Ralph Lauren Corporation Strategic and Operational Plans Analysis

Ralph Lauren Corporation Mission and Vision: “Mission- to ‘redefine American style, provide quality products, create worlds and invite people to take part in our dreams’. Vision- ‘to represent American style with a dash of British elegance and the comfort of natural fibers” (Ralph Lauren, 2013). The purpose of this analysis is to identify strategic and operational plans based upon current SWOT analysis, to include explanations and courses of action to achieve the related organization goals and the internal and external effects of our decisions to stakeholders.

Ralph Lauren Corporation a Fortune 500 company headquartered in New York, NY is a leader in the design, marketing and distribution of premium lifestyle products in four categories: apparel, home, accessories and fragrances.

For more than 45 years, Ralph Lauren’s reputation and distinctive image have been consistently developed across an expanding number of products, brands and international markets. (Enel SpA, 2013) Enel Group is responsible for the production and development of energy at a globally, with a vast majority of operations Europe and the Americas.

(Alina-Florentina, C. 2011) Enel Group has 750 plants operating in 16 countries in Europe and the Americas.

Strategic Plan

The strategic plan is geared toward generating cash flow in mature markets: In the current economic atmosphere, which is difficult, the strategic plan is designed to cut budget costs as well as increase efficiency. The Enel Group’s strategic plan, calls for a reduction in expenses of about 4 billion euros (based on 2013 controllable costs) for the 2013-2017 time frame. There mature markets are located primarily in Italy and Spain sectors. The strategic plan also provides for investment of 11 billion euros in other sectors of operation. Investments in assets will be reduced from 5.3 billion euros under the previous plan to 4.6 billion under the current strategic plan. Investment distribution assets will grow to 6.7 billion euros under the current strategic plan from around 6.2 billion euros under the previous plan. (Mills, Wiser, Porter 2009)

The new strategic plan will see a 2.7 percent increase the cumulative capital expenditure compared to the previous 2013-2017 plan. Basically, the investment in research and development budget will increase to around 9.4 billion under the current strategic plan in comparison to 8.7 billion euros under the previous strategic plan. Installed capacity will rise from 38 gig watts in 2012 to 43 gig watts in the year 2017. (Alina-Florentina, C., 2011) During the implementation phase of the strategic plan period, the Enel Group expects to implement a structure simplification that will fuel minorities’ buy-out operations, when complete will increase the net income ownership at the Parent Company level from 65% in 2013 to 78% in 2017.

Operational Plan

Ralph Lauren tries to uphold a very positive company culture and keep employees happy so they will stay long term. They like to promote from within and have many cases of employees starting at the bottom and working their way up to upper management. They not only offer pregnancy leave, but 3 months of parental leave as well for either parent whether having a child or adopting. They offer longer than average vacation time as well as many travel opportunities, and promotions to different locations within the company. It has been reported that although the salary is low with long hours and a highly stressful job, employees are given many rewards. Ralph Lauren offers its employees different rewards such as bonuses for attendance, employee discounts, and stock options.

References

Ralph Lauren Corporation SWOT Analysis. (2013). Polo Ralph Lauren Corporation SWOT Analysis, 1-8.