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GROUP ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Student name: Nguyễn Nhật Anh Student ID number: 22002498

Student name: Lữ Đinh Quốc Bảo Student ID number: 22003499

Student name: Dương Minh Nguyên Student ID number: 22002748

Student name: Nguyễn Quỳnh Kim Ngọc Student ID number: 22004165

Student name: Student ID number:

Unit name: Principle of Management Unit number: PM-T123PWB-4

ASSIGNMENT DETAILS

Title: Reflection Report 3- Tutorial 4.2

DECLARATION
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I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any other student’s work or from
any other source except where due acknowledgement is made in the assignment.
I hereby certify that no part of this assignment or product has been submitted by me in another (previous or
current) assessment, except where appropriately referenced, and with prior permission from the Lecturer /
Tutor / Unit Coordinator for this unit.
No part of the assignment/product has been written/ produced for me by any other person except where
collaboration has been authorised by the Lecturer / Tutor /Unit Coordinator concerned.
I am aware that this work may be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism detection software programs for the
purpose of detecting possible plagiarism (which may retain a copy on its database for future plagiarism
checking).

Student’s signature: Anh

Note: An examiner or lecturer / tutor has the right to not mark this assignment if the above declaration has not been
signed.

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Reflection Report

Group 5
ISB - Global Pathways
Principle of Management (PM-T123PWB-4)
Mr. Chris Paget & Ms. Tran Thi Huong Trang
February 17, 2023

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Table Of Content
Feedback for Group 1…………………………………………………………………3
What we learn from Group 1………………………………………………………….6
Feedback for Group 7…………………………………………………………………8
What we learn from Group 7…………………………………………………………10

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Feedback For Group 1

Overall, our group believes that the presentations and debates from all three groups were great.

To Speakers

Members of group 1 helped us understand the topic easily with good timing and intonation. The
group had sufficient knowledge and a clarified table of contents to give us a brief overview of what
they were presenting. During this presentation, group 1 had no severe mistakes, which left our
group with much of an impression.

To Presentation

In terms of slide decoration and arrangement, the group uses adorable bright colors to decorate the
slide. They included many colorful pictures that made us get more detailed information.

To Team Debate

Notably, it is clear to say that the debate session of group 1 against groups 2 and 3 was top-notch as
the two groups asked so many quality and tough questions to the presenters. However, group 1
managed to answer all of them, which helped us gain more knowledge of the case.

There was a discussion between group 2 and group 3. The first question for group 1 from team 2
was, "What trends in courier deliveries in the past affected the industry in the present? "group
1 answered, "Vehicles: When the delivery service began thousands of years ago, the method of
delivery came through running. People would be given messages to deliver and have to run them to
their destination. This eventually evolved into using animals such as horses, bicycles, and trains, and
nowadays, they are using trucks and planes for fast delivery within two days or even on the same
day. Some of you may be a big fan of Shoppe. To meet customers' demands, they provide Giao hang
hoa toc options in order to deliver products in less than 1 hour. Real-time Visibility: without a
website or any application, it's hard for people to track their delivery in the past. At present, Because
of the rapid development of technology, many delivery businesses have adopted route tracking in
their application. One of them is GHTK ( Giao hàng tiết kiệm) in Viet Nam. They provide detailed

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information about delivering process: from creating orders to warehousing, taking bills of goods, and
contacting customers. Flexibility in terms of payment methods as well as the size of products, in the
past, people tend to pay cash and use delivery services for less-valuable products. Nowadays, more
and more businesses apply other means of payment such as banking, and they also have product
insurance that ensures giving back money if there is a problem ". Another for group 1 was "What
other trends could affect the courier delivery industry in the future, "and their answer was
"Adoption of sustainable practices, Increased use of drones and autonomous vehicles, Growth of e-
commerce and Use of artificial intelligence and machine learning → These trends indicate that the
courier delivery industry will likely continue to evolve and change in response to new technologies,
customer demands, and other factors. "The final question was, "What are some substitutes that
Hermes has to face? And how did they overcome those challenges? What are the factors that
keep them the best in the market? "they answered, "In the era of technology, there are many
conveniences, especially in the delivery field. Many delivery companies have started their business,
increasing the number of competitors. That is what Hermes is facing. In order to overcome those
challenges, they need to create their own value and also distinguish which always satisfies
customers. At Hermes, they have the best customer service, Vetted couriers: A wide network of
global logistics providers, a One-stop platform: Instant quotes for parcels, express, and pallets, Real-
time assistance: Dedicated logistics experts to help you in every step, Safe transport: Shipping
insurance included in the Express price package: Urgent deliveries in 24-72 hours worldwide
standard package: Simple and affordable solution for sending regular boxes Van delivery: A
dedicated van for transport within Europe Freight transport: Efficient solution for transporting large
quantities.

