to identify the first line of attachment that a company will deploy in order to assess the possibility of a given scenario actually becoming a reality (Conrad, 2020). This is evidenced in the way the CEO approached the allegation against its manufacturers in Leicester. It was clear that, which eventually happened, the customers would come after the company if it continued to source products from the affected manufacturers without taking proper actions to address the issues. Thus, the company moved first with an investigation and implemented the recommendations from the investigation while keeping everything fully open for public scrutiny (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), 2007). Early warning signs have seven key components, which are:

Market definition – this involves clearly defining the scope or arena that will be scrutinized (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), 2007). In the above case, it was its manufacturers in Leicester that were involved in allegations of poor working conditions and falsifications.

The ability to capture various types of information about competitors is covered by an open system (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), 2007).With years of experience in the market, it was clear that competitors would take advantage of poor response, and this pushed the company to strategically manage its response.

Expert interpretation is necessary in order to identify a given event that signifies strategic shifts or moves (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), 2007). In this case, Alison Levitt QC, Senior Barrister, was appointed as an expert to conduct a comprehensive review of the issue.

Predictive intelligence entails making use of the knowledge about the forces that drive competitors to predict the likely direction that competitors will follow (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), 2007). This is also made manifest in this case, where the CEO clearly understood the possible direction of the competitors, in terms of backlash as the affected manufacturers supply products to them, and immediately moved to curb such an outcome with a transparent investigation.

Communicating intelligence—making sure that all parties in the organization are regularly briefed about key signals (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), 2007). The recommendations made by Ms. Levitt were made available to the general public and the management, which the management implemented as directed.

Contingency planning: events with high potential impact or the possibility of occurring could be accorded contingency plans, and this is the case with Lyttle’s decision to develop the "Change Agenda" in order to mitigate possible negative effects.

A cyclical process, the act of scrutinizing new warning signs of information should never stop (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), 2007). Based on this, the CEO moved to change numerous aspects of the company’s supply chain, including salivation and higher transparency in the entire supply chain.

Essentially, it is evidenced that the early warning system was an integral part of the company’s strategic response to the issue, and through the effective leadership of the CEO, it was able to mitigate possible negative outcomes.

Four corners' analysis

It is a useful tool for analyzing competitors that was developed by Michael Porter, emphasizing that the objectives of competitive analysis should always be on how to generate insight into the future and use such information to strategically gain competitive insight (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), 2007).

The 2021 annual report details competition risk, where John Lyttle, the CEO, made it known that the business is operating in an open and broad market with numerous competitors. An insight inside the competitor’s strategy was demonstrated as the CEO stated that there are numerous factors that influence the choices made by the competitors, including price, fashion, service, and brand. As a result of this, it is possible that the company’s market share might not grow or will even decline (BooHoo, 2021). Essentially, it is through a clear understanding of their competitors that Lyttle is able to develop highly competitive and strategic business models that are used to push BooHoo in front of the market and make positive returns for shareholders.

Value chain analysis

Prior to reaching a strategic decision, it is imperative to have an understanding of how activities in the company are used to create value for the customers, and value chain analysis is used for such a purpose (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), 2007). Based on its annual report, Boohoo Group Plc presented detailed discussions about its value chain, expressing a commitment to reduce carbon emissions across the value chain, creating great jobs, promoting responsible marketing activities, strong governance, and operating as a force for good in their local communities (BooHoo, 2021). That is to say, the company is committed to creating value for its customers through different lines of action.

ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF 

DIFFERENT CONTEMPORARY ISSUES IN 

STRATEGY AND HOW BOOHOO GROUP’S 

CEO HAS BEEN ADDRESSING THEM

It is a widely acknowledged fact that strategy plays an integral role in the growth and development of a company. That notwithstanding, there are numerous contemporary issues that affect the strategy of any business. Innovation is one such issue. In management systems and organizational structures, innovation entails new coordination and cooperation approaches (Stukalina, 2017; Hughes et al., 2021). At BooHoo, innovation has been a vital issue of concern for the company, especially in its supply chain, and this was made manifest in the issue it faced in Leicester. To be precise, innovation has pushed the company into strategic alliance with its supply network, collaborating and consolidating the entire supply chain in order to meet the changing needs of customers. For instance, consolidation of the supply chain and improved transparency were meant to avert the possible occurrence of similar challenges to those faced in Leicester in the future. Additionally, innovation covers changes that a venture adopts in order to fit into its existing market. In the case of BooHoo, it includes the expansion of its brands in order to service more customers.

Technology is another contemporary issue in management as there is an exponential growth in technological improvement, forcing companies to either adopt or go obsolete (Hughes et al., 2021; Stukalina, 2017). Due to this, technological capital investments now occupy a significant part of BooHoo’s capital expenditures. For instance, aside from its official website, the company now has apps that customers can download and utilize in marking orders. Similarly, both the apps and its websites are now available in different languages to cover its fast-growing global market. The company also updates its websites and app content to different languages in order to service more markets, applying the strategy of “think global and act local” in this approach.

