Strategic Analysis Of GHD Hair Group's Platinum Hair Styler Essay.

The primary aim of the report is to strategically analyze the market positioning and the performance of the company GHD Hair group specifically for its product Platinum hair styler.

The report follows a structured format whereby various tools like that of PESTLE, SWOT, TOWS, Competency Modelling, Stakeholder analysis and the Value chain analysis have been used to understand the strategies which the company can take. Certain recommendations for the same have also been provided.

The environmental analysis is considered to be a crucial analysis which should be taken by the organization in order to ensure that the company is successfully able to form the strategies which would be useful for the overall welfare of the organization (Alkhafaji and Nelson 2013). The primary aim of the report is to undertake an environmental analysis of the chosen company, GHD Group Holdings with a special focus on its Hair Company. The analysis will be based on the performance of GHD Hair Company with reference to the product which has been chosen as the Platinum Black Styler (Ghdhair.com. 2018). The report will be conducting both the macro as well as the micro environmental analysis by making use of a wide range of tools like PESTLE Analysis, competency model, Stakeholder analysis and the Value Chain analysis. The latter half of the report will be using the tools of SWOT and OWS to analyze the standing of the company based on which certain recommendations will be provided for the same.

Macro Analysis

According to Hill, Jones and Schilling (2014), the macro environmental analysis can be stated to be the analysis of the company based on the external environment and the factors which might have an impact on the overall functioning of the company. The following section will be making use of the PESTLE Analysis as a tool to analyze the position of the GHD Hair Company as a whole.

The Pestle analysis is a useful strategic management tool which helps a company to analyze the different environmental forces as present. These forces can be of different categories like the Political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental

The primary political factor which tends to have an impact on the GHD Hair Company is that there are considerably strict guidelines which are to be followed by the company in lieu of manufacturing the product in the market. Lasserre (2017), believes that as the hair product is in consider with the health and beauty segment, various legislatives have to be followed by the company which will then assure its successful operations.

The beauty industry is often faced by certain recession phases and hence, the GHD Hair Company would be required to ensure that they launch their product after keeping in mind these phases.  Very often consumers often become price conscious and tend to go for the cheaper options and hence, the company needs to keep this aspect in mind (Team 2013). Additionally, the GHD Hair group also has to ensure that it needs to come up with competitive strategies as the hair and beauty market is one of the most growing industries as present.

PESTLE Analysis

The primary social factor which needs to be considered by the GHD Hair group is the loyalty of the customers. Martinsuo (2013), states that as the industry is a growing one, there are various products available who have a similar offering to that of GHD Hair straightener and hence, with respect to this the company would be required to undergo a differentiation strategy which will ensure that they are successfully able to meet the needs of the changing environment and either compete with quality or price.

The technological factors in case of the Hair styler of GHD hair can be of two types. The first is the technology with respect to the channel of distribution and the second one is the way in which the company has made use of the technology for the overall welfare of the company. Rothaermel (2015), states that the styler can make use of the modern technology as available and thereby ensure that the products are designed in a manner such that it makes them better than that of the competitors.

The hair and beauty industry has often been a concern with respect to its use of the environmental resources. Hence, the GHD Hair Company needs to ensure that the production of the products are made as per the set environmental standards and do not spoil the overall balance of the firm at large.  Moreover, this also assists the company in uplifting the overall image of the firm.

The different legislative rules and regulations which have an overall impact on the company and its overall welfare are the legislations like the Fair Packaging and Label act, competitive legislations and other such related policies at large.

The micro environmental analysis is a useful tool which assists in understanding of the different factors within the firm which might have an overall impact on the functioning of the organization. The analysis on GHD Hair Company has been done in the following section.

