Research Articles Base: Development Practices Essays

Business Development Practices of Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent Overview The basic entrepreneurial abilities offer a lead on how to manage a business enterprise especially those operating in the international business environment i.e. Yves Saint Laurent (brand). In this paper, it highlights the role of an entrepreneur, Yves Saint Laurent in business success in accordance to its relationship between the tools or resources of Yves Saint Laurent (brand) with the people working in the company and the systems that that the company employ in business processes. Moreover, the concept of culture, communication and commitment is given importance in overall and continuous improvement of a business firm (Roney, C.W. 2004). With respect to the excellent entrepreneurial capabilities of Yves Saint Laurent, the company, Yves Saint Laurent (brand), and its business administrators are now using effective corporate governance approach as their competitive advantage.   The Entrepreneur             The founder of Yves Saint Laurent (brand) was a French fashion designer who was considered as one of the best in French fashion in the 20th century.[1] Basically, Caroline Rennolds Milbank argued that Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent was the most consistently celebrated and influential designer of the past twenty-five years. Yves Henri Donat Mathieu Saint Laurent inherited his fashion sense from his mother and was inspired equally by his friends. YSL is really a good fashion designer and a good entrepreneur.  Actually, he was the first living fashion designer to be honored by the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a solo exhibition. Aside from this, his expressive entrepreneurial skill created a foundation with Pierre Bergé in Paris to trace the history of the house of YSL, complete with 15,000 objects and 5,000 pieces of clothing. With regards to the good qualities of YSL, a study done by Smith-Hunter, Kapp and Yonkers (2003) identifies two groups of several factors that influence entrepreneurial behaviour. These factors include locus of control, risk taking, achievement motivation, problem solving style and innovativeness, perception and work values, which are in turn affected by external factors, such as culture, role models, work experience, education, and environment.             Locus of control is important as it helps demonstrate the self-determination of an organisation, which helps determine a higher rate of entrepreneur activity. With an increased self-determination, the company is ready to take risks, which makes the entrepreneur pursue a business idea when the probability of succeeding is low (Bhattacharya, C. B. 2000; Eisenstat, R. A. 2001; and Smith-Hunter, Kapp and Yonkers 2003). This means that the entrepreneur has the courage and the persistence to engage in his venture, even without the assurance of succeeding. The third personal factor is the entrepreneur’s value system, which entails examination, understanding of one’s place in the society, and the individual’s idea about persons and things (Smith-Hunter, Kapp and Yonkers 2003). This includes the perception and the achievement motivations of the entrepreneur, for their values determine their attitude towards their dedication with their work. The fourth factor is the entrepreneur’s problem solving style and innovativeness, which is the central value of the entrepreneurial behaviour, since it is successfully taking an idea or invention to market. Innovation and problem solving capabilities are expected to be the core of the entrepreneurial capability of an entrepreneur, for they are faced with a number of challenges as they try to implement new ideas and solve problems, so their innovativeness counts (Smith-Hunter, Kapp and Yonkers 2003). Similarly, these factors are affected by external factors for these external factors interact largely with the mentioned attributes. The education of an entrepreneur is one major concern for his or her knowledge and experience, especially concerning high technology and heavy competition, can affect his or her decisions in the organisation. Related to education is the entrepreneur’s perception or interpretations, which play an important role in the total motivational process, for he or she needs to believe that certain strategic actions done will produce positive results, profits, sales, or market share (Smith-Hunter, Kapp and Yonkers 2003). Culture, role models and support also affect these factors, for these three external factors can influence the decision-making process and the personality of the entrepreneur. Culture affects the propensity to act, thus, the actual number of entrepreneurs that will attempt to start a business is also affected. Some cultures have more role models available than others do, which makes entrepreneurial success based on family and community support (Smith-Hunter, Kapp and Yonkers 2003). It has been reported that social norms had a significant influence on predicting entrepreneurship, as might be due to the high level of locus of control, which would decrease the influence of social pressure (cited in Smith-Hunter, Kapp and Yonkers 2003).              Basically, the factors driving entrepreneurial behaviour of YSL include the complexity of issue, resource scarcity, urgency of issue, strong local leadership, and good enough partnerships (Bradshaw, Smith and Shacklady-Smith 2006). These determine the success in business ventures by its interaction and interrelation, which brings good effects to the company if used wisely. Entrepreneurship is an important aspect in the society, for without it consumers will not have many choices in the market. The emergence of new entrepreneurs in the industry leads us to conclude that many would like to take risk, many have the proper values, many are well educated regarding business, and many have the courage to innovate and improve. This is beneficial to the society, for many citizens can be open to alternatives and suit their preferences.    