Team 3 questioned, "Do you think competitive intelligence can be impacted by internal and
external forces? As a manager, how do we deal with these forces to make sure that we embrace
competitive intelligence for our companies in the right direction? ", group 1 answered, "To be
able to maintain and develop an organization, managers are required to have a thorough
understanding of both internal and external factors. Internal factors are obligations, goals, employees
and organizational structure. External forces involve economic, political, and social changes and
competitions. Our team thinks that to control external factors. Senior managers should successfully
complete the stages of internal resource reinforcement and training. This includes organising
activities to ensure employees are always knowledgeable about products and services and forming a
solid foundation for implementing measures to cope with constant external changes. For example,
managers can send employees to boat camps or exhibitions of competitors when they introduce new

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products and services. Through those events, employees will be aware of the challenges they might
face in the future and, therefore, be able to implement several measures to improve and innovate the
company's products and services." The second question was, "Is competitive intelligence needed to
be implemented in both a strategic and operational plan? As a manager, how do we convince
our employees to apply competitive intelligence in their job tasks? "they responded, "Yes.
Although the two plans are deployed at different levels, competitive intelligence has only one
purpose, which is to collect information about competitors to help managers predict competitors'
actions. The only difference is the influence scale of competitive intelligence: organizational-level
influence and department-level influence. It serves a critical role that leads businesses to achieve
their objectives with quality, more efficiently, and profitably. Executives should encourage
employees to use ethical and legal methods, such as attending new product exhibitions and seminars
and searching for product information on reputable websites. By using those legal methods, the firms
can analyse the competitors' products and services information in order to discover their flawless,
hence improving the new projects.". The last question for team 1 was, "Do you think competitive
intelligence will change the whole industry with new trends? Give some examples ", they
answered, "In business, knowledge is the ultimate power. Therefore, approximately 100% of leading
companies in each industry are always willing to pay large budgets and entire departments for
information gathering and analysis. In the AI era, the purposes or benefits of competitive intelligence
have remained. However, the methods are different. With the help of AI, gathering, processing, and
distributing competitive intelligence, large teams, and huge budgets are no longer the most effective
ways. Some people use it to refer to the gathering and analysing of market data, such as consumer
behavior and industry trends. Others use it to describe the process of identifying a company's
competitors or even their strengths and weaknesses. Many types of AI can help with your
competitive intelligence:
Knowledge discovery
Machine learning
Natural language processing
Data mining
Speech recognition
And many more
These techniques have been applied in various industries, including finance, manufacturing,
healthcare, retail, and many more. ".

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What We Learned

From Presentation Group

Because of group 7's presentation, our group learned a great deal about the factors contributing to
Hermes's success. To be more specific, not only did we know more about Hermes, the delivering
business, but the method used by the company behind their success, as well. With more than 40 years
of expertise in the UK, Hermès is a pan-European delivery business that offers door-to-door services
for eminent retailers. Each year, it manages 245 million parcels. Hermès decided to develop, view,
organize, and manage the courier rounds using a dynamic online mapping system to streamline its
network and evaluate what-if situations. The new planning system allows field managers to make
minute, real-time changes to their operational regions, resulting in operational savings and better
service delivery.

From Debate Groups

Going on to group 7's discussion with groups 8 and 9, group 1 handled the questions given by other
groups perfectly with the most logically convincing answers. In the first question from the debate
with Group 2, we have learned about how Hermes affected the delivery industries in 3 ways:
Vehicles, using trucks and planes for fast delivery within two days or even on the same day; Real-
time Visibility, adopting route tracking in their delivery business which provides information in-
depth on the delivery process, from placing orders to receiving bills of lading and contacting clients;
Flexibility in terms of payment, applying other means of payment such as banking and they also
have product insurance that ensures giving back money if there is a problem. On the second question
about the future trends that may have an impact on the courier delivery sector, the group listed four
trends: the adoption of sustainable practices, increased use of drones and autonomous vehicles,
growth of e-commerce, and usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning; which results in the
courier delivery sector is anticipated to continue to change and evolve according to new
technologies, client expectations, and other considerations. Then on the last question of group 2, we
have known that Hermes is having trouble with substitute companies, but they can deal with it by
creating their value and also distinguishing which always satisfies customers and be the top delivery