Studies have shown that information overload is another contemporary issue in strategy, as nothing grows or changes more than information (Hughes et al., 2021; Stukalina, 2017). It was suggested that as at 2010, the global internet traffic stood at about 21 million terabytes, and this can only mean that information overload will have a significant impact on the operational activities of BooHoo, especially as it is a technology-based (e-commerce) company. The company is conscious of how their customer view them and their brands, always seeking feedbacks from the customers in order to enhance overall offerings. Additionally, it maintains strong social media presence which allows customers to reach out whenever they face challenges. Basically, it ensure that the customers are able to access the right information at the right time, in order to sustain their overall product perception and improve sales. 

Therefore, innovation and resource-based views can be used to understand how contemporary issues affect the company’s strategy. Innovation is known to be one of the most influential factors in the strategy of BooHoo; as an issue, it has an influence on the changes and activities that the company experiences. For instance, it needs to continuously monitor the performance of its website and apps, making sure that a user experience is delivered through the entire interface. Based on competitive advantage resource-based theory, the long-term performance of any company’s innovation depends on the internal resources it possesses (Grant, 2019). It is argued by this theory that the internal resources of a company allow it to be competitive in the market (Grant, 2019). Similarly, innovation contributes towards the financial performance of a company, and this view is based on the understanding that innovation is an evolutionary procedure that is driven by the desire of a company to improve its financial performance (Grant, 2019). Therefore, innovation makes a significant contribution to the success of BooHoo because it enhances consumers' experience and satisfaction with their digital commerce platforms, leading to higher purchase, repurchase, and recommendation rates. Based on the views held in the theory, the ability of BooHoo to remain innovative is a product of its enormous internal resources. Therefore, the company’s growth has been a product of different individuals creating and developing new ideas, as demonstrated with the case of its CEO’s management of the issue they faced in Leicester. Lastly, through innovation, the company has discovered new interests and capabilities in the industry, which is why they are presently pushing for global dominance through their e-commerce platforms.

In essence, BooHoo has been able to adapt to the changes in technology and information asymmetry, anchoring its strategy on resource-based view and creating a system where it is able to capture more value for the customers through its resources. This is in both their short- and long-term plans, and it is part of the main reason why the company has been able to sustain its positive performance.

HOW THE CEO OF BOOHOO GROUP PLC 

CREATED, DEVELOPED, AND DESIGNED 

BOOHOO GROUP PLC STRATEGIC 

PLANNING

Revealed in the company’s annual report 2021 is the fact that the CEO is very clear about what is to be achieved, and always works out how it will be achieved. Although it is not easy, the document shows that the CEO has created, developed, and designed strategic plans aimed at enhancing and sustaining the company’s performance. The following steps were adopted in creating, developing, and designing a strategic plan for the company.

Vision: the CEO has a clear vision of what should be achieved (Khan, 2013), as demonstrated in the event in Leicester, where the vision was to correct negative public opinion about the company by thoroughly investigating the issue. The essence of having a clear vision is based on the understanding that setting a vision of what one wants to create in the future is critical in determining how the company will be operated. Since the vision was to avoid negative brand image, the management was quick to act and address the issue by conducting a thorough investigation and implementing the recommendations offered in the report. It is through this clearly communicated vision that the entire management is able to understand what is required of them at each stage of the operation, which they transfer into their respective duties and help the company attain its set objectives. The transformational abilities of Lyttle is also an evidence of a clear understanding of the company’s vision. 

The problem: to address an issue, there must be a problem that the company believes to exist within its sphere, and it must also define how to tackle the problem by tracing it to its root cause (Khan, 2013). The problem in this case is that the company might suffer a negative brand image, and the CEO was able to trace it to the root cause by employing an independent investigator to review the issue and make necessary recommendations. The implemented solutions were based on the company’s defined theory of change, which is termed the "change agenda." They didn’t just stop at drafting and implementing the agenda, they also set up a committee charged with monitoring performance and making suggestions as to ways to improve on their set agenda. The essence of having a clear understanding of the root cause of a problem is that it makes it easier to trace back the challenges to a given task, event, individual or group and eventually leading to the development of the right stream of functions that would be used to solve the issue down to its root. Once a problem is solved down to its root cause, potential reoccurrence is avoided in the future and it provides a guarantee for sustainable performance as demonstrated in the case of BooHoo’s CEO being able to address the issue and avoid negative brand image for the company.

Core values - It is imperative that the company sustains its core values, making sure that they form the culture of the staff (Khan, 2013). Similarity, the CEO has been able to communicate this through a more transparent management system, where people are encouraged to support the entire structure of the company and take responsibility for their actions. The company’s core value is to deliver quality clothing materials that are manufactured following global standards void of poor working conditions, forced labor, and other issues. Supporting this core value, the CEO made the investigation into the Leicester case public to demonstrate that the company was not at fault in any way, and this enhanced consumers’ perception of the brand positively. The core values of a company influence its overall functions and performance, as they are transferred to the entire system and it dictates the direction of the company at larger. Therefore, having an established core value, as demonstrated by the CEO, is a foundation upon which long lasting solutions are created for the challenges faced by the company.