Business Development Practices   Yves Saint Laurent (brand) is a luxury fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé. Currently, its chief designer is Stefano Pilati. Basically, Yves Saint Laurent clothing has for decades been known for its modern and refined elegance. Decades before Giorgio Armani, Yves Saint Laurent clothing glamourised for women some items taken from the male wardrobe, such as the blazer, the tuxedo, the pant suit, the leather jacket. The Yves Saint Laurent (brand) aims for sustainable growth as a broad market leader in fashion as well as for segment leadership. In both cases, the brands of Yves Saint Laurent (brand) will play a crucial part. Yves Saint Laurent (brand) is able to establish its broad leadership usually by merging to other known companies such as the Gucci Groups and by continuously innovating their products and services. Currently, YSL are now offering a limited-edition flacon for L’Homme, an Yves Saint Laurent fragrance.  Moreover, YSL redesigned their brand website and now lets US patrons buy men’s and women’s leather goods, ready-to-wear, shoes, and accessories online. Items like their trendy “Tribute” bag and shoe are examples. The collections vary but there are only a limited number of items available for purchase. There are also online exclusives. In addition, to this development, YSL are offering training to its staff, improving the company operations, and the introduction of trendy fashion products and technologies then reinforces the positions of the various products of YSL. This practically results in economies of scale that is able to create a distribution network for both its local and international products. If a market is already in the control of other companies, YSL devotes its attention towards the development of a premium segment with its various fashion products (Yves Saint Laurent 2008).               As part of the efficient qualities of the founder YSL in entrepreneurship, Yves Saint Laurent (brand) is actually considering the concept of effective corporate governance as their competitive advantage.  Yves Saint Laurent, as previously the head of the decision-making body of the company, creates a good system not only in selling their products but also in maintaining expressive relationship to their overall stakeholders. Maintaining good relationship to stakeholders reflects to their effective corporate governance (Yves Saint Laurent 2008). It can be said that the company has a very good framework that has been established in order to deal with different corporate matters. In fact, there is usually a properly structured program that is further reinforced by company policies and other procedures for the proper guidance of the directors in their daily duties (Yves Saint Laurent 2008). Consequently, the company has a clear reference guide to its business operations and corporate governance. The Yves Saint Laurent (brand) administrators leaded by Stefano Pilati guided by the entrepreneur virtues of Yves Saint Laurent which oversee the businesses and the decision-making routines as well as the financial aspect of things, keeps watch. In addition, this includes the maintenance of the standards with regards to corporate governance in the corporation’s different sectors (Yves Saint Laurent 2008). Apparently, Yves Saint Laurent (brand) has a clear code of ethics and all staff must affirm their acceptance of this code. The code of ethics includes a conflict of interest policy to ensure that key corporate decisions are made by individuals who do not have a financial interest in the outcome separate from their interest as company officials. The company also actively monitors compliance with the law and the global financial policies and practices over critical areas. These areas include internal controls, financial accounting and reporting, fiduciary accountability and safeguarding of our corporate assets. A major factor involved in the improvement of Yves Saint Laurent (brand) involves the establishment and utilisation of company performance measures or indicators that in turn measure their customer’s satisfaction. These measures or indicators are measurable characteristics of products and services that the company typically utilises in order to study and improve company performance. The indicators that will be chosen should be able to represent the essential factors that are crucial to the improvement of operational and financial performance. Through the analysis of accurate information brought about by the tracking processes, the measures or indicators themselves can possibly be analysed and improved to support such goals.   Effects of Governance to Yves Saint Laurent (brand)’s Business Ethics and Purpose With regards to the entrepreneurship practices of Yves Saint Laurent, the current management has been able to attain complete control of all matters regarding the company. Their self-perseverance and obligation to their duties and finally, their obedience to the company laws all contribute to the development of the corporation. As such, company administrators constantly believes that all the data pertaining to financial information and other facts regarding to their operations that are currently being used is reliable. The company administrators’ authority leaded by Stefano Pilati is clearly recognised within the company. And because of this, it is able to have a solid grip on the corporation’s actual operations, stakeholders and its financial concerns. Needless to say, because of the corporation’s proper structure and its commitment to the stakeholders and to the community as well, the administrators has proven that it can efficiently handle both its ethical and legal responsibilities.  