Research on Hennes & Mauritz (Essay Sample)

RESEARCH ON HENNES & MAURITZ
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Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) is among the world’s most valued retail brand. In 2010, it was tagged, after Nike, as the second best clothing brand, with a brand valued at $12 billion. (Freeman, 2009) It was established in Västeras, Sweden as a clothing company and fashion retailer by Erling Persson in 1947. (H&M, 2014) It has approximately 2,000 stores in 48 countries. Germany is the company's market, followed by Sweden and United Kingdom. H&M ranks was the sixtieth in the world's top 250 retailers. (Freeman, 2009) During the 2008 financial year, it had 183,000 shareholders making it the largest market on Stockholm Stock Exchange. The business philosophy of H&M is: 'To bring fashion and quality at affordable prices.' (H&M, 2014)
Hennes & Mauritz incorporates the four components of the Corporate Sustainability Model in its sustainability strategy. (H&M, 2014)
Social Sustainability.
Societal sustainability is related with the wellbeing of both current individuals and future generations. H&M works actively to come up with improved living conditions for a lot of people. It does this mainly through important area such as health and education. (H&M, 2014) One of many instances is the project: All for Children. As from 2009 this partnership between UNICEF and H&M has provided children in areas growing in Bangladesh with opportunities to go to school. It has also improved health care access. H&M has contributed approximately $8 million. (Freeman, 2009) The goal of the five-year project is to better access to education, basic skills and social services for over 40,000 children aged between 3 and 14 years in slum areas around Dhaka. (H&M, 2014)
Economic Sustainability.
Economic Sustainability concerns itself with monetary success. International trade is a significant source of economic growth worldwide. H&M is a global retailer buying and selling in various markets. In addition, H&M generates more than a million jobs to many people around the world. (H&M, 2014) A significant number of these people are in Asia. To provide its customers fashion and quality at reasonable cost, it would be necessary to cut down the unnecessary cost. (CWanamaker, 2013) To achieve this, H&M makes the most out of the resources available. They try to minimize wastage at every stage of their value chain. In addition, the company applies the 3 R's to the wastage generated. H&M also plans to use its position as a major retailer to assist its consumers and business partners to minimize the waste they generate. (H&M, 2014)
Environmental Sustainability.
Environmental sustainability is concerned with the natural environment health, the natural resources conservation, and the ecosystem functions preservation performed by individual members and the ecosystem in general. H&M is the first fashion industry to introduce a worldwide clothing collecting initiative. (CWanamaker, 2013) As from 2013, customers could hand in clothing at selected stores in all 48 countries where H&M had been established. H&M also aims to reduce risks in the company’s operations in order to protect the environment as well as securing the water available. The company has set rigorous chemical restrictions. It updates these rules often. (Stevens, 2013)
Government Sustainability.
Governmental sustainability mainly pushes for legislation that fosters the other three components of sustainability. (CWanamaker, 2013) It acts as a steward of the common available resources and the public wellbeing for both current and future generations. H&M engages in public policy advocacy issues that affect the company's business, employs and customers. (Stevens, 2013) The company has harnessed the power of its brand to mobilize policy makers. H&M supports the efforts that create an efficient tax system. It has achieved this by advocating and identifying tax policies that allows it to be competitive in the international market.
Risks and uncertainties.
There are a number of factors that may affect H&M Group results and business. Most of these factors can be dealt via internal routines. Carrying out operations in the fashion industry is a risk by itself. (CWanamaker, 2013) There's always a risk that the customers won't receive a part of the collection well. H&M buys items throughout the season on an ongoing basis so as to optimize fashion precision. Weather is a factor affecting the operations of H&M. The products from H&M are bought so as to be sold based on the weather pattern. Change in normal conditions of the weather may influence the sales. (Stevens, 2013)
H&R Company is committed to a transparent reporting on sustainability and the progress made towards achievement of the company's seven commitments. It produces Conscious Actions Sustainability Report annually. The report covers material sustainability activities, strategies and performance of H&M, including all its bands and partially or wholly-owned subsidiaries worldwide. (Bowman, 2014) The highest executive management reviews the report and eternal assurances performed for particular indicators and with consideration to stakeholder and materiality engagement. (CWanamaker, 2013) The report includes additional stakeholders’ reviews and commentary statement.
The concept of H&M business involves around offering fashion at best prices. The company achieves this by purchasing from the manufacture directly. H&M is cost-conscious at every process. (CWanamaker, 2013) Transporting the garments by sea is actually less costly and emits lower carbon dioxide compared to the more expensive air transport. H&M has made an effort to support its suppliers so as to ensure that production is taking place with the customers and workers health in mind. (Freeman, 2009) All the company's suppliers who work with wet procedures, such as washing and dyeing, are expected to treat their wastewater. The quality of wastewater in H&M's supply chain has to achieve the Business for Social Responsibility quality level. (Stevens, 2013) By means of the company's restriction list, H&M restricts against the use of dangerous chemicals. The suppliers of the company are bound to comply with them. The company updates its chemical restrictions regularly with the last update being done in 2013. (Bowman, 2014)
All the information is collected by H&M's sustainability from the applicable functions within the organization as well as from the external parties. Controllers and relevant experts within the company's sustainability team review the collected data. (CWanamaker, 2013) All the data is based on the best currently available possible system that is at the disposal of the company where applicable. This, however, needs to be viewed in the light of continued data systems improvement, methodologies and scientific uncertainties. (Bowman, 2014) The company's Green House Gasses (GHG) emissions reporting and accounting is aligned with the GHG Protocol. The emission factors used are from publicly available sources like the International Energy Agency (IEA). (Stevens, 2013) As a result of the incomplete scientific knowledge, the GHG emission data is subject to inherent uncertainties.
All information concerning suppliers and supplier firms, unless otherwise stated, includes all active suppliers and factories approved for production during the reporting period. Factories included in our range are the first tier manufacturing or processing factories owned or subcontracted by H&M’s suppliers and some second tier suppliers and non-commercial goods suppliers. Monetary amounts are accounted in SEK. (Stevens, 2013)
H&M Company has a matrix organization. The Managing Director nominates the executive management team members and the national managers. Executive management team comprises of; the Managing Director and other fifteen people. Six of them are women. (H&M, 2014) The executive management team is in charge of the following departments: Accounts, Finance, Sales & Marketing, Buying, Production, Expansion, Sustainability, Brand, Communications, New Business, Investor Relations, IT, Human Resources, Logistics and Security. (H&M, 2014)
The matrix organization of H&M means that the executive management team members are accountable for the support of their department, training and best practice. Each country should work expeditiously in accordance with the guidelines and policies published by the Head Office. (Stevens, 2013) Country managers are responsible for sales, profitability as well as all the departments in their nations. H&M abides by the rules in insider trading force. (Freeman, 2009)
Since its foundation, H&M's mission has been championing gender equality....