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business from customer service to shipping service. Then in the second debate with group 3, group 1
continued to maintain their confidence and managed to answer the questions. In the first question
from group 3, we have acknowledged that top managers must complete internal resource
reinforcement and training to regulate external influences, such as keeping staff informed about
goods and services and sending staff members to competitor expos or boat camps therefore
employees will be able to improve and innovate the company's products and services. We also
learned from the next question that competitive intelligence has only one objective: to gather data on
rivals to aid managers in anticipating rivals' moves. It plays a crucial role in helping organizations
reach their goals in a quality, more effective, and profitable way. Ethical and legal strategies such as
attending product fairs and seminars and researching products on reliable websites should be
encouraged by management to improve new initiatives. 

Conclusion

Group 1's presentations and group discussion were intelligent, containing in-depth analysis of the
business, reliable examples, and compelling justifications for their conclusions. As a result, we were
able to learn a lot of helpful information about Hermes, a shipping service.

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Feedback For Group 7

Overall, our group thinks that all three groups have done a great job presenting and debating.

To Speakers

Notably, they had good teamwork and managed their time wonderfully, resulting in delivering their
ideas quite clearly. However, group 7 should practice more in speaking more without hesitation and
speak more clearly.

To Presentation

Group 7 had simple and minimalist slides. We noticed that they didn’t put a lot of words in slides
which helped the audiences pay attention to what they were presenting.

To The Team Debate

Both of the debate groups asked very logical questions. The debating session was good. The other
two groups asked very logical questions, which helped to extend the case and helped the audiences
understand more about the aspects of the case. In brief conclusion, both debating and presenting
groups had done in delivering content to the audiences.

First is the debate session between group 7 and group 8. The first question from group 8 was, "We
can see that your group has just listed the internal factors (efficient employees and
management culture) which contribute to Zara's development. However, my group has a
different opinion that both internal and external factors, which respectively are the
productivity and efficiency of the staff and the strong-built brand image, help Zara grow
strong. So we want to ask: What is your group's point of view about these factors? And if both,
which do you think is more overwhelming? Why?" and group 7 answered, "We believe that
because of Zara's such strong internal factors (speed and flexibility) that create a strong brand image.
As in the case study, Zara is known for its efficient distribution system and staff that helps them to
deliver items to customers in a short period of time. This is why the brand is able to attract and keep
its customers: high-end clothing items at a lower price but readily available. This is the reason why

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internal factors matter more than external factors. Without such efficiency and effectiveness, Zara
would not be so successful." The second question from group 8 was, "According to this case, Zara
has succeeded in keeping customers in the store and has a long-term view of the customer's
interests. In your opinion, why do they still have to do online business when they are so
successful with in-store-selling?" group 8 answered, "Selling directly at the store makes Zara only
a certain number of customers to buy. By providing customers with the option to buy their products
online, Zara is able to expand their revenue and reach out to a larger audience of potential customers
who may not have been able to buy from them before. Besides, this also helps Zara promote the
brand to everyone."

We will move on to the debate session between group 7 and group 9. The first question from group 9
was kind of scientific, and we think that it was a great question to ask, "Vibrant colors with eye-
catching textures and materials are made from toxic chemicals. fabric water is the second most
polluting water source globally. Do you think Zara as well as other fast fashion brands are
polluting the environment?". The answer from group 7 had a comparison between then versus now
"In the past, Zara has also been involved in environmental pollution because fast fashion will use
materials that are not good for the environment and cannot be recycled. However, recently, Zara has
started using eco-friendly materials such as recycled cotton and Tencel yarn, which are harvested
from fast-growing wood sources. Moreover, Zara stores will also be equipped with recycling bins for
clothes. The company will collect old product lines and reuse materials for new designs.". The
second question from group 9 was, "What are the differences between fast fashion and
traditional fashion? Can fast fashion replace traditional fashion in the future?" group 7
answered very logically, "One of the key differences between fast and traditional fashion is that
traditional fashion is more expensive because the materials in fast fashion are cheap materials that
are not environmentally friendly. Second, no matter how many years pass, traditional fashion will
always stay in fashion. However, in terms of fast fashion, due to constant trend updates, after a
while, the old fast fashion clothes will become obsolete. And finally, the usual fast fashion will be a
copy of another designer. Because fast fashion has to be produced continuously, there need to be
more ideas to design new models, and since then, brands have had to copy from new designers to
keep up with the trend. As for traditional fashion, they are not forced on time to create new products,
so traditional fashion models always bring themselves a completely different style. About the rest of
the question, traditional fashion can not be replaced by fast fashion. In the future, fast fashion will
become more popular than traditional clothes. However, fast fashion can only change appearance,