Furthermore, the company is currently maintaining good relations and open communications with its investors. As a matter of fact, shareholders are regularly invited by the corporation whenever there are gatherings to discuss trade updates. Moreover, whenever there is an annual general meeting, investors get the chance to meet the administrators and board members themselves. And of course, for private investors, they can also access the company’s website for various shareholder services. Undoubtedly, the company has good consideration for all of its stakeholders; past, present and future. There definitely seems to be a very well planned framework in the firm’s corporate division. It has good policies and procedures with regards to financial matters and operational concerns. Its procedure of assessing the different kinds of situations that come up is certainly a good move on their part. Not to mention, they have maintained good relations with their stakeholders. And finally, Yves Saint Laurent (brand) administrators’s authority is unsurpassed. Clearly, these facts prove the strength of the company’s corporate governance structure. The weakness on this case however, is the fact that it cannot always be assured that there are no losses or other errors which may result from mistakes and inconsistencies by one of the committees or employees involved. In addition, having diverse populations, there can be a possibility of having internal problems between members who have different culture and beliefs. In addition, some problems occur in terms of giving value to the companies’ shareholders. There are times that the shareholder is not given the enough information about the status of the company, specifically that shareholder which have a small part in the business. This happens when the board of directors does not give value to their shareholders. Other negative aspects include the imperfection of financial reporting procedures which may definitely result in ineffective corporate governance.   Innovation At the business organisation level of Yves Saint Laurent (brand), innovation simply means managing the elements of the innovation process and maintaining an innovative culture within the company. Yves Saint Laurent have been added the responsibility of managing innovation as the premise for doing business in the 21st century. With the proper handling of such a delicate task, the organisation is given the edge that it needs to retain or improve its competitive position in the increasingly complex and globalised market (Shelton, R & Davila, T 2005). The challenge of Yves Saint Laurent (brand), therefore, lies in the need to innovate on technology and business models, deal with uncertain environments, cutbacks and massive worldwide economic, political and social shifts. This wide array of new concerns for the organisation’s management may increase the complexity of doing business in this day and age, but it certainly improves the company’s ability to survive in the cutthroat field of enterprise. The creative destruction process has captured the central paradox of market capitalism that in order for the system to become successful in creating wealth, it should be most efficient in destroying unproductive industries and enterprises through innovation (John 2001). This replacement of weak industries with fresh and vibrant ones have driven companies the world over to innovate the way they do business in order not to be regarded and eliminated as a ‘weak’ part of the business game.   Conclusion The discussion of the capabilities and resources of the Yves Saint Laurent (brand) with respect to the entrepreneur capabilities of YSL revealed very consistencies regarding its strategies. This is coherent with their traditional inside-out approach. However, the need to reconcile both the inside-out and outside-in approaches becomes imperative now for Yves Saint Laurent (brand). The analysis among the fashion industry environment as well as the corporate governance of Yves Saint Laurent (brand) and their capabilities revealed certain gaps, most of which are biased towards the industry environment. However, these gaps paved the way towards determining a number of recommended strategic options to secure the competitiveness of Yves Saint Laurent (brand). Also, Yves Saint Laurent (brand) has to find a balance between adherence to internal forces within the management and to the changing forces of the environment in order to implement such strategic options.     References:   Bhattacharya, C. B. 2000, Relationship Marketing in Mass Markets, Handbook of       Relationship Marketing, Thousand Oaks: Sage.   Bradshaw, D, Smith, L, and Shacklady-Smith, A 2006, ‘Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Approaches to Public Involvement in English Health Scrutiny’, Manchester Business School.   Eisenstat, R. A. 2001, Organisational Dynamics, pp. 6-14.   John, G 2001, ‘Dead cool in the icy gale’, The Independent, 06 January.   Roney, C.W. 2004, Strategic Management Methodology: Generally Accepted         Principles for Practitioners. Westport, CT: Praeger.   Shelton, R & Davila, T 2005, ‘The Seven Rules of Innovation’, Optimise Magazine, 01 August, no. 46.   Smith-Hunter, A, Kapp, J, and Yonkers, V 2003, ‘A Psychological Model of Entrepreneurial Behaviour’, Journal of the Academy of Business and Economics.    Yves Saint Laurent 2008, Accessed: August 18, 2008, Available at:    <http://www.ysl.com/>   [1] From http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2063264/Yves-Saint-Laurent.html Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Business Development Practices of Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent Overview The basic entrepreneurial abilities offer a lead on how to manage a business enterprise especia...

