FINAL GROUP PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS
FINAL GROUP PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS
Final Project Brand Options –
Option 1: H & M
Option 2: UNIQLO
Option 3: LORO PIANA
Option 4: LEVI
In this assignment you will thoroughly analyze (H&M, Uniqlo, Loro Piana, or Levi) Supply Chain Sustainability Practices. The goal is to build on any existing strategies in order to develop a Sustainability Strategy. The strategy will begin in January 2024. The report should be addressed to the CEO, Executive Board and investors. The final project will include the following two components:
(i) Written Report (Word format)
(ii) Live Group Slide Presentation (PowerPoint format)
- Written Report (Part 1 of 2)
The report should be addressed to the CEO of (H&M, Uniqlo, Loro Piana, or Levi). Assume that you are building a case. Your goal is to demonstrate that you have thoroughly researched and understand the business. This will ultimately help you make your 3-strategic sustainability recommendations, which will add incremental revenue & value (environmental & social improvement) to the business.
A. Executive Summary
Consist of short, concise paragraphs – should be clear and compelling. Be approximately 5-10% of the length of the main report. Begin with a summary. Be written in the same order as the main report. (Current state, sustainability assessment, supply chain map, problem identification, recommendation (solution to problem identification). Include “The Grab.” It should be a compelling statement of why you believe your ideas are important and how it would positively impact their company. You should be able to read this section in place of the entire report if necessary.
B. Current State of Brand
Key events for the past 3 years, company structure, employees/stores, future growth strategies, competitors, big-picture financials, etc.
C. Sustainability Assessment
Rather than a SWOT, create a (A-F) ranking/grading system using these specific 6 sustainability indictors: transparency, emissions, water & chemicals, materials, workers’ rights, and waste. Based on the competitors in section B that you identified, take 1-2 competitors that does better than your brand and 1-2 competitors that ranks worse than your brand – and score them as well. So, you should have a minimum of 3 companies you are ranking in your sustainability assessment (maximum 5). Remember, we want to know how a company stacks up against “best practices.”
This section has 2 parts: First part, create an actual chart ranking your company along with their competitors. Second part, explain giving specific examples on why you ranked/graded each company the way you did – what was your methodology and proof.
D. Supply Chain Map
Do your best to map the supply chain journey of a product from farms and factories to stores/e-commerce and garment end of life for (H&M, Uniqlo, Loro Piana, or Levi). In the process, highlight weaknesses (problem areas) as well as strengths (this relates to your assessment above). Take the reader through a journey. Information here might be scarce and not always available. If this occurs – then this is a great step along the supply chain as lack of transparency.
E. Problem Identification
What obvious sustainability issues are you able to identify? List and describe them more in detail (extracted from the Supply Chain Map). There should be 3 key problems identified here.
F. Recommendation for (further) Sustainability Initiatives
Materials must be a part of this. Manufacturing methods should be addressed if you have sufficient information on hand. As for “end of life” initiatives, do not just suggest standard solutions (i.e., collect used clothes at the stores) but also suggest how these can be re-purposed or re-cycled back into the chain (Circularity). There should be 3 recommendations (solutions), addressing Section E.
This is the most important part of your paper as you will here demonstrate your understanding of available options for the industry. You must motivate/substantiate your recommendation from the lens of; i) feasibility, ii) cost/investment and iii) environmental and/or social improvement.
G. Conclusion
Hammer home the point. Sell your chosen company on the idea! What are the benefits of your suggestions!
(ii) Live Group Slide Presentation (Part 1 of 2)
This is the creative part of your presentation. Make sure to have fun with this. Present the information from your written report in a concise, yet informative method. The audience is the same as the report: CEO, Executive Board and investors. People have short attention spans, and this is especially true in corporate situations. If they are not listening to your verbal pitch, then there needs be a strong visual presentation that can be referred to.
When creating the deck, make sure that the template you are working with has a strong branding resemblance to the brand. Refer to the brand website as creative source. It can be as simple with a logo placement on each slide. Also, make sure that the presentation includes the following:
Think deeply about your presentation and ensure that all of the important details that your specific audience cares about are addressed in the visuals. You have done the research and supported your arguments in the Written Report. Therefore, in the presentation component you should clearly articulate your clear point-of-view and ideas. This is your opportunity to talk through your creative ideas and sell your strategy! I strongly encourage you to have a few “dry runs” of your live presentation prior to final day of class. You will have 15 min to present.