Short-term goals: this is arguably the most difficult part of strategic planning, and it is all about creating shorter-term goals and visions that will guide the company for three to five years (Khan, 2013). Following the investigation, Ms. Levitt made recommendations as to what BooHoo should do, and the CEO, John Lyttle, adopted these recommendations to serve as the company’s short-term goal of enhancing transparency in its supply chain. Additionally, the short-term goals helping in building and strategically sustaining the long-term goals, which is why they are considered pivotal for overall success of any company.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the discussion above, especially putting the event in Leicester into perspective, the researcher believes that there are a number of areas BooHoo can improve in order to enhance their performance and sustain their profitability. Some of these are discussed, in the form of recommendations, below.

Expansion of the product line

Based on the Harvard Business Review, Hardie et al. (1994) pointed out that there are numerous reasons why companies adopt product lines as a strategic approach to improving performance and sustaining profitability. The main reason is that product line extensions are perceived by managers to be a low-risk, low-cost way of attaining the needs of different customer segments, as line extensions make it easier for companies to satisfy the desires of their customers by providing them with a wide variety of goods under a single brand, and line extensions are normally used by managers to gain short-term competitive advantage through the control of their brands in the market (.Kazi et al., 2020). From the case, it was made clear that BooHoo’s products are easy to duplicate and not rare. Therefore, their overall competitiveness is put under immense pressure. However, there are numerous markets that the company is not yet targeting as their products are made specifically for fashion enthusiasts ages 18 to 64 years old. The children's clothing line is a huge market that can easily be targeted by the company as it already has a strong brand presence. Therefore, it is recommended that BooHoo should extend its product lines in order to reach new markets and leverage overall performance, with the central aim of sustaining profitability.

Sustain the practice of transparency.

Hustvedt and Kang (2013) considered consumers’ perceptions of transparency in an organization and made a number of discoveries. First, it was noted that transparency advanced consumer loyalty and purchase intention. Secondly, they stated that transparency increases the likelihood of consumers recommending a brand due to its positive influence on building word-of-mouth. Thirdly, it was pointed out that transparency reduces switching behavior from customers as it gives them a reason to stay with the company.

Taking the event in Leicester as an example, it can be seen that transparency in the company produced positive outcomes. The CEO, understanding the likely effect of information asymmetry on their performance, based on the fact that people were already growing concerned about the issues and the message might be passed in a different way, decided to address the issue. However, it didn’t end there, as the investigation was made fully public. Finally, recommendations from the report were adopted by the company, including the decision to advance transparency in its supply chain network and consolidate it in a way that future related events would not occur. The impact was positive, as the company saw a 41% increase in its revenue from the previous year. The decision of the company to be transparent in handling such a significant event improved consumers’ trust and loyalty to the brand. Therefore, it is established that transparency is pivotal for building consumers’ trust and loyalty; since the company has already experimented and discovered this truth, it is recommended that it sustains the transparency in its stream. This will help to reinforce its positive image in the minds of consumers.

CONCLUSION

As documented in this entry, the essence of strategic management in organizational performance cannot be overemphasized. The paper focused on assessing the strategic management approaches employed by John Lyttle, the CEO of BooHoo Group Plc, to ensure positive performance for the company. The first section looked at the business environment, and while the company offers valuable products with an established organization culture for capturing value, it was found that its products are not rare and they can easily be imitated. On the side of the external environment, it was discovered that while it operates in a politically, economically, legally and technologically stable market with vast, issues such as Brexit and COVID-19 protocols are likely to affect business operations, with the former having an influence on employment and operations. The second aspect of the work considered business and corporate level strategies adopted by the CEO to bring about positive performance in the company, and the evidence shows it has been all about transformational leadership and the theory of responsive practice. This was made most manifest in the Leicester challenge, where the company had to deal with allegations of poor working conditions and falsification of their products by conducting an independent review that was made fully public. The strategic tools, methods, and techniques used by the CEO to sustain and enhance the performance of the company were considered in the third section. The early warning system, four corner analysis, and value chain analysis were found to be the main building blocks in this section. Different contemporary issues in strategy were critically analyzed and evaluated in the next section, with technology, innovation, and information asymmetry found to have significant and direct influence on the company’s performance, and the company has been addressing these issues through strategic responses.

This was followed by the fifth section, which revealed that the CEO has been able to create, develop, and design strategic plans in the company by having a sound understanding of BooHoo’s core values and ensuring that all aspects of its operations are aligned with the need to develop such values. Finally, it was recommended that in order to sustain its present positive market position, BooHoo should extend its product lines and sustain the practice of transparency. The reason for this is that it will help attract new customers while keeping current ones satisfied. Therefore, it has been demonstrated in this study that strategic management practices are critical for the overall performance of any company, and it is imperative that the management (through their CEO) understand this and take necessary measures to ensure that all aspects of their business operations are strategically aligned with the company’s core value. What this does is that it helps a company to forecast potential outcomes, directing necessary measures to address them even before they occur and creating the right environment to sustain positive performance.

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