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD DEVELOPMENT PROJECT CHONG KHNEAS COMMUNE, SIEM REAP

The Interaction between Conservation and Rural Livelihood Development Project in Chong Khneas commune, Siem Reap   Introduction             There are two important things that interrelates man to nature and vice-versa. Man uses and exploits the nature for his ends. Man’s priority is to gain sufficient energy everyday and the food that he acquired is the product of the raw resources offered by nature. On the other hand, although man exploited the resources available in nature, in turn, it has a responsibility to exercise for the benefit of nature. Hence, there is an existing causal-effect relationship between man and nature. If nature is to be disregarded and unprotected from further exploitation and destruction, definitely man will have no place to live and food to take as a source of energy and power.             Today, after    ’s documentary on global warming, the world now is in cooperation with each other to prevent the further depletion and degradation of nature. Due to the carelessness of man to save and protect the nature or environment from its demise, the global society faces a most difficult and challenging problem to solve. Although the problem was already present prior to    ’s advocacy, people only awaken in its deep slumber just after the     ’s proclamation about the depletion of environment and the future effect it will bring.             Yet, significant to this event was societies various responses that prevent such degradation of the nature by adopting many environmental measures and conservation practices. Biodiversity and conservation practices of different societies helped preserve the resources of the environment especially animals, plants, and other elements that gradually in extinction.             In relation to this, the study seeks to analyze the interaction between two opposing principles like conservation and rural livelihood. This issue is relevant since it both has an effect to man and nature at large. Background             Wetlands in Cambodia are much more than places of aesthetic beauty or sites for the conservation of wildlife habitat. The are lifeline of the rural economy – essential to the livelihoods of millions of Cambodians, the food security of the most vulnerable members of society, and the prospects for national development. Making progress towards the sustainable management of wetlands demands a systematic, holistic perspective, precisely because wetlands defy boundaries.  They do not lie within the domain of any one agency’s management authority; they are both publicly and privately owned; and their extent fluctuates seasonally.             The      Office has established a floating environmental education for school children and communities called GECKO () Environment Center. Its objective is to facilitate local communities to adopt responsible, productive, and sustainable management of locally accessible natural resources through participatory environmental education programs. The center promotes environmental awareness among local fishing communities and visitors to the Great Lake and houses displays of flora, fauna, and traditional activities of the communities around the Lake     . There is a strong relationship between the people and the natural resources of the Great Lake. The lake is one of the largest freshwater fisheries in Asia and provides the basis of life to the local people. The sustainable management of this highly productive ecosystem is necessary to ensure food security and biodiversity conservation in Cambodia.             However, along the promotion of Cambodia to the preservation of ecosystem is the effect it has to the rural livelihood of the people. In such manner, if conservation will be deemed to high, it can eventually cause significant changes to the rural livelihood of the people. On the hand, if the government of Cambodia, and with the help of proper authorities will create a balance and un-comprising pact that will benefit both the livelihood program and the idea of conservation will be highly suggested. Objectives             This study aims of the following: 1.      To analyze the interaction between conservation and rural livelihood. 2.      To underline the role of conservation to the promotion of preserving the nature from degradation. 3.      To present the economic status of inhabitant within the area of the place and, 4.      Assess the effects of conservation to the rural livelihood of the people around the area. Significance of the Study             The significance of the study is to provide a new study regarding the interaction of livelihood and conservation to the lives of the people around the conservatory premises of the area. This in turn will help support the government or authorities’ implementation of programs for rural livelihood and sustainability while still accruing promotions on conservation. Moreover, since this paper is a case study this will generally contribute to the development and growth of the rural livelihood of the people around the area of study. Statement of the Problem             The study seeks to answer the following questions: 1.      What is the role of conservation in the ecosystem of Cambodia? 2.      How conservation does affect the livelihood program of Cambodia? 3.      What is the role of natural resources to the livelihood of Cambodians? 4.      How Cambodians perceived the idea of conservation in relation to their rural livelihood development and growth? 5.      How Cambodians perceived the importance of their rural livelihood while still conserving the nature? 6.      How the interaction between conservation and rural livelihood of the people does operate? Methodology             This study will utilize a quantitative approach. In order to bring to light the claim of the paper and prove its assumptions, the use of structured and unstructured survey questionnaire will be employed. Meanwhile, interviews will be held for selected informants. The respondents of the survey will be coming from the people around the area subject and will be selected randomly.             Moreover, literatures and interviews will be gathered primarily to support information regarding conservation. Key informants in both fields, environmental advocates or economists and rural development advocates will be subject for interview.             After gathering sufficient information through survey, interviews and observation, analysis will come after and transcriptions of data gathered. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD DEVELOPMENT PROJECT CHONG KHNEAS COMMUNE, SIEM REAP

The Interaction between Conservation and Rural Livelihood Development Project in Chong Khneas commune, Siem Reap Introduction ...

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD DEVELOPMENT PROJECT CHONG KHNEAS COMMUNE, SIEM REAP

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN CONSERVATION AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD DEVELOPMENT PROJECT CHONG KHNEAS COMMUNE, SIEM REAP

The Interaction between Conservation and Rural Livelihood Development Project in Chong Khneas commune, Siem Reap Introduction ...

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