The Mckinsey 7S is a useful model which helps in the understanding of the manner in which the overall performance of the company can be improved and the manner in which the changes which take place in the external environment of the business and may have a strong impact on the firm. The 7S analysis of GHD Hair Group has been done as follows:

1. Strategy: The strategy can be stated to be the plan formed to maintain a competitive advantage. The strategy which is formulated by the GHD Hair Company is that it will offer high quality products to the customers which will increase brand loyalty towards the firm.
2. Structure: This elucidates on the manner in which the structure of the firm is formed.  GHD Holdings follows a flat structure whereby the three owners are the primary managers of the business
3. Systems: The systems can be defined as the daily activities as done by the firm. GHD Holdings has been divided into various departments, each of which seeks to look after specific functions.
4. Shared Values: The shared values of GHD Hair Company comprises of the core values which are based on provision of the best hair help to the different consumers.
5. Skills:  The employees working in the GHD Hair Company are required to be passionate as well as creative in order to ensure an overall success of the firm at large.
6. Style: The leadership style which is adopted by the owners of GHD is the democratic leadership style which shall ensure that the different members of the firm are able to perform to the best of their abilities.
7. Staff: The staff as present need to have an accurate knowledge of the hair and beauty industry along with ensuring that they are compassionate as well.

The value chain analysis, is another useful model which assists the different companies to review their overall processes which goes a long way in assisting the company to alter its ways (Vogel and Güttel 2013). The Value chain analysis of GHD Hair Company has been done as follows:

Macro Analysis

The core competency model analysis can be used as a useful tool which can be used in order to understand the core competencies which the business would be required to possess in order to ensure that it is successfully able to engage in the different business operations (Gereffi and Fernandez-Stark 2016). The model focusses on the inside out view.

Jarzabkowski and Kaplan (2015), the model assists the different companies to fight off competition by building a strong firm. Hence, by making use of the given tool GHD Hair company can easily ensure that is successfully able to improve its positioning. Hence, the competency model in lieu of GHD Hair Company has been done as follows:

1. Resources: GHD Hair in lieu of its platinum hair styler needs to ensure that it has adequate resources at its disposal which will allow the firm to perform well.
2. Capabilities: The capabilities for GHD Hair will be the different possibilities like global expansion, improvised products and other such products which the company would be required to build upon (Frynas and Mellahi 2015).
3. Competitive advantage: This underlines the challenge for the company in lieu of its motive to grab the maximum market for itself.
4. Strategy: This is the differentiation strategy which the GHD follows to ensure overall success (Hubbard,  Rice and Galvin 2014).

The stakeholder’s analysis is a useful tool which assists in analyzing whether the different stakeholders of the company are truly invested in the overall success of the organization or not. The GHD holdings is a corporation which has a large number of shareholders (Wheelen et al. 2017). Each of the shareholders will be examined and prioritized with respect to the shareholder analysis matrix.

From the given analysis it can be rightfully stated that, GHD Hair group needs to have its stakeholders aligned accordingly in order to ensure that the organization is successfully able to look out for the best group. The stakeholders for GHD Hair group has been divided accordingly and from this, it can be reflected that, the following strategies need to be followed by GHD Hair group for each group:

• Meet their needs group: For this group, the priority level is medium and the GHD Hair group would be required to ensure that they engage in sufficient activities to keep them satisfied.
• Least Important: The least important segment for the GHD Group is the middlemen because the company holds the direct channels and with respect to this, it will be better for the firm to ensure that they can ignore this segment.
• Showing consideration: The next in line are the Investors and Sponsors who are required to be taken care of and given attention to by GHD.
• Key Players: Lastly, the key players need to be entertained throughout and offered the best products for the best results.

The SWOT analysis for GHD Hair group has been done as follows;

Conclusions

Therefore, from the given analysis, it can be rightfully stated that the chosen company, GHD Hair groups with its product Platinum Hair styler have been performing considerably well in the specific market and is witnessing the benefits of performing in the growing hair and skin industry. The report analyzed the performance of the company with respect to the different strategic analysis macro and micro environmental tools like PESTLE, SWOT, TOWS, Stakeholder analysis, Competency Model and others. From the analysis it can be stated that the company has been performing considerably well but it is required to undertake certain measures which will assist in ensuring that the firm is able to maintain its standing in the market. After using the company by making use of the tools, the following recommendations can be provided to the company:

1. It needs to extend its product line so that it is able to ensure an extended market presence which will help it to deal with the competitors like Solia, Sedu and Kenta.
2. The company needs to improve its brand image and with respect to this, it can keep up with the latest market trends like Celebrity endorsements and other promotional measures.

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