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and traditional fashion has its own set of clothes that say traditional fashion will always retain many
things like the culture and historical significance of a country."
What We Learned

From Presentation Group

Thanks to the presentation of group 7, our group accumulated vast knowledge related to the reasons
behind the success of Zara. To be more specific, Amancio Ortega, who was the CEO of the
company, came up with creative strategies, including offering high-quality clothing but affordable
and using high-end technology. As a result, the CEO managed to turn Zara into a global fashion
brand and build a loyal customer base. Moreover, SWOT analysis played an important role in Zara’s
achievement as it provided managers and executives with an in-depth look at the company’s
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The analysis indicated that Zara had employees
who work productively. Staff in the company scrutinized sales at every store, which allowed them to
spot mistakes almost instantly and effortlessly. Also, with the aid of SWOT analysis, Zara managers
realized that the competitive advantage of the company should be speed and flexibility while keeping
its prices low. For example, Zara made an effort to increase its capacity to produce and distribute
clothing to clients as quickly as possible. According to group 7, Zara delivered its products by plane
with over 2.6 million items to its stores on five continents, which helped Zara stock its stores with
fresh designs twice a week. Therefore, customers were able to visit any Zara outlets and try new
styles every time they came, leading to developing a loyal customer base and gaining its reputation.
From the arguments above, it is clear to say that the success of Zara comes from internal factors
(employees and distribution system). Furthermore, Zara decided to join the online market, and our
group believes that the decision is clever. Firstly, advertisement on the Internet is cheaper and more
effective than a traditional advertisement. This is because Zara can spread information to large
numbers of Internet users in just minutes and at a lot lower cost than running adverts in front of the
stores or paying to have posters put up. Secondly, stores require roughly four or five employees to
run them, but online sales just need one or two people. Hence, Zara company can cut down on salary
expenses if they keep being in the online marketplace.

From Debate Groups

Moving on to the debate of group 7 with groups 8 and 9, our group gained more knowledge
surrounding the Zara case. Even though there are some external factors leading to Zara’s

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achievement, internal ones are superior to external ones. To illustrate, Zara was famous for its
effective employees and distribution system, which enabled it to provide goods to clients fast. This is
why Zara attracted and kept customers: quality clothing items at a low price. For this reason, internal
factors are indeed more important than external ones. Additionally, throughout the debate, our group
knows that another reason Zara opens the online store despite being successful with in-store-selling
is that Zara can boost its profit and approach a larger number of customers who can not visit their
offline stores. When we look at the bigger picture, almost fashion firms, including Zara, cause the
environment to be polluted because fabric water is created by making vibrant colors and materials,
which is wasted directly into the aquatic environment. However, recently, Zara has started using eco-
friendly materials such as recycled cotton and Tencel yarn, which are harvested from fast-growing
wood sources. In addition, with the success of Zara, fast fashion is more and more popular than
traditional fashion for some reasons. First, the classic style is often more expensive and less
fashionable compared to the fast one. The second one is that no matter what happens, traditional
fashion will never change, while the fashion trend constantly updates, resulting that people wanting
to prefer fast fashion as it makes them “stylish .”However, traditional style can not be replaced by
fast fashion. Traditional fashion can not be replaced by fast fashion. Fast fashion can only change
appearance, whereas classic fashion has its own set of garments that always preserve many elements,
such as a nation’s culture and historical value.

Conclusion

Throughout the speech of group 7, our group firmly believes that the reasons behind Zara’s
achievement are effective staff and sophisticated distribution system, along with using the SWOT
analysis which help them identify their current situation and potential risks they may face and gives
them a better understanding of how to compete with their competitors.

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