Comparative Study of Financial Health: A Case Study of Zara and Gap during COVID-19 Pandemic

QS 1 What is your Research area . What are you Doing?    
As I have chosen Financial path, I know that the financial sector of a company is not just about receiving and paying - the financial management of a company - it is an essential part of its success, as it is through monitoring the records that it is possible to understand their business weaknesses and take steps to improve them by minimizing the risks of fraud and even bankruptcy.

 

Is extremely important to understand what it is the main financial strategies that companies use in times of crisis and so I will research the best company model taking into account the length of time it has been operating in the market and that has already dealt with the world crisis - in that case COVID-19 - to use as a parameter (case study). My intention is to be as succinct as I intend to open my own business in the future, so I can have a better understanding of how and which management tools to use through the learning that I will acquired in this project.

 

QS 2 How are you going to do it?How are you going to go about it? What is involved.  
This project will be a case study using comparative data available in annual financial reporting of the selected companies over time, so I believe the type of primary research will fit better as qualitative.

 

QS 3 Who are you going to talk to?     
This project will be primarily based on financial results and most of the research information is published and readily available. I will use annual financial reporting data as a basis, analysing and making a comparison between the years 2019 - 2021 to elucidate the results and main differences in the company's Performance record.

 

QS 4 Why are you doing it? What is the aim 
One of the reasons is because I have a long-term plan to open my own business and, in addition to the necessary expertise and knowledge of the market it is also important to have knowledge of risk management to know how to deal with the unforeseen events arising as a pandemic COVID-19 that may affect the company as a whole.
    
QS 5 Research question Can you define a question ?
How clothing retailers dealt with Covid-19 Pandemic - a comparative study of financial health  
 In this case I am thinking to talk about Zara (UK) and Gap (USA) as they are two large clothing companies it becomes a bit easier to obtain data on their economic results since they are published annually
    
QS 6 Define Research objectives    
3 – 5 research objectives which you will have answered by the time you complete your project.
These are the sub themes, these are 5 distinct areas of investigation that require a minimum of 5 pieces of distinct literature reviews on the subject.This forms the

Methodology

 

Basis of your questions and topics that you will further explore both in the primary and secondary research.      
1)Why it is important to support clothing retailers 
2)Explore what supports to retail business during pandemic 
3)Examine the effort/challenge to stakeholders on the retention of employees and customers 
4)Context of the companies
5)Brief history
6)Setup/operation
7)Financial Performance
8)Shareholder view

QS 7 Literature Review 
A comprehensive review of the literature related to your project area which places your work in the broader body of knowledge

a. you have enough authors  which is around 5 authors per theme and 5 themes equalling 25 authors in total. ( you could develop 4 or 7 themes depending on the subject ) ( also you may use the same authors or papers for different themes, as they are usually interrelated but you MUST ensure you have a good cross section of papers and literature.
b. Ensure you use peer related journals as much as possible and lastly
c. Harvard referencing, don’t use too much text , 10 – 20 word quote and pages numbers given and paraphrased where you can ) 

 

QS 8 What are the main issues/themes arising from your search of the literature as it relates to the key areas of interest posed by the research question/aims/objectives
This is a deliberate explanation or critical analysis as to what the literature review has meant for your project. This forces you into thinking about what the literature review means for your project , how it drives the project . You can analyse it under each separate theme

 

QS 9  What have you learned from the search of the literature that is relevant to your research question?

These findings lead to the questions or interview schedule. 
This is an extension of the last point . The aim here is to identify questions that maybe used in the research instrument.
Tease out maybe 2 to 3 qs under each theme that you will askl your primary sample(s). 
You do not need a full example of a research instrument as in you do not have to fully complete a questionnaire or an interview schedule, just to state what questions would you ask in your primary research to your various samples ( eg. Employees, managers etc)

 

QS 10 Your Methodology
Explain the research methodology best fits your research and which methods you will use
Whether mixed or quant or qual and what philosophy etc used ( see the research onion here to clarify) Explain which one you are using  Here explain why you are using one and not the other and defend it 

 

Additional Information
1.The word limit for the assignment is referenced above.  This excludes references, footnotes and endnotes.
2.The assignment must be typed. One and a half/double spacing must be used with a font size of 11/12. While the font type is up to the student, the more appropriate font types are Calibri, Times New Roman, Arial or Garamond.  
3.The work must be submitted on Moodle to the correct Turnitin link on the relevant module page. Students are required to retain an additional copy for themselves until the end of the academic year.
4.It is recommended that students save their work as a PDF and email it to themselves prior to the required submission day/time as an archive of their work.
5.Students should consult the Student Handbook for a guide on academic referencing. Plagiarism and/or other forms of academic impropriety will incur disciplinary proceedings. 
6.Late submissions will be penalised by 5 marks of the awarded mark per calendar day.  This is subject to a maximum of 5 calendar days, after which time work cannot be accepted without proof of extenuating circumstances. Refer to the Extenuating Circumstances Policy in relation to what are/are not extenuating circumstances. 
7.Work must be presented properly: ensure that you spell-check and proof-read your work before submission. 
8.Please see the Quality Assurance Manual for further guidance on Assessments.