Cover page including company logo and title of document
Contents page with corresponding page numbers
Each page numbered
Conclusion page – summarize the top-line projected results
Endnotes or Footnotes (on each slide)
Grading:
Written Report
60 Points (Exec summary, thoroughness sections A-G, quality/feasibility of recommendations)
20 Points (Relevancy and quality of sources)
20 Points (Organization & overall cohesiveness of paper)
100 Points Total
PowerPoint Presentation
40 Points (Content)
20 Points (Delivery)
20 Points (Quality)
20 Points (Timing)
100 Points Total
Guidelines for Written Assignments
When creating a report or presentation, it is the student’s responsibility to research a wide range of information, and access, analyze, and draft a robust editorial that is in the students own words. Plagiarism is the use of another person’s words or ideas in any academic work using books, journals, Internet postings, or other student papers without proper acknowledgment. For further information on proper acknowledgment and plagiarism, including expectations for paraphrasing source material and proper forms of citation in research and writing, students should consult the Chicago Manual of Style (cf. Turabian, 6th edition). The University Learning Center also provides useful online resources to help students understand and avoid plagiarism. See http://www.newschool.edu/learning-center/
Your final written paper should be clearly organized by using section headings (A-G) as indicated above. As with any University report the paper must be properly footnoted or end noted. It must be based on fact and not mere speculation or opinion. Additionally, your final report needs to consist of a Cover page (Indicate the name of the company and your name), Executive Summary
(Synopsis of the main ideas of the paper), the Main report (B-G) and a Conclusion. To create an extraordinary final paper, you need provide a thorough analysis rather than simple repetition of what you found in your sources.
Useful sources of information about retail companies can be found in Bloomberg, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, Women’s Wear Daily, company annual reports, government financial filings www.sec.gov (see syllabus for resources) etc. WIKIPEDIA DOES NOT COUNT AS A SOURCE
The body of your analysis should be 12-15 (min-max) pages in length, double-spaced, typewritten with numbered pages. Charts or appendices do not count as part of the 12-15 page analysis. These are considered incremental. For each section in your analysis, demonstrate that you incorporated class material and conducted an intensive information search and field study. You should use at least 20 different sources (a company’s Web Site represents 1 entry).
Week 1: Select + Submit Partner Brand
Due: Saturday Jan 27th, by 11:59pm ET
Partner Brand Options:
- H&M
- Uniqlo
- Loro Piana
- Levi
* Please become familiar with the 3 CFDA documents in Canvas week 1: Guide to Sustainable Strategies, KPI Design Kit, and Sustainable Strategies Toolkit.
Week 2: Outline (first draft)
Due: Saturday Feb 24th, by 11:59pm ET
This assignment focuses on (1) setting up an outline for your written report (2) building out the framework under sections A-G. Bullet points are fine.
* Please include a title page and table of content. Remember this is only an outline. A place for you to organize the layout of your written report and all the important headings that you would like to include.
Week 3: 35% Development (second draft)
Due: Saturday Mar 9th, by 11:59pm ET
This assignment focuses on (1) taking your outline from the prior week and developing content that supports your sustainability strategy (2) focus on sections A-F
*The body of your report should be 4-6 (min-max) pages in length, double-spaced, typewritten with numbered pages. Charts or appendices do not count.
Week 4: 60% Development (final draft)
Due: Saturday Apr 20th, by 11:59pm ET
This assignment focuses on (1) taking your report from week 3 and continue developing content that supports your sustainability strategy (2) focus on all sections
*The body of your report should be 7-9 pages at a minimum in length, double-spaced, typewritten with numbered pages. Charts or appendices do not count.
Week 5: Final Paper & Live Presentation
Paper Due: Saturday, May 4th by 11:59pm ET
PowerPoint Presentation Due: Sunday, May 5th by 11:59pm ET
Live Group Presentations (last day of class): Week of May 6th